Narrative

The narrative of short film follows a set of comventions that are very rarely altered. In short film an enigma or dilemma or both are presented within the opening minute, and an ambiguity tends to encase the protagonist if it contains one; the narrative of short film is different from that of a feature film as short film is only allowed to show the essentials in terms of scenes, to tell the narrative, and usually these scenes show subtle hints as to the conclusion of the plot, and usually the subtley's are shown more once you see the film for a second and third time to uncover the hints that lead to the twist in the tale.

  

Genre

Genre is the part of any media product be it film, television or print. The genre is something that is defined from the codes and conventions it follows; for example in the genre of horror, we expect there to be some form of enigmatic antagonist in which either an indivdual or group must overcome in order to reach an equilibrium. In terms of short films, there is never a set genre, as there are so many different variations, but one convention that can be placed into short films and in a sense create a separate genre known as 'short film' can be seen as there being almost always a twist. The climatic points in each short film lead into twists so that the audience are either shocked or provoked into reflecting on what they have seen. 

 

Genre can also be seen as seasonal. Around the time of mid November to the end of September, a spate of feel good films and also Christmas films are released; this is down to the institutions that are producing and distributing these films seeing an opening in the box office where profit margins will be at there highest.

Genre aims to target specific audiences to the product, for example not everybody enjoys seeing a 'slasher' film such as Friday the 13th. In being specific with genre you can tell whether or not you media product will be successful, if you look at the current trending of films in today's society, the genre of 'Superheros' has soared, so your target audience creates a large impact on the type of genre you are going to use.

In modern society genre has become a harder concept to define due to the sub-genre coming into existance. Now films and other media products can branch off into things such as 'action' and 'comedy'; and a prime example of genres being split further, is the zombie franchise and genre. A decade ago zombie films would have been classed under 'horror' and they show the generic formula for a horror product; they include monsters, fright and fast jump cuts to close ups of the creatures features, but as a particular film trend under a generic category gains popularity it splits off into its own genre such as the zombie genre.

In relation to short films, the iconography behind them is to entertain for a short period of time and grip the audience's attention. A lot of the conventions involve having a much smaller cast than that of a feature film, and the narrative is shown with only the absolute essential scenes to get the narrative to its conclusion, also the most obvious generic convention of short films, are that they are short, approximately under thirty minutes in length.

 

Institutions

Short films are exhibited at independent cinemas such as the Premiere Cinema where they are primarily viewed with other short films for a small fee. These short films are usually discovered in film festivals such as Encounters and these festivals promote the film by handing out different kinds of awards to best shorts and giving them recognition. Also various game companies pay for individuals to create short films around their video games to promote them.

Audience

The audience for short films is generally students who create short films of their own for example the gratification for students to watch these and make them, is to get notice by companies as potential film makers and creators; similarly audiences watch these short films so that they can get ideas and inspiration for their own creations.

Another type of audience for the short film genre is film festival companies such as encounters (http://www.encounters-festival.org.uk/ ) that allow short films to be exhibited and viewed too find potential in aspiring film makers.

The Connected a short film

The reason this short film works, is because it creates an enigma as to what the characters are and what they are doing, it is simple and grasps your attention. The short film follows a convention of including a plot twist in which we do not expect, the idea of the two characters depending on one another to survive and then turning on each other is usually associated with horrors, but from the desolate environment we can tell that this is a Sci Fi.

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