This document summarizes the secondary research conducted for a short film project. It discusses techniques used in the film "La Haine" that the document's author wants to experiment with, including opening/closing shots and use of graffiti. It also reviews the 3 Minute Wonder film series, Pixar shorts, "Paris, je t'aime", "New York, I Love You", perceptions of silent films, and an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" with no dialogue. Potential film titles are considered before deciding on "Reversal". In conclusion, the author feels confident moving ahead with their original silent film idea after addressing concerns from primary research.
3. Techniques used in “La Haine”
There are a lot
of techniques
used in La
Haine that I
would like to
experiment with
in my short film.
In particular his
use of opening
and closing the
film and the use
of graffiti.
4. Open/close shots
In the film La Haine Kassovitz
uses the same sort of shot to
open and to close the film.
This gives a feel of the film
rounding to an end or coming
to the end of a cycle because
things are now back as they
are.
I would like to use this in my
film by having the first shot be
somebody opening her eyes
and then the last shot of her
closing them as in my film the
main girl witnesses and lives
through something awful which
I think could be emphasised by
the use of her eyes.
5. Graffiti
Kassovitz uses background
graffiti, signs or posters to get
across to the audience an
extra message, in La Haine
when there is some important
text that the audience needs to
know about, the subtitles will
come up so the viewer knows
that it is important.
I would like to use this as I
plan for my film to have no
sound so when at the end I
want to get an important
message across I will have it in
a bright colour on a wall
somewhere but so it is clearly
in shot, although I will
obviously have no need for
subtitles but I think the bright
colour will make it strong
enough.
7. 3 Minute Wonder
3 minute wonders are short films shown
during prime time on channel four often
after the news before a large audience
pulling show. It is seen as a great
opportunity for up and coming directors.
3 Minute wonder is mostly responsible for
making documentaries more acceptable in
today’s society.
8. I think that 3 Minute wonder is very
popular because although they are
documentaries they go against the
conventions that people normally expect
of documentaries.
I wouldn’t say that 3 minute wonder has
directly influenced me but I think the
influence it has had on the world of short
films such as making it acceptable for
them not to always make perfect sense or
not to have a definitive beginning, middle
and end has definitely influenced me.
10. Disney have also cashed
in on the short film
franchise via Pixar Shorts.
I haven't personally taken
any influence or ideas
from this range of short
films though I do think
they have had a large
impact on the younger
audience and therefore
the age group that I am
targeting. Because they
are shown with the most
popular Disney Pixar films
they are very well known
and as can be seen, not
many people I asked
would class them as a
short film which I found
surprising but one the
other hand did confirm my
thoughts of short films
being misconceived.
11. Paris, Je T’aime
Paris je t’aime is a feature length film
consisting of 18 short films. I took a lot of
influence from this as some of the films don't
have a particular story as such and leave
the audience thinking which I believe a short
film should be able to do and what I hope
my short film would do. Because the films
are all in French, from British audiences
point of view they are the same as them
being silent as non of the dialogue makes
sense.
This has influenced me because I like the
idea of having no dialogue or having
dialogue that people don’t necessarily
understand which helped lead me to the
idea of having my film with no dialogue.
12. New York, I love you
“New York, I love you” is the
sequel to “Paris, je t’aime” it
is a series of short films but
this time about finding love in
New York, this is the first
time that really well known
celebrities have been in a
high publicity short film which
I think will cause more
interest in short films.
All the films seem to come in
to a ready set situation as
there is not enough time to
set the scene – after seeing
this I decided that I wouldn’t
spend time setting a scene
or introducing the characters
as it would clearly eat too
much into the five minutes I
have to make the film.
14. Perceptions of silent films
When many people think of silent films
they think of overacting, Charlie Chaplin
and eager piano music but I think that is a
thing of the past now, I think those old kind
of silent films were very influential in there
own right but there are a lot more varieties
of silent films, and in some cases
techniques such as no dialogue is used in
television.
15. Silence in modern media
In an episode of Buffy the Vampire
Slayer there is no dialogue used.
“Joss Whedon claimed he wrote
this episode as a challenge to
himself. Critics had hailed him for
his deft use of banter and witty
wordplay, so he decided to see if
he was a good enough writer to
craft an episode which was largely
lacking any dialogue at all.”
It was very well received having
the highest ratings of series four,
earning them an Emmy nomination
and a place in the top 25 scariest
moments in TV.
17. Initial ideas
When it came to naming my film I knew that I wanted to have something that
went along with the initial storyline of my film which as can be seen from the
synopsis, is all about a change in position and momentum which lead me to
these names:
Role reverse
Voyeur
Turnaround
Revolve
Reversal
I firstly thought from a audience point of view and ruled out “Role Reverse” and
“Turnaround” because I don't think that those names would inspire me to
want to watch a film. After that I typed each of the words into Google, from
typing in Voyeur I discovered that this was definitely not the audience I
would want to go into. When searching “Revolve” I discovered that there is a
clothing brand of this name which I thought could lead to copyright
problems. Finally after searching “Reversal” I found no clashes so I decided
to go for this as my title
18. Research conclusion
From carrying out my primary research I have
decided to go ahead with my initial idea. When
people didn’t seem to respond well to the silent
film idea it did worry me but then after the focus
group I resolved the issues so felt I would be
safe to go ahead with.
The things I have researched for my secondary
research have all influenced both the layout of
the film and the techniques I would like to use.
