I decided to search on Youtube for inspiration for my final A2 film piece. Below I have found some short films/videos which I can take inspiration from to create my own product.
Influences
The reason I picked this film out to be an influence for my own final piece is the way its edited. The transitions and effects that have been put over this piece are really effective and interesting. The beginning of the film shows what looks to be a house party, the camera moves fast around the people in the room but as the music changes the image pulses and slows down, the way the camera is moving puts the audience on edge as we are unsure what is about to happen. Close-ups of alcohol bottles are then shown, again the camera-work is shaky which captures the audiences interest. The lighting throughout the beginning shots is unnatural and the images keep fading in and out giving a sense of surrealism to the scenes. The way the sequences are either sped up or slowed down adds effect as the audience are kept interested throughout. When one of the girls from the party finds her boyfriend taking drugs the sequence is slowed right down, this emphasizes the emotions of the characters and their interaction. When the girl is hit the screen goes black which adds tension to the film and makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next. The music then builds up adding even more tension as we see the boyfriend on screen looking frustrated with himself, as the music hits its peek the screen then goes black leaving the audience with questions about what happens next. The characters are represented as typical 'youths' enjoying themselves at a party, the man then becomes violent and powerful (represented by the hitting of his girlfriend) after taking drugs.
Ed Sheeran - The A Team
Although not a short film this music video has really influenced the creation of our product. The way the video has been shot and the cinematography is really effective to the audience and development of the narrative and we will defiantly take into consideration these media elements in our final short film.
The film begins with a close-up of a crying woman which sets the tone of the film, hints at the genre of the film (drama) and plays with the emotions of the audience straight away. The cold black and white colouring of the video also adds to the hard emotion of the piece as there are no bright colours which makes the womans emotion stand out. The way the film focuses and un-focuses represents the hazy emotions the woman is feeling and the hand-held camera work lets the audience know that something isn't right and puts them on edge. When the camera pans upwards from (what we assume) is the dead woman's eyes all the emotion is captured in her glazed eyes which shocks and moves the watching audience, while panning upwards the camera becomes more and more out of focus which represents the woman's life and slowly being forgotten, the audience wonder who the woman is and has happened to the her. The camera then cuts to a much brighter (but still in black and white) image of the woman (who we previously saw dead) sleeping on a park bench, the fact the woman is alive now makes the audience want to watch on to see how she died. She is wearing ripped tights and dark, tattered clothing which gives the audience the impression that shes homeless. The camera-work is still handheld as we follow the woman around exploring the town this represents the unclear path of the woman, her unstable mind and the detachment of the character to her surroundings. One shot which I find particularly effective and am going to consider re-creating in our final product is the long-shot of the womans feet walking, this represents the unknown path that the woman is taking. Another shot I thought was effective was when the woman is looking towards the on-coming traffic the cinematographer has used shallow depth of field to keep the woman in focus and the traffic out so we focus on the woman and her emotions, the cars represent the unknown emotions coming towards her. More close-ups of the womans face are shown, we see the raw emotion she is feeling in her eyes which draws in and captures the audiences attention, we start to feel for the character and her situation. We then cut to a mid-shot of the woman looking in a mirror and putting on more makeup, the surroundings she in are dark and dirty which shows the audience her living conditions and lifestyle, we start to understand more about the character. Another powerful shot is the close-up of hands when buying of the drugs, the sequence is very fast and secretive, the audience now start to piece together the womans story. The woman is represented throughout the piece as a underprivileged member of society who battles with issues such as homelessness, prostitution and drug abuse. The woman is stuck is a cycle and doesn't know how to escape her current life although the audience gets the impression through her expressions and emotions that she wants to.
