Another short film that we have chosen for analysis is Memories. Memories is a award winning short film that has won awards in the nation student film festivals and other fetsivals that are of the similiar type. This short film follows the journey of an male character who finds film which shows parts of the characters life, he then follows the film until he reaches his home, in which he finds a book which contains pictures/ memories of his life, as the images fade out of the book the character is assumed to be dying.
This short film is targeted towards adults, this is because of the fact that it shows someone looking back on there life and looking back on key points in the characters life, and this relates to the targeted audiuence of the short film "Memories" because as you get older you tend to look back on your life, and reflect on the expierences that you have gone through in your life, This would not target a much younger audience because of the fact that younger people do not really look back on the things they have done they look to the future rather than looking back.
One of the codes and conventions that were used in the short film help to create an depressive feel as the male character looks back on his life and eventually assumed to have died at the end of the short film. Costume is used to show the age of the character, the clothes that he is wearing suggests that the character is an elderly character, for example the smart trousers and the jeacket that the character is wearing help to show is age. This can also relate to the idea of time passing and the character looking back at his past because it makes the representation of the character more believable. The use of props is also helpful, for example the use of the film which represents the characters life in the short film, this is also helpful because it shows some major events that happen in the characters life, using different film at different types in the short film help to represent the idea that time is passing and this his time is running out for him. Lighting was also important for example when the character is walking around there is the use of natural light, but when he looks at the film and the memories are shown with a filter effect which makes it look darker on screen. This also looks like how old movies would of been shown, This can be seen to represent that time is rapidly passing by and represents that the memories are far behind him in the past. The sound also plays an important part in the short film, for example the music starts half way thtough the short film and this helps to create a sad and depressed atmosphere which makes you think that something might happen to the character. The music could also represent how the character feels when he is looking back over the photos of his life.
Camera angles-
Long Shot- This is an example of a shot that is used in the short film 'Memories'. This type of shot if a long shot. There are a couple of long shots that are used in the short film. The long shot shows the character, the surrondings of the character and what the characters cotume. The long shot helps to show the costume of the character which tells us some information about the character and the age of the character that the film is being about. In this example the main character is wearing a jacket and smart trousers, this sterotypes the character as an elderly character this is beacsue of the fact that this is what elderly characters wear, and getting the correct sterotype for the character is important to make the character more believable which makes the short film believable.
Close up- This is another example of a shot that is used in the short film 'Memories'. This type of shot is called a close up, which is used to show the face of the character. This tells the audience information about the charcter for example his age, what he is wearing and what could be going on in the plot of the short film 'Memories'. The close up in this case is mainly used to show the agae of the character, this close up tells us that the character is elderly and this shot also is used to show that the character is holding some film, which could indicate to the audience what the plot of the short film will be.
High angle/over the shoulder shot- This is another type of shot that is used in the short film 'Memories'. This shot is a combination of a high angle shot which is why the camera is looking down at the action and a over the shoulder shot which why we are looking over the characters shoulder to see the memories book. This shot is used to see what the chracter is looking at, which in this case is a book full of the main characters memories. This is helpful as it tells the audience a bit more about the character and what the character might be going through. This also gives us an idea on the back story of the main character as we are seeing images of his past, and the shots that follow this shot tells us the life expierences that the character went through.
Extreme close up- This is another type of shot that is used in the short film 'Memories. This shot is an extreme close up, unlike the close ups that were used in the short film, this extreme close up just focuses on the characters eyes rather than the characters whole face. This indicates to the audience the age of the chacter, for example this shot shows the wrinkles around the character eyes which indicates to the audience that the character is elderly. These shots are very effective and for us it stood out from the other shots becuase it makes you realise how old the character is, and is more effective than using the close up to show the whole of the characters face.
Editing- At the beginning of the short film the pace of editing is slow which gives the audience time to get to know the character and the situation that the character is in. The slow pace of editing gives the short film a depressive feel to the film and might give a slight hint to what might happen towards the end of the film, The pace of editing changes towards the end of the short film,when the character is looking through his book of memories and when the character is dying, the pace of editing suddenly becomes quicker which shows his life passing and ending, it also is used to show some of his memories flowing from one memory to another. Cross cutting is also used in the short film, for example when the charcater is collecting film, cross cutting is then used to cut to shots of the main characters memories and the charactes past. This is effective as it shows the character in the present and in the past. Also fade ins where used in the short film aswell, the fade ins where used when the character is collecting the film which represents the character collecting his memories. The fade in where effective as it shows his journey quickly without having to do multiple cuts they can just fade in new sequences into the orignal sequence which continues the story more effectively than it would of done by using just a straight foward cut of the footage.
The short film "Memories" was directed by Radoslaw Sienski, The short film was directed, written and edited by Radoslaw Sienski. This short film was created by a student, "Memories has been distributed around the world using the video sharing website called YouTube which has been uploaded to the website and distributed around the world. The cast for the short film included four actors called Andrew Bolton, Tom Bolton, Vicky Bolton and Thea Bolton.
Dan
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