NEA evaluation

1. Evaluation Alexis Hackley 4050 Alleyn’s School 10802
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A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature.
There is no consensus as to where the boundary is drawn, however
the Academy defines a short as “having a running time of 40 minutes
or less, including all credits”. Catherine Des Forges says that short
films should comprise of “spare, economic narrative, interesting
storytelling; well structured work which draws the audience in
quickly”, this is evident in my short film as it uses techniques to
minimalise the information given to the audience in order to draw
their attention to the plot and what is going to happen. We are
drawn into shorts like ‘The Ellington Kid’ as the plot begins with
compelling action of a man being stabbed and chased. Short films
are popular for new film producers as they allow these people to
show off their abilities. Their popularity is evident where we see
8700 short films were submitted into the Sundance Film Festival;
twice more than feature films.
My short is about the act of creation. A producer recycles ‘Bam Bam’
by Sister Nancy, turning it into something new. Later, we meet with a
rapper who turns the beat into a song. My film uses a technique
which none of the set shorts did – applying a quote to serve as the
title; “Good artists copy; great artists steal”. This helps us understand
the plot, as without it, it would lack shape.
My synopsis doesn’t give much away in suggesting what genre it
could be; this is because it’s more ambiguous. Steve Neale suggests
that genres should be “systems of orientations, expectations and
conventions that circulate between industry, text and subject”. My
short tends to circulate between multiple genres, however it’s very
visible that it confines to social realism due to the use of a
contemporary mise-en-scene and plot, such as clothing, and the
music. Using a real song to sample, which the audience sees in the
first third of the film, is important in creating the sense of realism –
it’s possible in a real-life situation. Although having very different
plots, my film shares these realistic elements with ‘Tight Jeans’ or
‘The Arrival’. I aimed to have a clear aesthetic when making the film;

2. Evaluation Alexis Hackley 4050 Alleyn’s School 10802
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it was my intention for it to be filmed in a documentary, fly on the
wall style; doing this adds to the sense of verisimilitude. And by
having minimal dialogue, and not having complex edits, it creates a
hard-edged documentary feel.
Aristotle was first to describe the three-part structure: beginning,
middle and end. This is a basic structure, which is evident in nearly
every film made so it too is in mine. This helps my film in defining the
three different aspects of making a song – the inspiration, the
making of the beat, then the vocals. Therefore, we see an exposition
of the song but not the characters. This was important because it
puts emphasis on the journey of the music rather than the journey of
the characters. However, the roles that the actors played were
important in getting the story defined. This is where my film
conforms with Propp’s statement: “Functions of character serve as
stable, constant elements in a tale, independent of how and by
whom they are fulfilled”. It was of no importance who the characters
were, just as long as they were a cog in telling the story. Putting the
inciting incident, of the producer finding the record to sample, at the
very beginning, put further emphasis on the creation of the song.
This allowed more time to be focused on making the song. The
narrative stays balanced throughout by using specific filming
techniques to get a particular aesthetic. Continuous techniques like
over the shoulder shots and hand held camera help the flow of the
continuity editing. There comes a disruption of equilibrium during
the climax, which is at the end. It only works having the climax paired
with the finality of the song, as any other climax would serve no
purpose. This is where the recreation is complete and we transfer
from filming the rapper to being placed in the crowd. The process of
having the two views of the song, private to a public song, is done
mainly through the use of cinematography.
The use of microelements was effective in shaping the narrative
structure as they made it possible to give importance in certain
areas. Cinematography was the main element in shaping narrative,

3. Evaluation Alexis Hackley 4050 Alleyn’s School 10802
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by using the over the shoulder technique as mentioned previously.
This helped give a shift in power of the characters, from filming over
the shoulder of the producer whilst making the beat, to the rapper
whilst in the studio. This places the audience with a certain
character, therefore focusing more on their aspect of the beat. When
we transfer from the rapper to the live performance, the camera
circulates around his head. When the audience gets transferred to
the crowd watching the song get performed live, it’s the first time
the audience isn’t placed directly with either character, so we’re
watching from an outsiders’ view; this helps to give an elevated
feeling to the song as we’re now enjoying it as if we’re an audience
member.
Certain effects were added to the music to create an aesthetic. For
example, when performing live, more reverb was added to the song
to make it feel like it was being performed in a bigger and therefore
more successful space. A running theme, inspired by Spike Lee’s ‘Do
the Right Thing’, was to have a warm feeling; many scenes were
tinted orange in order to get this effect. A similar approach was
taken in the short film ‘Echo’ where bland colours were to create a
cold aesthetic.
Do The Right Thing My Short Film
Echo

4. Evaluation Alexis Hackley 4050 Alleyn’s School 10802
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To get the sound representing this feeling, I equalized the song by
raising the low end. This helped create a warm, thick feeling. This is
especially apparent when the needle drops on the record ‘Bam Bam’.
The crackle of the vinyl gives an authentic warm sensation. Another
way editing sound helped with the continuity is by fading out the
sounds and very slightly crossfading the sounds of two separate
scenes; this helped the smoothness of transition. When changing
shots within the scene, I linked each change of shot to the beat of
the song; usually changing every 2 or 4 beats, which is a natural
count. Importance of sound is also evident in the set short ‘The
Operator’; here it’s used to create an intense feeling of anxiety
during a panicked phone call.
I didn’t want the characters saying a lot as this took away from the
realism of the scene, and often I told the actors to loosely improvise
around script in order for conversation to sound natural. This mainly
worked to my benefit. The use of these microelements were all vital
in creating an aesthetic that not only shaped how the film came out,
but also in shaping the audiences’ response.
After the film had been finalised, I subsequently got an audience to
view it. There’s a moment of narrative ambiguity when the producer
listens to the beat and takes his top off.
This acted as a break in the seriousness of the previous scenes,
creating humour and a positive expectation; as well as giving an
emotional presence to the producer that we didn’t see before.
Another shot which I particularly liked was the transition from the
studio to the live performance as it created drama and acted as a

5. Evaluation Alexis Hackley 4050 Alleyn’s School 10802
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climax in a previously tension building scene. A shot I didn’t
intentionally mean to be taken into consideration was the transition
from outside to inside the studio. These were filmed on two different
locations and so for that reason I think people liked it as the editing
and match on action allowed it to work smoothly. In general, it was
gratifying to see the audience react to certain scenes how I intended
them to react, as well as them saying they wanted to see the end
product of the song whilst it was being made. This was a large part of
the narrative – for the audience to feel obliged to carry on watching
because they wanted to know what the song sounded like. As well, it
showed they were focused on the song rather than the characters.
To conclude, when making this film I took into consideration Barthes’
‘codes of action’, especially the enigma code, in order to get a more
gripping story. This worked, as said before, the spectators wanted to
hear the end song. Barthes’ action code also inspired me to put in
different scenes in order to change the narrative to make it more
interesting and varied, this is where the scene the dancing scene
took inspiration from. Overall, other than a few filming errors, I’m
content with the outcome of the film as it got the reaction I
intended, and this was mainly due to the effectiveness of the micro
elements when shaping the narrative.
Word count: 1500.