Short Film Directors/Producers

What have the directors/producers of 'George Lucas in Love', 'Im Here' and 'Across the Hall' gone on to do in Hollywood?

Joe Nussbaum
"George Lucas in Love"
Nussbaum has gone on to direct-"American Pie Presents the Naked Mile"
"Sydney White" and "Sleepover".
The poster for 'George Lucas in Love' is in a cartoon style which enhances the comedy elements of the film's narrative. All of the subjects in the poster are characters within the film, who all relate to characters in the film 'Star Wars'. Fans of the film 'Star Wars' would be able to relate the subjects in this poster and in 'George Lucas in Love' to characters in the 'Star Wars'.

Spike Jonze
"I'm Here"
Jonze has previously directed-"Where the Wild Things Are"
"Jackass"
"Weezer: Video Capture Device - Treasures from the Vault 1991-2002"
and "Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks" as well as a number of other mockumentaries surrounding bands and singers.
The poster for I'm Here is quite simplistic but understanable and straight to the point. The tag line of "Ordinary is No Place to Be" is direct to the narrative.

As part of the planning for the ancillary task we created a radio trailer for "I'm Here".
We created this using 'Garage Band' on the apple macs at college using sounds from the music library and having the added narration recorded by myself and the other two members of my group.

Alex Merkin
"Across The Hall"

Alex Merkin is a new director who created the short film "Across The Hall' in 2005 and then went onto make the feature length film based on the short film in 2009.
The poster to the left, for the short film, emphasizes the simplicity of the film's narrative and it's independent look and feel of the film. Contrasted to the feature length film poster (below) which has clearly been air-brushed and has the 'Hollywood gloss'. Both posters highlight the genre of both films whilst not giving the narrative away.

Short Film

Short Film Festivals are to get producers of short films to be noticed and to allow their work to be viewed and experienced by larger audiences.
Here is a list of short film festivals:

http://www.shortfilms.org.uk/ The London Short Film Festival, the city’s most expansive and radically explosive film festival, returned to the city for its 7th edition over ten days and ten major London venues in January 2010.

http://www.bangshortfilmfestival.com/ Bang! is a non-competitive festival of short films hosted and supported by the Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, UK, and mixes local, national and international films to create an original and exciting programme. Without filmmakers or an audience we would not exist, so we do it for them. Bang! looks at all short films, and has no genre restrictions whatsoever.

http://www.hullfilm.co.uk/ Hull Film is dedicated to the exhibition and creation of short film as a crucial art form in its own right. Since 2001, Hull Film has been responsible for the Hull International Short Film Festival, which acts as a showcase of short film with Hull Screen being the main venue. As well as the annual festival, Hull Film has been active in programming a multitude of screenings, lectures, master classes and educational events in the city. Hull Film is also committed to promoting new work, and developing critical discussion as well as developing the Hull Film Study Collection.

http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/ Encounters International Film Festival is the umbrella title for two of the UK's leading film festivals Brief Encounters and Animated Encounters, with a host of cross-over attractions, at venues in and around the Harbourside area of Bristol, UK.
In 2001, the short film festival was joined by Animated Encounters - celebrating and showcasing the productions, talent, creativity, technology and skills that make animation such a popular and successful film form worldwide. It too, has enjoyed a rapid rise to global prominence, as is demonstrated by its status as the UK's representative for the prestigious European Cartoon D'Or.

Audiences for short films-
Creators of short films (40 minutes or less) have found an audience through such online sites as iTunes, Revver.com and San Francisco's Frameline Films and Caachi.com, which specializes in distributing independent films. The audience for short films tends to be a niche audience who generally watch specialist films in 'art house' cinemas or people who are interested in the film industry and who are trying to start out in the industry themselves.

Producers make short films as a starting point to get into the industry and to have their filmmaking skills noticed.

Short Films

Day and Night


This is one of my favourite short films at the moment. I discovered it at the beginning of 'Toy Story 3' in July and loved it's creativity and hidden messages. Everyone is different and after immeditate jealousy they find they are pround to share the best of themselves as they discover they are more alike than they realise. Suspicions turn to curiosity and they are delighted to find that their budding friendship can offer a new perspective on the world. "The most beautiful things in all the Universe are the most mysterious"(Dr Wayne Dyer)




The Black Hole

I like this short film because of it's imaginitve narrative, simple yet effective visual effects and the twist in the end with the connatation of-with actions comes consequences.

Genre and Narrative Theory/Concepts

What is meant by the term 'genre'?
The term genre is used for the classification of media texts into groups with similar characteristics. Genre is the term for any category of literature, as well as various other forms of art or culture e.g. films, based on a set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.

Narrative
Narrative is defined as 'a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occuring in time'. A narrative is a made up story that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events.

Why is Genre an Important Factor in Filmmaking?

Genre is an important factor of filmmaking because it helps to determine an identifiable type or classification of films that are recurring and have similar or instantly recognisable film conventions. These film genre groups include one or more of the following: settings, props, content and subject matter, themes, plot that are all similar, central narrative events, stock characters and recurring icons.

Genre is an important factor for audiences as it helps them to make comparisons to other films within the same genre that they have seen by using the film narratives and plots to compare and contrast. The viewers have expectations of certain genres and if they come true and are what they believe then they feel rewarded in the end.

Filmmakers are able to take influence and ideas from their other successes whilst acknowledging which genre suits their creative style the most and to work on the genre that they are more successful in. They are able to take ideas and themes from similar films within the same genre that they are working on to improve their current films and also to appeal to a niche audience with the narrative and conventions that the audience is looking for.