(53) Evaluation Q.1
In What Ways Does Your Short Film Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Existing Media Products?
Forms, codes and conventions are important to consider and understand when constructing a film, particularly an amateur one. Firstly, there is a reason as to why they are conventional in the first place: they confer a sense of familiarity on the audience. This familiarity is important to help the audience understand something. They can work as short-cuts; by employing something the audience already understands it allows you to build on them to create your own original work. For example, take genre conventions. If you're creating a sci-fi film, you will likely include settings and props etc. that are easily identifiable to the sci-fi genre, such as space or aliens etc. This immediately allows the audience to identify the film as a sci-fi film, therefore, they're almost immediately familiar with the landscape on which your film is set (eg. alien or far away). This means you don't have to spend loads of time making sure your audience understand that the location is far away from the earth; this has already been established by the genre conventions, which, as a result, allows you to develop on your storytelling further.
Conventions don't just work as short-cuts, however; the conventions adopted - or even subverted - can carry significant meaning. They can work as subtexts for which the audience can find meaning from as an extension or enhancement of the narrative.
While the use of conventions can be applied for meaning or familiarity, they can also be used more simply. Often or not, directors employ particular conventions out of the simple fact they look good or professional. For example, the use of shallow depth-of-field: it's a common convention in cinematic pieces because it looks cool, however, its presence has no other reasoning behind it, it doesn't aid storytelling or anything. This technique is often accused of being lazy by film critics.
So, now that we've established the significant effect of employing common codes and conventions to film, we can actually begin to discuss the conventions surrounding short films.
I will be measuring my film up against three main bodies: short films, feature films and genre. The reason I have opted to incorporate feature films into my response is that the short film industry is heavily influenced by the feature films, therefore, despite the very
What are the conventions of short films?
Short films are quite problematic when it comes to pinpointing their conventions. This is because of the humble and obscure nature of the short film industry: they don't have a particularly wide audience, especially in comparison to their feature-length counterparts. Furthermore, because of their short run-time, they don't really have the time to include enough information that can be, firstly, identified across numerous short films and therefore be considered a convention in the first place. Secondly, because they're short they don't have enough time to cover the basic theories etc. that surround feature films. All of these factors contribute to the fact that short films aren't held to the same rigorous expectations that feature films are. For example, because feature films are so widely consumed, they ought to be used to teach a lesson. To be even more specific, binary opposition is a common theory applied to feature films because it helps the audience determine good from bad. Whereas, short films don't have the audience or run-time to do so and therefore usually put forward more grey characters or plots that aren't labelled 'good' or 'bad'. They're less formulaic and because of this, don't really carry many conventions that define them.
What exactly defines a short film is often debated, however, the most widely accepted definition is 'a motion picture that is too short to be considered a feature film'. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a short film lasts up to 40 minutes, including all credits. This definition is rather broad and suggests no other conventions that characterise a short film as a short film. This being said, the term short film is merely an umbrella term, short films of different genres, functions and categories will likely hold many conventions.
In order to identify conventions that I can apply to my short film, I have conducted research into both the professional short film industry as well as student-made short films. By comparing multiple short films I can draw links between each short film and identify conventions based on these.
In addition to short film conventions, I will also be measuring my film up against feature film conventions. The reason for this is that the short film industry draws a lot of inspiration from the feature film industry.
I have created a director's commentary in which I explain how and why I used particular conventions.
Forms, codes and conventions are important to consider and understand when constructing a film, particularly an amateur one. Firstly, there is a reason as to why they are conventional in the first place: they confer a sense of familiarity on the audience. This familiarity is important to help the audience understand something. They can work as short-cuts; by employing something the audience already understands it allows you to build on them to create your own original work. For example, take genre conventions. If you're creating a sci-fi film, you will likely include settings and props etc. that are easily identifiable to the sci-fi genre, such as space or aliens etc. This immediately allows the audience to identify the film as a sci-fi film, therefore, they're almost immediately familiar with the landscape on which your film is set (eg. alien or far away). This means you don't have to spend loads of time making sure your audience understand that the location is far away from the earth; this has already been established by the genre conventions, which, as a result, allows you to develop on your storytelling further.
Conventions don't just work as short-cuts, however; the conventions adopted - or even subverted - can carry significant meaning. They can work as subtexts for which the audience can find meaning from as an extension or enhancement of the narrative.
While the use of conventions can be applied for meaning or familiarity, they can also be used more simply. Often or not, directors employ particular conventions out of the simple fact they look good or professional. For example, the use of shallow depth-of-field: it's a common convention in cinematic pieces because it looks cool, however, its presence has no other reasoning behind it, it doesn't aid storytelling or anything. This technique is often accused of being lazy by film critics.
So, now that we've established the significant effect of employing common codes and conventions to film, we can actually begin to discuss the conventions surrounding short films.
I will be measuring my film up against three main bodies: short films, feature films and genre. The reason I have opted to incorporate feature films into my response is that the short film industry is heavily influenced by the feature films, therefore, despite the very
What are the conventions of short films?
Short films are quite problematic when it comes to pinpointing their conventions. This is because of the humble and obscure nature of the short film industry: they don't have a particularly wide audience, especially in comparison to their feature-length counterparts. Furthermore, because of their short run-time, they don't really have the time to include enough information that can be, firstly, identified across numerous short films and therefore be considered a convention in the first place. Secondly, because they're short they don't have enough time to cover the basic theories etc. that surround feature films. All of these factors contribute to the fact that short films aren't held to the same rigorous expectations that feature films are. For example, because feature films are so widely consumed, they ought to be used to teach a lesson. To be even more specific, binary opposition is a common theory applied to feature films because it helps the audience determine good from bad. Whereas, short films don't have the audience or run-time to do so and therefore usually put forward more grey characters or plots that aren't labelled 'good' or 'bad'. They're less formulaic and because of this, don't really carry many conventions that define them.
What exactly defines a short film is often debated, however, the most widely accepted definition is 'a motion picture that is too short to be considered a feature film'. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a short film lasts up to 40 minutes, including all credits. This definition is rather broad and suggests no other conventions that characterise a short film as a short film. This being said, the term short film is merely an umbrella term, short films of different genres, functions and categories will likely hold many conventions.
In order to identify conventions that I can apply to my short film, I have conducted research into both the professional short film industry as well as student-made short films. By comparing multiple short films I can draw links between each short film and identify conventions based on these.
In addition to short film conventions, I will also be measuring my film up against feature film conventions. The reason for this is that the short film industry draws a lot of inspiration from the feature film industry.
I have created a director's commentary in which I explain how and why I used particular conventions.
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