Between the devil and the deep blue
From reading many reviews and analysing three of them I have learnt a few key things that I feel are needed in order to create an effective film review. So in this short blog post I'm going to go over and outline some of the most important factors that I will be focusing on for our film review. The first of which is to try and make it entertaining as after all the film review is a piece of entertainment as much as it is an informative piece. Finding the balance between interesting facts and analysis and critique of the film will be important to make our film review good. The next is to include names namely who is in the film and any acting back ground they might have as well as the production crew that helped out with the creation of the film. On top of this I should include big names in film theory and directors and producers to draw parallels between this film and other bigger names. This will help to raise the profile of this short film. While including whats good and no good I need to keep the review short and snappy perhaps around five hundred words seems to be the Goldilocks zone for short film reviews any more and the analysis becomes to in depth and defeats the point of watching the film. Finally talk it up make it sound great after all we are writing a review for our own film may as well make it sound godly by comparing it to fantastic films of our genre.
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The opening of the review follows a lot of the conventions of film reviewing, it lays out the name of the text and some of the key aspects along with its length and the region it's from. The review focuses on the fact that the film is up for a "best picture" Oscar along side blockbusters and the fact that its only thirteen minutes long a fact that may appear to be unremarkable when talking about short films but important when considering it's up against The Revenant. Furthermore the writer goes on to stress how accurate the film is to those who suffer from stuttering and how it is both a sad a real depiction of the disability but also still witty and charming. The core of the review lays out key plot points which are established at the beginning of the film and using direct quotes from the film to keep it light hearted and funny. Most importantly fun and easy to read. It goes on to explain some of the back ground of the film that allows the reader to understand the context and angle that the film is presented from. Perhaps adding more to the viewing experience. Finally they out line the budget which talks up the film as it was produced on a low one but has done very well indeed which they explain through parading the films accolades. The second half of the core of the paragraph begins with more exposition about the film which only reveals the beginning scene of it ensuring that the audience still has a reason to go and watch the film. They quickly go off piece however and begin to talk about an interview they conducted with a real life stammerer which gives an interesting second opinion and accurate insight into the film. However, it does feel as if it de-rails the review a little bit and when we return to the review after two paragraphs of something else its like putting a book down for twenty minutes and trying to return to it as if nothing had happened. For me this spoils the review however for others this might simply enhance their enjoyment of the review as it is purely personal choice about which author you read. The final paragraph of this review details its relative uniqueness and this is a strong selling point and again up talks the film ending with a reminder of its running time and status as an Oscar nominated film before the customary signing off.
The film review opens by talking about the core plot and major aspects of the film while not giving away any key spoilers for the film. This is a well balanced intro as it has all the key aspects needed to make people want to go and read the rest of the review as the final line of the opening paragraph tells us its "well crafted" but not why its well crafted prompting the reader to continue. Furthermore, the review tells us who the film is by so perhaps the name recognition or lack there of will inspire people to read the review. The core of the review focuses on the film it's self, after setting up the plot of the film in the introduction the writer can now move onto using vaguer terms to ensure they don't ruin the film. Also they begin to roll out more of the entertaining and informative text. The lists and and punchy selling lines help to convey the core message of the review, that being it's good. They talk up the positive aspects of the film primarily the fact that it packs so much into 14 mins. The film review concludes by admitting the flaws of the film saying that its "conventional" by quickly back tracks and praises it as undeniably engrossing. This conclusion to the review leaves us on a positive note that stays with the reader. The film review succeeds in being entertaining and snappy. It tells us what it does right and what it does wrong and therefore I conclude that this is a successful short film review.
The psychological drama/thriller is a sub-genre of the thriller/drama genres and mainly focuses on the more super natural elements such as death and identity. These are played with in the psychological film much more openly than in traditional genres. In the psychological film we often see the appearance of dead people and objects that we don't normally take on a human personality do. For example there is Abe a short film about a robot that has been given the ability to love and from that has developed a dark and dangerous personality type that has turn murderous. As those he loves don't love him back. This plays off the other psychological conventions of the mind and perception specifically our mental processes and what leads us to do what we do and perception being how we see the world around us. These are both reflected in the film too by having Abe become obsessed with women and finally murdering them because they don't love him. The editing conventions of a short film have changed over time and developed from slow long takes that build tension through revealing key information to the audience at the right time, the king of this is Hitchcock in films like psycho. The visual conventions such as set and lighting tend to be dark and dingy for the most part often set and night or inside darkened rooms but there's also a president for light being used to counter point the dark topic of the film. This is seen briefly at the end of Abe as he stalks his next victim.
First we must consider what are the four key aspects of a short film review. In my opinion they are the following; to inform, advise, describe, and analyse. Some may disagree with this and that's their choice however for the purposes of this blog post that's what I'll be basing my work off. Next we must look at the structure of a review first off we of course open with an introduction to the review, in this we usually cover points like the basic plot, while not giving spoilers, lead actors and a basic summary of whether the film is any good or not. The key to a good introduction is to be quick and snappy but leave enough unsaid to promote the rest of the review. Next we have the first paragraph where we describe in greater detail key points in the plot if this review contains spoilers we can do this in even greater critical detail and informing who played what roles and how their performance helped or hindered the movie. Next is the third paragraph which covers other areas like the director's job and the cinematography and editing styles. As well as perhaps the tone and message of the film too. Finally there is of course an conclusion that should summarise the key points covered in the review and bring it to a conclusive good or bad review often accompanied by a star rating.
It is also important to consider the audience that will be reading this review and tailor the language, tone, and style to that one audience. There's no use in waffling on about the poor mise-en-scene to a twelve year old just as a seasoned movie goer probably doesn't care about the shocking costume malfunction that happened back stage on the film set. Akria Kurosawa's composition of movementThe first aspect of Kurosawa's if that of the movement of nature in which there will always be some form of natural element in still scenes such as rain, snow, smoke, or fire. This allows a scene to remain interesting and dynamic while allowing the actors to remain still for slow and sombre scenes. On top of this a clever use of natural aspects can aid in the story telling through the use of pathetic fallacy using rain to indicate a foreboding sense or fire to indicate anger or hatred while snow can show peace. Moving on we have the movement of groups. In Kurosawa's films we see a lot of movement of groups, particularly in Ran (1985) and the correct movement of groups can aid the scene and give it a full feeling to the scene. When it comes to the use of groups in smaller scenes we can amplify an emotion by giving it to a group, the sadness of a whole group can be more potent than an individual at times. We can also look at the way Kurosawa directs the movement of individuals using specific movements and actions for each actor to allow the audience to easily recognise them. This could be for example a scratch behind the ear. Finally we have the movement of the cut, Kurosawa usually cut on movement to movement and this allowed the audience to focus so much on the movement that we barely even notice the cut at all. This gives a natural feeling and flow the the film and allows the story to flow however once we reach the end of a scene it was typical to see Kurosawa stop the movement and fix on a motionless figure or item and then cut back to movement again. This allows the audience to see and understand that this scene is over and we're moving onto the next one now. The Spielberg onerA Spielberg oner is at it's core a long shot, that's pretty much it. It seeks to tell the story of a whole scene in one unbroken shot and this is something that i must confess I have a deep love for along with pretty much every other media student and person on the internet. However what sets the Spielberg oner apart from other directors like Hitchcock is that for the most part Spielberg doesn't want us to realise that this is one long unbroken shot. It isn't a contest for who can have the longest and most elaborate shot it's simply how can I tell this story in an organic way. There are a few simple rules that one must follow to pull of this type of shot, first keep your actors moving and make sure you follow that movement a change in back ground can make an audience feel as if they've moved to a new shot and keep them interested. Make sure to film cut away and inserts if you feel like the whole shot was completely nailed perfectly. Having the option to insert a new angle just to tighten the scene is nothing to be afraid of. And finally keep it short three minutes or less tends to be the gold zone for the Spielberg oner. Of course I would love to add a subtle long shot to my film however I don't know if it would be practical or even possible so for now ill story board one but if it needs to be cut down to several shots then so be it. Alfred Hitchcock on tensionIn the video that ill leave at the bottom of this paragraph Hitchcock explains how one would go about building tension in a scene. He gives the example of a bomb under a table, to make it more topical about my short film ill use the example of an apparition following our lead character. If we allow the audience to watch a minute of our lead walking through corridors of a school then it's boring however if we provide the audience with the information of the lead character being followed, perhaps through passing glances at something closing in on them, then we provide the audience with a reason to feel anxious and nervous. Now we must consider that we must provide the audience with some relief for example the character catching sight of the apparition just in time and fleeing as fast as they can away until we see fit to provide the audience, likely with an audio cue, that they are safe once more. The specific tone of a short film is non-existent as of course short films are not, in my opinion a genre, but rather a form like a TV series of feature film. So as a result tone can be one of many things from hope to sadness. However, there is factor that effects the tone and being the constraints of time. This inhibits the deeper developments of certain ideas and events in a character's arch. Now this effects tone because if you want to present a character’s sadness then you must throw only sadness at the audience and avoid diluting the message because simply you don't have enough time. This leads me to believe that a short film can only portray one tone at a time because if you are to add a new tone then you lose the impact of the first and therefore the quality of the film slips slightly. This may sound like a criticism but I'm of the opinion that if done in a delicate and nuanced manner one may produce a sensitive film that still carries the tone that the director and writer wants it to.
The main character follows many of the same contentions of the tone as we only have time to jam in one tone it’s true that we only have time for one developed character with one key message or theme. This is a universal truth however as there are successful short films that have more than one main character but they usually only feature a small group that always stay together and all share similar values and back ground so that the director might develop them together. This will be applied in our short film by only using one key actor and all the other actors will play a minor roll that will take up a supporting role. The tone of the film will remain consistent, hopefully, and therefore give it a cohesive feel. The rise of the use of digital effects coincidentally follows the fall of original ideas and interesting practical effects. The use of digital effects in our short film will be limited at best as the budget, time and resources of our production is limited. However the development of digital effects is still interesting to follow. We begin the story of digital effects with the father of stop motion animation, or at least the man who is known as such today, Ray Harryhausen. This is the man who created many of the stop motion animated creatures and monsters that appeared in early colour films and inspired many modern monsters and animation style. The image shown above is from Jason and the Argonauts and is highly influential and is still reference today. Next we fast forward to 1982 and the release of the thing. This has shown an advance in the use of digital effects as it mixes stop motion animation, which is a form of digital effect as it is applied to the shot after if has been filmed in a form of post production, with puppets. This combination creates a very pulpy and occasionally scary atmosphere that endures today, the use of puppets is still popular and can be seen in use as recently as star wars episode seven in 2015. Now we arrive in the traditional sense of digital effects which is where an object is imposed onto a pre-filmed footage. Jurassic park is one of the first major successful films that contained a large amount of CGI assets. There is a combination of digital effects and puppets at use and this created a highly immersive and interesting movie world. Finally we arrive in Elysium for CGI in films which is of course avatar. Almost all of the landscapes and scenes where no humans were involved is 100% CGI with motion capture used to composite a different texture of a human movement to make the film look unbelievably realistic.
Despite how lovely digital effects are as a result of budgetary and and time limits we will not be using any digital effects in our short film |