Research of Short Films

‘The Life and Death of a Pumpkin’ (Aaron Yonda 2006)

This film tells the tale of a pumpkin being picked from its patch to being left on the floor at Halloween. It’s a mix genre between comedy and horror because it gives a description of what a pumpkin must feel like when Halloween does come, like for instance when the pumpkin is carved it describes the pain and has camera shots from the inside to make it seem more gruesome. Even though it is described like this it does seem funny because all the stages that the pumpkin goes through is actually true and they have developed it to make it into a horror to. The narration over the film compliments the film because it gives the pumpkin its own voice. The shots they use in this film are all ones with one object being it (the pumpkin and at one stage at child.) this connotes that the pumpkin is isolated and all alone and that the children are evil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-1aui-wluE

‘The Black Hole’ (Diamond Dugs 2009)

In this film it shows what would happen if a man a would be able to put any limb through any solid object, and in the end it turns out that he uses it for greed and is punished by being locked in the safe. In this film the camera shots and editing style changes after he has found this black hole. At the beginning the editing is slow and the camera shots are at a medium shot and are boring. But after the black hole is found the editing gets faster and different shots are formed to flow together and seems more exciting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk

‘Lovefield’ (Mathieu Ratthe 2008)

This film is a massive red herring building you up to thinking this man has killed someone, but it is quite the opposite, instead he has brought life into the world instead of taking it. The woman in labour was meant to be interpreted as her being killed. The shots used in this film make the story seem ambiguous like only showing the victims feet and keep cutting to the crow. Also the cuts are very fast to maybe connote the tension in the scene building it up for something big, also with the quick cuts from the crow to the protagonist seem to portray that someone is watching him. The cuts then slow and the shot seem to show more long short than before where they showed mostly close up and medium shots. The cuts slow to show that everything is ok and that nothing bad was actually happening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meeZifCVro

‘Non-Fat’ (Oliver Manzi)

This is a very short film where a woman seems to be bringing up his weight in what she wants to order. I believe that this then cuts without anyone knowing to what the overweight man would like to do her, like a dream where he beats up for saying what she did. The effect they used in this film is like a CCTV shot where it is poised in the corner in room with a black and white shot. One of the things that gave away that it was a short film is that no one in the shop turned round or even moved. There is only one shot and no cuts used in this film which is quite strange.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svwPZzpe8vU

‘Snap’ (Manolo Celi 2006)

This film shows a man stealing camera but only for a short period of time where he uses all the film in the camera taking pictures of the person chasing him for their camera. The film does well as straight away as he steals the camera the cuts speed up instantly and the camera tracks with the person in the shot quite quickly. It also does well to keep both characters in the shot when the chase is happening. The film uses a freeze frame when the camera takes a photo to show what point the picture has been taken to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmxX2r-uD8I

‘Inside’ (Trevor Sands 2008)

This is my favourite film I have come across as it depicts a person with a multiple personality disorder and what is going on in their mind and having the camera through their point of view. They showed the multiple personality by adding more and more character behind the victim with all different looks and personality, and as they add more the camera shot begins to get longer with every shot and seem wider because there are more people in the shot. On the other side of the table is the person trying to help the guy with the disorder and she always has a medium shot to show that she is in control. But all along it seems that, that woman is actually part of his disorder because when she leaves a man was already sitting in her seat and she emerges from behind him as another disorder. The cuts get very quick when more characters are added as well to create more tension between the woman and the victim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjTOs1L3SBg

'Offside' (Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv 2005)

This short film by Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv in 2005 is very strange it shows that football can bring even enemies together, as 2 men are guarding a secure area until 2 men with guns come along, but instead of them shooting each other they stop and listen to the football at gun point so they can hear the final score. this may also show that men are prepared to listen to football than rather fight for their country. but at the end where they finally shoot, it seems that the person who first shot, shot by accident because of the expression on his face. throughout the scene the radio seems to explain the situation that the 4 men are in. when the shoot-up is finished they believe that their team has won but their is a twist as they lie dead on the floor, and that, that goal was offside. this film has inspired me to do something tense like this film as they are all at gun point which kept me on the edge of my seat, and i want that in my film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIxBRA5qjA

The comparisons that i found between all of these films that they all have surprising endings and try to be ambiguous at the the beginning and the middle of the story. Examples of this are in 'Lovefield' where you are lead up to believe that someone is being murdered, when it is the complete opposite, the man accused by the viewer for murder was actually bringing life into the world. Another example is in 'Snap', where the viewer is really confused when this guy is stealing camera and taking photos of the victim, but it the end, you find out its just for fun. i want to use this repertoire of red herrings, ambiguity and confusion in my film so that i can send the viewer into a sense of insecurity putting them in the film and making them feel like they know what is going on when they will not.
Another point i would like to put into my repertoire is from the short film 'The Life and Death of A Pumpkin' which uses narration of what a pumpkin feels like on halloween. I will use that idea at the beginning of the film, where he describes his life up to then giving the audience a relationship between the characters in the space of 10 seconds.