1. Short Film Report
For our production we have decided to create a featurette for a short film called ‘The
Masterpiece’. Our short film is a silent film set 1920’s, and it is a hybrid genre of both comedy
and drama/mystery included. We will include key components of these genre’s, including the
use of over dramatic actors and also the inclusion of shots showing comedic scenes from film
itself with the exaggerated actions and scenarios. Also because the plot of the actual film is a
mystery about the theft of a painting, this will add drama to the film.
Because our creation is a featurette it will also be of a reality/ documentary genre; we will be
showcasing this by including clips of the real production being filmed as well as interviews with
the cast and crew. This will also add humour to our invention as our featurette will contain
scenes of the production of the film including comedic blunders during filming and the cast and
crew’s opinions on the construction.
Our short film will have elements of different media conventions; these different conventions
will bring the piece together. The first of the different aspects we will use are the conventions of
a documentary. This means that it will follow a non-linear narrative. A non-linear narrative
means that the work will be out of chronological order. We have used this because throughout
the short film there will be interviews as there is in a featurette, therefore they will be edited
together and certain fragments of the piece will be put into the short film where they fit in, this
may not necessarily be the order in which they were filmed.
Other conventions that will be used are those of a parody. This is because the featurette we
produce will be mocking the stereotypical views of people within the film industry and
parodying the movie production process. The use of stereotyping also adds to the conventions
of a drama/mystery because there is the element of clichéd heroic and villainous characters.
The setting used in the silent movie and the featurette shots will be the same, however the
featurette reveals more of the scene than in the film itself revealing the setup of the production,
for example the camera and director. We found that this had been done in each of our research
pieces therefore it is an iconic shot to appear to show how the film was made. These settings
will create two contrasting misé en scenes because of how the film will be edited, which will be
interesting for the viewer to watch. This links to the lighting being bright so when the film is
edited to black and white there is a contrast similar to the original black and white movies.
Bright lighting in the documentary section will link to the positive tone of the film which is often
used in comedy. This is because the script will be comical so that the featurette entertains the
audience. We also want it to include 1920s style props and clothing in the film clips as this is the
era most silent films were made. The crew and director will be in regular clothing to create a
sense of bricolage. The use of cameras will identify the film as a featurette.
For the interviews for our featurette we will use mid shots as these are often used I featurettes’
and documentaries to show the person who is speaking. There will often be uses of long shots to
establish the scene; these will be used in the reality scenes of our featurette to show the
production of the film. The camera shots for the silent movie will also be long shots because it is
conventional to show the full scene in one shot, for example in a chase scene. A featurette uses
camera movements such as panning and zooming in; these are often used in reality productions.

2. Silent movies mainly use tracking such as in chase scenes to emphasise the movement of the
characters and also we will be using dramatic zooms to create humour for our film.
Most silent films cut so they have a quicker pace when it is an action scene or a comedy. It is
iconic of a silent film to have their actions slightly sped up and we will try to edit our shots in
the same way. Also the shots must be edited to black and white which we will have to consider
while filming. The featurette will have a regular pace because it is a similar format to the
documentaries. This is because originally they do not need to set a tone because a featurette is
to express the real side of the movie like documentaries presenting real life.
For the silent movie itself there will be the stereotypical heroic and villainous characters that
are typically included in a drama. In the interviews of the featurette the actors will be comical
which is not conventional to a regular featurette. We will be including the two male actors and
the two female actors that act as themselves for the interviews and will also be portraying the
characters for the film. We will also feature the crew of the film as characters within the
featurette. The crew members will appear in different camera shots throughout the behind the
scenes stages of the product, this is conventional for a featurette as it shows them working on
the actual film. The director will appear in an interview, giving the audience information about
the film. He will be a comical character and appear to be naturally funny; this is unconventional
for a featurette as directors are usually very serious. However because the director will be male,
it is a stereotypical representation of a director.
Our production will have iconography of conventional silent movies. These will be things such
as black and white scenes, which will make it look authentic and like it is something from the
era that it is supposed to be set (1920’s). It will also feature chase scenes. Which are iconic in
many silent movies, these scenes will be sped up to make it more comical which is also a
technique that is often used within the silent movie industry. Within the short film we produce,
there will be meetings between male and female characters. In silent movies there are usually
both male and female characters, these scenes are usually slightly exaggerated.
The featurette side of our product will have iconographical elements to it. These will be aspects
such as interviews with the cast, showing a pair of actors together discussing the film, their role
within it and talking about things that happened behind the scenes. There will also be
interviews with the director which is another common thing in a featurette. Another thing that
is done in a featurette that we are also going to do is show behind the scenes shots of
production while the interviews are taking place. Doing this allows the audience to see how the
actors interact with each other.