RESEARCH : Short Films Concept

Today I watched and analysed five short films which were; A Cannes Film Festival Winner, The Black Hole, the wrong side of the bed, the last cookie and Light em up

These films showed me that short films can go without a dialogue but you would still be able to the storyline due to todorovs narrative structure. A Cannes Film Winner was a short film that lasted under one minute and it had enough concept in it to tell what the short was about and what type of theme it was from the use of close ups, sound and the expressions on the actors faces, although it was really short it still had a big impact.

Another film that I Viewed without any dialogue that I thought told alot was"The Wrong Side Of The Bed" which was a comedy and we could tell this by the image, lighting, the mise en scene of Location, Editing and Sound showed how both characters was reflected on each other even though it was the same person they had different stories that was put together and there was no dialogue used but it was still funny.

A Cannes Film Festival Winner

The use of non-diegetic in this particular short film coming from another source gives us as viewers the calm feeling and also the use of character. There is close up shots of the little girls hands and hair which makes the viewers think what is about to happen, this alone shows that in a short film without dialogue you can still be able to get an idea of what the film is going to about and how you can connect to it. The use of slow music indicates the little girl’s feelings and supports the meaning of the characters expression and movement.

The Black Hole

Looking at Todorovs theory the beginning, middle and end are not individual elements of a narrative but are defined the relationship to each other the beginning can only be defined by its position in relation to the middle and the end for example we cannot be sure of the signicance of events at the beginning of the plot until we know they are going to be disrupted.Todorov suggested a slightly more complicated description of narrative structure than the simple situation/problem/resolution using his five posited stages 1. A stage of equilibrium 2.A disruption of the equilibrium by some action 3. Recognition that there has been a disruption 4.An attempt to repair the disruption 5.A reinstatement of the equilibrium.

Our 'Black Hole' narratives translates:

Man doing his work

Man notices something unusual

Man interferes and realises the advantages

Man uses advantages in a bad way

Mans actions puts him in a difficult position.

This short film has a different concept to the other short film that I have been viewing as it looks at two different parts in the film although it’s the same person it makes the audience think. Looking at semiotics and audience readings   which are meanings that are encoded into a media text and how an audience may decode these meanings. So everyone could be watching this short film but half the audience could connect to the good part of the film and the other half of the audience could connect to the bad part of the film. Once you accept that people use the media or even connect to it in different ways then the text should study how this happens based on the idea that texts don’t only have one meaning. Each one of us is constructed in many different ways through family, education,peers,etc which has an effect on us on how we view the media in different ways.  

Audience has three responses towards the media which are: Dominant, Oppositional, and Negotiated. Dominant values of society are accepted by the audience. Negotiated is when the audience accepts most of the values but may be critical towards some of the aspects.Oppostional is where the audience ideally rejects the dominant values described within the text so therefore semiotics recognises both the power of the text but also the ability the audience has in order to deny it. So when we apply this to ‘The Wrong Side of the Bed’ it gives the audience to have two separate views on one film whether its Dominant, Negotiated or. oppositional

The Last Cookie


There is alot of close up shots of the characters and their actions. This is to show emotion of the characters to add an in depth view of their thoughts and feelings. Many of these close ups are of the characters reading or drawing about cookies as it is significant to the narrative. There are some mid shots used to signify how much the cookie means to the characters.


There are alot of fast paced movements used to connote the excitement and determination of recieving the cookie. Focus pulls are also used from character to character to show how one characters actions combines with the other characters actions such as the pull from when both characters are reaching for the same cookie. This type of music was used to create humour but changes at the end which connotes that the actions in the film has taken place and is ended with disappointment.

Light em up.

There are different types of close ups and long shots used to set the scene and show emotion of the characters and highlight the relaxation they feel which contrasts to the destruction ahead of them. Focus pulls used focuses on the skyline ahead of the characters to signify the viewer that  something that does not usually happen is about to happen. If you pay attention to the skyline you will notice it has been edited to a darker red which connotes evil and danger but also love, danger being the destruction and love being the feeling the characters have towards what they are smoking.

The film is set on a empty grass hill with a view of the destruction that’s happening to London city. There is a major contrast used between the teenagers sitting on the hill without a care in the world whereas just opposite them there is a big dangerous event occurring, this shows the stereotypical view on teenagers that have no worries. The sound of nature has been edited to appear louder and there has been some diagetic effects added to highlight the relaxation and peace of the teenagers.