1. Professional Short Films

Tight Jeans

When: 2008
Genre: Comedy
Director: Destiny Ekharaga
Duration: 9 Minutes

Expectations:

• Light Hearted
• One lead character with friends
• Cast are young adults
• Naturalistic

Actual Film:

• Three main characters share the spotlight equally
• Was character based, not plot based
• Around a conversation

Operator

When: 2015

Genre: Suspense

Director: Caroline Bartleet

Duration: 6 Minutes

Expectations:

• Operator could imply surgeon, or perhaps a phone operator - police?
• Quite dark visually
• Adult Cast
• Psychological - more about what it makes you think than what is seen/heard

Actual Film:

• Very Tense
• Lots of close-ups
• Operator on the phone for the fire department

The Fly

When: 2014

Genre: Dark Comedy

Director: Jack Doolan

Duration: 6 Minutes

Expectations:

• One main character
• Dark/sinister surroundings but light hearted lines and characters
• 'Fly on the wall'

Actual Film:

• One character reacting to a fly
• The getaway driver for a bank robbery

The Arrival

When: 2016

Genre: Drama/Monologue

Director: Daniel Montanarini

Duration: 5 Minutes

Expectations:

• Waiting
• Airport?

Actual Film:

• Her thoughts narrated
• One shot
• Changing lighting
• Waiting at a train station

The Ellington Kid

When: 2012

Genre: Social Realism

Director: Dan Sully

Duration: 5 Minutes

Expectations:

• Dark
• Actors will be teenagers

Actual Film:

• Dark
• Crime story
• Teenage actors as well as some adults

My favourite of these films were Operator and The Arrival. They both had really good scripts, and the actors used the power of their voices over anything else which was effective. To be drawn in purely by the lines being said is not easy, the scripts were naturalistic, as was the acting, which is something I prefer in a film. I really liked the way The Arrival was shot, in one continuous zoom in onto her character, it worked with the narration, as it was following her thoughts, not what she was doing. The mise-en-scene was good in it too, the cafe she was in used cool, dark colours, and the lighting was dim. The lighting changed midway as a train went by to show her change in thought too, which was clever, and got across her feelings both in her lines and the visuals. The Ellington Kid, too, was very atmospheric, and I thought that the way that they did the script was thought through, with flashbacks and music to add up the mood. I really liked it. Tight Jeans was good, it was light hearted and simple, and you got to know the characters through the film, but I didn't get as absorbed in it as Operator and The Arrival. I didn't like The Fly as much as the others, as I felt that it became dramatic quite quickly, and was less naturalistic. I did think that the way they used no script was clever, though, and that it was produced well.

If I were to try to copy any techniques used in any of the films I would probably take the mise-en-scene from The Arrival, as I thought it made the tone perfectly as well as made it aesthetically pleasing.