Looking at the short film The Fly this is what I have seen that is effective and would like to include in my own short film:

The Fly:
The short film has a similar setting to my short film. The film looks like it is set in the 80s. This is mainly shown by the costume and other mise en scene. Here you can clearly see three main aspects. This is one of the first scenes that the audience sees so they first impressions of the genre and setting will be made here.

1. The first aspect is the use of costume. Here the character is wearing a leather jacket which was very common during the 80s. The character takes up most of the shot so the costume is clearly shown to the audience and the connotations this gives is very clear to the audience that this character is from the 80s or a similar time. 
2. The second aspect is the car. The car is is both the foreground and the middle ground. This car is used to help put the setting into context. Here an old car is shown but the car looks used but not old. This really helps the audience to make the connections that this short film is set in the 80s as a car that age would look more rundown in this day.
3. The last is slightly more hidden. This scene uses conventions of other 80s films. The background is blurred out as the depth of feild is shallow so the wall behind doesn't stand out but it does add to cthe connotations  

The setting of the film takes place in only one area. This is shown above. Shots of the door with diagetic sounds suggest that the other characters are inside but the inside is not shown. This use of one scene works because three areas are shown as individual areas. This is the car, inside the building and the surrounding area. All are used in different places during the short film but only this area is used for the whole 6 minutes. 

The camera shots and movements are varied these include an extreme close up, a crane shot, and a panning shot. The variety of shots help to keep the viewer interested as each shot is in the same setting so having a different angle or movement stops each shot from being repetitive. This is important because most of my film will take place in one room and has heavy dialogue. 

When creating my own film I will be using these ideas as these are effective and use similar concepts to my own film. 

Here is the link to the overview of Goldilocks' character

When doing research into conventions of short films Here I realised a list of things that I need to make sure to include or change about our short film.

1. Short films are part of a niche market. We need to be aware of this as the audience for our short film will be precise. This is useful to us as it help to know who exactly our audience is going to be but we need to make sure that our film will appeal to those audience members. Here is a link to a post explaining who are audience is
2. One consideration we looked at was characters. Our film uses a number of characters and normally there is only one or two characters. In our film only two characters have line as the other five characters are more mentioned and therefore don't add anything much to the role by knowing their background. Here is a link to the posts I made explaining who are characters are. 
3. As we are students our film doesn't have a budget. To make sure that we can make the film Jess and I had to think carefully about all the resources we could use. In the end the only thing that will cost us is filming in The Island which is £35 and hour.

Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch suggested that unlike the hypodermic audeicen theory, an audience will be active in their watching and will what to watch or use for their own personal need or choice. To quote:

the social and psychological origins of needs, which generate expectations of the mass media or other sources, which lead to differential patterns of media exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in need gratifications and other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones.

 A study by McQuail shows that these are the main reason a person will use media for:

Information
Seeking advise on personal or real life issues
A peson's curiosity
Finding out about events happening in society
Genreal learning

Personal identity
Reinforcement of personal values
Gaining insight into themselves
Finding a role model

Integration and social interaction
Gaining insight into another persons circumstances
Finding a basis for conversation
Having a substitute for real life companionship
Caring out social roles

Entertainment
Escapism from real life
Relaxing/filing time
Emotional release
Sexual arousal


Example: A young adult woman may chose to watch the short film Baby because they are going through a similar situation. The woman will watch this media for either seeking advise or or gaining insight into themselves.

Outline of a short film

Short films are usually 5-10 minuets in length with only a few characters. In terms of culture short films are very widespread. In the US short films aren't popular but in the UK there is market for them and there a film festivals about short films. Voice overs are a common feature as having a voice over can help to explain how or where the characters are. Also some short films don't have any dialogue and as the films are short and simple lengthy dialogue is not needed.

Characters

The characters are either main characters or a background character. This is because short films don't have time to fully develop a story into the history or mindset of a character and if there are too many characters they will each feel superficial and hard for the audience to relate and understand the characters.

Budget

Most short films have either a very short film or no budget at all. To keep budgets low directing and filming and writing are usually done by the same people. Actors are amateurs and there isn't a big soundtrack. Very locations are used and not much CGI if any is used.

Good example is The Black Hole which is based in one location - an office, with only one character.

Concept

Most films are about normal events or are realistic. This helps with the budgeting but it also appeals to audiences well as they can easily relate to the characters or situations. Usually short films will have a single problem that the characters will overcome.

Twist

Most short films include a 'twist'. This could be a super power, something abnormal or a plot twist. This helps to keep the film interesting as most short films have a very normal or basic setting. Unlike Feature length films short films are more likely to end in a cliffhanger or not fully explaining what happens and is left either ambiguous or up to the audience to decide what happened afterwards.

This idea of a twist can be applied to Todorov. His theory of Equilibrium follows: Equilibrium; Disequilibrium; New Equilibrium.

In short films the equilibrium the start shows everything as normal. The twist in the film or the problem encountered is the disequilibrium; and the new equilibrium is when the problem is solved or the character accepts the new equilibrium.

Examples

Sites such as shortoftheweek.com show a whole list of short films.

Short films with similar genre to ours include:

The Fly

Prosopagnosia

The offering

Crime film is a genre that revolves around the action of a criminal mastermind. A Crime film will often revolve around the criminal himself, chronicling his rise and fall. Some Crime films will have a storyline that follows the criminal's victim, yet others follow the person in pursuit of the criminal. This genre tends to be fast paced with an air of mystery – this mystery can come from the plot or from the characters themselves.

Examples of crime films are:

Batman: When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the caped crusader must come to terms with one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight injustice.

Reservoir Dogs: After a simple jewellery heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

Snatch: Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewellers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

Legend: The film tells the story of the identical twin gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, two of the most notorious criminals in British history, and their organised crime empire in the East End of London during the 1960s.