The Following work is brief analysises of some of the short films I have watched.
Watch and analyse – what have they got to say
Style, narrative, pace
Promotion distribution or shorts – short film festivals
Gasman
Gasman is a 14 minute long short film written and directed by Lynne Ramsay in 1997. Since its release it has won many awards including; Best Short Film at Cannes Film Festival, The Scotland BAFTA awards and the Atlantic Film Festival.
Here is my immediate reactions in note form of Gasman.
- Don’t see anyone’s faces for a while, never really see mothers face
- Mother and fathers relationship very separate
- Kids limited knowledge of the adult world with skidding car in sugar
- Shows childhood innocence as the girl dances around in her shoes
- ‘There’s no place like home’ The little girl says as she prances around the living room
- Typical dysfunctional family
- The son doesn’t want to go to the party again- Like he already knows something about the father having another family
- The mother watches out the window, does she know? Is she uneasy about it?
- The boy separates himself from their father whilst the girl is treated like a daddy’s girl being twirled around
- Train Tracks used as symbolism for a place in between places as well as a broken down crashed train – symbolism
- Daughter doesn’t understand who the other children are although shares a likeness to them
- Daughter notices the little things between the adults
- The girls create a small friendship on the way to the party except the boys stay separate – they know
- One girl has the nicer richer dress where as the other daughter is wearing a dull grey dress clearly cheap ‘They look like tramps’
- Girl realises the other girl is on her fathers nee, scene slows down ‘That’s my daddy’s nee’ and turns violent
- Father figure tries to ignore them, he wants them to be friends so he picks both of them up
- Daughter wants to throw a rock at the other family but realises there is nothing she can do
- From watching Gasman it has given me inspiration for my film, the framing to hide peoples faces shown how you can reveal the significance of some people and others. Furthermore, from what I consider to be the best scene is when the evening slows down and everything goes into slow motion. It represents how tired all the children have become and this comes across to the audience extremely well.
About a girl
About a girl is 9 minute long short following a girl names Ashleigh as she walks along a canal telling the audience about her life. About a girl was released in 2001, written by Julie Rutterford and Directed by Brian Percival. The film won awards including Best Short at the BAFTA Awards, Best Short at Edinburgh International Film Festival, TCM Award as London Film Festival and awards as both the Manchester International Film Festival and the Raindance Film Festival. These are my initial thoughts on the film.
Home
- Fast paced represents teenage girls life
- Shots going back and fourth reflecting her life
- Lighting reflecting her dark life
- Gritty realism
- Careful choice of location, documentary like
- Quick cut ‘some teenagers live their lives at 100mph’
- Colour starts to fade
- Full of irony
- Tiny concealed messages
- Crane shot to force the audience into judgement
- Looking down on her
- Colour seeps back in at the end shot
- Girl sings at the end, important as it ends the way it starts but the way she is singing is different, to show her sympathy for what has she done
- Contrast with Britney spears as she was a virgin at the time
- Unusual amount of post production
- Beginning accidental, weren’t expecting it to be that kind of weather, it was meant to be beginning but the end.
- End shows how the girl is broken for the rest of her life
These were the notes I wrote as I watched About A Girl with a commentary by Brian Percival. To me the film showed as intended an important message. How children today are growing up too fast seeing and doing things they shouldn't have to.
Home
Home was directed by Morag Mckinnon and written by Colin Mclaren, then released in 1998. The film won many awards including; Jury Award at Aspen Short Festival, Best Short Film at the BAFTA Film Awards, Best British Short at Edinburgh International Film Awards, Jury Award at Palm Springs International Short Festival and Grand Prix at Uppsala International Short Film Festival.
Short film research and analysis
Together these analysises have given me many ideas of what to put into my film, from individual sound to camera shots. Unfortunately after writing this essay, the idea for my film was changed. However, after doing this research I did not want to deem it invalid and dismiss it as though my conclusions may be different, the basic ideas I gained from this research are the same.
- Harsh lighting in opening sun pouring in through large windows of a room with scattered broken furniture
- Shots framed in a specific way
- When man comes in shadows are casted over faces so they cant see anyone
- When lights come on shoots to a long shot to show the brothers are blind
- Shoot slows down to show the area in detail
- Shoots back to opening shot
- Within the houses the lighting is dim where as outside it is colourful and lively
- Man hiding a donkey in his house, man feels it is all he has, he is old and needs taking care of (the donkey)
- Commentary of Home
- · Opening scene- abandoned hospital
- · Scripted from real life, from a housing officer
- · Brothers hadn’t acted before. Were gulf war vets
- · Celebration of lives you don’t tend to see
- · Exploring things that happen in communities
- · Trying to be honest, making a comment
- · Multiple narratives
- · Music- Jewish wedding march
About A Girl
About A Girl was winner of the Best Short Film BAFTA in 2001, in which a young girl walking down the canal describes her family life with clips interrupting her speech to show a further insight, the audience gathers that she is a child of domestic abuse and separation yet aspires to be a famous singer alike Britney Spears, which is dramatic irony as at the time Britney Spears was well known for being innocent and a virgin, it is ironic because the girl we are following is dumping her baby in the canal, after knowing her mother dumped a puppy in the canal, which shows that she doesn’t see the baby as much more than a puppy, though she makes it clear her mother isn’t aware of what she ahs done as she states ‘I’ve got good at hiding things from her’ showing that no-one knows that she has got pregnant and what she has done. The domestic abuse itself is talked about so casually that the audience could almost miss it if they are not paying attention which indicated how normal she believes it is, as she doesn’t know any different.
The Mise en Scene displays a Manchester back drop of the girl walking along a neglected canal, presenting the way in which she is living, in an badly looked after council run area, furthered by her poor clothing and common accent, showing that she has had a rough upbringing, the message of the short film is that perhaps because she has been brought up like this perhaps it is why she has ended up this way, pregnant at such an age yet able to throw it into a canal like rubbish. It is a comment on society and how children are being forced to grow up too soon and are not taught the ways of life anymore and the neglect they face. Showing the girl singing with her friends and wanting to be a singer tells the audience that she is still a child and doesn’t understand what she is doing, however as she walks away from the canal, she begins to sing again however in a different tone which represents that she has realised to an extend that things will never be the same way again now that she has done what she has done. The fast cut shots make the film faster paced, which is a way of representing the fast paced teenage life of everything happening at once, almost too much to keep up with, a further struggle of this girls life.
The way that we are shown how she has been forced to grow up can link back to our short movie as that is the approach we are taking, the idea that childhood is wasted and children are now doing things adults are doing. The typical features About a girl has which relate to other short films other than time length are that in a short space of time you are pulled into a child’s whole life, which makes the ending that much more effective when the truth is revealed about what she has done. Furthermore the foundation of the short film is its strong beginning, About a girl opens with the girl standing in front of a cloudy sky on a hill top singing, and dancing, she then begins to walk and talk very fast immediately pulling the audience into her stories unable to stop listening as she lets you know more and more.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A19358229
Published 30 Jan 2007
Date found 22 September 2009
Author of text not shown
Cubs
Cubs is a short film written by Tom Harper based on the idea of urbanised fox hunting, it opens with a gang of boys selecting which boys they will choose to initiate into their gang, the initiation includes killing a fox and having its blood rubbed onto the face, the mise en scene is a dreary basketball court outside on a cloudy day, which is when the audience is first introduced to the characters, the locations of the film appear to be around London mainly showing the basketball court and subways in which the gangs meet, alike About a girl, Cubs also indicates a comment on society and how children aren’t being watched, and think they have grown up and are able to do whatever they want, though they are avoiding the ‘feds’ therefore knowing what they are doing would get them in trouble it is clear they think they are in someway justified. The hand held camera gives the film a realist effect which helps to relate to the audience on a personal level making them feel like they are apart of it.
Short film research and analysis
This is similar to our film in the same way as About a girl as well as the shared feature of the dangers at night time, in Cubs the gangs are running around London with baseball bats and guns even pushing past a woman at one point, showing how dangerous society has become, this can relate to our short film as towards the end when the child is left alone the audience will be made aware of the dangerous 
she will be in and unable to defend herself.
she will be in and unable to defend herself. Alike most short films Cubs has a dramatic effect aimed to shock the audience which happens when the Fox is killed leaving the audience to think about how brutal fox hunting is as well as the way teenagers are running around now uncontrolled making rules of their own. It appears to be a common style to use children from working class families within short films, perhaps as it is a current affair in the news of youth crime and is therefore a forceful problem in society.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A15822317
Published 24 Oct 2006
Found 22 September 2009
Home
Home is extremely different to About A Girl and Cubs in the way that it is not about youths but a man working for the council who must go from house to house for various reasons, signing a lease, finding out why somewhere smells, looking for a dead body, Home is quite surreal in the way that the man finds things quite out of the ordinary in perfectly normal looking houses, asking the question of what goes on behind closed doors, the idea of the story is based on true events, the writer had described stories that she had been told by a friend who was at the time working for the council and had embarked on these peculiar things. In between his findings as he exit’s the dark lifeless homes that he must enter he walks to his next destination, in between the homes he walks past are the opposite of dreary, it is bright and sunny with children playing in the streets, however everything is slowed down representing the mans day dragging on slowly. The music played is a kind of Jewish, wedding march/ bah mitzva music making it all the more surreal and abstract.
Home is different from short films because of its surreal and abstract twist which leaves the audience almost laughing in confusion, which has influence our short film as we hope to incorporate some way of leaving a peculiar effect on the audience, something that won’t be easily forgotten. It is also different from other short films as it doesn’t follow one specific story with an impact but a few interesting stories which leave the audience wondering.
Therefore the style of home is different as it doesn’t really have one strong message that impacts the audience, though the appearance of the donkey at the end may find compassion and surprise perhaps even shock as it is unexpected it doesn’t explore a new idea like urbanised fox hunting but rather reminding us we don’t know what goes on behind closed doors.
Gasman
Gasman by Lynn Ramsay is a more subtle idea that is heard of around the world but never quite explored, the idea of one man having two families, and then the conflict it brings when the two families are pushed together, when both daughters meet at a Christmas party the daughter whom he lives with doesn’t understand why another little girl is on her dads lap and saying its her dad. The subtle impact here is that this kind of situation can damage a child forever, it also points out all the small things children notice, for example the daughter notices her father touch ’the other woman’s’ hair, something he didn’t do with his own wife which is sure to confuse any child. Gasman’s key feature is first the railroad tracks, in which the two sets of children first meet, as railroad tracks symbolizes a place in between places, as well as the image of a train wreck seen in the background, perhaps letting the audience know this will not work out.
Gasman appears to be more artistic than the others, as seen in the commentary with Ramsey, every little detail, every frame is thought about, the beginning no-one sees the families faces, for me this built tension as I wanted to know what was she stopping the audience from seeing? However it was more an artistic idea. Though the end doesn’t come as such a sudden shock but more just surprising, little hints are given throughout the first half of what is going to happen, as the son doesn’t want to go to the Christmas party and keeps telling teasing his sister that she looks like the other girl. As he must know what’s going to happen from a previous year.
The subtle hints is an interesting idea which I hope to incorporate in our short film, as it provides more understanding for the audience when the final message is clear, which is an important feature of a short film, that the message is clear and the audience understands and can be left thinking of all the things they had originally missed.
The Mise en Scene is also interesting in gasman as it is set at Christmas, the audience is reminded of childhood and the typical Christmas parties every child attended, with cheery Christmas music, children energetic and squabbling as well as parents all sitting together laughing, as the scene was mostly improvised it appears very realistic, especially as the night goes on the children get more tired and agitated. The camera effect of everything slowing down at this point is an appealing idea which perhaps could be used in our short film at the end when everything changes.
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