Short film Analysis

I havel ooked at the guides that the BBC had published on what makes agood short film, found here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/filmmakingguidegoodshort#idea

I then watched this film :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A54736806

And analysed it and comparing it to the guides set out by the BBC.

(my notes on analysis)

The idea is unique and very wierd. Scientists lust leads to his death inevitably eaten by the 'eel' woman.
Original is debatable.

Script is lacking content yet the imagery suggests more, both acting and script come together at times as a good script may become corrupt
by bad acting. This short film has such a small amount of script that it's hard to get into the situation as there is little tiem spent on some aspects.
However the lack of script is also it's gain, the film lacks script in order to create suspence and questioning from the audience hence involving them in the
film.
The acting by the 'eel girl' was better than the others, she played the charatcer moving and acting as you would expect her to, crfeating a
sence of realism to a sereal creature. The acting of the scientist and officer was average, the acting wascheesey almost especially with the
second scientist licking his lips, tryign to put across the idea of lust. The vocal acting, was nto very believable as there was no feeling in it,
their actions were also too quick.

The effects used in this film were especially good, the sets were detailed captured the feel and mood of th short film, almost fortelling the end
through the sets. The camera work was well planned and exectured with smooth transactions from one cut to the next, lighintg was low, inside and high outside
creating excellent contrast between the two areas. Sound quality was low at the begenning as it was difficult to make out what they were saying, thus
runing the experience.

This film is short lasting only 5 minutes, It is consise and gets to the point quickly, but not too wuickly. their timing is good as it creates the right ammount of suspence
at the right time.

The film's beginning is strong as it does not reveal much at all about the true nature of the scientists intentions early on. The
questioning of this protocol that is mentioned several times and why it is mentioned, which is ofcourse revealed later in the film.

Repetion did not occur, yet it almost did, During the film we see the 'Eel girl' climb into the bath, and we see her in the bath again at the end,
this is not entirely repetative but a good tool linking the events between the first time and second time together.

Typical Narrative structure and Ant-Narrative structure.

In the lesson we began to look at Narratives in film making an how they follow set structer points, Equilibrium, Disequilibrium and New Equilibrium. Most films follow this basic structure, and may be repeated several times in a single film, which makes up a Typical Narrative, an Anti-Narrative film does the opposite and does not follow this structure, instead it may hav the New Equilibrium at the begenning, a good example would be Pulp Fiction, this film does not follow this structure at all, making it one of the best examples of an Anti-Narrative film.

We were then presented with a task to write both a Typical Narrative film and an Anti-Narrative film in the genre of horror in groups.

The follwing story was the Typical Narrative film ( I have shortened the story by reducing the ammount of detail) :

4 Teenagers ( 2 boys and 2 girls) plan to go on a weekend trip to a nearby campsite, known for its great location. However one of the girls drops out as she is unable to go, and so another Teenager (boy) takes her plce on this trip. They go by car, and enter a forest taking them to a secluded lake, not the campsite they were expecting to go, however they decide to stay and set up camp in an open plane in theforest, near the lake.
During the first night, they take drugs and drink, sat around the campfire they are talking, when they begin to what they believe is to be hilousinations. One of the boys (boy 1) dissapears after he goes off for a wee. One of the other boys (boy 2) realises he is missing and goes off searching for him, they both end up dying and are left in the forest.

during their absence and murder, the 2 remaing teenagers, boy3 and girl, are left alone at the camp, over confident the boy begins to sexually assault the girl, in her panic she beats him over the head with a bottle, seeing blood run over the floor she runs outside panicking. She is then jumped on by the girl who dropped out at the begening of the trip. A fight ensues when she the murderous fenatic is about to kill the girl she is struck on the back of the head by the boy from the tent. They pull themselves together and make their escape back to civilisation.

The following story is a typical /Anti/-Narrative ( again I have shortened the story to give the general idea of the anti-narrative asepcts)

The black screen is removed by the screams of a girl, she is running through the forest hands bound pushing past all the foliage blockeing her path. We catch a glimps of some strange shadow in the form of some creature in the distance showingno sign of persuit, she keeps running wehn she finally reaches and opening in the woods seeing a camp site empty. but the stains of blood are everywhere.

We suddenly flash back to a group of people in a car off to a camping trip in the near buy woods,
We see them prepping and introductions of those characters are done by the conversation they are having. The day progresses and at night we see the group around the campfire telling ghost stories trying to scare eachother, when suddenyl the same shadow'y' figure is spotted by the group, scared they huddle together. but the shadow dissapears only to return behind them and the screan darkens as we hear the screams of the newly found victims of the shadow beast

A sudden flash back to the girl at the campsite, and begins to run again realising the creature is after her still. She reaches a car, her evidently, finding yet more blood stains all over it.

{ The above story is a good example of Anti-Narrative as the story bergins at the end, and flicks between middle beginning and end in the incorrect order to build the story up.}

Why is genre an important factor of film making ?

To begin with Genre affects two parts of films and their production, Firstly the producers of the films and secondly the Audience.

For the Producers, genre provides many points for them to use whislt making their film. Genre provides them with the typical guidlines that are used for specifc films, for example chick flick, romance films. In this genre of film, the vast majority follow the same story line set out by its genre. The couple fall in love, have a troubled middle, get together at the end and live happily ever after. But genre does not just dictate the stroy line of the films and the order of events that happen, but it also helps provide the characters of the film and which roles they should perform, again taking Chick flick and Romance as an example, there is always the friend of one of the two main characters, that usually provides the comedic side for the males, and the helpful side for the females. This role can vary for both sexes depending on the specific films.

However the guidlines laid down by genres are also something that a producer should look to break once in a while, to produce are more unique film that attracts the audience. Keeping to the convetional guidlines of certain genres can be a safe zone for all producers allowing them to create films with set actions and characters that are easily recognised by the audiences, however breaking these guidlines and mixing genres allows the Producer to really become creative with their work, creating twists and turns in the films to really engage their audience.

For the audience, genre is important to them for the sole reason of recognition. Recognition is an important part for the audience, if they see a specific genre they will instantly recall the general ideas that come with that gerne. Also when seeing a specific genre they will recognise the fact that they like or dislike those said genres of films, but they do not only recognise the genres and what the stories might entail, genres also bring in actors that are most popular in certain gernes.
The audience then can recognise the actors wih specific genres, making them enjoy the movie and the actors own personality to the film creating a good audience base.

So to conclude genre is important because it Gives the producer guidlines for which they can follow or not, it also provides thems with the means to be creative with mixing genres in films.
For the audience it provides set conditions and extras that they can recognise and begin to decide wether they like certain genres more thatn others as well as actors performances in the different genres.