Lighting Decisions - Laura

• When Sam is with his friends they will be outside. This means it will be hard to control the lighting so we have decided to use natural light. This will depend on the weather as we are hoping to have high key lighting for this scene as we are showing a time where Sam is having fun with his friends, so the lighting needs to reflect a positive, happy feeling. If it is a dull day weatherwise though this could also work, as the low key lighting can allow the audience to foreshadow that something bad will happen.  
• In the car scene and when he goes home there will be low key lighting. We will achieve this by using just the 'back' light in terms of the 3 point lighting technique. This will contrast with the earlier high key lighting when he is with his friends in order to create different connotatios. Low key lighting can be used to reflect sadness, therefore in our film it will represent the loneliness and isolation he feels in this situation.
• We will use this same contrast in lighting in the flashbacks too. The flashbacks will progress chronologically in terms of their relationship. The ones he thinks about later on in the film, represent later on in the relationship, which is the point when she starts to abuse him. We will use low key lighting for these as it is reflecting a low point in his life, whereas the flashbacks at the beginning of their relationship when they are happy we will use high key lighting as it is a high point in their relationship. This contrast will also allow the audience to question how it all went so wrong for them.
• When filming we used a light with an umbrella to reflect. We found this did not work very well as it was really bright, making the house look an unnatural colour. We then went for a make-shift approach where we used our own black umbrella instead of the white one, and had one of the members of our group holding it up to the light when filming. This worked for one of the shots, however in the end we decided it would work best to use as much natural light as we could, as well as the artificial light already in the house, selecting parts of the house where the lighting worked best.
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Progress update 29/11/12

We have now moved on to create our storyboard, we are currently in the process of creating our animatic and storyboard videos which we will upload to our blog in due course. We have progressed with our idea and now have a good understanding of our narrative and how each scene develops into another.

We now look forward to continuing with the production of our short film.

Synopsis

Here is a brief summary of our short film:

Sam appears to be a typical teenager in a relationship with Amy, they call, they text, they meet up and have 'romantic' dinners. However the bruise that we first see on Sam's face will pave the way for a series of flashbacks that will paint a vivid picture of how Sam endures the consequences of his controlling, jealous and all to often violent girlfriend. The audience will see how Sam tries to cover up the force that has been put upon him but as the severity of the violence increases will Sam be able to break free, of will he forever remain TRAPPED.

Domestic Violence Research - Mark

I am conducting some research on domestic violence as that is our topic for our film. I managed to find a website that is specifically for males being domestically abused. The link is below. This website has lots of information on what to do if you are being abused, they have a hotline that you are able to call if you think you are being abused too. They claim that a massive one in six men will be domestically abused. The link to the website is here.

They also have links to other men's stories of domestic abuse, you can see one article from August 2012 on how a man nearly died as his partner stabbed him here.

Once we decided our theme was going to be domestic violence, it clicked to me that this was occuring in Coronation Street with Kirsty and Tyrone. She has been hitting him with objects such as a frying pan and a part off a hoover and only recently has he told Fizz about what has been happening and that he can't cope any more. It has taken him months to tell anyone about it and actually say that he can't cope with it; this is what is involved with domestic violence, not only the abuse, but manipulating their mind so they don't tell anyone about it. Below is an extract of some footage from Coronation Street of the violence Tyrone has been suffering. 

Also pictured here is Kirsty pinning Tyrone up to the door.

There are many videos out there on advice for domestic violence and how to tell someone about it and sort it out which is good. Below is a good example of an advice video I found on Youtube: 



UPDATE: 08/12/12:
After I had watched some films, I noticed they used lots of fade to blacks and also fades to show manipulation of time and also how someone can be depressed. We will try these effects in our post-production phrase.

UPDATE: 15/12/12:
Over the past 24 hours, Sussex Police have tweeted every domestic violence case they have been receiving and reading through them has been interesting. It has shown that it isn't always the man abusing the woman, and the following tweets from Sussex Police help to show how our film can relate to real life:
 - Man from East Grinstead has called police because his ex-girlfriend is making threats regarding some money he owes her
 - Brighton man has called police to report that his ex-girlfriend still controls his money & recently threatened him with a hammer
 - Man in Crawley has called police regarding his girlfriend; she is drunk and threatening him and he wants her to go

Hospital Setting - Laura

For our final shot we are going to have Sam in a hospital bed. This would have followed on from the shot where Sam is ringing the helpline, then Amy comes in to see him doing this. We do not see what she does in retaliation, we jsut hear the sound of the phone hanging up, which then merges with sound of a heart beat at a hospital. This meant we needed the setting of a hospital, so we contacted Katherine Rogers who works at a local training hospital in Brighton. We emailed asking for permission to use this hospital, in which we got a reply in agreement. Here are the print screens of this email exchange.

Props by Laura Geall and James Dunham

We will be using a variety of props to create the representation of our characters.

Costume and Make-up - Megan and Mark

One aspect of make-up that we will need to consider is how to create bruising.

This page of WikiHow shows how fake bruises can be achieved.


We will be testing out a few of these ideas in the next few days.


Costume ideas -

• Modern representation of teenagers, so typical teenage clothes, as we want the characters to be easy to relate to and show that domestic violence can happen to anyone.
• We want our film to represent a social realist genre as much as possible, so the costume needs to be quite neutral and not stand out as anything too 'different' so that it distracts from the narrative.
• We also have a hospital scene at the end where we need to use costume that patients wear while hospitalised so that it fits with the narrative and looks realistic.
• We have also had to consider the time of year during our film as much of it is shown through flashbacks. This means that we need to show time passing over a longer period of time than we are filming over, so we may need to account for some summer/autumn clothes as well as winter clothes that we will naturally be wearing.

Locations

For our advanced portfolio there are various locations that we are looking to use.

House setting - We will be using Laura's house as the setting for the scenes which include confrontation between the two main characters, Amy and Sam. The house will belong to Sam as he lives with his parents who throughout the film will not appear. We will show this by using post-it notes to imply that his family have gone out. So for example "dinners in the fridge love mum" will appear on the fridge, family photos will also be positioned around the house. This will convey a sense of a typical family to the audience and in a way will allow the audience to sympathise with the situation that Sam faces. The idea that he lives a normal life but is tied down with a girl who beats him.


Area of social congregation- We are currently deliberating on areas where we could show Sam out with his mates. Some areas that we have thought about include:
A pub
A park
College

Each location has potential, a pub offers us with a stereotypical male thing to do with his friends. Sitting in the pub with his mates. However finding a pub which will work around the lighting and our house location could give create some problems.

A park is also a typical place of meeting for people around Sam's age, however we need to ensure that we could choose a suitable location in the park, one with a children s playground right next to it would be off limits because there could be the potential of us filming near children. Various parks could include St Johns Park in Burgess Hill in addition to The Paddock and Malling Fields which are situated in Lewes. Another possibility is finding a suitable place on the Downs to film.

College
A college is somewhere where we could show Sam leaving with all of his mates. We all study at the same college and have various timings which allow us to come in and leave at the same time. It would make it more easy for us to find people to use as Sam's mates and it would make it easier in refilming. However the timings surrounding filming at college are essential as we need to choose filming times when loads of people are not standing outside the college as this may lead us to be distracted when filming.


Car
We will also be using two cars as locations for specific scenes. The cars will be used in driving to show Amy following Sam home and being possessive, we will use a myriad of shots to show Sam looking in his mirror to check if it is Amy following. By using the cars we able to portray how desperate Amy is to follow her boyfriend, she want's to what Sam is doing this and by having a scene shot in two cars we are able to show this.

Domestic Violence Research - Megan

A study done by the NSPCC in 2009 found that violence in teenage relationships is quite common. Girls are more likely to tell someone about the violence than boys, but equally the study found that girls are more likely to be affected by violence. These tables and charts have enabled us to gain more of an understanding of the way violence in relationships can work, and will be particularly helpful if we decide to have a male victim. 

The full report can be seen here.

We want to see our victim tell someone about the violence, so this information is helpful when deciding how we should do this. Obviously friends seem to be the most common to be told about domestic abuse, so we will have to see if this will be possible to convey in our short film.

These two videos are from the Directgov website, and show two different sides to domestic abuse. Directgov have a series of videos which feature young people in abusive relationships. Each of the videos have alternate endings with thoughts from both of the people in the relationship. I think these could be useful for us to consider in our own short film, as the characters in these videos are roughly the same age as we are looking at, and the different points of view could be interesting to think about.

Ideas - Laura

• Yesterday we started to discuss ideas for our short film. We have found with our research that a lot of short films use the genre of social realism as they convey messages, often to do with issues surrounding our society. Our initial idea was to of a film on domestic violence. It seems to be an issue that is around in society, but there is never much coverage on it. The White Ribbon campaign is a campaign working against women being treated with violence. We are fast approaching White Ribbon day: 25th November. This campaign will give us a lot of information about domestic violence, so that we can help display the severity of it in our film if this is what we end up doing.

• However, as we are looking at issues of femininity and masculinity also in this media course, we are going to try and interpret the film with this ideology in mind. The White Ribbon campaign "pledges never to commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women". However this campaign seems to only talk about females who are domestically abused as opposed to the men. Though cases of men being abused are not as common, they are still present.

• In my research I found this picture (below) supporting this campaign. We thought the picture was really emotive, as it has an extreme close up of a woman's eyes. This conveys the emotion clearly, and we can see how scared she looks to reinforce how serious domestic violence is. The shot allows us to just see the top of a hand covering the woman's mouth in the frame. They have shown enough of the hand in the frame for us to see the features that it is a man's hand, conforming to the stereotype that a man is physically stronger, and the traditional representation of men having power because of patriarchy. This picture has sparked the beginning of our ideas for the Film Poster that we will need to produce.  
• Looking at statistics it has been shown that over 40% of domestic violence cases, men are the victims, yet these cases are much more ignored by the media and police then female cases.

•  In our film, it is practical for us to be the actors so that we do not have to rely on people when we are trying to fit filming around our own schedules. As we are teenagers, we were thinking of focusing on domestic abuse among teenagers so that way we could act. These cases are often to do with sex; where the male is pressuring her, as we have found in some of the adverts we researched.

Advanced Portfolio Planning Ideas - Group

We have discussed ideas about our film idea and are focusing on the theme of Domestic Violence. We talked about going for teenage domestic violence rather than in adults as it will be harder for us to act as adults rather than acting our own age.

We have discussed about the story and plot and are coming up with a lot of ideas. We've had the idea of a possessive girlfriend, who is constantly in touch with her boyfriend. She texts him, he doesn't reply then she rings him repeatedly. The audience then sympathises with her as we think he is the stereotypical man and she is just the clingy girlfriend.

Our film will comply to a hybridity of social realist, romance (all for the wrong reasons). We give the audience the impression of a romance  and a slight bit of Thriller as Sam is the protagonist and Amy is the antagonist. We will fool the audience into thinking it is a romance by initially conforming to Todorov's narrative. The equilibrium is where he is at the pub with his friends, then the disruption is when she calls him and appears to spoil his evening. However, we soon find out it does not conform to this narrative through the way it is non-linear and there is no resolution. The switch in narrative signifies a switch in genre, from romance to conventions of thriller.


Or film will contain a vast representation of social groups including gender and those traditional representations as well as the issues surrounding abuse. We feel that representing these groups through costume and make up as well as props will allow our audience to feel emotion for our characters and to bring awareness of how domestic abuse isn't as simple as people first think.

Other scene ideas

• Flashback scenes with 'trigger' props
• Eating dinner alone at home - flashback to their first date
• Flashback too before the violence
• Flashback to Sam meeting a girl outside college, seeing Laura talk to him and Amy getting jealous. This begins Amy's descent into abuse as she become possesive over Sam.  
• Phone conversation - "Who are you with?"
• Following him home in the car - he hears a radio broadcast about domestic abuse
• A scene with Sam looking at a note from his mum, we begin to see the possesiveness of the characters.

We have a couple of different ideas for the ending.

• One involves him on the phone to a help line which she overhears/sees. We would not elaborate on an ending here to keep the audience guessing what is going to happen.
• She confronts him one last time resulting in disastrous consequences - final shot of Sam lying on the floor - again, keeps the audience wondering what has happened.
• He kills himself
• He stands up for himself and she realises the consequences of her actions.
• Another idea that we had that would make the plot complex is that the whole story up until the end is a flashback. We have the shot where he rings a helpline, then Amy comes in from behind. He hears her, then he hangs up the phone and the beep from the dial turns into the beep of someones heart in a hospital. We then cut to a shot, in present time where Sam is in a hospital bed. The audience are left questioning what happened, and contemplating the severity of domestic abuse.

Domestic Violence Research - By James Dunham

We are now planning some ideas for our A2 productions. One of the ideas that we would like to develop for film is on on domestic violence.
I have gathered some statistics to help us in understanding how much of an impact has on peoples lives.

These  facts paint a vivid picture of how detrimental the effects of domestic violence can be. In theory it means that 25% of women suffer domestic violence. Many female cases are highlighted on the news, below are a few news reports of women who have been involved in domestic violence. The first from a women who speaks out about her boyfriend and the injuries that she sustained.

The second a report about another woman's ordeal. 

But domestic violence is not just exclusive to women, males can also suffer domestic violence. From these statistics it is evident that domestic violence is not just a one sided battle. Men can be the victims of the female partners. Through this research we will try and convey a modern representation of domestic violence. There is more on male domestic violence here.

Although it may not be highlighted as much male domestic violence is prominent. One victim story is told by the Daily Mail, the victim was subjected to numerous attacks often hit by golf clubs, a telephone and even the fits of his girlfriend. The victim questioned how he could be attacked by somebody half of his size. The harrowing article goes onto give examples of males who were shocked when they got the full force of there girlfriends rage, many surprised. The article can be read here. 

From the articles and news reports we can use the information from the attacks to build a realistic picture of domestic abuse in our opening. The article on male domestic violence will be particularly useful in portraying the characteristics of the victim, the news reports can allow our group to create our female attacker. Although the victims in the news reports were both female one of the woman says how her boyfriend demanded pictures of her to make sure she was where she said she was. This could fit into our short film as we plan to have the girlfriend constantly text messaging her boyfriend.

Laura - The Ex factor

The Ex Factor 

• Viewed on Virgin Media Shorts 
  A woman is stocking up on junk food in a shop when she runs into her ex-
  boyfriend and his new girlfriend
  
• I chose this film because I thought it was funny, I liked the way that in the end, even though there he had the stereotypically pretty girl as his girlfriend now, it 
  still suggests how much he misses the ‘ex-girlfriend’ 
  
  

Representation

• The setting is represented in an interesting way, as it very much conforms to 
  the common stereotype that supermarkets are the place where you run into 
  people, often not wanting too
  
• The characters are also represented in a way that conforms to the common 
  romance story, the ex-girlfriend, the boyfriend and the new girlfriend.
  The ex-girlfriend is made to be inferior to the other couple, this is presented 
  through her costume. She is wearing tracksuit bottoms, and an unfashionable T-
  shirt, clearly only chosen for it’s comfort rather than fashion, for her “night 
  in”. This adds to the comedy part of the genre, as we can empathise with her, 
  and laugh about the times that we have felt embarrassed in what we were 
  wearing, perhaps even when running into ex-boyfriends. It is also mentioned 
  that she has put on weight, which is confirmed with the initial mid shot of her 
  eating whilst shopping (1), and the close ups where we see the junk food that 
  she is putting into her basket.
  
• The ex-girlfriend has a very negative representation. This juxtaposes with the 
  boyfriends positive representation, perhaps to intensify her embarrassment with 
  meeting up with him, clearly feeling inferior. Not just with her bad appearance 
  compared with his, but also possibly because of the way he has moved on, 
  whereas she hasn’t. This is furthered with the dialogue, when she remembers the 
  specific time they “went out”, for “2 months 5 days”, whereas he casually says 
  “a few weeks”. The use of the non-diegetic narrative confirms to us her 
  embarrassment about saying that, as we get to hear from her perspective. This 
  non-diegetic narrative also allows us to feel sympathy for her, we already feel 
  it because of her embarrassment, however being allowed to hear mainly her 
  thoughts, connects us to her; reminding us she is the protagonist but also 
  allowing us to feel sympathy for her.
  
• The male, ‘Rob’ has a positive representation of masculinity, with his smart 
  shirt and “skinny jeans” from “Milan”, a stereotypically fashionable place. His 
  new girlfriend, ’Sophia’, also has a positive representation of traditional 
  femininity, which we see especially with the close up when we see her 
  immaculate hair and make-up (3). This positive representation heightens the ex-
  girlfriends appearance, but also changes our view towards the new girlfriend. 
  We feel connected to the protagonist through the non-diegetic narrative, so we 
  laugh as well as agree when she calls the new girlfriend a “cow”. The 
  immaculacy of her appearance then heightens this, as we see her as very stuck 
  up, furthered with the dialogue when she sarcastically asks about the “night 
  in” and has a very RP accent when she corrects ‘Charly‘ (the ex-girlfriend) by 
  saying “Milan“. .
  
• The expected audience for this film has shaped the representations. Audiences 
  of romantic comedy’s are often active viewers, meaning that they long for the 
  couple to get together, and they feel involved in the film. This shapes many of 
  the situations in films, as they want to make them realistic so that the 
  audience can identify with them. We see this in this film when Charly just so 
  happens to run into Rob on a day when her appearance is really bad, this could 
  even have happened to some of the viewers.

Narrative

• This is a linear plot and narrative. The filmmaker has most likely chosen this
  particular chronology as it is a simple plot, and this simplicity is what makes
  the film good, as it means the viewer can focus entirely on the comedy
• It conforms to Todorov’s theory by having a linear narrative. The equilibrium
  is when the girl is shopping, looking forward to her “night in”. The disruption
  is when she runs into her ex-boyfriend, with his new girlfriend, which is
  rather awkward, and it doesn’t help that she is clearly embarrassed with what
  she is wearing. We can tell this through her body language, with the way she
  has her arms crossed to cover it. This film conforms to the 4 stage Todorov
  theory, as opposed to the more common 3 stage one, as this one has a third
  stage where the protagonist tries to repair the disruption. We see this when
  she makes a joke, “Matalan?”. we can see by the ex-boyfriends facial
  expression, furthered with the way he laughs, that he perhaps misses her
  humour. The final stage, the resolution, is when we see that the ex-boyfriend
  is not happy with his new girlfriend. We see this through body language, for
  example, when they have a long hug and when we see that he is uncomfortable in
  his “skinny jeans” (7).
  
  Genre
  
• This film conforms to the hybrid genre, Romantic Comedy. The storyline conforms
  to that of a romance, where a former couple bump into each other again, and we
  are left at the end wondering if they will get back together. The comedic
  conventions are formed in the story, with the way Charly is embarrassed with
  what she is wearing and with what she is buying (4).
• But there are also comedic parts throughout using facial expressions, for
  example when Charly is carrying a mars bar in her mouth around the store, then
  when she is shocked to see Rob it falls out, and she badly attempts to run away
  (2). 
• Another comedic convention is their use of a minor character, who is watching
  the scene but not involved in it, so that the audience can laugh at that
  persons reaction. In this case it is the shop worker who is stacking shelves on
  the floor. We laugh at his many facial expressions, rolling his eyes and
  tutting (8), but we can also identify with him. We are watching from the same
  sort of distance, and so we feel like him, perhaps adopting many of the facial
  expressions that he is doing. Furthermore, by having him on the floor he is out
  of the scene, therefore he can judge them without them noticing, just like the
  audience. 
• I could argue that Steve Neale’s theory of repetition and difference is also
  used. It repeats common conventions of the romance genre with the archetypes of
  the characters, and also the traditional structure (Todorov’s theory) however
  the difference is that we are not left with any closure. Audience’s of the
  romantic genre like these films as it makes them feel comfortable that they
  know what to expect, and that they will be happy by the end when the couple
  gets together. However, in this film there’s a difference. At the end they do
  not actually get back together, it is only implied at the end when we see that
  they miss each other. This could be because it is a short film, and so they don’
  t have time to have a big happy ending, or it could be because they are trying
  to expand the audience of the film or to keep the traditional romcom audience
  entertained by averting the expectations of the genre. The viewers are caught
  by surprise, leaving them optimistically hoping that they get together, after
  the film has finished.
  
  Audience 
• The film can be watched on you tube, or on the Virgin Media website. Often when
  it is on the Virgin Media website it is good quality, as they are usually
  entered for competitions. However it often means that the audience for it is
  very specific, as all of the films are labelled underneath genre, therefore it
  will mainly be comedy and romantic genre viewers. Therefore, the demographic
  information will stereotypically be female, any age from 16-45. 
• However, it is also on you tube. This means that it will be viewed by a wider
  audience, therefore it will not have to worry about sticking to the genre
  expectations, as they are widening their audiences, so by not completely
  following the Todorov theory, they are experimenting with the genre. 
  
  Media language 
• There is a clever shot/ reverse shot sequence during the meeting between the
  three characters. It is clever as initially we see Charly, on a slight low
  angle, yet the shot of Rob and Sophia are straight on. This low angle could
  perhaps show Charly’s vulnerability in this situation, she has her arms folded,
  trying to cover her T-shirt. She feels quite self conscious at being “bigger”,
  so we sympathise with her. Furthermore, the shot is aimed slightly over towards
  the right, giving the effect that it’s from Sophia’s angle. It is a low angle
  mid shot, so it looks as if she is being judged, therefore conforming to what
  we think Sophia would be thinking (5) 
• Sound is also used very well. The non-diegetic sound is Charly’s thoughts.
  Initially we think she is the only one who we can hear outside of dialogue,
  however we then hear Rob’s thoughts. The fact that it is only these two we can
  hear, it puts them to the centre of our minds, and so subtly unites them. Their
  thoughts are similar, and this is where we start to think that they may get
  back together. This is then confirmed at the end when they hug (6). Finally,
  the two non-diegetic voices both talk over Sophia when she is telling them of
  their plans. This means we listen to Charly, further sympathising with her.  

Short Film Research - Mark

Media Homework – Advanced Portfolio Preparation

Roma (2012?)

Director: David Altobelli

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/38148087

Roma is based in Italy and has a romantic storyline. The film starts with a male character on a train station looking lost or as if he is looking for someone. Then he meets this girl on the train and the two of them seem happier after that. He then skateboards around a park to impress the new girl he has found and ends up sitting with her. She then takes him to a club to meet her friends and they end up clubbing after that. They then sit outside where she has gone and he is upset as if he has lost her again; and then goes off to walk to a beautiful landscape view where he finds she is at the top as well as if it was fate they have met each other again. But on the final shot is him on his own looking around as if he she has gone again so ends on a cliff-hanger.

I chose this film because it has a good narrative, and there are lots to talk about with regards to representation of the two characters, the genre it would be and also how the audience interpret the film. It also had a good setting which creates a romantic atmosphere to match the storyline.

Representation

·         A social group that would be relevant for this film would be the youth, as the characters are aged in the mid-teens and hold the characteristics of what teenagers do. Here we have two characters that appear to be in love who we can only tell have met by travelling around places to find each other.

·         This film doesn’t seem to be on IMDB but through the codes and conventions of the film I can say that it is a romance. Unlike most short films they have a hybrid of genres but this one only appears to have the one.

·         At first the male character is represented in a way that he seems lost, this representation would be a more modern one, as traditionally males know where they’re going and take control of the situation.  When the train leaves the station he is looking around as if he doesn’t know where he is, or he is just taking in the new scenery. He is seen to be a very active person as he is seen with his skateboard quite a few times which shows he is quite sporty.  

         This is shown as a positive representation as the girl with him seems to like it. He also treats the girl well which is a positive representation of males towards females, this is seen as more of a modern representation because he is seen treating her in a respectable manner in which wasn’t seen in traditional representations. He would also be the stereotypical man the girls would want to be with as he treats them well and is deemed to be quite fit. Although at the end, the final shot is of him on his own which suggests she has left him as she wasn’t right for him even though he treated her well. This action would be more modern representation of females as she is deemed to be leaving him instead of the traditional representation of him leaving her.   

The female character is the girl that appears to like the other boy in this film. She looks like the stereotypical girl that looks beautiful and is who men would like to be with. This isn’t represented too positively though as she appears to leave the male character quite a lot, as if she doesn’t have time for him; then at the end the final shot is him on his own which could suggest she didn’t like him in the end even though they got on so well in the film.

·         I don’t think the audience expected the girl to walk away from the man that often, as she leaves him when they are outside the bar and on the diving ledge; so the audience wouldn’t have shaped the representation of her to do that.

·         An issue this film deals with is love. The boy in this film seems to like travelling whether it is on his skateboard or by train, and he appears to have found that one girl; although she does keep walking away from him at the end they meet each other again, but the final shot is of him on his own which could suggest they left their separate ways.

Narrative

·         The plot of the story is that there is a man who likes travelling and skateboarding, who is also waiting to find the right woman in his life.

  He then meets a girl on a train, and they get to like each other by attending a club where she shows him off to all her friends. But she appears to have a problem, and keeps leaving him. They then meet up on a diving board as if it was fate they were both up there and get along fine. Until, the last shot where we see him on his own looking round which suggests she left him again.

With regards to the story we can’t tell too much either side of the plot, but we can have a good guess. The man likes to travel and I think he might have travelled quite a lot in his life, and has come to Roma where he appears to have found his love he has been searching for. He meets this girl and they both like each other, but things aren’t as he would like it to be. After she leaves him he then goes on travelling the rest of Italy where eventually finds his true love. That’s my guess at how the story works and that is what only the spectator can assume. We guess these elements of the story just through how the characters act, we can tell the boy likes travelling a lot because he is on a skateboard which suggests that’s what he has done in the past and wants to do in the future. The advantage of being able to deduce the story is that it keeps the audience engaged with the film and so that they can make up their own mind on what happened before and after.

·         This film has a linear narrative but does flashback to certain scenes that happened before in the film, but it’s linear enough that I can explain Todorov’s 5 stages:

Equilibrium

-       Where the man is on his travels, seen on the train and then on his skateboard living his normal life.

Disruption

-       The change of his normal life is when he meets this girl on the train, after that he starts to spend time with her.

Confrontation

-       He notices she has a liking for him and he likes her as well, so she takes him to a club where she shows him off to her friends and they have a good time.

Resolution

-       They then spend some quality time together in the club and then sat outside the club.

New Equilibium

-       A new problem arises when she first walks away from sitting down with him, by the looks on his face, without prior warning as to why. 

 Then they meet up on a diving board and everything seems back to normal; but when on the last clip we are seen with just the boy on his own as if she has left him again. That is where it ends, on a cliff hanger. The fact it ends on a cliff hanger means it’s unresolved means it doesn’t entirely fit into Todorov’s theory, but the first 4 stages do.

Additionally, Barthes action and enigma codes fit into this film as well. An example of an enigma code would be the ending: we are unsure whether the girl has left him completely or if she has just gone home, us, the spectator, will be asking these questions at the end which the audience will like because they are getting involved with the film.

Genre

·         The only genre I would say this film has is romance as that is the main theme; there doesn’t seem to be any codes that would be in another genre. I say there is only one genre because the man and the girl like each other and appear to be in love, but as we know at the end that might not be the case but love is the main case in this film.  

·         Short films usually have more than one genre which is called a hybrid as there is so much to fit into a small film, often codes and conventions cross over on genres to become a hybrid. But in the instance of this film there is only one genre: romance. A short film doesn’t have to be a hybrid, but is often the case, although in this film they appear to have pulled off just the one genre.

·         This film matches closely with Rick Altman’s theory on semantic and syntactic codes. With regards to being semantic, in a romance film you often link it to lovely landscapes, nice scenery and having a good time for example at the club.  This is exactly what happens in this film, there is wonderful scenery one of which is a lovely sunset shot, which can be seen as very romantic and convey's the genre of love to the audience. Also with syntactic we can say that the couple will meet, get to know each other then start spending time together; this also occurs in this film where they meet on the train, spend time together in the club and outside it and also on the diving board, but we don’t know the outcome of it all.

Audience

·         Who might be expected to see this film would be around 18-25 year olds who enjoy watching romance films and seeing a couple be happy with additionally a good story line that the spectator can easily follow. I think this would appeal to both genders, but maybe slightly more female as it’s more of a love story.

·         The audience might be pleased by the film because it has a very romantic storyline; two people meeting on a train and then falling in love. It’s because both of them look happy when they are together the audience will feel happy for them. Its only when she leaves him the audience will feel sorry for him the girl has left him on his own.

·         This short film was used to advertise clothing but is still classed as a short film as well. It has a really strong storyline built in and they have pulled it off really well as an advert and a short film. It’s still a short film as the audience don’t know its advertising clothing as they are getting pulled into the storyline.

·         David Altobelli has also directed adverts for Adidas, so what he does is create short films with a good narrative used for advertising products which is a very clever way of advertising.

Media Language

·         I think with a scene that is creative and interesting would be the last scene, where the man goes up to the diving board and the girl also turns up there as if it was fate they have found each other again. 

       The camerawork in this scene are lots of extreme long shots to show you the stunning scenery that they have chosen. The scene is very romantic with the slow motion shots whilst he gets up to the top, and then he turns around and his love is there. After that there are slow motion shots of them hugging and kissing and sets the romance mood with the beautiful sunset in the background. It really adds that effect of true love and adds that warming feel in your body. But right at the end we see a shot of just him on his own, this creates one of Barthes enigma codes in which the spectators don’t know if she left him, or if they are together and she just went home; those are the questions us as spectators are asking at the end of the film.

Love Tap (2008)

Director: Mike Goode

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/18486821

Love Tap is about a man who is trying to find love. He liked this girl in his office but he never talked to her and found out she got engaged. He was then told by his colleague to not let love pass you and to make the first move. He then is driving home and sees a blonde girl next to him driving and comes up to the lights and bumps into her so he then has her number. They then go onto get married, have kids etc; but then a twist! She says you never bumped into me you still have your foot on the brake, then goes back to the car scene where another girl from work bumps into him and that is the end.

I chose this film as it appears to fit into the Romcom genre and I thought it would be good to talk about a hybrid. Also it has a good narrative and a good twist at the end.

Representation

·         A social group that is relevant to this film would professionals at the organisation. It was Seth’s co-worker that told him he can’t wait for a girl to bump into him and to take opportunities when they come about. But in actual fact at the twist at the end he was chasing after the wrong girls and a girl bumped into him from his workplace and made the first move, not Seth.

·         The genre used in this film, according to IMDB is just comedy, but I would class this as a hybrid of Comedy and Romance: a Romcom. As Steve Neale said, texts often exhibit the conventions of more than one genre; which is why I would say it’s a Romcom.

·         Seth is represented as a character that chases after girls who are too good for him and appears not to have much luck in his love life. With the clothes he wears, he appears to be the archetypal stereotypical old fashioned person who is caught wearing a sweater another old person is wearing. When he sees the hot girl in the car, he takes off the sweater as to say that has been putting girls off him before and then he goes ahead to dream about them getting married, have children and grow old. Even when the dream is over and the girl bumps into him he finally finds his true love; so taking off the clothes he wore before when he couldn’t find love, turns out to be the right result for him. At first it was a negative representation as he was seen to be the guy that doesn’t find love but it turned around in the end.

Priscilla is the girl Seth thinks he has fallen in love with, as he bumps into her car it all starts from there. She is represented as the better offer for Seth after chasing after a girl he had no chance with. As it goes through the film she is represented to have the ideology of a traditional couple’s life and what every girl dreams of; having a loving husband, nice home, and children.

·         This film deals with the issue about love and sexuality. Seth was rejected by the girl he liked and it can put down your self-esteem and can make you think about your sexuality and who you love and who you have feelings for. But in the end he 

       crashes his post trolley into a girl, in which you can tell she likes him and the twist is at the end she bumps into his car as if they were made for each other when he bumped into her pushing the post trolley. So he realised once she liked him, he knew his charm for liking girls was still there.

         Because he bumped into her she thought the same, as if it was fate them two have been bought together in the office and then to meet on that same road later on. But in between that story is the issue of Seth not going for it as he was just dreaming what would happen instead of actually making it happen. 

       Seth’s ideology was to be with that blonde girl in the car and have a life with her, but back in reality it was never to happen.  

Narrative

·         The plot of the story is that a man (Seth) likes this girl that he can’t get, then bumps into another girl whilst he was driving as he was told he has to make the first move; they then go on to get married and have kids but then realise it was only his dream and she drives off. Then another girl from work bumps into him as she likes him and that is where it ends.

With regards to the story of the film we don’t know the full story but because the audience is actively involved we can take a good guess: there is a man (Seth) who has wanted to get with this girl for months and months but hasn’t had the guts to speak to her. When he finally does want to speak to her he finds out she actually got engaged. He is then told to make the first move. The next bit is the same as the plot until the ending where we can imagine the rest of the story will be they will get together and have that life he dreamed of and live happily ever after. The plot and story in this film relate because we don’t know the story but we can imagine what the story is just from the plot. I have managed to have a good guess at the story and that was just by watching the film. As the spectator can tell the story they get to know the film more and can get into it a lot better as they know the story and can tell how it will end in the future.

·         This film has a linear narrative until the twist at the end which would be the new equilibrium. This story links well with Todorov’s theory of classic narrative where he explains how classic and simple linear narrative are organised. I am now going to put the 5 stages into context with this film:

Equilibrium

·         At work, handing out the post as if it’s a normal day for him.

Disruption

·         When Seth finds out the girl he likes has actually got engaged.

Confrontation

·         Seth’s friend then tells him to make the first move, or I quote ‘to bump into the girl first’, to tackle his lack of love.

Resolution

·         When Seth is driving home from work he sees a girl and bumps into her car, then then go on to get married, buy a house, have kids and live a happy life.  

New Equilibrium

·         The new equilibrium is when he realises he was just dreaming and didn’t actually bump into her car and she gets away. A girl from work then bumps into him who likes him and that is the cliff hanger it ends on. The fact it ends on a cliff hanger means the narrative is unresolved and it doesn’t directly fit into Todorov’s theory, but the first 4 stages of the theory does. Many short films end without resolution a I found out with these two examples here.

Another theory that fits into this film would be Roland Barthes theory on action and enigma codes. These codes are questions that are raised by the spectators by watching the text. An example of an enigma code for this film would be the ending; us as the spectators are unsure on how Seth and the girl who bumped into him get on, whether they go on to get married or anything, so that would be an enigma code as it’s a question the spectators don’t have an answer to. An example of an action code would be Seth driving in the car waiting for something to happen.

Genre

·      Genres that are present in this film are romance and comedy; often called a romcom. A film which can fit into more than one genre is often called a hybrid. As Steve Neale said that texts often exhibit the conventions of more than one genre, and also as Rick Altman said; genres don’t have clear, stable identities and borders to classify a film by. 

·  Short films can often fit into more than one genre; because short films can often fit into more than one genre; it is such a small amount of time to do a film in, it’s hard to concentrate on just one genre, so often they are hybrids or two or more genres.

·      There are certain codes and conventions that are linked to genres, and these codes and conventions in this film are linked to romance and comedy. It has the generic love codes and conventions where one falls for another. On the other side, comedy, you have where Seth is playing at the pier. This would be an instance of comedy which shows the spectators they are having a laugh whilst being romantic. Also how it ends as well, where he is actually just having a dream and the girl ends up bumping into him. By using these codes and conventions, the audience can engage with the film as they understand what the genre is.

Audience

·         The age of which people would watch this film would be aged around 18-30 as its suited for teenagers as it’s not over the top with the romance and also the comedy element makes the film enjoyable whilst conveying a serious message. It’s also suitable for anyone older than teenagers too as you could relate the characters to yourself.  Gender wise, females would be the majority of the audience, but it’s not restricted just to them, some males that enjoy comedy mixed with romance and a good story line will enjoy this film too.

·         There are many ways the audience would be pleased with the film; the fact there is a sneaky twist at the end, also that it has a good narrative that you can easily follow, and also there is a good amount of comedy and romance mixed which gives the film a good vibe.

·         This film was produced for the Walt Disney Pictures Short Films division.

·         Mike Goode has also directed another short film called Multiple Choice which is also a comedy.

Media Language

·         The sequence I found which was interesting and which used lots of good features was where they ran to the door, he lifted her jumper over her head, then it cuts to doing the same at the wedding which was a good feature of a graphic match. This feature created a sense of manipulation of time going by to when they were at the pier and to getting married and the spectators might not have expected that to happen. This also shows that they are still together and are willing to get married and love each other.

 

Also one of Barthes enigma codes was also present there as the spectators don’t know what happened in between then and to the wedding, they don’t know how long after that they got married, they don’t know how fast their relationship was going and these can be important questions for the spectators to ask as it shows they are getting involved with the film. 


Sprockett (2012)
Director: Hazel Meeks
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ILT4PlZpQo&list=PLFuL9gpkIStXTK-Y3maWLWG0oWsfVMADv&index=9
This short film is about a few kids who want to get a prosthetic arm to play with but the old man who owned the scrap yard was wearing it. So one of the boys goes into the building to see if he can find one where he finds the old man and confronts him. They then pretend they are fighting over the arm so the other kids hear them shouting and hitting things as if they were fighting for the arm. He then finds a spare arm for him to keep and goes back out to the other kids and tells them that he beat him up to win the arm.

Representation
• A social group that would be relevant is the youth. As there are three kids that are in their youth ages they hold the stereotypical traits of what teenagers do, and that is trying to be better than everyone else and beating up the elderly. But of course he doesn’t actually beat the old man up; he just tells his friends he does that to gain street credit.

• The genre used in this film, I would say is social realism, as it relates to how the youth are these days. Because the genre is what happens realistically in the social world, this helps represent the kids as to what they are doing and how they act. The audience see what the kid is actually doing which isn’t hurting the old man, but the social realism comes from the kids outside who think he beat the old man up and that is what people thing young kids do to old people and therefore a realistic representation of the youth.
• With regards to characters I’m going to talk about the kids and how they’re represented. They are represented as the stereotypical kids who go around beating up old people and stealing something in return as a group; but the kid who goes in and finds the old man I don’t think is represented as that, as he seems scared and vulnerable compared to the other two. So he acts as if he is the big man around his friends as he goes back and tells them he fought the old man off for his arm, but in reality he has a heart of gold and would never do that to an old man. This is a positive, more traditional representation for the boy as he didn’t beat the old man up, but a negative, more modern representation for them as a whole group that they would even talk about hurting an old man.
• The audience realise throughout the film what the kid is doing and realises he has to live up to the fate of getting this arm or his other friends might ditch him, so he has to do it and act as if he fought off the old man for his friendship to stay intact and the audience recognise this when he tells his friends that he beat the old man up at the end.


Narrative
• The plot of this story is that three kids are after a prosthetic arm in a scrap yard off an old man, so one kid goes into the yard, confronts the man in which they pretend the kid beat up the old man, he gives the kid the arm they were after and the kid tells his friends that he beat the old man up to earn the arm.
With regards to the story, as the audience, we can only guess that the kids have seen this old man with the arm before and are keen to get it off him. So they worked out a way in which they can get it and go to the scrap yard. The boy then goes into the yard to find the old man who confronts him. They then pretend the kid is beating up the old man so his friends think he is all that. Then he comes out with the hand in which he claimed he beat the old man up for it. After this we can only assume the boys go off and play with the hand with the kid’s reputation still intact.
• The film has a linear narrative, it’s in chronological order and fits well into Todorov’s 5 stages, except from the last stage where the audience have to guess what happens next as the plot ends at the resolution:
Equilibrium
o The equilibrium is the kid telling the other kid what happens if he goes into the old man’s house.
Disruption
o The disruption is when the old man clicks his fingers as he knows someone is there.
Confrontation
o The confrontation is when the old man gets up and goes over to speak to the boy as he caught him.
Resolution
o When the old man gives him the arm and the kid walks out successful on his mission.
New Equilibrium
o When they walk off, we as the audience don’t know what they do after that, so it’s a mystery to us and we have to think that they will do next.
The fact that the film ends where they walk off means the audience are engaged in the film as they have to try and understand what they do next.

Genre
• The genres that are present in this film are social realism and adventure. Like Steve Neale said, texts often hold the conventions of more than one genre. Additionally Rick Altman said that genres don’t have clear, stable identities and borders to classify a film by.

• There are codes and conventions in this film for social realism and also adventure. It holds the codes and conventions of social realism through the way the kid acts when he comes out of the scrap yard. He comes out as if he has beaten up the old man just so his friends think he is cool, these are the stereotypical codes and conventions of how young people are today. As these codes and conventions are in the short film, the audience are then engaged as they get to choose their opinion of each character as we don’t get to know a lot about the characters, just the way they act; then they can apply their own stereotypes on what the kids are like rather than the director telling the audience how he wants them to think what the kids are like.

Audience
• The audience expected to be this would be from 7-30 years old; as it falls in this category I would expect families to come and see this film over anyone else. Also anyone who enjoys adventure films mixed with some realism in a film.
• There are a few ways that the audience would enjoy the film, with the twist in the middle where the old man pretends to be beaten up by the kid then ends up, then he walks out victorious and tells his friends that he beat the old man up to win the arm.

• This film was short-listed for the final of the Virgin Media Shorts awards 2012, but unfortunately didn’t win.
• Hazel Meeks is a short film director and has directed 4 other short films in the past leading back to 2005. She has worked with film and TV since she was 16 and worked with big companies like ITV and BSKYB. She has also worked as a publicist for Icon Film Distribution.

Media Language
• The scene that contained interesting and creative techniques used was where the boy walks into the room where the old man is. As he is walking in there is non-diegetic sound present used to create tension. As he walks closer the music gets louder and louder to create tension for the audience. The old man then clicks his hands and says don’t move. As he gets up the music that created tension before comes back as he walks over to the little boy. Shot reverse shot is then used as the two speak to each other. One of Barthes enigma codes is also present here as the audience don’t know what the old man and the kid talked about as we cut to the two kids outside; all we know is that it was a plan to get the arm but we don’t know for sure what they said.


Mix Tape (2010)
Director: Luke Snellin
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbxOG9vKtIc 
In this film there is a boy who likes the girl next door, and creates a mix tape for her. He then goes to take it round to her but she isn’t in so he gives it to her mum to give to her. He then goes back home and next he hears the music playing from next door as she has put the tape on. They then dance in their own rooms to the music and at the end they both lay back to back against their walls.

Representation
• Social groups that would be relevant would be the youth, more young children. The two children are roughly 10 years old maybe a bit more and shows that they are friends as he gave her the tape and then they are both dancing around to it afterwards.
• But this film could also be showing that the two like each other not just as friends, as the song has lyrics of ‘I wonder where my baby is tonight’ meaning this could signal they are talking about each other. This is represented in an interesting way as the audience could either see them as just friends or they like each other more, because they don’t show that they like each other, they just show them having a good time separately which could just mean they are friends and the audience gets to decide this themselves so they are more engaged with the film.


Genre
• Genre’s that are present are clearly romance and friendship, even if they don’t like each other in that way, a sign that they are friends is clear in this film. This helps influence representation as it links to social realism, and as they might be at the age where they start to have boyfriends and girlfriends the audience can relate to this if they have kids themselves that have done it before. 
• I’m now going to discuss the male child character in terms of representation. He represents a more modern field of masculinity against the more traditional traits a man holds. He is treating the girl nice by making her a mix tape then going round there and giving it to her which is a lovely gesture to do; a more traditional man wouldn't treat a girl as nice as that and might not have given the girl any gift at all. This is a positive representation on the man and shows that it is a more modern representation and how times have changed from the past.

Narrative
• The plot of this film is that a boy makes a mix tape, takes it round to a friend next door who turns out to be a girl but she isn't in. so he hands it to the mother who offers him to come in and he says no. he then goes back to his house, goes up to his room all upset on his bed as he didn't get to see her; until she starts to play the mix tape then the two of them are jumping up and down on their beds to the music and enjoying themselves separately. 
As the audience we can only have a very good guess at the story, but we are told enough information in the film to have a good estimate on the story. We can tell that the boy knows this girl well enough to take round a mix tape and we can also tell that the mum knows the boy as well; we can assume that the boy has been round her house before as the mum asked if he wanted to come in and wait for Lily to come back. Afterwards we can only assume that as the last scene they were leaning back to back that their friendship is really strong or they have classified themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend.
• Todorov’s 5 stages fit well into this film as well, as the film has a linear structure and is in chronological order, in which I will apply it now to this film:
Equilibrium
o The equilibrium is the kid making the mix tape
Disruption
o The disruption is when he goes round to Lily’s house and she isn’t there so he can’t see her. 
Confrontation
o The confrontation is when her mum takes the mix tape to give to her and she will tell Lily he popped round.
Resolution
o The resolution is when he is home and he hears her playing the music and then they dance together in separate rooms to the music.
New Equilibrium
o The new equilibrium is at the end as the music finishes and they are both sitting back to back on the wall. As we don’t know what happens next the audience have to guess.

Genre

• The only genre that is clearly present is romance, there is one little bit where he walks out of his house that is comedy but other than that it’s mainly romance. Even on Virgin Shorts Website the genre they have classified for this is ‘other’. As Steve Neale said, texts often hold conventions of more than one genre and can often be a hybrid of two genres together. Also Rick Altman said that genres don’t have clear, borders to classify a film by, especially in this film. 

• There are codes and conventions in this film for romance and comedy. For romance the boy doesn't actually say at any point that he likes this girl he went round to see, but the fact he went round with a mix tape suggests that he was trying to woo the girl of his dreams. There is also a sequence of comedy where the boy walks out of his house, and dramatic music comes on as if he is going to be walking a long way to complete his mission, but he just goes next door which I found quite funny. 

Audience
• The audience I would expect to see this would be teenagers, from 10-18 years old, as they will be able to relate to the film easily and therefore will be more engaged with the film. I would also expect parents to come with the children as they would be able to relate to their own kids too. 
• The audience would enjoy this film because everyone loves young kids falling in love, especially with the gesture the boy is giving Lily as the audience will find it really sweet. They will also like the fact that it’s not obvious they like each other, but the fact they are dancing to the same song in two separate rooms as if they were together. 

• This film was shortlisted for the final of the Virgin Media Shorts awards 2010, but unfortunately didn't win.
• Luke Snellin is a director of short films, and is known for Patrick, Disco and Jess//Jim which were also successful short films. He has also directed several adverts and music videos alongside his film work and was named in Screen International magazine as a 'Star of Tomorrow 2010'. His work has been broadcast on national television and 214 cinema screens nationwide.

Media Language
• A sequence that I would like to talk about that uses good techniques that are interesting is the scene where the girl plays the music. Cross-cutting is used throughout this scene and the diegetic soundtrack also crosses over to the other clip. 

• As cross-cutting is used, it shows that both of them are jumping around on the beds and enjoying the music together but separately. After the sequence, it is shot as if the camera is in the wall and they both sit back against their walls as if they are back to back but they aren’t, but it’s to show they are getting closer, but not too close yet.