Preliminary task

PRELIMINARY
TASKS

What is a short film? Why did I choose a short film?
Genre research :-
- Inspiring
- Tragedy
- Romance
- Horror
- Thriller
Final analysis
Rough script
Rough storyboard
Test shoot footage

(You can press on the titles, to go to their respective sections :D)

INDEX

RESEARCH
in order to come up with a genre, order of events, format and structure for my short film.

Given below is an account of all the short films/ movies I've watched for research purposes, there's a descriptive and detailed analysis on each and every short film/ movie

What is a short film? Why did I choose short film?

It is quite straight forward, a short film is is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. Initially when films were introduced, they would only be a minute or less and would typically be shorter then the average movie duration now days. In early times the only entertainment consumed were comedy and animated short films that were presented as a serial or series. Unfortunately ever after the great depression, there's been a shortage and unpopularity for short films till this day intime. However, animated short films as well as cartoon short films till this day still have huge hype, compared to live motion short films created now. After studying about short films in depth I started understanding them in a third person perspective. Which is, since short

films have a limited duration, they ought message or storyline passed on from Good examples are the conveying of one were to search up any one of those of short films connected to the topic (newspapers are an exception as they're information as it is. Thus, having articles

to be crisp. Which in turn helps the them to be more effective on consumers. natural disasters and global warming, if topics, they'd almost instantly find a ton rather than movies, magazine, etcetera main function is typically conveying of as many topics, concepts and theories

in a formal manner). Initially I wasn't going to do short film because I had chosen music video. However, I changed my mind because of my love for producing movies. Last year (AS Level) I chose 'film opening' which I genuinely had loads of fun making and felt complete creative freedom, as well as scored the highest grades in my school. Thus, I felt that making a short film would sharpen and better my production skills, the making of a 'film opening scene' gave me a base and a vague understanding of how the whole process of making and live motion version of my script or storyline and now that I'm making a short film I have a clear idea of what to do. Another reason I chose short film is because, I felt forced to make a video for the song I would've chosen for my music video and that there'd be a boundary to how much I could create, only according to the songs concept. Thus, in my short film I wouldn't be bound by anything and be able to produce something based completely off of my creativety and vision.

Genre of movies/ short films for my research analysis :-

INSPIRING

2. 'Napo' is a 16 minute short film by 'miralumo films', it begins with the name of its production houses as well as their sponsors.
The shots used are mostly full shots, establishing places or extreme close ups, emphasizing emotions. There was a huge usage of POV shots and rule of thirds.
There was only one continuous background song throughout but occasionally there were a few diegetic sounds as well, such as giggles and deep breathes.
there were very basic transitions and almost not sudden fades to black/ white,
It ends with a message, which is, 'Our elders aren't forgotten and then we must respect our elders. The short film makes sure that the impact of the storyline is felt, making it more dramatic in context.
It ends with limited credits of cast and editing mentions.

3. 'Umbrella' is a 7 minute short film produced by 'Stratosttorm'. It begins with the production house title (stratostorm) and then starts off with the short film.
It has a tremendous usage of POV shots, emphasizing on point of contacts as well as direct sight of characters.
'Umbrella' has a continues sound track in the background with only a few diegetic sounds, showing emotions or movement.
There were a ton of extreme close ups, for example, tears rolling down a face or anxious hand movements and so on.
The lighting was of a darker theme, greys and blues. But with the second half it shifted to more optimistic shades like yellows and pastels.

4. This short film, 'windup' is a beautiful message to the awareness of illness and bedridden patients' lives.
The rule of thirds is used quite often and so are POV's, There are subtle shots and so there are many medium close ups but also a fair amount of full shots throughout the short film.
The editing is very complex with a continues use of cuts, transitions and quick cuts giving a fast forward effect.
The lighting is very direct in terms of the short film's context because we see the transition rather the build up of the grey aesthetic to a more orange/ pink aesthetic.

5. This is probable the most adorable short film out there, 'piper' is a short film by one of the most successful animating production studios in the world, that is the one and only 'Pixar'. It is also an amazing example for my analysis, under the topic of 'inspiring movies/ short films'.
The lighting is actually one of the most radiant factors of the the movie, it builds clear comfort and warmth to the story line.
The editing is more towards an angle of simplicity over complexity, making the view point more direct for the audience.
The sounds are diegetic but subtle making the soundtrack the star of the show.
The shots are mostly that of full shots and less off medium and extreme close ups. There's also a good amount of close ups in this short film.

1. 'Oppenheimer' is a beautiful movie, in fact it is a cinematic miracle of a movie, courtesy direction by 'Christopher Nolan' of course.
The movie has an infinite amount of parallel shots, almost deviating the viewers focus from the actual intent to recite a completely different story line rather than that of the actual movie's concrete story.
There's huge weightage on the effects of lighting to emphasize scene's impact on the viewers.
The editing is top tier as far as communication with audience is concerned. It's very direct, with more focus on cuts rather than transitions
All sounds throughout are diegetic and intense only with the purpose of making the impact of scenes and character's presence vivid.
The close up shots in the movie are more alternate with perspective to full shots, but that obviously because the movie is more directed to the sole purpose of the making and testing the success rate of fission versus fusion in the making of the 'atom bomb'

A few similarities that I was able to catch in all the movies under the genre 'inspirational movies',

There were loads of POV shots and most of all many full shots as well.
Almost all the movies/ short films from my research had majority non-diegetic sounds throughout
There was almost always a shift from the grey aesthetic to the yellow aesthetic.

TRAGEDY

2. This 6 minute short film, 'less than human' is an example of, 'there is beauty in simplicity'.
It depicts misconceptions on minorities through a concept of fiction. It creates a lot of tension and understanding through the script and dialogue narration, creating depth.
The camera shots and angels are almost the same throughout with shifts between medium shots and close up shots with the help of zooming in and out.
There are only POV shots and tilt shots throughout.
The aesthetic and theme is that of black and red, which really helps build message and put forth the concepts of disapproval, anger, denial and sadness.

3. 'Children' is in my opinion quite a true description of our brutal society, however it's extremely direct or in other words straight forward, I mean you would need quite the mental stability to recover after watching it.
The scenes are very direct with the messages that the director is trying to convey through their writing.
There are only clear cuts between scenes as far as editing is concerned.
The whole theme throughout the short film is actually quite saddest, it' very morbid and dark.
The camera angles throughout are still and the whole short film is in a full shot, only a few scenes are close ups.
the sound was diegetic and there was a light music that did play throughout.

4. 'Happiness' is a 4 minute short film that ironically talks about the constant hunger of man kind and the sorrow led by all the greed inside one. it's a beautiful depiction of 'the matrix' by the famous, Steve Cutts, a phenomenal illustrator.
The short film has a ton of symbolic references, the lighting is such that it changes constantly to match the mood.
The shots change constantly but I personally felt that there were an abnormal amount of extreme full shots.
The sound wasn't the main focus and so there were a few diegetic sounds a subtle background tune that played throughout.
The editing had so many transitions, not just fast ones but also slow transitions with the intention of impacting viewers. There were also a lot of 'cut to' transitions.

5. 'Fault in our stars' is a masterpiece of a movie, it has an incredible story line and above all an amazing aesthetic, script and cast.
The movie almost has all sad scenes in the dark (night time/ after sun down) and all optimistic scenes in the light (day/ after dawn).
The movie is more dialogue oriented with more diegetic and less title track or music in the backgrounds.
The editing is very driven to simplicity, so it has minimal transitions and more fades to and cuts.
There are a lot of POV shots and scenes with rule of thirds used.
There's an extreme usage of extreme close ups, almost n every alternate scene has it but only because the movie is a heave on its displaying of emotions.

1. 'Best friend' is a short film that talks about addiction and abuse of evolving technology, which is a very hot topic in this time and age and has been portrayed very well by 'gobelins' production house through the following:
The lighting used is extremely specific, only yellow for all the events to look forward to, but only in the lead's perspective and not in the audience's perspective and only black for all of the depressing and lowly events.
The editing is just beautiful, it's one of the only things that carried the whole short film. The transitions are so clean, it's hard to even spot them, it really is a very good way of keeping a viewers occupied throughout.
There are almost only POV shots and full shots but a few medium close ups here and there, to impact points about the film.

A few similarities that I was able to catch in all the movies under the genre 'tragic movies',

In my opinion, all the movies have a different concept and a different way to conveying an aesthetic, directing the audience on a certain stream of emotion.
One similarity, however is that the lighting is almost always set lighting, in the sense there is additional lighting for every single movie/ short film I saw. This shows that the expressions are a major factor of creating depth in all the scenes.
There are a huge usage of the rule of thirds and tilt shots.
There are almost only close up shots and extreme close up shots in every alternate scene in all the movies/ short films I saw.

ROMANCE

2. 'Ok Jaanu' is a light rom-com, it's produced by the insanely talented, Mani Ratnam and Karan Johar with the idea of putting a smile on one's face.
The whole movie consists of so many POV shots in order to give the audience a sense of what's happening. The shots are all track shots and most of the scenes in my opinion are medium close ups and close ups.
The whole movie is very easy on the eye, with only reading light's mellowness and subtle brightness, the movie also had a full fledged pastel theme going on.
The editing was mostly steady slow zooms in scenes and fades to scenes.
The rule of thirds is applied, the movie is dialogue based, however has a ton of specific songs as well as songs for symbolic codes.

4. This 4 minute short film is super cute and it's all because of the portrayal of emotions, 'extinguished' is a fun short film that starts off with the initial credits.
The lighting plays a huge role in setting mood and character attributes in the short film. The sounds are more or less diegetic with a strong background music throughout.
The editing has majority fades but there are a few cool transitions too, to create some activity and hype in audience.
The short film then ends with editing and song credits.

4. A huge success of a movie and a box office blockbuster, 'Rocky aur Rani kii prem kahani' is a phenomenal example of a romantic movie especially for an analysis because it has a ton of media references and symbolic codes of actual instances from the ruins of our Indian culture, courtesy direction by the one and only, Karan Johar.
The lighting in the movie is top tier as far as representations of setting is concerned. There's a lot of bright lighting but in scenes where there's the slightest of misconception the lighting not bright or dark, it's dim.
The portrayal of character's is done through different angles of shooting scenes, which is low shots for the characters of more dominance and high angle shots for those scenes depicting submissive attitudes.
The editing consists of mostly fast cuts and follow through fades.
The sounds are diegetic, but there is quite a bit of non-diegetic sounds as well helping in the building of tension, depth, warmth and joy in various scenes.

5. 'First date' is a portrayal of imperfection in romance between two individual, which is in my opinion described in a fun and light-hearted way.
The whole movie consists of still shots and a few tilt shots.
The sounds a re diegetic to a huge extent, with a few codes for sounds, it has a soundtrack throughout in the background.
The lighting is constantly bright and to the face directly, showing features.
The editing doesn't really have any transitions except direct cut to.

1. An abnormally adorable short film is, 'in a heartbeat' it is a representation of the excitement in a boy when he catches a fling for another boy in his school.
The shots and angles consist of medium close ups, close ups and full shots.
There were a couple of tilt angles, but mostly shot in a manner where the characters are followed.
The lighting is vivid and bright almost throughout except in the scenes where there's a sense of sadness.
The editing is minimalistic but beautiful, it really enhances the storyline of the film.

A few similarities that I was able to catch in all the movies under the genre 'romantic movies',

There were a lot of scenes that were very slow, which is why there was a huge use of POV shots
There were also plenty of tilted shots, making the video in a way that was more casual, maybe creating some sort of warmth in the scenes.
The lighting was below the face and sometimes even on the face.
The sounds are all diegetic and quite often certain scenes would start off with non-diegetic sounds too.

HORROR

2. This 4 minute short film, 'barbie' is quite chaotic but has a very good use of symbolic codes, to make the viewers understand the storyline.
The lighting is monotonous and direct with overhead to to the face lighting for reasons such as avoiding deviation of the topic.
The editing is just repetitive with only fad to black transitions.
There are many blur scenes to create suspense, but since the duration is limited the scenes reveal context immediately.
This short film doesn't have any use of non-diegetic sounds and only that of diegetic.
The credits have been displayed in the end in limited extent.

4. 'Serbian dancing lady' is small description of a made up theory, so it's quite direct and has not storyline as such and just is descriptive.
The lighting is as it is realistic, with the usage of street lights and house light and not particular intention in creating emotion.
The sound is completely diegetic with no music or any form of additional sounds in the background
The title is shown in the end and the credits in the opening.

4. This 8 minute short film, 'the ballerina' is a display of delusional minds and hallucination.
The only lighting used is over the head, considering that the whole short film is shot in the same venue.
There is a background track and intense diegetic sounds, almost with an echo effect.
There are end credits and title is displayed initially, in the first half.
All the shots are still shots and mostly that off medium close ups and a few extreme close up, to show characteristics.

5. 'Orphan' is a phenomenal movie, in my opinion, it's story line is so thrilling, it never loses the interest of the audience at any given moment.
The lighting throughout the movie is ever so drastic, the focus is on conveying of impact and behavior of character's presence and character's role.
There are a ton of transitions but mostly that of fades to black and jump cuts.
The dialogues are not the point of focus and it is rather the small details in scene to build story base as well as suspense. The sound's are all that off diegetic except in introductory scenes and shots.
There are combination of all shots, from extreme close ups to full shots.
All the credits are in the closing.

1. 'The dinner after' is a 12 minutes short film, showing the acceptance of the grief of a losing a sibling.
The lighting is dim throughout and over the head.
There is a soundtrack for most of the short film, however the diegetic sounds are deliberately made more high pitched to create depth.
The dialogue is very strong, persuading and shifting the focus of the audience from one concept to an other in the storyline.
The editing has a ton of fades and sudden cuts, making every scene almost abrupt.
The title is shown immediately in the beginning and all the credits at the end.

A few similarities that I was able to catch in all the movies under the genre 'horror movies',

There are a ton of close up shots and extreme close up shots, to create a mise en scene, of 'fear'
The sounds are all diegetic however most of the short films/ movies I saw had certain scenes with title tracks or rather noticeable music, which is no-diegetic.
Most of the angles used were at a high angle.

THRILLER

2. 'Warlike' is a 4 minute short film. It's not focused to a particular storyline and is more like a film opening in my opinion. There's not much impact from scenes on audience.
The lighting is very natural, there's isn't any usage of any set lighting on any of the scenes.
The shots are mostly that of extreme close ups and medium close ups only, there were a fee cow boy shots as well. These shots were mainly prioritized because there was a fight sequence.
The title was presented at the end and so were the credits, which might be for the reason that the duration was less.

3. This short film is a good example of a thriller, 'tunnel' is about a never ending trope of suspense and ironically very predictable.
The lighting is mostly on the face, conveying submissive attitude.
The sounds are only non-diegetic, with a background music throughout the whole short film.
All the credits come in the end along with the title.
Despite it's extreme simplicity, it's very well made and keeps the viewers hooked with it's media applications.

4. 'Heart of stone' is a recent movie but an amazing example of media applications to convey the topic of the movie (action-thriller).
There are a huge amount of extreme full shots because there was a need for introductory scenes as all the scenes are very constant and all the main transitions are jump cuts.
The lighting is very low angled and gives a sense of power and strength in the scene's diversity.
The sounds that are used are non-diegetic as there are many titles music sounds for entries of characters and starting of events.

5. 'Tenet' is just a cinematic masterpiece, it's editing is one of a kind and honest is one of the first things to carry the whole movie together, quite literally.
The music and sounds are also a huge highlight of the movie, Since the movie is psychological and action-thriller. it not only has introductory themes throughout but also background sounds for particular scenes for laying in different depths.
The titles are in and out but the movie title is in the beginning and there are not only opening credits but also end credits.

1. The greatest thriller franchise in Indians cinema, 'Don' is a huge box office blockbuster, with every single movie topping the charts in Bollywood. Directed by the ever most talented, Salim–Javed who spent a huge chunk of his life mastering the arts of cinematography to achieve the sort of success and revenue flow he did from this franchise.
The whole theme of the movie is solely, sun shades, that is yellows, oranges and reds. The lighting is very precise and with the intention to show one's power over the other also being a huge clue throughout the films. The lighting is over the head for those who display dominance and directly on the face, for those who portray weak attributes.
The editing is filled with cool transitions, like dissolves, fades, jump cuts and cut to's.
The shots differ vigorously throughout especially because there are so many fight sequences. For instance, the fight sequences have loads of cowboy shots and above all many extreme close ups to show features and technique.
There are more over diegetic sounds with minimal non diegetic-sounds, only for the purpose of song introductions and character ques.

A few similarities that I was able to catch in all the movies under the genre 'thriller movies',

The scenes were edited in a very rapid way, that was back-to-back almost.
All of the lighting used was very flashy in my opinion, with many different set ups and tones.
Usage of full shots are very frequent and establishing scenes are also quite frequent, probably to make the scenes prominent.

FINAL AND COMPLETE ANALYSIS

AND HOW I'LL INCORPERATE CERTAIN METHODS AND TECHNIQUES IN MY MEDIA PRODUCT :

After researching for the past month about the representations of different genres in 'short film' format, I have a completely different perspective about the same. It was almost a completely new concept for me as I had never really viewed short films as peak entertainment, but to my surprise, I had been watching short films involuntarily for quite sometime now, without even realizing it. 'Pixar' features short films in all of their movies, the disclaimer advertisements at cinema halls, etc, these are all short film's examples, but I only discovered this when I studies about short films and their characteristics.

I have decided to chose a fusion genre of tragedy, romance and fiction for my short film, after hours of research I personally wanted to add many parallel shots in the form of fast montages because I didn't see any short film incorporate that, which felt very odd. Since, SFs (short films) have a shorter and more limited storyline, it felt fit to apply spontaneous direction to really enhance the simplicity of the storyline. I also felt the need to incorporate heavy diegetic sounds, I really loved the impact all the short films that I saw, prominently using diegetic sounds and wanted to too have them in my media product. I also noticed how all of the SFs didn't focus on dialogue at all, which was genius because it forced me and all viewers in general, to see the short film in order to understands its concept/ the message that it was conveying.

I wanted to incorporate a lot of backgrounds and colors, inferring different aesthetics and genres to convey the depth of a scene, with the intent of setting in a certain mood. Which means every scene will mostly be in a different location, something suitable, aesthetic and easy on the eye.

I went throught all my reasearch once again and realized that it was not the right fit for me. So, I sat down and thought through what I really like and I finally came to the conclusion that it was something that had spice and scratched the viewers brains.

That's why I have decided to choose a psychotic thriller for my short film, after hours of research I personally wanted to add many parallel shots in the form of fast montages because I didn't see any short film incorporate that, which felt very odd. Since, SFs (short films) have a shorter and more limited storyline, it felt fit to apply spontaneous direction to really enhance the simplicity of the storyline. I also felt the need to incorporate heavy diegetic sounds, I really loved the impact they had in all of the short films I saw. I also noticed how all of the SFs didn't focus on dialogue at all, which was genius because it forced me and all the viewers in general, to see the short film in order to understands its concept/ the message that it was conveying.

I wanted to incorporate a lot of backgrounds and colors, inferring different aesthetics, to convey the depth of a scene, with the intent of setting in a certain mood. Which meant that every scene would require being in a different location, something suitable, aesthetic and easy on the eye.