5 Minute short Film analysis

This 5 Minute short film is called, 'Just Another Day'. I decided to analyse this 5 minute short film, because of the directors wide range of camera angles and how they portray the story of the short film. However, the main reason why I have chosen to analyse this short film is because of the continuous voice-over throughout the short film. Our group's short film will contain sections of voice-overs, so to analyse a current short film with a voice-over will give me ideas of language features and the symbolism between the voice-over and the visual features of each shot. This analysis will give me some ideas and techniques which our group could incorporate in to our 5 minute short film. 

The opening of the film starts with the film title which is faded in and out between and black screen. This immediatly shows the audience the name of the film.

The first shot of the short film shows a male who has just awoken from a sleep. He is rubbing his eyes indicating he is tired and is also wearing his suit from the day before. This shows that he is a busy worker who clearly doesn't have time to change into and out of comfier clothes to sleep in. This shot is a medium-long-shot, showing his torso and face.

This shot shows the male character sitting up in bed, and putting his glasses on his face which were situated on his bedside table. This shot also introduces the an actors name. This shot is displayed as a medium-close-up, which allows the audience to see the characters face. 

This close-up-shot shows the character putting on his shoes, he's obviously getting ready for work because of his professional looking atire and because he is in a rush to get ready. 

This medium-long-shot shows the character getting ready by putting his suit jacket on. In this frame another actor is being introduced to the audience.

This close-up-shot shows the character shuffling some envelopes of what is shown to be mail. This shows that the characters likes to be organised and keep his details tidy so they can be time efficiently read. This shot shows a change of location from his bedroom in to the kitchen. In this frame the producers name is displayed to the audience.

This medium-long-shot shows the character to get a mug out of a cupboard which lets the audience think he is going to have some breakfast and a warm drink before work; representing a normal day. From this frame, a voice-over is used throughout the film. The voice over builds up the characters profile to the audience, giving the audience more and more information, which appears to be about the character on screen.

This shot is a medium shotThe voice-over goes on to say... "My name is Jake Burkall. As i'm sure you've been able to tell, I have a major problem." ...This intrigues the audience and makes them wonder what his problem is and wonders what has been shown of the character to make the audience think that the character has a problem. This creates confusion which is solved towards the end of the short film...

This over-the-shoulder shot shows the character getting out of his car, which shows that the character has left his house and travelled to a different location. The voice-over talks about how he's the best at his job and how being the best at his job isn't such a positive thing, then at this point the voice-over says... "Ok, ok, I've left you hanging long enough" ...This personalises the short film, showing how the voice-over is interacting with the audience, by assuming that the audience demands to know his problem.

This long-shot shows the character walking in to a shopping mall. This is because the outside of the shopping mall and the entrance to the shop is clearly displayed in the film which sets the location for the audiences purpose. 

This long-shot shows the character walking down an isle in the shop. At this moment when the women is shown in the background the voice-over says... "I am a hitman." ...The timing of this shot is clever, because it makes the the audience think that the main character is walking towards the woman to kill her, because of the hitman element of the story.

This is a extreme-close-up-shot of the characters hands typing on a Computer's Keyboard. The voice-over at this point says... "I kill people for pay, I need to make sure everything goes smoothly." ...From the voice-over this shot suggests to the audience that he is doing his research or writing a profile for his next hit target.

On this over-the-shoulder-shot, the character is shown to be  scratching the back of his ear and brushing his hands through his hair, symbolising that his job his hard work and that it is making him stressed. On this shot the voice-over says... "And it can take months before I can finally know the person's schedule like the back of my hand." ...This links in with the symbolism of the shot, how he is being shown to demonstrate behaviours which can be related to stress. The shot also shows the back of his hand which links with the simile in the voice-over... "back of my hand"

This is a medium-long-shot of the character washing his hands in his kitchen.  Which shows he is back at his residence. He has no tie around the collar of his shirt which shows that he has come home from work or wherever he has been.  The voice-over before this shot says... "I can get between, oh, $10,000 and $100,000 to kill." Which is linked to the visual symbolism of the shot of how he is cleansing his hands of bacteria, which symbolises he wants to cleanse his life from the murders he has committed from being a hitman.

This close-up-shot of the mans waist shows his reaching in to the fridge to grab a drink and then closes the fridge door.

When the fridge door closes, this fade-out to black shot is shown. The shot symbolises a time lapse to the morning as shown in the next shot.

This is a close-up-shot of the man putting on his tie, who has obviously awoken from a sleep. This is because of the previous fade-out to black shot, and the change in colour of his tie which he put on from the following morning.

This Long-shot shows the established main character walking back in to the same shop as he did the previous day. This shows that his routine in the morning is that he goes to this shop. This suggests to the audience that the main character might not be the same character as the voice over. This is because the voice over earlier, explained how he needs to know his targets routine like the back of his hand. However, the main characters voice has not yet been shown to the audience.

This Long-shot of the main character walking down an isle in the shopping market, resembles the same shot from the previous day when he was in the shop. The voice over at this time says, "It's the biggest day of my life, or should i say, the biggest kill of my life".

This is a Medium-Long shot of the character buying something from the store. He pays the worker then quickly runs out of the shop as if he's in a rush or is spooked by something.

The last frame then fades out to a black screen. 

This Medium-shot has faded in from the black frame and shows the main character in his car driving.  This suggests that a lapse in time has happened from the shop scene to this scene. From this scene the voice over stops.

The Medium-Long shot shows the main character slamming the door of his car shut. This is because his car has mysteriously broken down.

This Close-up shot shows the main character kicking the wheel of his car, which suggests to the audience that this car has broken down and will not start.

The main character has been left without a working vehicle to get to his destination. He decides to take a walk through a pathway which leads across a field. He does this in attempt to cool down his anger or to walk the rest of his journey. This is a Long-Shot which is used to show the man walking away from the vehicle.

This is a long-shot which shows the main character crouching on the edge of a lake. And then a mysterious character  appears .

The mysterious character rather smugly put his hand inside his coat, which represents that he's going to pull out a gun. At this point, it is clear to the audience that this mysterious character was the hitman who was talking in the voice over throughout the short film.

This over-the-shoulder shot shows the mysterious character approaching the  main character. 

This over-the-shoulder shot shows the mysterious character startling the main character  by saying "Hello, Daniel".  The main character suddenly span around.

This close-up of the side of the mysterious characters head shows him dip down to the right as if he is shooting a pistol towards the main character. A loud gun shot sounds at this point. This technique is very effective, because the audience has to use their own imagination of what the mysterious character is doing.

This is a medium shot showing the main character standing next to the lake with a confused look on his face .

The medium shot dolly's forward towards the main character whilst spiralling. This represents  the bullet in the gun spiral towards the victim main character.

This is an extreme long-shot. At this point the mysterious character is made very clear that he is certainly the hitman. He's stood over the body of the main character who has dropped to the floor after obviously being shot.

This medium shot shows the hit man character walking away from the body of the main character. The hitman character has his hand inside his coat, showing that he is putting the pistol back into a holster. 

A close-up shot appears of the victim laid on the ground. The shot then zooms in and becomes an extreme-close-up shot. 

This and the following two frames show places where the man should be, but nobody is there which shows that the main character died. This is a medium shot of the main characters bed with nobody in it and perfectly tidy. This represents the main characters death.

This is a medium-shot of the mans kitchen which is relatively the same shot used earlier on the short film when the main character is getting something to eat and drink before he left his house. This represents the main characters death.

This is a long shot showing an isle of the shopping centre where the main character used to visit each morning. He is not their which also represents his death.

Title Sequence

"Conceptually, the sequence was constructed around the idea of "the whore in the house of prayer" by intermingling contradictory images of sex, violence and religion and displaying them from the point of view of "a supernatural, predatory creature observing human beings from the shadows ..." Ideas of redemption and forgiveness are also explored, and thus the sequence progresses from morning to night and culminates in a baptism.

The title sequence also features images and themes of death and rebirth; the circle of life. A Venus fly-trap can be seen engulfing a frog while a rotting fox’s head is sped up to reveal maggots feeding off of the corpse. Rebirth is also recognized through an image of a woman being “washed clean” from her sins in a lake as well as a Reverend blessing and possibly performing an exorcism on a member of his congregation.

Most of the footage used in the sequence was filmed on location. Crew members took a four-day trip to Louisiana to film and also shot at a Chicago church and on a stage and in a bar in Seattle. In editing the opening, individual frames were also splattered with drops of blood. The sequence's transitions were constructed differently, though; they were made with a Polaroid transfer technique. The last frame of one shot and the first frame of another were taken as a single Polaroid photo, which was then divided between emulsion and backing. The emulsion was then filmed being further separated by chemicals and those shots of this separation were placed back into the final edit." - Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Blood#cite_note-Doing_baptisms-14

Each shot within the title sequence portrays a

Why do people watch Horror films

A Psychology professor 'Jeffrey Goldstein' wrote the below theory of why he thinks people watch horror films. It is this theory which has enabled our group to adapt some features of our short film to attract more of a horror audience which will expand the target audience for our group's short film. 

'Q: Why do people watch horror films?

A: Horror films have been attracting viewers since the beginning of cinema. According to some psychiatrists, the modern horror film serves many of the same functions for the adolescent that the fairy tale serves for the child, for instance to warn of evil in familiar places. Horror films are designed to elicit strong emotional reactions from viewers, including fear and dread; and this they do. Nearly everyone reports having been disturbed at some time by an image from a film or television program.

The appeal of horror depends on characteristics of the viewer, the film, and the viewing circumstances.

The viewer and the film

Researchers have identified various motives for viewing horror films, including the need for excitement, the desire to feel intense emotions, and distraction from everyday concerns. Although dramatic films can fulfill some of these needs, movies depicting violence and horror have features that other forms of drama do not, including the violation of social norms and the portrayal of events seldom seen in real life.

People rarely view horror films alone. Violent entertainment appeals primarily to males, and it appeals to them mostly in groups. For many young people and adults, horror films are a topic of conversation, a source of shared experience, and a means of self-presentation. Not everyone will like the blood and gore, but many may continue to watch because of other goals, such as demonstrating their ability to tolerate it, or the desire to master the threatening images.

One study identified three factors that were important in the appeal of horror films to males aged 15-45: the excitement generated by the film (called "sensation-seeking" by psychologists, the enjoyment of stimulation or physiological arousal), the wish to see the destruction found in horror films, and the satisfying resolution usually found at the end of the film.

The setting

Horror films are typically viewed in comfortable, familiar surroundings with friends, or at least co-viewers, nearby. Violent entertainment is less appealing when one is under genuine threat or experiences fear or anxiety prior to viewing.

When humor accompanies the film, emotional reactions are milder. Viewers can limit the effects of disturbing images by distracting themselves—by looking away, thinking about something else, or analyzing the film dispassionately, like a film critic. When the violence is too real, when cues to its unreality, like music or film editing, are removed, violent entertainment loses much of its appeal.'

Jeffrey Goldstein, Ph.D.
Department of Social &Organizational Psychology
University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

References:

Goldstein, Jeffrey, Why we watch: The attractions of violent entertainment, Oxford University Press, New York, 1998.
Tamborini, Ron and James Stiff, Predictors of horror film attendance and appeal: An analysis of the audience for frightening films, Communication Research, 14: 415-436, 1987.

Social Events

This mind map of 'Social Events' show some ideas which our group could implement in to our 5 minute short film. These subjects would be interesting to develop. Each idea was developed from our 'Social Groups' mind map.  The ideas in blue are not going to be used in our 5 minute short film, however, they were really useful to develop our final idea of a Social Event. Our final idea, is highlighted red. Our group decided that a mysterious girl with a condition, has been exiled from her family and the social groups which she was once involved with. This would be an interesting narrative which our group could present in a 5 minute short film. This topic is stereotypically relevant to teenagers and young adolescents, because of their constant worry to fit in with the people they know and the society they live in. This would give our target audience a narrative they could deeply relate to.

Zoom Dolly Shot

This website demonstrates what equipment is needed, and how to create a 'Zolly' shot, aka 'Zoom Dolly' shot. Our group are going to include this tricky shot in our 5 minute short film. We can follow the basic steps of the instructions on the website to create a dolly shot which will be relevant to our 5 minute short film.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/knowledge-center/how-tos/filmmaking-tips/achieving-the-dolly-zoom-effect-effectively.html#b

Tricky Shot 'Dolly Zoom'

This 'dolly zoom' shot which is featured in the 1970's horror/thriller film 'Jaws'. This shot put you in the mind of the man in the frame. As his emotions are expressed by his facial expression which is zoomed in on, whilst the background is sent shooting backwards. This gives a psychedelic affect to the shot and suggests that the man has just seen something strange or terrifying. The human visual system uses size and perspective cues to judge the relative sizes of objects. If the human eye sees a perspective change or a size change is a visually disturbing effect. Depending on which way the dolly zoom effect is shot, can either make the background suddenly grow in size and detail which dominates the foreground. Or in this case the foreground becomes immense and overwhelms the rest of the surroundings. would be a brilliant shot to include in our 5 minute short film. Perhaps to show the facial expressions of a character who is also experiencing something strange and unordinary.

Character Profile

Background Info: 

Sophie Walker is 18 years old. She is an outcast from society; often found walking the streets of her town oblivious of the world around her. She rarely speaks to anyone but often is seen alone in clubs causing havoc and is extremely violent. Her violent nature has created a fear towards her in strangers and even the people who once loved her. The cause of this personality change cannot  be pin pointed as she was brought up as christian girl; well mannered, happy and a privileged upbringing. Sophie has been to many specialists and psychiatrists to diagnose her 'condition'. Her condition has always been her excuse for everything she's done wrong. 

Physical Appearance:

Sophie is very tall, has short black hair and is extremely pale. She tends to wear anything black and often wears dark lipstick and very dark eyeshadow in contrast to her pale skin. She seems to create the 'gothic' look. Sophie is also very thin and tall. Its interesting to see that she never smiles, she always seems gloomy and annoyed. As though she is looking for a victim.

Interests

Her interests include metal music, art and reading. She's very reserved and hard to entertain. 

Role within Film:

Sophie has a vital role within the film; she is the basis of our documentary as she is the subject. Although we aim to film Sophie as little as possible, (to create a mysterious character) we will be incorporating many pictures and back flashes of her to create a stronger character buildup. 

Background Info:

Emma Wilson is also 18 years old and Sophies school friend from primary school until year 9. Emma and Sophie were very close friends until they had a huge row which neither of the girl will talk about. no one knows what the argument was about, nor do they know why Emmas hate for Sophie has lasted so long. Emma know attends college doing Art and Design and has a part time job. Emma is happy and social. it is clear the complete differences between Sophie and Emma.  

Physical Appearance:

Sophie is quite small and smiley with short red hair. She tends to wear anything colourful and wears natural make-up. Emma is also very thin and tall. Emma is always smiling or laughing and is extremely bubbly and likeable by everyone.

Interests

Her interests include art, photography, watching films, socialising and baking.

Role within Film:

Emma's role within the film is to build up a bit of background information towards Sophie's childhood. She will refer to their friendship and her 'changing' in high school. She will bring in information her parents don't know to help the film crew build up a structured story to what happens as well as maintaining a sense of mystery too.

Background Info:

Father Peter is relatively old and has served as Sophie's vicar all her life. Father Peter was a very close friend to the Walker family before Sophie went off the rails. Father Peter baptised Sophie when she was 2 years old. Father Peter is led to believe that Sophie has a drug problem and God has asked him to help her, she strives to bring Sophie back to her old self. 

Physical Appearance:

The priest is relatively old with a beard and glasses. He wears the traditional vicar robes and carries a bible everywhere with him. 

Interests

His interests include charity events, singing, playing the piano and helping out in the community 

Role within Film:

The Priests role is similar to that of Emma's role; he helps to give information on Sophie's background and explains run-ins he has had with her since her 'change'.

Background Info:

Father Peter is relatively old and has served as Sophie's vicar all her life. Father Peter was a very close friend to the Walker family before Sophie went off the rails. Father Peter baptised Sophie when she was 2 years old. Father Peter is led to believe that Sophie has a drug problem and God has asked him to help her, she strives to bring Sophie back to her old self. 

Physical Appearance:

Sophie's Mum is very petite and has a friendly smile, she has brown curly hair. 

Interests

Sophie's Mum is a Primary School and enjoys arts and crafts and reading and baking. 

Role within Film:

Sophie's Mum 

Background Info:

Joe and Sophie were together for 3 years from year 8 until year 11. They were very much in love and they were a very popular couple; after Sophie and Joe left school, rumours circulated that Sophie was violent towards Joe when she once went missing on a night out. Soon after they split up and no one knows why. Joe rarely socialises now and becomes agressive and withdrawn when anyone brings up Sophie.

Physical Appearance:

Joe is averaged size, tends to follow the skater dress trend. He has blonde hair and blue eyes. Nowadays he always seems to be scowling. This is an indication of Sophie's effect on him. 

Interests

His interests include skating, street art and anything creative.

Role within Film:

Joe's role within the film is very minor, he refuses to speak to the film crew and just swears and avoids any interaction at all.

Background Info:

Physical Appearance:

Interests

Role within Film:

This mind map represents our groups ideas of 'Social Issues' which we could base our 5 minute film around. These 10 categories are what our group believes to be an interested focus to base our 5 minute film on. The categories relate to young adolescents which is who the target audience of our film will be aimed towards. Each issue could have been a huge part of people's life, at one time or another, so these issues could appeal to any age one way or another, either through personal experiences or the experiences of their family and friends. Our group discussed each issue and developed several of the issues around the narrative of our 5 minute short film. Our group has used these following groups around our narrative: Social status, clubbing, crime and social groups. The reason behind our groups choice of social issues, was because we could adapt these around are narrative and have the greatest effect in doing so. In our groups discussion, we decided not to contain social issues such as 'Sex' and 'Drugs', because we thought those groups were perhaps too deep for the narrative of our 5 minute short film, and could possibly turn our short film into something that we don't want the viewers of our short film to perceive. Also, the certificate of our 5 minute short film will be a 12A. Because of this, some topics aren't legally allowed to be shown in a 12A certificate film, and wouldn't appeal and could in some cases offend the audience.

Preliminary Task - Journey Exercise

This is our group's long version film practise. The film clip shows a students journey to a water machine.

The purpose of this film, is to practise different camera angles, acting, the production of creating a short film and editing skills.

Our group thought it was essential to practise this process before we begun the process of making our 5 minute short film. This was so that we could discover any potential problems or issues which could occur in the production of our 5 minute short film.

 Starring Lawrie Painter. Filmed, Directed and Edited by Josh Walker.

Treatment

Short Film Title

The title of our film is called "Introducing... Sophie". There are two reasons why we have decided on this title name. The first reason is because it includes the name of the films main character, 'Sophie'. The film is all about Sophie and her mysterious 'condition', which is why we  her name is in the title, showing her importance in the film. The second reason is because the film shows how a group of interviewers try to discover what is wrong with Sophie, and what her 'condition' actually is. They do this through a full documentation of her life. Their aim is to film and then expose her condition, publicly for the first time ever. Because of this documentary aspect of the film, is the reason why we included the "Introducing..." part of the title. Because it represents how the film crew have documented and will expose Sophie, and in doing so, introducing her true self to the public, for the first time.

Duration 

The duration of our film will approximately be 5 minutes. This is because we are creating a short film, and our group feel that 5 minutes will be a perfect time to develop characters on a basic level, portray a story line, and include a twist at the end. Because our short film will only last 5 minutes, it will keep the audience interested and entertained.

Target Audience

The target audience of our film, is generally horror fans. This is because the genre of our film is documentary horror. However, the short film will be marketed towards late teenagers and young adults. This is because all the characters in the short film will be young adults, which appeals to a young audience. The age certificate for 'Introducing... Sophie', will be a 15 certificate. This doesn't limit the audience for our film, because children younger than 15 years old will more than likely not be interested in our short film. This could be either because of the content of the film, or because of the style of film, which needs to be watched by a mature audience, so that they'll be able to fit different clues together to fully understand the short film and it's plot.

Synopsis

An 18 year old girl called Sophie, who once was a sweet christian girl, could now be an outcast to society, hated and feared by everyone who once loved and cared for her. But, why? Well nobody knows exactly why, not even herself. All that people know is that she has a "condition", which is always mentioned to excuse everything she has ever done wrong. She is strange and weird and twisted and violent, and not worth anyones time. 

After years of suspicion Sophie was a full time test subject at a high security mental institute, after being recognised as a suspected mentally ill patient when her two brothers mysteriously died in their family home. This was when Sophie was 16 years of age. After 1 year of constant testing, her "condition" has still not been diagnosed. So with underlying regret, she had to be released and without charge due to insufficient evidence in connection to her two brothers deaths.  

Sophie, is currently living in a bedsit and has been unemployed for just going on a year. In that time, the local police have received hundreds of mysterious complaints from neighbours in the bedsit, all pointing to Sophie. 

What is the mystery behind Sophie's condition. Why is she so different to everyone else. And how could everyone who once loved her, now wants nothing to do with her. A documentary crew travel to Sophie's hometown; interviewing Sophie herself, her family, friends and intermediate relations. After collecting information of Sophie, we knew what she was. A vampire; and we caught it  all on camera. 

suggested elements

Our groups short film at first, suggests to be a documentary, following the life of a young girl called Alice. However, it turns out to be a fictional thriller film. This is very unexpected and unique, as our short film demonstrates this twist of genres.