Short Film Analysis 3 - 'Red'

Short Film Analysis 3 – ‘Red’

This short film was directed and written by Robbie Fatt and is labelled as a psychological thriller. I think that this genre fits the film perfectly because the audiences thinking process throughout this whole film is: ‘Will they escape the room?’. I chose this film to analyse because it is quite similar to my screenplay that I have written for my Script to Screen unit. They are both very similar, but my screenplay, called ‘Secrets’, involves two people having to reveal secrets to escape the room. 

One similarity that both ‘Red’ and ‘Secrets’ have is that the characters in both stories have a time constraint apart from the characters in ‘Secrets’ have an hour and the characters in ‘Red’ have only fifteen minutes. Another similarity that I spotted in both the film and the screenplay have is that it had a similar plot twist at the end.

In ‘Red’, it is revealed that the man that was told to be silent by the note in his pocket, otherwise he would die, turned out to be the antagonist and was the one swapping the ‘red’ t-shirt and the notes around to make it seem like it was a different time. He also turned the time on the clock back fifteen minutes from ten o’clock to fifteen minutes before ten or nine forty-five. 

However, in my screenplay ‘Secrets’ it is revealed at the end that the main antagonist, called Millie, admitted that she was the one that set everything up and kidnapped the protagonist, called Jack, and locked him in a room with her. She did this as an act of revenge for what Jack did to her in secondary school, bullying her over her acting and spreading rumours about her terrible acting across the city. 

One difference that is linked to the first similarity I made is that in ‘Red’, the time repeats itself over and over again. However, in ‘Secrets’ the two characters have an hour to admit their secrets and that's it, there is no repetition after that. One thing I liked about ‘Red’ was they used to colour red to connote that that character was lying to everyone depending on what colour t-shirt they wore.

The contrast between the two colours used on the t-shirts, worn by the actors in the film, red and white, could symbolise the difference between good and evil. The colour red connotes fire and anger, and the colour white connotes the exact polar opposite of red, white connotes purity and innocence. This could easily be seen as a guide point for the audience to establish what character is good and what character is bad. 

However, this wasn't the case, the main antagonist was actually in a white t-shirt, which fools the audience into thinking the antagonist is good when they're not. Another thing I liked about this short film, that is also another similarity to ‘Secrets’, is that there is visible conflict between characters. In ‘Red’, there is visible conflict between all characters showing the tension between them all to escape the room. There is verbal conflict in ‘Red’, the characters arguing to each other about the notes and in ‘Secrets’, there is physical conflict between the two characters as one of them gets very angry at the other.

I thought the short film was very thought out, but the one flaw I notice when watching the short film was that the audio was very echoey. The director states in the YouTube description box of his video written in his words:

“Sound was the biggest issue because of the echo in the room and the fact we weren't booming sound. I probably spent about four hours editing total and kind of gave up on the sound. Ideally, I would have done ADR for all the sound, but I seriously couldn't be bothered taking that long.” (Fatt, 2014)

This shows why sound is the most fundamental part of filming altogether and anything to improve the video, as a whole, is well worth doing. If the sound isn't good in a film, it could change the audience's perspective on the film itself. One more thing I liked about this short film was the concept with the notes, this gave each character something interesting to talk about. If this short film was made into an hour-long film and had more interesting plot points and better audio, I think this short film would make a very good film for the members of the public to watch.

Bibliography:

Fatt, Robbie (2014) Red (2014 Psychological Thriller Mystery Short Film). At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLwDhH0I2Io (Accessed on 26.11.20)

Secrets Script (1st Draft)

 Secrets Script (1st Draft)

This is my first draft of my script for my script to screen unit!

'Atonement' - Camera and Editing Workshop 20/11/20

 

In this video, we were given an excerpt from a film on a script and we had to film it with props for the first time. This was really fun as it gave the story a bit more of a realistic feeling. I took the job as director for this video, which I really enjoyed as I think I have a very directorial personality and I had a clear vision as to where I wanted this video to go. In the film, Robbie and Cecelia want to get in a relationship but they are both from different families that live in a capitalist society. The girl lives in a high-medium class family and the guy is a working class man. Since they is only one male in our group and the rest of us are female we decided that 'Robbie' was going to be a female instead. If I could change something if we had more time to film I would get more shots without the 'Yorkshire Tea' box in the background as that could easily get our video copyright striked by YouTube. Another thing I would change with the footage is that I would make sure that all of the footage taken would be steadied by a tripod to avoid shaky footage which is what appears in the final cut with the close ups of Robbie and Cecelia.  

'Fairly Legal' - Edit - Editing Workshop 18/11/20

 

This was the edit I made called 'Fairly Legal' which was all about a litigator wanting more time on an assignment. There was a lot of new shortcuts that I learnt that I can use when editing in the future on Adobe Premiere Pro. These were: 

• The overwrite tool (the keyboard shortcut being the period key (.)) helps paste clips into the timeline more sufficiently where your clip is selected.
• The slip tool (the keyboard shortcut being the 'Y' key) slips the clips in and out point, however it doesn't move it on the timeline. This also previews the in and out points on the monitor along with the tool.
• The slide tool (the keyboard shortcut being the 'U' key) slides the clip on the timeline to a different place on it but it keeps the in and out points the same. This tool can also close gaps in footage too.

Why Conflict is Good in Short Films

 Why Conflict is Good in Short Films

I believe that conflict is good in films to grab the audiences attention and make any short film more appealing to the eye. Some evidence to back my point up is from a girl called Kelsey Ruger, Ruger states in her blog post called ‘Why Your Stories Should Always Contain Conflict’: 

“When you add tension to a story, you give the audience something to care about, and you get them asking questions. The tension should be the force that moves your main character(s) to change.” (Ruger, s.d). I fully agree with Ruger’s statement here as conflict helps the main characters change which is what helps characters move in their separate arcs. What I mean by this is it helps them be able to move on in the story, making the audience know the characters in more depth. 

Also, another thing to point out that conflict can challenge the storyline to make it more stronger and interesting. The evidence I have to back up this point is from Ruger from which she stated in the exact same blog post was: “In a business setting, your story should have a moral. Even if you can easily communicate that moral, what’s the point of using a story if there is no challenge? Challenges are what shapes the character. Challenges also shape the audience because they keep the audience locked into your story. They provide the motive, intention or desire that moves the characters journey forward.  They help demonstrate that there is always an inherent conflict between the character’s true self and some other force.” (Ruger, s.d)

Also, I would like to mention, that Ruger mentions in the blog post too, that every story has to come to a resolution. Like what Ruger said in the red part of the quote above, “Challenges also shape the audience because they keep the audience locked into your story.” (Ruger, s.d) , if conflict did not happen in stories and short films then the audience would not be as interested and would be easily distracted but that wouldn’t be the case if conflict was added into the story. 

According to a Masterclass article written by Neil Gaiman, he states that a reason to create conflict in stories is to provide purpose, explaining that:

“By establishing the conflict in the beginning and resolving the conflict by the end of the story, you give your story direction, motion, and purpose. Without it, a story would drift along with no beginning, middle, or end.” (Gaiman, 2020)

This also proves and backs up Rugers quote saying “what’s the point of using a story if there is no challenge?” (Ruger, s.d). Another reason that Gaiman says to create conflict in stories is to help character development, establishing that:

“When a character goes up against an opposing force, their actions and emotions reveal their character traits. This creates compelling characters that are multi-dimensional and more relatable to the reader.” (Gaiman, 2020)

By creating a more relatable character in your story, the audience will most likely pay attention to the story as it could be relatable to their lives, which would make them interested to see how the characters story plays out.

Bibliography:

Gaiman, Neil (2020) How to Write Compelling Conflict: Create Conflict in Stories. At: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-compelling-conflict#what-is-conflict (Accessed on 17.11.20)

Ruger, Kelsey (s.d) Why Your Stories Should Always Contain Conflict. At: https://www.kenziecreative.com/why-your-stories-should-always-contain-conflict/ (Accessed on 17.11.20)

Idea Development for Script to Screen (WARNING: SPOILERS TO THE ENDING AHEAD)

Title: Secrets

I was stuck between this title and another title I had which was called 'Tick Tock', I chose this one because its all about the main two protagonists revealing unknown secrets to each other.

Logline: A male and female wake up in a meeting room wanting to escape but secrets have to be revealed in order to leave the room.

Plot: A boy called Jack and a girl called Millie, wake up locked in a meeting room. They don’t know each other and start to introduce themselves to each other, Jack is a famous actor and Millie is an actress in training. A mysterious voice on a tannoy tells them that they do indeed know each other but they have a lot of secrets that they are hiding from each other and the mysterious voice asks the both of them a series of questions and if they lie then they will get a jolt of electricity through their bodies as they have tense machine pads on both of their backs. The two of them have an hour to solve what the secrets are or the door will lock forever. It ends revealing that Millie is the one who set this all up and pretends to have a secret but she doesn’t have one. Millie wanted Jack to admit the truth and apologise for what he did in secondary school, bullying her over her acting humiliating her. She wanted to get revenge as Jack became very successful and he made Millie’s life hell in secondary school.  It ends with Jack showing compassion to Millie. Millie ignores his compassion and walks out of the room, ignoring Jack shouting out to her, shutting the door behind her as the time runs out and Millie says to the camera with her key for the door in her hand, ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ and walks out of the camera shot as the door locks behind her.

Genre: Drama-Thriller

I chose this genre because I thought it best matched the plot that I have created. I chose drama because there is some dramatic parts of the plot, and I chose thriller because there is suspense with the clock ticking down.

Location: Maidstone TV Studios

I chose this location as this is a place where I have easy access to and getting permission to film wouldn't be a struggle and I would be able to get permission quickly and easy.

Actors needed: 2 (1 male, 1 female)

I chose to have two actors as I think having more characters would over-complicate the plot too much and the maximum number of actors we could have for this unit was two so I decided to go for the maximum as I think having one actor would make the film a bit boring and I wanted to challenge myself.

Props: Something that looks like a tense machine or electrocution pads, mobile phone, TV Screen (could be in the room, if not then this is optional), Lock key for door.

I chose these props as I think they are necessary for where I want the plot to go.

Costumes:

For Jack:
- Smart white blouse with a black smart jacket
- Black trousers
- Black smart shoes
- Black shades (optional)

For Millie:
- Smart dress/burgundy top with a black hoodie.
- Black leggings/trousers
- Black boots

- Black Balaclava, Gloves and Black Wig (Beginning only)

I chose these costumes as I can easily envision what the characters are going to wear in this short film.

Target Audience: 15+

Backstories

Millie West:

Millie is a 19-year old girl that is trying to make it big in the acting industry. She is currently secretly working as a part-time job as a famous squirrel mascot called Miss McNuts working with little kids birthday parties for her local area of Hillford. Millie has always wanted to be a famous actress and is trying to get the money, from being a mascot, to go to a proper drama college and she also has a problem with letting her past go. She was bullied by Jack in their secondary school called Hillford Academy, for forgetting her lines and ad-libbing most of them adding her unnecessary creativity to the stories. She thinks her ad-libbing and adding her own lines into the different plays she was in was the best idea she ever had and it made the stories even more interesting. Ever since then she has never got a place at any after-school drama clubs because Jack spread rumours about Millie’s terrible acting all over the city. However, the audience does not know this until she announces it near the end of the short film. She reveals about her working as Miss McNuts as nearly no one knew this. If people annoy her in anyway shape or form, she can get quite aggressive, she wasn't aggressive in secondary school it's only just started to shape into her personality recently.

Jack Farrell:

Jack is a 20-year old man that is a famous actor and has been in many films and is very popular. He has a personal butler called Sebastian and lives in a very posh part of a city called Gramsby which isn’t that far from Hillford but his family is not posh, he is used his money from his work in his movies to get a nice mansion. He is very secretive around people he doesn’t know and he doesn’t want them to think that he is hiding something or that he is weak-minded. He enjoyed bullying Millie in the past as it made him fit in with the crowd and stand out. But since then he has matured and he has been to the most prestigious drama college in the country, TCGA (The College for Gifted Actors), and graduated with high marks and the highest grade in the colleges history. The secrets he admits is that he would sometimes bribe the press, paparazzi and news reporters to give him positive stuff in the newspaper and on the news. He doesn’t feel any remorse about the rumours he spread about Millie because he only worries about his reputation only, but he sometimes doesn’t think things through and think about the repercussions that come from what he spreads around.

180 Degree Rule - The Wrong and the Right Way - Camera Workshop 13/11/20

These clips are shown as to what counts as crossing the line. We had filmed two, one following the 180 degree rule and one 'crossing the line' and not following the 180-degree rule. This is to show what it is like to follow and disobey the rules of the 180-degree rule.

Short Film Analysis 2 - 'Skipped'

‘Skipped’

This Sci-Fi Comedy short film was written, directed and edited by a man called Faisal Hashmi. The initial plot to this short film, according to the description of the video on YouTube, is about a man working at an office late at night, the lighting made me think this as it looked very dark outside and the evidence for this is at the very beginning , and stumbles on a time-travel power that can boost his productivity. This would happen whenever the man sneezed. 

However, he abused his power which made him sneeze too far into the future, we can see this at 2:53 to 3:08 as the man has all of a sudden turned into an old man as the camera pans onto the mans hands as they have gone wrinkly and then it shows, in a medium shot, the mans hair has turned from brown to grey and his face has gone wrinkly too. From 3:04 to 3:08, the man looks at a very futuristic sign which no audience member could even read what it said, but we all assume it is the emergency green exit sign which connotes safety, as we are all used to seeing in nearly every public place. However, because we can’t read what the sign actually says, the brain thinks it is a language that is developed in the future where the film ends up ending, making the future seem very alien-like.

A short film that is similar to ‘Skipped’ is a film called ‘The Black Hole’ which was written and directed by Phil Samson and Olly Williams. This film is about a man who is fed up with his job and waiting by a printer when a piece of paper with a black hole on it comes out of the printer. The man then finds out that the piece of paper has some supernatural powers, in the film he put the piece of paper by a vending machine window reach his arm through the black hole on the paper and get a chocolate bar from the machine without paying. 

Then he tries it on a safe full of pound or dollar notes, depending where the office is, and climbs through the hole on the paper into the small square safe. This then results into the paper falling onto the floor, trapping the man in the safe. The reason why I stated that ‘The Black Hole’ was similar to ‘Skipped’ was because both of the main protagonists in both of these films interestingly have two main things in common, they both felt the same power and greed when they figured out they had this supernatural object or power. 

They both felt the need to abuse their power by using it for selfish reasons for the day to go quicker or to be better than it was. As to which, lead to both of their demises as the man in ‘The Black Hole’ got trapped in the safe and the man in ‘Skipped’ sneezed too much and we just see his skeletal body on the floor. We can tell that the man sneezed too much because he ends up getting a nose bleed, which we all know can be triggered by sneezing. 

I also found this short film quite relatable as everyone that has an office job or have a job that requires sitting at a desk for a long period of time with ginormous amounts of paperwork to fill out or work to do would love to have this power to speed up their day. However, the only problem with this power is that there is no way of going back or reversing time so that they’re is no way to stop. I also thought that because there wasn’t as many actors in it, I felt I could easily focus on the main character instead of worrying what characters were coming in where which I thought was a very nice feeling. 

What I also find interesting about the storyline, was that it made me think about what might happen next. Will an alien find the skeleton on the floor or will it be there forever? It also made me think if the man would resurrect and come back to life. I know when people think that when they see a skeleton then the person won’t come back but I wondered what would happen to the skeleton if the story were to continue on from the end of the film.

'Zero to Hero' - Edit - Premiere Pro Workshop 11/11/20

 

This was the edit I made called 'Zero to Hero', which is about drag car racers and and about car racing. I edited this footage to make it seem like racing was an important part of the interviewees' life which it is. I have learnt a lot of good editing tips from today including how to lift and extract clips from a timeline on Premiere Pro, using the keyboard shortcut keys ; (semi colon) and ' (apostrophe).  

Camera Workshop 6/11/20

 For this workshop, we were only given one instruction and choice of 3 to 4 locations. The instruction was the skit or scene had to have a chair in it and we had a choice of our two classrooms which we were based in and two lecture rooms that was on the same floor as us. My group decided on one of the lecture rooms. We then had to decide who would be the director, the cinematographer, the actress/actor and who wanted to be on audio. We then came to a consensus with my classmates that I wanted to be in front of the camera. We then had to decide what the short was going to be about. We decided that it was gonna be about a chair tester testing chairs and her getting annoyed because the chair is not up to her standards. After filming we started editing and we noticed that we did not get a shot of me without the pen in my hair, this made it a bit noticeable in the final edit but it was a very small mistake and it could've been resolved if we had more time to film and edit.

I Trust - Edit - Premier Pro Workshop

I Trust - Edit

This was the edit I made called 'I Trust' for a Premiere Pro workshop on my third week on the course. I edited these clips in this way so that the man, that was the main focus or the protagonist, could not think properly before starting to read books and that way he was able to focus on things easier. I emphasised this by putting the people waiting for the train at the start and the train leaving the station at the end, which we were told to do by our lecturer. I also learnt a lot of different shortcuts on the Premiere Pro workshop that I did not know before. For example, when you double click the video and it comes up on the top left of the screen you can use the 'J' and the 'L' keys to fast-forward and rewind the video, I also learnt that you can use the 'I' and the 'O' keys to sort out what bits of the video you want.

Short Film Analysis 1 - ‘Empty’

Short Film Analysis 1 - ‘Empty’  

https://youtu.be/P65pajLA9io

The short film that I am going to analyse is called ‘Empty’ and it was directed by a man called Tom Smith and written by a lady called Katie Louise Turner who also stars as the main protagonist, called Keira. In the film she suffers from Anorexia which is turning into Bulimia, and shows her struggle with her eating disorder and living her day to day life throughout the short film. This short film has won three awards, they are in the Texas Ultimate Shorts Film Festival in 2017 for the Best Drama Short, in the Silver Dollar Film Festival in 2016 for the Best Series.

Using the four main elements of mise-en-scene I can easily apply them to different points in this short film. Mise-en-scene is a French-worded term that describes the arrangement of scenery and stage properties in short films and stage plays. Mise-en-scene refers to everything in front of the camera which includes: the set design, the props used in the video, the lighting, the costumes, the actor blocking and where they are placed in the video and also shot composition meaning how the actors are placed in the camera's view. Mise-en-scene also, when translated from French to English translates to ‘setting the stage’ referring to the elements that Mise-en-scene has.

In regards to the setting, the film has a variety of outside and inside shots. The indoor shots are in Keira, the main protagonists, room which has a Beatles poster in, house interior, and in Keira’s local general practitioners (GP’s) room. The outdoor shots include a shot of her walking down the street she lives on and on a roof cafe in her local area. These are all very realistic locations and make the whole short film look natural and like everyday life for a teenage girl Keira’s age and for every teenage girl.

Furthermore, with regard to the props, they all seemed very routine to what a normal teenage girl would use, making the film even more like life itself. The props used were as follows: a towel, a hair brush, a bag and a protein bar. In my opinion, the less props there is in a short film the less complicated the film would be. I think this because the more props there are the more the main protagonists attention gets diminished and put onto the props. Also, I think it would be a lot of responsibility for the actor/actress to remember lots of props that they need to use. 

When it comes to the lighting, the lighting, I thought, was very natural as a whole and didn’t look artificial or unrealistic and the lighting made the whole video more seamless. In regards with lighting, there is one scene where the main protagonist, Keira, is sitting in the darkness eating her food with only the light of the window in the shot. The denotation of this is that Keira is sitting in the dark and the connotation is interestingly the same as what the story itself is telling us, the connotation is that the darkness itself symbolises evil, mystery or fear. In this case it is fear, this connotation tells us that Keira is fearful of the negative thoughts, portrayed by the other actress, playing the antagonist Anna, and eats the food worried about her eating disorder getting the best of her.

In addition to this, the costumes that the actors wear in this short film are quite natural looking and I picked up some colours that the actors was wearing that could match their places in the short film. For example, Anna, the main antagonist wears the colour red in her outfit and red can symbolise the danger, anger and even the devil which is what I think Anna is in this short film, the devil in Keira’s head telling her negative thoughts. 

In my opinion, this short film had a very strong and unique perspective, some of which the audience might not experience. Also, I think its hidden message it has is very empowering and driven. I think the hidden message in this short film is to be happy with who you are, we are are different in our own way and we all have a place on this world. Overall, I would highly recommend this short film for anyone to watch.