Research on short films and reviews

By Hodo Eid and Rana Al Mohjab

Research
Main production: For our main production we decided to discuss domestic violence in our main product. This meant that we had to look through lots of short films that had a similar theme. Using YouTube as the basis of our research we found that there was different types of domestic violent films and they all explored their storyline in a different way. There was several short films that really captured us. They followed the conventions of a short film but also portrayed the storyline in affect way. An example was the Kiera Knightley domestic violence advertisement. The simple story and script followed by the horrific yet effective point given in the end really inspired us and made us more keen to follow a similar story line. The use of sound was also very affective and it really drew the audience in, the thuds and screaming coming from characters in the short film really captured the feel of domestic violence and how horrific it can be. Another factor we also looked at, was the message in the end of the video. The message said isnt time to call cut this clearly has a connection with the storyline of the film and the message of domestic violence being cut. The storyline follows Kiera Knightley coming out of the studio, just finished shooting a film and she drives home, the music is pretty up bit. When she parks in her drive way the music stops, as Kiera Knightley looks up towards her flat she sees the silhouette of a man standing near the window, we can see the shock in her face, as the mood intensifies, we can also hear that the music has stopped. This tension created already in the first 60 seconds of the advertisement gave us ideas and inspired us to do the same in our film by creating tension with the camera shots and the music.

This image shows the character being severally beaten by the man. The sound at this point in the short film is very horrific as we can only hear the females cries and the mans thuds. As the camera pulls out we can also see that the kitchen is a film set and this indicates that although they might be actors on a film set, it does not stop domestic violence from happening, it also illustrates the point that the actress is on her own and there no directors or crew members there to help her from this situation, which also shows that similar situations happen to other females in real life and there is no one to help them. The message of the film is very powerful, the way the directors have portrayed the characters and brought their point across is very interesting.

Another short film we looked at was the tea party:

This Advert is very important as it addresses the issues of domestic violence, however they directors and producers portrayed the violence in a clever way which captured the audience. Using children in their advert made the issue stand out more, the message they were conveying in their advert was that children can also be affected by domestic abuse and can also be influenced and later grow up this way. The use of costume was very good as they used adult clothes on children. At the beginning of the scene we see a medium angle shot of children sitting around a table playing a tea party game, however we do not see the childrens face, we are only introduced to their feet. The shoes the children are wearing are adult shoes, the little girl seems to be wearing her mothers while the little boy is wearing his fathers. The children start arguing in the advert and the boy starts becoming more aggressive and starts speaking like an abusive man, while the little girl seems very submissive and abused. The shoes could symbolize the children following in their parents footsteps, it could also connote that theyre influenced by their parents and follow what they say. Which proves that children take knowledge and behavior from their parents, which later could result in the children acting and behaving like their parents. This is a scary image portrayed and this is the message that is addressed in the advert. Another reason why we really liked this advert was because of the sound, the use of sound in a short film is very vital as it creates tension and suspense. The use of sound in this film was very good as we could hear the thuds and shouting. This was affective as it caused more tension and showed the realism in the film as the sounded very realistic.

This image shows the children wearing their parents shoes.

Researchonposterandreview I googledtheconventionsof a filmposterandmostof the informationcamebackthesame,soI decidedtolookat actualfilmpostersfrom differentgenres.Allpostershad a title,creditsandanimage.

All these posters show all the conventions of a film poster. The bold titles, the credits on the bottom, the main image which advertises the film. However With the batman poster it is different from other posters as the brand has already been established it shows that they do not need the credits or famous names to advertise their movie poster. If we focus on Nil by Mouth we can see that the poster shows the theme of the film, you can see this from the images on the poster. The use of the images indicates that the producers wanted the story to be shown on the poster so it can attract an audience. The rough look on the poster also indicates the rough mood of the film, set in an area of working class families, the film really captures the lives of people that live in working class estates. The images on the poster show violence and aggression. The idea of the poster showing parts of the film is affectively what we want to do with our film poster.

Film reviews Researching on different film reviews, what I found interesting was that they all had the same conventions. Title Tagline One sentence summary max 10 words Opening paragraph, which needs to be really gripping and attract the audience Body of the review this should be a series of short paragraphs, it should be about 500 1000 words max. Both the introduction and the first paragraph should really be very gripping, it should attract the audience. It should also give a brief description of the film and it might also give an indication of whether the rest of the review will be positive or negative. For our short film We decided to follow the same conventions, as they are made to for specific reason to attract the audience.

Review Research

An Image Release date Genre Actors and Actresses Director The review has the typical dominating image in the centre, showing the main characters, giving an impression of the actual film. The review its self seems organised and well structured. On the top they have the bubble quote stating an important part of the interview.

Our short film Review

The review 15 A Cert: 5 MIN Director Hodo & Rana; Staring Ashely Wright, Farah Awan The director debut for Rana Al-Mohajab and Hodo Eid, the stereotype of a black man is changed in this short film, a portrait of working class lives destroyed by violence and power. The sequence depicts a brutal instance of spousal abuse, although the spouse being abused is the male, the film revolutionises the stereotype of men being the only abusers. There a numerous accounts of tension which we see through the camera work and sound. Tainted does not sympathise with the male character but it does force us to understand his situation and later express sympathy for him. Ashley is revealed to the audience in an intelligent way, he at first is the one causing the suffering however we soon realise he is the one suffering. This connotes the clever way the directors have transformed his outlook, into a man who is experiencing a harsh reality in life and he deals with it by inflicting pain and torture on others to escape his agony. Tainted is a powerful and uncomfortable film, it explores the pain a man afflicts on others while he himself goes through the same experience. This film causes the audience to battle themselves whether to sympathise for the characters or not. Tainted a strong willed film that illustrates the depth of pain caused by domestic violence.