Audience Profile

A2

The demographics for my target audience are those who are aged at 18 to 24. The reason for this is is that the short film will contain graphic images and violent underlying themes, that the effect theory would show to be as desensitization for younger audiences. Also in terms of psychographics, the short film is a thought provoking piece designed to make the audience uncomfortable and to shock, so psychologically in theory people aged 18 and above should be able to handle the mentality behind the film.

 Also in terms of demographics, the film would be aimed at the social category C1. This is because this class of society would become more enthralled by the psychology behind it and it the narrative’s conclusion would play upon their minds afterwards.

The main audience in terms of gender for this short film would probably be female over male. I believe this because from speaking with different social circles, the number of female people that have seen psychological films such as ‘Shutter Island’ and loved it were much higher than the males.

Also other genres and things the audience would be into watching, would be things like horror and thrillers.

Reception theory apllied to short film

The individuals in the audience will have numerous different reactions to the narrative. Some will decode the enigma and twist in the tale faster than others, and others in the audience may not agree that the conclusion means the same as their opinion. The film would be left to an open interpretation for all to debate over.

How are short films distributed and exhibited?

One of the main ways the short films are distributed is via social media and social networking sites such as YouTube. The film maker will upload it to a site such as this normally to obtain attention from anyone who has access to the website. Money can be made in advertisements on YouTube so the film maker can in theory get their budget back over a period of time providing it becomes popular. The problem with YouTube is that it will realistically only give a person an audience if it is a popular video, if not the film is in essence a waste of time, so another form of distribution is available to film makers.

Film festivals such BFI are a great way to get a short film distributed. A person can submit a film to the company in the hopes that the festival plays it to an audience in an independant cinema; so these festivasls also act as exhibitors. From these festivals potential directors, film critics, and scouts can decide that the director of the short film is highly talented, or has the possibility of becoming that, and induct them into the film industry.

Representation

Representation in short film of characters is very limited. The characters in short film are normally limited to being just represented by their actions rather than by the mise-en-scene of clothing. For example a single mother is easily identified in short films by walking around in an exhausted fashion, normally moving around as though they are on autopilot. The reason behind the representations of characters being represented by a small portion of what could be potentially used is that the film is set to a strict time limit and therefore the audience are forced to think more at the connotations that the camera portrays about the character. In a way this is more effective as the audience then engage in the representations more to try and form their own notions of what the narrative and its characters really mean.

Representation in feature films on the other hand is much more different. The producer and director have much more time and larger budgets to create their representations of things such as characters and gender. For example feature films have the ability to back track into the persons life and background either through verbal communication or by flashbacks. 

Media Language

The media language in short film for cinematography usually consists of different shots for the majority of narrative. The same shots of middle close ups are among the most repeated shot types, this is because these shots allow enough to be seen, and as short films are limited to showing the bare essentials, these shots can get the points across. In terms of editing jump cuts are used to show a period of time that has passed, again this because you are very limited in what you can show to tell the story, so jump cuts help to bring you to different times in the narrative. Also most short films are told from non-verbal communication so the shots that are picked must be clear and obvious to show the main denotations and connotations in the short film.

 

Presentation on short film

Clip extract to show type of character relation 

between protagonist and antagonist.

How are short films made? What are their sources of funding?

Short films are made by a number of different individuals and companies. For example short films are made for ambitious and up and coming directors who want to make a name for themselves in the industry; so for these individuals the source of funding comes from their own pockets and they fund themselves. Another way these types of people make films and recieve funding is by going onto websites such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/before-you-start/funding#sources  to get donations and tips on ways to get funding for the short film.

Another source of funding for short films is companies who hire short film crews to create a promotional video for their product. A prime example of this is the use of live action video's for video games, the franchise 'Call of Duty' hired a film crew to create a promotional piece for their upcoming game, also using film stars to add more appeal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzaxlddWbk

Application of Theory's to short film

Bathes code of enigma can be applied to the narrative of the film 'In Bruges'. The enigma runs throughout the first section of the narrative whilst an equilibrium is in motion. The two disfunctional protagonists have been sent to "lay low", and we know not why this is, or what crimes they may or may not have committed. As the narrative progress's we unravel the heinous crime that Ray committed unintentionally. This then enters Bathe's code of culture, as the gangster culture is revealled by the antagonist Harry, who goes to kill Ray for his sins and the phrase "You can't kill a kid and expect to get away with it" is constantly repeated reinforcing gangsters morals. 

From this I have come to understand that in my short film whatever the narrative is about, the ethics and morals of the lead characters have to remain constant throughout and lead to the conclusion of the plot.

In terms of Vladimir Propps theory, this film has an unconventional set of stock characters. For example the character Ray in reality would be seen as a villain and a low life; in reality the audience would not associate or sympathise with him. But in the diegesis of this film the character is shown as a tragic hero who understands the misdeeds of his past and therefore sympathy is created for him. So from this theory I can use the notion of having a troubled protagonist who has a dark history and try to create audience sympathy for him.