This document provides information about short films, including definitions, conventions, history, and filmmaking techniques. It defines a short film as being no longer than 40 minutes. Short films typically have 2-3 main characters, small budgets, and use everyday situations with a twist to be interesting in their short length of 5-10 minutes. The history outlines early short films by Edison and developments in recording and editing technology that led to longer feature films. Filmmaking techniques like cinematography and filming with a DSLR are also discussed. Notes are provided on specific short films "Gravity" and "About A Girl" that analyze genre, representations, and shots/sequences.

1. What is a short film?
• A short film is a film that isn’t long enough to be thought
of as a feature film, the academy of motion picture arts
defines a short film as being no longer then 40 minuets.
• Most short films that are shown in the present are
mostly animated sketches made by Disney for children.

2. What are the conventions of a short film?
• In these short films there will most likely be a twist in it so the film
actually seems interesting because since the films are so short they
will seem uninteresting.
• They have about 2 – 3 main characters, because of it being a short
film they don’t have time to give each character a deep back story.
• Budget wise these films have very small budgets, compared to
bigger feature films which have very large budget.
• The length of short films are usually about 5 – 10 minutes long, a
maximum length of 35 minuets because otherwise they will be
called feature films.
• Short films will usually use an everyday situation and then add a
twist to make it interesting.

3. History of short films
• Some of the first short films were shown to the public by Thomas
Edison’s kinetoscope, this was a small device made for individual
viewing. Then there was the projected film, these were usually
about current affairs, celebrities, royal family.
• In the early 1900’s there were improvements to recording and
editing technology, with these improvements people managed to
make longer lasting films.
• Onwards from 1910 people wanted to see longer films, the first
feature film that came out was a film called “The Birth Of A Nation”
which was based on the Ku Klux Klan, there was then a lot of
feature length films from Italy, France, Denmark and the United
States.

4. Cinematography
• Cinematography is a way of film making, In June 19th 1873
Eadweard Muybridge took a photographs of a horse using 24
stereoscopic cameras in a line, then cameras would go off when the
horse ran through ropes that its hoofs would get caught on.
• In 1897 Robert W. Paul made the first rotating camera head for the
queens diamond jubilee, so that the shot was one uninterrupted
shot.
• Cinematographers are the partners of ordinary photographers,
where the photographers take the photos the cinematographers take
care of the film part of the process.

5. Filming With The DLSR
• Some of the special features of the DLSR the HD definition video
capture, it has many different lenses that can be changed into. It
also has settings which allow the brightness from the shot to be
turned down or up depending on the lightening.
• Like some cameras the DLSR can also film as well as take photos,
the videos are captured in HD quality which makes it a very good
feature to have on the camera.
• The DLSR can also film in ultraviolet light and in infrared, then in
2010 they then had 3D photography and photo sweep mode so the
user can get the area they were shooting in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_single-lens_reflex_camera

6. Gravity Notes
• Film Title: Gravity
• Director: Colin Hutton
• Country Of Production: England
• Year Of Production: 2004
• Summary Of The Story: There are three boys walking around the estate, one
of them has something to show the others. Meanwhile a mother has sent
her daughter to go and get her brother from the park. When the boys get to
a secluded spot the younger one reveals that he found a gun at the estate,
but one of the boys take the gun and starts messing around with it. The
daughter from earlier goes past and the teen with the gun said he was going
to shoot her, the other two knock the gun up in the air before the gun fired.
They then run off laughing, but it turns out that the bullet from the gun had
dropped and killed the boy at the park.

7. Features The Short Film As A
Whole
Particular Shots And
Sequences
Genre (Type Of Film) Drama. When the kid has been shot with
the bullet and has died in the
swing.
Storytelling Codes And
Conventions
This is a short colour film, there
are special effects used for the
bullets. Motifs were used on the
sky to give meaning.
There is a clear message at the end
of the film after you see the kid
dead in the swing, that gun
violence always ends with
someone dead.
Representations That all of the teens come from an
economically poor area.
When it shows the estate after the
gun shot nobody looked surprised.
Likely Audiences People that live in rough areas,
Mostly teenagers.
When the three boys get the gun
out and all have different opinions
of what its like.
Locations The estate because it is the most
likely area for this to happen.
After the gun is fired the camera
goes for a more landscape shot so
that you can see how far the sound
has reached.
Character Teenagers that have had a tough
upbringing and do more illegal
activities.
The fact that there are a group of
teenagers with a gun.
Intertextual References None. None.

8. Mise En Scène
This scene where the teenager is in the dark
with the gun makes you see him as quite evil,
this is also the part where he decides to take
the gun outside and it becomes a lot more
serious. He is also “acting gangster” as he is
holding the gun in one hand, and making a
gang sign in the other.
This scene shows the teen he pointing the gun
at one of his friends heads, this shows that he
doesn’t want anyone to spoil his fun so he is
ready to shoot one of his friends in the head to
stop them. The teen with the gun has a very
anger expression showing that his friends
trying to stop him, while his friend looks more
disappointed then angry.

9. Editing
• Some of editing when the teen with the gun is counting down before
he shoots the girl is quite obvious because some of the sound from
his counting is cut off from the editing. But this could have been
edited so that it adds more drama to the scene.
• But other then that slight issue then the rest of the editing is almost
perfect where at the last scene the camera goes up into the sky it
drops back down into the playground where the kid had been
playing on the swings.
• Another example of the editing in this short film is where the
younger teen gets the gun out of the bag and the camera cuts from
face to face showing their reactions.

10. Sound
• One of the sounds that sort of haunts the viewer is the sound of the
swing, this is the first and the last thing that they will hear will
watching this short film. The sound of the swing is supposed to
represent children playing and having fun, but instead it has been
replaced with the idea of death and misery.
• The sound of the gun shot was made to seem more mesmerising as
the gunshot echoed throughout the whole of the estate this also
made it seem more powerful. The gun shot sounded very realistic
and they managed to get a very realistic sound from it.

11. About A Girl Notes
• Film Title: About A Girl
• Director: Brian Percival
• Country Of Production: England
• Year Of Production: 2001
• Summary Of The Story: The story of this short film follows a young girl
from Manchester, she tells the story of how her parents separated and how
she wants to become a famous singer with her friends. Throughout the
short film she constantly says the line “I’m not that innocent…” from the
Brittany Spears song, unknown to the audience when she says this there is a
sense of irony. This becomes obvious when it reaches the end of the short
film, she had been carrying a plastic bag while she walks down the canal.
When she reaches the end of the canal she throws the bag in the canal and
then she leaves, it then cuts to an underwater shot of the bag where you can
see a dead baby coming out of the bag.

12. Features The Short Film As A
Whole
Particular Shots And
Sequences
Genre (Type Of Film) Drama. The final scene where you can see
that she has thrown a baby into a
canal.
Storytelling Codes
And Conventions
This is a short colour film, there are
no real special effects in this.
The message in this video could be
that when parents split up the
children are worst off.
Representations She has had a rough upbringing in a
economically rough area.
When she spends time with her his
idea of treating her well is give her a
can of coke and a pack of crisps.
Likely Audiences People that have had a tough
upbringing, had their parents split up.
She talks about how bad her mum
and dad are.
Locations A low economy area of Manchester. The canal that she walks down for
the entire of the short film is full of
litter, she wears more
Character A 13 year old girl who wants to grow
up to become a singer, she has had a
tough upbringing as her parents have
broken up.
She always mentions the fact that
her parents have broken up, she
clearly feels alone as she always
talks about becoming famous and
leaving her family behind.
Intertextual
References
She constantly sings one of the most
popular songs from that year.
When she sings “I’m not that
innocent” with her friends and by
herself.

13. Mise En Scène
In this scene it shows how alone she is, she is
standing in a field. This will give the viewer
an idea of how she spends most of her time as
she is lonely. The dark clouds emphasise the
reality of her life, the fact that she is in the
shadows could mean that she could be
depressed.
In this scene the way that they have
positioned the characters also shows their
relationship, she’s not even looking at him.
This scene shows so many different things like
the dark grey sky being a pathetic fallacy so
the weather is already dictating how her day is
going to be, the gritty buildings and her
father being covered with dirt.

14. Mise En Scène
She is wearing quite
“Chavy” clothing which
will show that she
comes from quite a
rough area. This also
shows that her family is
quite poor as they can
only afford these cheap
clothes.
She looks very
depressed in this photo,
she is looking down at
the floor.
The idea that she is trying to look
more grown up is contradicted by
the fact that she isn’t wearing any
makeup
You can tell by the big
earrings that she has
that acts a lot older
then she actually is,
since her parents broke
up she feels that she has
to look after herself.

15. Editing
• The editing in this is sometimes used to add dramatic effect, like in
the final scene where the girl throws the plastic bag into the water
and the camera cuts to under the water and you can see that it was a
dead child that she had thrown into the water.
• The scene where she walks down the canal and then she has
constant flashbacks to things that relate to what is happening now.
They flow from scene to scene with the very impressive editing,
She’d be talking about her spending time with her dad then it would
just jump to her with her father.

16. Sound
• One of the sounds that you will hear quite often is the girl singing
in this short film, She sings this song in the beginning of the film
and this is the only thing that you can hear.
• At the end of the film where she throws the plastic bag into the
river, and the camera goes to an underwater shot of the bag. The
only sound that you can hear is the sound of the water, it gives
you the sensation that you are underwater.
• Other then people talking there isn’t much else sound wise in
this short film, it’s main focus is what the girl is talking about.

17. Comparison Of The Films
• Both of these films are set in economically poor areas in Britain, the main
characters in these are all teenagers or younger. They both end in death as
well.
• One of the differences is the way that the film itself is actually shot, Gravity
is shot by more standard shots whereas About A Girl is shot as if it was
handheld. In Gravity they used special effects on the bullet when it was
fired.
• The editing of the films are both similar, there isn’t anything special or
defining about either of these films.
• All of the characters wear clothes that are associated with more rough and
economically poor families.

18. My Chosen Short Film
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_cdkpazjI&safe=active
• The short film I have chosen is a futuristic short called “Sight”, this film is based in the
future where people have apps and other programmes built into their heads. The main
character of this film is one of the engineers that work for the company, the film uses lots of
special effects as this short film is based on the future.
• Throughout the film we get to see the different apps being used, these are all done by
special effects. For example the glowing effect of the characters eyes. At the end of the film
the main character (who works for the company) hacks the programmes in her head and
uses them to control her.
• The film then rolls the credits of all the people that worked on it, leaving the video on a cliff
hanger about what's going to happen to the girl.

19. Sound And Editing
• The music at the start of the film is quite uplifting and cheerful, whenever
the main character uses the games or apps. But at the end of the short film
just after the main character has just hacked the women's programme the
music changes to be more sinister and evil. The music helps give the viewer
a more broad idea of how the characters are feeling and how you are
supposed to feel towards that particular scene.
• The editing in this film is fluent and smooth, scenes go from having no
special effects to being completely full of them. Whenever there is a scene
with special effects they film the scene then after they go back and add in all
of the special effects and the voices of the people in the apps.

20. Mise En Scène
The fact that
the guy has
been blurred
out of the shot
is showing that
he is quite
obsessive, that
he isn’t going to
let the girl
leave.
Throughout the film the characters eye’s
have been blue when they use the
programmes in their head. But at the end of
the film when the man hacks her, her eyes
turn bright red which could represent the
bad
The music being
played in the
background of this
scene has changed
from a cheerful
song to a more
sinister one.
This is the final
scene in the short
film the editing
that lead up to this
scene, was where it
showed the man
hacking her
programme which
was all done with
special effects.

21. Mise En Scène 2 This is one of the
apps that is featured
in the short film,
this is a dating app
that the man uses so
that he’ll say the
right things to the
woman.
There is no music
being played in
this scene because
the makers
probably want you
to focus on what’s
happening in the
scene.
In this scene they
have edited in
special effects into
the scene, the
special effects are
well made and are
very fluent in the
film.
They give the apps a very realistic feel, as they are
designed as if they were real apps. In the scenes with
apps the apps fill the entire shot so it looks like you are
seeing it from the mans perspective.

22. Mise En Scène 3
In this scene there is
not music playing,
but there is the sound
of the woman’s voice
in the programme.
The makers have
made it this way so
that you could
imagine that your
him.
This scene has a
moving animation at
the top of the page
which tells the “score”
of his clothes, It goes
through a selection of
different clothes
choices. Which were
pictures of him
wearing different
clothes.
This app is designed to tell the user what to wear from
the selection of clothes that they own, this is a very good
example of editing as it shows that the makers have
edited his face to different variations of him wearing
clothes.
In this scene the maker has highlighted clothes in
the wardrobe, the wardrobe was probably draw by
hand or a programme and then added in to the
scene.