Analysis of Codes & Conventions (Poster & Film Review)

First Draft

Health and Safety Assessment

Casting, Mise-En-Scene, Props, Location, Costumes, Cast List

Analysis of Structure of a Silent Film Script

Defining The Audience

Storyboard/Script

SCRIPT

Inital Ideas on Cinematography/Mise-en-scene

My initial ideas on the mise-en-scene varied in the beginning due to me not knowing what my initial idea would be for my short film. But once I came to the final decision, I knew what was needed and began to plan and get them together.

Props:

• For my props, I was interested in looking at an old briefcase that looked as though it had already been used. and luckily I had found one and was able to use it for my work. The reason why I wanted one of these, was because of the backstory to what is currently happening. The briefcase was to represent that she would soon be leaving and her belongings were already packed away, so that she was prepared to leave the next day. 
• The other prop was The |Great Gatsby Book. The main character is going to be reading this book, as it also has a link to her dream which is set in the 1920's.

Props

Location:

• One of the main locations that I had in mind for when it came to filming was the Pier. I already had this in mind for another idea, but once I began to work around it and soon I was able to fit it into this idea as one of the settings.
• The next location was a bedroom. I aimed to make the room look simple and attempt to resemble the time that the film is going to be set in. 
• For only a brief time, there is a scene in a pub. This would be located at the bar, as the image that I had in mind is that this were the main character first appears in her dreams and then would see her friends for the first time, before they end up going outside to the pier.

Locations

Costume:

• The beginning of the film is set in the 1940's, so the main character is going to be wearing simple pajamas that are plain.
• The rest of the film takes places in the 1920's, so I decided that because she was reading The Great Gatsby before hand, that the characters would wear stylish clothing. The main character wearing a flapper dress, while her friends wear smart clothing.

Costumes

Lighting:

• The lighting would be adjusted to the right tone, so that it isn't either too dark or too light. But so that it look even and resembles other silent films and the tones of their lighting.

Lighting

Ideas For Short Film

Synopsis

Set in World War Two, at the time of the enemies attacking the country. A teenage girl reads books as her escape from the real world and the devastation that is being caused. One book in particular that she reads is The Great Gatsby, which plays a role late on. However, the setting is at night when she is in her room reading, and her mother walks in telling her to out the book down as it is time to turn the lights out, creating a black out so the enemies don't know where they're attacking. She asks for a few more minutes but a shot showing her mothers unimpressed look and she bends the corner of the page and puts it down, pulling the covers over her as her mother begins to turn the lights out and pull the curtains across.

A close up on her eyes is the signal that she has fallen asleep, and the sound of old music playing is to represent that she is dreaming about the time period that the book The Great Gatsby is set in, which is the 1920's. Her eyes open and she is now in a dream where she is in the 1920's and throughout the different scenes she is happy and enjoying herself like she was before the war started. 

Two Options:

• After room in 1920's shakes, she wakes up to see in present moment to see the room shake again and then close up of her eyes widening and then it will end.
• The room in the 1920's shakes, but they pass it off as nothing and she goes back to having a good time, but the shot slowly establishes into a long wide shot and then into the present moment where the room is a mess due to the bombing at the time, showing that she passed away in her sleep.

Textual Analysis of Influences On My Ideas

When I first started planning for my short film, I had a variety of ideas in mind as to what they would be about. But the more I thought about the,  the more that I realised that I had to narrow down the choices and decide what would be the best to create and something that would also be different. From my research, I understood that short films always have a simple story-line with an unexpected twist and that was something that I wanted to keep in mind throughout the process of planning. The influences on my ideas also came into focus, as I liked how they were created, but I wanted to put my own twist on them and my own ideas to fit the narrative and plot of my short film.

Throughout this piece, I am going to talk about my ideas and how the different types of forms had an influence on my ideas and how they helped me establish my final piece.

Two Main Idea's

The first idea was a mix between modern day setting and 1940s. One of the major influences for this idea was the Nicolas Sparks film The Longest Ride. Even though the film has two narratives running alongside one another, one set in modern day while another is sent in the 1940s and onwards. I took more interest in the old couple’s story through the way it was narrated and structured. I like the idea of the old man reminiscing about his wife as he only had the memories left of her.  The influence that this had on my idea was the that rather than my character telling a story, I wanted her to dream about it but in her dreams the reminiscing was of her younger days before the war started. The ending was different from the film as I pictured of having a man walking down the garden path, delivering the bad news. But while this is happening, she has her back to the window she can't see him. The focus of the last scene being on the door was a sign for what the audience already knew but the character didn't.

The Longest Ride (2015)

I have always had a particular interest in History, and this has appeared to be the dominant influence on both of my ideas. It can be seen in both pieces that the Second World War is my main setting for both of the films, alongside the 1920s for the second idea. Having the films being set in a different time period, compared to the modern day creates a different view and captures the audience in that time. From the beginning, I already knew that I didn’t want the setting of my film to be modern day, I wanted it to have a main  focus on the past as with anything that I write tends to have a focus there.

Any time period would have been good, but because this was a short film, it meant that I was limited in the terms of budget and I wanted to do something which I felt was the right choice. I settled on the Second World War as the main setting, not only was this influenced by History itself, but it was also two popular films which I had watched which linked to my second idea more than the first.  At the time, citizen were ordered to be home by the time they were ordered for the Blackout to occur, so that the city was in complete darkness, also, children were being sent to the countryside to escape the city for their own safety.

One of the first films that I watched was Narnia. At the beginning of the film, it is clear about the time period that it is set in. From their clothing and the mise-en-scene, automatically it resembles the 1940's. It later has the sound of airplanes and smoke being shown, later followed by a scene of the train station where the platforms are filled with hundreds of children who are saying goodbye to their parents and boarding the trains. This was an influence for the backdrop of the film, because I am limited to only five minutes for the short film, I decided that rather than dedicated a scene to this, I would add it in to something that my characters talk about and her bedroom empty of personal things to represent that she is one of these children that are being sent to the country side.

INSERT IMAGE FROM CHRONICLES OR NARNIA

The second film that I watched was Goodnight Mr Tom. This film is heavily focused on the war and children that are evacuated to the countryside to live with other families until it is safe enough for them to return to the cities. From watching this film, I gained a better understanding of what life was like at the time and how many coped with what was happening, but it was the how children adapted to the change of no longer living in the city, but now the countryside. Even though in my short film I will only be talking about the child leaving the city, watching the film has helped me in the way I picture how the scene can be acted out and the way that the emotion comes across.

INSERT IMAGE FROM GOODNIGHT MR TOM

The 1920s was another setting for this film. The reason for this is because of the fact that the book that she is reading at the beginning of the opening scenes is The Great Gatsby and I wanted this to be an impact on her dream and how everything was visualized. After watching the film, I was mainly influenced by the type of clothing that was worn, but also the fact that because of the type of film that I was making, the expressions and the acting would fit well.

INSERT IMAGE FROM GREAT GATSBY

I knew that I wanted to do a short film once I chose my brief, but after some research I decided that I wanted to create a silent film. When I watched some, I noted that even though they were silent, the use of orchestra music helped create emotion, whether the music was fast or slow paced, each scene took on a different type of emotion and this took the audience on a journey. Not having to hear speech created a different sort of viewing experience, compared to listening to the dialogue that is being said. If you was to listen to it in just complete silence, the audience would simply be watching the actors expressions and without the music it would mean that there wouldn't be an emotional connection as much as there would be with music.

Expressions are key in silent films. Because there is no speech, it is down to the actors to be as expressive as they can be in their performance as this is the only to get their message across as well as the fact that silent films have more of a focus on how actors express themselves and because of my idea, I thought that this would fit in will with the type of story that I want to tell. The different movements at the time silent films were being released was also something that I looked at and found interesting.

History Of Chosen Form

Alternative film styles had a major impact on the way silent films looked and were created. Although Hollywood played an important role, many independent filmmakers were encouraged to be experimental in their work in order to compete in the world market, as Hollywood films were mainly dominating the market at the time.

The three main avant-garde movements were:

• ·         French Impressionism (1918-29)
• ·         German Expressionism (1920-27)
• ·         Soviet Montage (1925-33)

The use of different styles were another influence as well, due to Hollywood being a commercial force and their films being very stylistic, and this meant a large increase in competition as it was the decline of war time European production which allowed Hollywood to enter the larger markets of the world. Exporting the films seemed to be an advantage in the market. Foreign films didn’t appear to be very popular in particular market, especially in America which meant that not only would they be competing with American films which were more popular. But it is important to note that a tiny number of French films had success during this particular period which shows that even competing in such a market there was success somewhere if the right audience watched it and found it appealing.

Popular Genres

There were three major popular genres in France at the time.

•       Historical Drama
•      Fantasy
•          Comedy

Two popular French films studios Pathe and Gaumount’s research found that for a successful film, a high budget drama or even a popular literary adaption would make a good profit, being that they were divided into several parts. Cliff hanger endings became a regular pattern at the end of the films, in order for the audience to go and watch the next part.

Tih-Minh 1919

The Miracle of The Wolves  was said to be the most lavish French Historical film that was made, the use of the setting created an impact on the film especially to create the feel of it being a period film as the film was set in a medieval town called Carcassonne which fit with the mise-en-scene of the film. Directed by Raymond Bernara, white it may have been successful in Europe, no American distributor purchased the film which showed the difference of films in the market at the time.

The Miracle of The Wolves 1924

Even after the war, Comedies continued to be popular. Max Linder co-wrote and starred in the film Le Petit Café after he returned to France to make the film which became a surprise hit, as well as the comedy genre being given the respect it deserved after the war. During the war, comedy’s will have been popular because of the fact that the audience would have wanted something to take their minds away from the reality that was happening. Cinemas were growing in popularity and comedy grew along with it as well.

INSERT GIF OF LE PETIT CAFÉ (1919)

The French Impressionist Movement

After the end of the First World War, the new generation of filmmakers saw cinema as an art. Many of them preferred the Hollywood films which dominated France during the war. It was the fascination with beauty and the intensity of the psychological exploration which led to the start of the movement.

One of the major directors to break away from the traditional stylistic form was Abel Gance. His film La Dixieme Symphonie (The Tenth Symphony) was one of the first major films of the movement. He believed that being able to convey sensations and emotional impressions would become central to the movement, as the audiences emotional reactions were able to be a visual device.

INSERT GIF OF THE TENTH SYMPHONY

 The Impressionist Theory

Many believed that emotions should be the basis of films.  Art seen as a form of expression, the vision of the artist creating an experience that would later lead to emotions for the audience. Defining the nature of the film, rather than a object being photogenic, many directors for something more complex to wield as an emotional trigger.  It was argued that cinema's should not imitate any theatrical or literary narratives, but that the form should be based on visual rhythm, a main focus being on what the audience see's rather than hears.  

There are traits of the impression that shows the nature of cinema and how it had an impact on the film style and the structure of the narrative. The techniques that were used, often conveyed the characters subjectivity. Some of the examples are:

• Mental Images
• Dream or Memories
• Point of View Shots
• Characters Perceptions of Events Without Point of View Shots

The release of the 1923 film Coeur Fidele (The Faithful Heart) saw the introduction of fast rhythmic editing and became a symbol of the impressionist movement. And this was achieved as part of the visual rhythm. There is also the use of shooting a scene through a textured curtain, and the lighting was essential so that the characters were still able to be seen through out. The setting were also essential to the the impression, so many employed modernist decors and even filming on real locations, which was usually done before the impression movements began.

Devices were becoming very innovative, but the narratives were also changing. The plot tended to place the characters in an emotional situation which would more than likely trigger a memory which would soon lead to a flashback, followed by two alternatives routes. One being that the viewer begins to see what the character desires, or they will simply have a motive that distorts their view by the end. The narratives depend on the extent of the psychological motivation especially in this movement, but sometimes they're based upon the characters traits and obsessions.

Camerawork, Editing & Mise-en-scene did not occur much throughout the narrative. Usually it was the action that progressed and even punctuated the scenes showing the characters emotions and even mental states.

The German Expressionist Movement

Ernst Lubitsch

Before the First World War started, Historical films were proving to be very successful across the world. But Germans were beginning to grow tired of have a lot of emphasis on such films, because while some gained success others didn't. After the war, the first major German director was Ernst Lubitsch. His 1919 film Madame Dubarry  reportedly cost $40,000 but many have since argued that a film like that would have cost $500,000. Spectacular costume films appeared in many countries, but due to the cost of how much they were to produce, only companies that could afford to make these large budget films went ahead with it. Large German companies found it easy to finance, so this meant that they were able to sell them abroad at prices no other country would be able to beat.

INSERT GIF OF MADAME DUBARRY 1919

The release of the 1920 film The Cabinet  of Dr Caligari introduced the audience to stylized sets that look very different from you typical set which was seen in most films. The use of disoriented buildings that were painted onto a canvas backdrop resembled a theatrical manner of the type of backdrop that was being used. Expressionism became very important in films, and this had an influence on how the actors acted. In many traditional films, actors would be realistic about their performance and the message that they was trying to get across to the audience. However, German Expressionist actors made no attempt to even make their performances realistic and even their movements were dance like.

The start of this movement began in late 1908, when painting and theater realism was taking a more outward appearance, this was just one of the several trends that were growing popular at the turn of the century and this turned in the direction towards extreme distortion as well as expressing inner emotion, rather than surface appearances. But by the end of the 1910's, Expressionism went from an experiment into being a widely fashionable and popular trend until it's decline in 1927.

Codes and Conventions of Chosen Form

Short Films tend to differ from feature length film to a certain extent, due to the restrictions they're bound to. But the codes and conventions of this form are easy to recognise, after looking at some short films, I wrote down the significant parts that would apply to this form.

The Narrative Theory  was published by Todorov who said that every film goes through five stages. I found that it was much easier to spot the five stages in a short film compared to a feature film. I watched the 2015 animated short film Borrowed Time. The effective use of music set the mood, cinematography, and little dialogue created an impact and takes the audience on a journey.

For audiences to watch a film, the storyline has to interest them and keep them engaged throughout the length of the film. A twist is always a useful plot device when it comes to short films. Because they are only short, it is important for the film to be intriguing so that the audience will remain interested for the period of the time that it is being played. An example of a plot twist, is the 2008 short film The Black Hole. The worker ends up photocopying a black circle, which turns out to be a real black hole. The ideology behind this is money and greed, as well as the black hole itself that what happens at the end should be expected. The twist represents revenge on the character that has done something bad, but it’s also a choice between expecting something like that to happen or not at all. However, the main twist is at the end of the film when the man is pulled inside the black hole and then the piece of paper falls to the floor, meaning that he can no longer get out. But this means that revenge has taken place .

The Black Hole (2008)

It is a known fact that feature length films have the larger audience, in comparison to short films that have the niche audience. Short films are mainly distributed online or at festivals and rely heavily on social media as a way of promotion. Some platforms that short films are featured on are Vimeo, Youtube and many others which help attract the audience. This also has a link to the Long Tail Theory, which suggests that the introduction of the internet has had an influence on audience consumption and this is true as a representation of the niche audience as they are more likely to find short films online due to the use of the internet and the many websites.

The budget of the film tends to be very low. This is mainly because of the fact that it is independent filmmakers who want to create and produce their own film, and not having a large budget like feature films means that they have to rely on their own money and this has an impact on how the film is created. By only being able to have a few locations, as well as characters and props, this is due to the limited amount they can spend. This is why most short films tend to have a simplistic look, which is effective but mainly because of the budget. Even the camera's that are used, they may just be like any other ordinary camera that is used and with a basic tripod to film it all on, the budget would not be able to cover the type of recording equipment that is needed for a feature length film. Also, the budget means that special effects can't be used as they would only raise the cost in the increase of the production.

The characters in a short film, tend to be between 1 - 3 charcters, not only is this due to the budget, but is also because of the fact there isn't enough time to introduce a full set of characters for the audience to know and begin to care about. If it was a feature length film then it would be possible. However, because the average length of a short film is between 10-20 minutes, this means that have one main character allows the audience to care and get to know the character within that short amount of time.

The short film Hirsute, is about a man who is trying to invent time travel and he comes face to face with his future self, seeing the drastic change that has already happened to him and this can be seen from the clothing as his future self wears dark clothing whereas the present man wears white. These two characters are the only ones introduced to the audience through out the ten minutes, and these two characters are played by the same person, it's just the use of simple clothing to show the differences between them.

Hirsute 

Silent Films

While short films are my chosen form, I have taken a closer look at silent films, which the short films originate from. In the early twentieth century, films were only just beginning to be created, but they didn't have the up to date technology that we have today and this can be seen with how the films were created at that time.

The use of black and white wasn't because it was a good effect, it was because of the fact that they didn't know how to create colour for the camera so all silent films were filmed in black and white. But the use of lighting allowed the shadows and background to appear much bolder and capture the characters and their expressions which at times had to be exaggerated for their speech, due to the films being silent. It is also important to note that the speed of silent films were increased at a pace to that more could be shown, or to be added for effect.

A scene from the 1928 film The Circus starred and directed by Charlie Chaplin, has the use of black and white, but also the speed which adds the humour to the comedy genre which was his main focus.

The Circus (1928)

Another code of this form is the use of title cards. At the time sound wasn't available for these types of films as they hadn't reached that type of innovation yet, so in order to explain the dialogue or narrative, the use of title cards took the form of speech. They would pop up to explain what was happening in a particular, to help guide the audience while they watch it and when the characters would speak, it would appear moments late with the words they had just said written on it.

From the 1928 film Our Gang within the first few minutes of the opening scene, there is already the use of title cards to explain what type of person the character is, so the audience get to know her and gain a connection and it stays on the screen for a matter of seconds before moving onto the next scene.

Our Gang (1928)

In silent films, the length of the takes appear to be long as there is a main focus on the same scene for some time, when a character is doing something very simple but may not appear very interesting to the audience who may want to see what else is going on in other scenes as part of the story line. Long takes can reveal quite a lot of information, especially with the title cards also providing dialogue at the same time to keep the plot moving along.

From the 1927 film Metropolis, from some of the scenes that I have watched, I noticed that they did appear to remain in the same environment for a certain amount of time before changing to another scene, this is mainly before of all the dialogue that is happening and shot reverse shots that are used in the editing to show the conversation happening.

Metropolis (1927)

One major code that is involved is music. Because there was no spoken out loud speech, orchestra music was used to convey the range of emotions through out the film. Whether it was fast pace or slow, this had an impact on how the audience reacted to what they was viewing and whether they connected with how the characters was feeling, or understanding the mood of the situation in a particular scene as the music was an indicator of when to react. However, it is important to note that even in modern feature length of even short films, they all use this code as a narrative device, whether it is playing quietly in the background or loudly so everyone can hear, this shows that old codes and conventions even apply to modern day films.