Logo Animation

This animation was achieved on Serif DrawPlus X6.

Short Film Music Composition

Listening to the feedback I received about the incidental music within my short film, I decided to study my narrative and compose some melodramatic music. This was done using the Sibelius software and an available piano. The piece begins very slowly, but gradually builds and becomes quite contrapuntal, replicating the thoughts going through Lucy Merrill's mind and her deteriorating state as many cyberbullying occurrences fragment her mindset. This piece is unfinished, however, an extract of it will be used towards the end of my short film.

Refilming Evaluation

In this video, my group and I evaluate the day of refilming footage for our short film.

Anything But Social Draft #3 & Feedback

Reviewing the feedback for my previous draft of Anything But Social, I focused on adapting the sound to my short film.

Credits

Opening Credits

Upon watching many short films, I wish to have brief opening credits. This will not be a title sequence as a complete sequence will take up 2-3 minutes of the short film, making it unconventional as short films typically do not have long openings. Short films are made to get a point across to the audience and therefore begin almost immediately. Typically, opening credits to short films should last up to 1 minute. Additionally, the production of a short film commonly includes a small cast and crew, so the making of a title sequence would be unsuccessful.

While every film production is dissimilar, the most common order of the opening credits to a short film consist of the distribution company name, followed by the production company and the filmmaker's name. Short filmmakers often include their institution logo at the start of their opening credits. The majority of the time the opening credits finish with the title of the film. The way the title is displayed is dependent on the genre of the product. This is in terms of font, sizing, colour and animation. For example,

Closing Credits

On the other hand, the closing credits of a short film should take longer to view than the opening credits and should include companies' names who have work under copyright embedded in the product. Usually, the closing credits last up to 30 seconds, but can last up to 1 minute depending on the scale of the production. This is identifiable in the closing credits of 'The Snowman' (1982).

Credits are displayed in order of importance. The general order of opening credits consists of the following;

• Name of the film studio(s)
• Production company(ies)
• Possessory credits
• Above-title billed actor(s)
• Film title
• Main cast
• Last billed actor(s)
• Casting director(s)
• Composer(s)
• Visual effects supervisor(s)
• Costume designer(s)
• Film editor(s)
• Production designer(s)
• Director(s) of Photography
• Producer(s) and/or Executive Producer(s)
• Screenwriter(s)
• Director(s)

Sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billing_(filmmaking)

If there are no opening credits present at the beginning of the film then this order is reversed in the closing credits.

Composition of Closing Credits

Regularly, a film's closing credits transition from the bottom upwards with the text in a fixed position across the frame.

Some filmmakers believe this technique is very effective in terms of continuing the theme of the film. so they include an unofficial closing sequence, this may be a brief animated sequence showing the roles that are higher in the production hierarchy before displaying the typical closing credits.

Short Film End Credits from August Miller on Vimeo.


Filmmakers can also construct closing credits where unseen footage/outtakes ('bloopers') is positioned around the general transitioning text. This is seen in 'NADIA' (2017). The outtakes in the closing credits of this short film are used to provide actuality as characters from the film are still in character, keeping the audience engaged in and aware of the real-life situation that the protagonist experiences.

The font of the closing credit text should be plain and clear, making it easy for the audience to read the different roles. Conventionally, the text is white, displayed on a black background. The official closing credits have no relevance to the narrative of the media product and should signify the ending of the short film. Without any research, my credits would appear very unprofessional, lowering the standard of my short film.

I was able to formulate and idea for the structure and layout of my opening and ending credits.

Reviewing this, I need to reorder the list of job roles in my ending credits.

Schedule Update: Week 9

Media Equipment Borrowing Form: Refilming

Textual Analysis: The Strange Thing About the Johnsons (2011)

Media products of the drama genre use various capabilities in terms of sound, this being the use of a non-diegetic soundtrack, diegetic and non-diegetic dialogue, and sound effects. It is crucial to have sound within a drama as it is used to convey different feelings and helps to create atmospheric tension.

The Strange Thing About the Johnsons from Faux Beef on Vimeo.


An example of the use of sound in a short film is in ‘The Strange Thing About the Johnsons’ (2011). The media product consists of diegetic dialogue throughout, with returning bass beneath - used as a suspenseful sound, resembling that of a heartbeat to show anticipation. This heartbeat-like effect suddenly stops when the male character confronts his father about the story he wrote, recalling all of the instances where his son has abused him. Three minutes into the short film sweet, fairytale-like non-diegetic music is played. This makes the idea of a child masturbating to a picture of his father nonsensical - almost comedic, reflecting the positive times that the father and son shared before the obsession and sexual abuse occurs. The music contradicts what happens throughout the short film as the acts that take place are deemed wrong in society, relating to Gauntlett’s theory (2002).

Making Production Logo after second draft

We chose to name our production company 3/4 Productions as there are four members of our filmmaking group and we enjoyed the idea of having our logo split into four with one quarter of the logo disappearing. This animation will be applied to the logo once I have strengthened my film composition and made another edit. Here are 2 logos we created on Serif DrawPlus X6.

Conforming to the typical short film company logo, this logo has a small area, allowing it to be displayed on media products with limited space (i.e. a poster).

As well as the disappearing quarter, this company name in this logo would flash as if the camera is projecting it onto the viewer's screen.

Unable to make a decision on which logo to choose, I conducted a questionnaire for my target audience to decide which logo is more effective for an independent company.

The majority preferred the smaller logo rather than the larger logo. Because of this, I will be adapting this favoured logo and incorporating it in my short film as well as on my film poster.

Textual Analysis: Identity (2012)

Institution Logos

Refilming Update

After reviewing the feedback from our first draft, we put a list together of shots we needed to refilm and the costumes needed for these shots. I have emailed our actress to inform her of when we would like to refilm.

Refilm

Shaky/ Out of focus shots

Costume 1 - BLUE TOP AND LEGGINGS

Close up - reading book in bed

Close up - receiving text

Close up - text message on phone

Medium shot - getting out of bed

Aerial shot - lying down on bed

Costume 2 - RED TOP AND LEGGINGS

Close up- text message

High shot - emily on bed

Close up - emily

Costume 1 - BLUE TOP AND LEGGINGS - RED SCRUNCHIE

Book throw

Medium shot - needs to cry before close up

Close up - crying

Close up - getting stuff out the cupboard

Tracking - walking back into the room

Record her on her bed after she has taken the pills

Filming dates

Wednesday 15th - leave at lunch and film period 5.

Anything But Social Draft #2 & Feedback

Looking back at the feedback for our first draft, I identified the issues spoken about and was able to develop my own edit of the short film.

 

Schedule Update: Week 8

Anything But Social Draft #1 & Feedback

Textual Analysis: One-Minute Time Machine (2014)

The mise-en-scene of a short film is crucial as it determines the actuality of the product. Certain iconography is used to depict a specific sub-genre of the short film. As Barry Keith Grant theorised, these definitive categories allow audiences to identify and recognise them by using familiar and detectable characteristics. This is clear in ‘One-Minute Time Machine’ (2014). The short film is classified as a romantic comedy as it uses feminine and masculine costumes to portray the ideal male and female. The female appears to be classier than the male, yet her low-cut blouse conforms to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze, making the character secretly susceptible to the male’s dominance and lead as he flirts with her. This is also similar to the theory of Berger - ‘men look, women appear’. He speculates that women are present in media solely for the objectification of men.