Kyran Wright researched conventions of short films by watching many examples on YouTube. Most used basic equipment with few locations and fell into drama genres for niche audiences. Voiceovers often provided context. For their film, Wright challenged conventions by using music instead of dialogue to portray mental disorders, with changing music styles to represent each one. Camera work focused on close-ups of emotion rather than complex shots. Editing used invisible transitions to seem professional. The film featured multiple characters rather than the typical 2-3 and sought to educate rather than solely entertain audiences.

1. Question 1
By Kyran Wright

2. In which ways does
your media products
use, develop or
challenge forms &
conventions of Media
Products?

3. Early research
The most effective way for me to research the
conventions of a short film was to watch as many videos
as I could. I used the video platform site YouTube. I found
this site highly relevant to me because it shows a wide
array of short films, including creations by students,
amateurs, and professionals. From watching a range of
different levels of short films I understood what was
expected of me in terms of quality. Through seeing other
student short films, I could easily identify the flaws in
their films and made me more ambitious to create a short
film that had a good flow, and was not too complex in
terms of narrative.

4. Early Research
I found that most short films created were directed
towards a more niche audience. They normally fell
under the category of Drama. The events shown
were set in everyday situations so that the audience
could relate. Many were very realistic, and can fall
under the category of social realism.

5. Early Research
Equipment used is often very basic, normally only a
single camera due to small budgets, and there is no
CGI. A voice over or narration is frequently used in
order to keep the audience up to speed, it is used in a
similar way to a prologue of a book, or preface of a
play.

6. What I did
After watching a lot of short films, I decided to create a film in
the experimental drama, as I wanted to break the conventions
of a typical short film. I wanted to create something that I, or
my audience, had never seen before. I wanted to do this to
create a real shock value, and make my audience think.
Many of the short films of the experimental genre I had seen
were either haute couture motion editorials or music videos. I
decided to emulate these styles and use music throughout my
piece, rather than dialogue.
A lot of the short films I watched had very simple locations, and
the producers obviously knew a lot about what their films were
about. Because of this, I decided to make a list of topics that I
am interested in and knew about.

7. Sound
There is very little speech in my short film, I decided
to do this because I wanted the emotions and story
to be played out through music and lyrics. I decided
to do this because I wanted my short film to inform
the audience on each of the mental disorders. So I
decided that to make it generic and stereotypical, my
audience would not have been quite as informed.

8. Sound
I used various music throughout my short film- a
slow, emotional rock ballad in the first act, an
electropop/new wave song with over-lapping songs
playing to make the sufferers mind seem more
chaotic, and a slow, tense synth to build tension
throughout the piece. I used different tracks in each
act to show how the different mental disorder are
completely different from each other.

9. Sound
In most short films, music is not deemed important. I
have challenged this stereotype as I highly disagree. I
believe that music can change an audiences feelings,
and can sometimes be even more effective than the
visuals in telling the story.
I believe that I have made good use of music in my
short film, and it is much more effective than that
heard usually in other short films.

10. Camera work
When filming I decided I did not want to use
complicated shots, and kept most shots to half
length shots, and close up shots. I made this decision
because it shows a lot more emotion. I did not use
complicated shots as this was one of the biggest
flaws I found in student short films. In my opening
scene, I used an extreme close up of a mans lips, I
wanted to do this to make the character seem more
enigmatic, and also to make the audience slightly
intrigued.

11. Camera work
I decided against using any establishing or long shots in
my short film as I feel this would have taken the emotion
away from the piece, and was not necessary in the plot.
Throughout my piece, the camera work is at differing
speeds (Slow for depression, mid-length for Anorexia, and
relatively quick for Dissociative Identity Disorder), I made
this decision to highlight the differences between each
disorder, and to make each piece more tense than the last.
During creation, I was taught the importance of capturing
a lot of footage when you shoot a scene to make sure that
you have enough footage to edit with.

12. Editing
During the editing stage, I found it was a lot of work
as I had to learn how to use the editing software
iMovie. Most of my transitions are invisible as I did
not want to distract the audience with strange
transitions. I believe that because invisible transitions
are a convention of short films, it makes my short
film look more professional.

13. Conventions of a short
film
Characters are an obvious convention. Short films
normally stick to 2 or 3 characters. My short film
features 3 actors, but 4 characters. Short films do not
have to go into intense detail, therefore the
characters are what is seen on the surface in order
for the audience to connect with the characters in a
small amount of time.
For example, the short film series Love, Kills xx only
uses one main character throughout, but has a
couple of background characters in each episode.

14. Conventions of a short
film
Storyline- A short film normally follows a storyline
with a beginning, twist and solution. I challenge this
convention by not having a storyline. I instead show
disharmony and focus on what is going on internally
for the person, rather than externally. I show what is
going on internally in a very artistically visual and
musical way. This is similar to music videos, as they
have no clear storyline such as Lady Gaga “Bad
Romance”.

15. Conventions of a short
film
Entertainment- Short films are often only made to
supply entertainment to the audience. I wanted to
create a piece that would educate my audience and
make them think, but also make them think about
how they view mental disorders, and how they view
women. I also wanted to make my audience feel
slightly uncomfortable and vulnerable, in order to
make them keep concentration throughout. This is
similar to the “Love, Kills xx” short film series.