During my free time I tend to watch a lot of short films, it's something I do to relax my mind. Here are a few films that I have watched, they might interest you as much as they did to me.
One of the main reasons the genre of a short film stood out to me the most was because I felt like I could relate to a lot of the things included within them. They are the closest things to real life in a lot of situations especially when they are social realism. The thing about Social Realism for me is that its a way of showing and seeing what happens in a majority of people's lives, people just hide so many things away and social realism films are a way of breaking that barrier and seeing what really happens in the cold hard world. In class I have watched several short films that look deeply into all kinds of situations, not just social realism but also animated cartoon films and children's films as well. Each one is different to one another. We watched a DVD called 'Digital Shorts' and a few of the films really stood out to me and my partner.
Altogether there are 8 short films in this DVD and although watching them all would have taken a lot of time, we got through most of them and I enjoyed watching them so far.
These are the names of all the short films on the DVD and who they are by:
-Stripes- Written and directed by Sean Spencer
-The First Time It Hits- Written and directed by Jason Budge
-Lou-Lou Lives Here- Written and directed by Hazel Grian
-Unreal City- Peter Addington-Animator
-Leila- Directed by Ian Dodds and written by Roxanna Pope
-Ice Cream Dream- Directed by Ekta Walia and written by Holly Bates and Etka Walia
-Hard Labour- Directed by Oliver Krimpas and written by Lucy Floyd
-Job Street- Written and directed by Mathew Santiago Whitecross
Lou Lou lives here:
This was one of the first films we watched at the beginning of our project in class. What I found quite interesting about the film was the black and white effect of it and the fact that the there was hardly any sound or dialogue, most of it was muted out and the bits of speech which was included was muffled into the background. The main sound effect given was the heavy breathing/panting of a dog. After we finished watching it the class was told to make a few notes about what we thought of the short film and what each of us saw in the film and how differently we viewed it from one another. Throughout the film occasionally a woman's voice is heard shouting 'Lou-Lou' as the camera follows round a little girl. What surprised me at the end of it was that the little girl was in fact the dog which this woman was calling. I loved watching it because it gave me a sense of realisation of how a film can manipulate the audiences thoughts and make them think what it wants them to think and trick the mind.
Stripes:
Stripes is another short film we watched during class. In my opinion I felt this film was very gripping, although some of it was quite disturbing and twisted but I think that those elements are what made this short film so moving and the message was strong. The film is about a black man who was bullied a lot when he was younger and especially by one specific man, who is white. He was mistreated and behaved with very badly and most of the time was brutally beaten up. The film portrays the black man's life when he is an adult, he tracks down that one guy that troubled him the most. Bullying had ruined his life whilst growing up and this therefore turned him into a man he never wanted to be. Sick, twisted and murderous. We watch how he gets his revenge on the white man by killing him at the end. This film has a very outspoken message telling us how racism and bullying affects much more deeply than we think. I also liked the fact that I was able to relate to some parts of it which should that this filmed had strongly reached out to its target audience.
Hard Labour:
This short film has attracted me and my partner quite a lot due to the similarities it has with one of the three stories in our short film. This film is based on a young girl named Yelena who is au paring a.k.a being the nanny or maid for a rich couple (husband Simon and wife Emily). Although they pay Yelena for doing the house work they do not treat her with respect. Their behaviour is horrible towards her. Emily is pregnant in this and later on we find out Yelena is also pregnant and she tells simon that she is having his child. Simon is put into a dilemma as he does not want his wife to know about this. He gives Yelena a lot of money to go and have an abortion, she tells him that she has had the abortion but she is lying. Later on Emily finds out she is also pregnant and a lot of trouble has happened and Yelena is kicked out of the house and is having to live on her own. Emily finally has her baby. We then also find out that Yelena has been faking her pregnancy and that she has been padding her stomach with cushions. Yelena then sneaks into Emily and Simon's house and takes their baby and money and goes back to her home country. This is a very interesting story as we see how one lies to get what they want but maybe they do it for the good also. This relates to one of our stories as one of our character's name is also Emily and she is also pregnant.
Job Street:
This film was one that inspired me and my partner to go ahead with doing a short film with more than one story within it. This film is about 3 immigrants who struggle day to day trying to earn some money. They all seem to be friends or know each other at least and every morning they stand at the corner of a street waiting for someone to pick them and give them a paid job for the day. Each of the characters story is different yet they all connect one way or another. We get to view what they see from their perspective and this gives the audience a chance to feel emotion towards the character. We feel sympathy towards the characters and how they have to survive everyday as if it is a battle. In a way it opens our eyes to see that not everything is 'perfect' for everyone. And some may take advantage of the few things they have going right in their lives.
Ice Cream Dream:
Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in finding a picture to represent this film. This film is about a little Indian girl called Luna who wishes to fit in with other children in her neighbourhood. Because her parents do not earn as much money as other parents she feels like an outcast as she feels like she cannot connect with the other children properly. Her dad owns an ice cream van and therefore to fit in with all the other children Luna goes to work with her dad. She has a dream where she owns her very own ice cream van and all the other children love her for giving out ice cream to them. She then notices a boy she likes and wants to become friends with. By the end of the film she is playing with this boy and his scooter and finally she feels like she cant be included with all the other children. I think the message here is showing the difference in confidence which even little children have as they grow up and how it can change if they make it happen.
Unreal City:
This is one of the short films which is animated, this is why I was interested in watching it specifically to see how different it is from the other non animated short films on the DVD. The cartoon character in this film was in a way representing a a real human being. His cartoon life was quite boring life, everyday was the same. It was like his life was put on repeat, waking up, going to work, coming home and then going to sleep and then the next day the exact same routine. He looked like he needed something interesting to happen to him. He was juts waiting for nothing. The only thing keeping him going was this little music box with a little ballerina inside it which would spin around to the music. He would just watch this littler dancer everyday after coming home from work. One day though, he accidently feel asleep. He dreamt of this dancing girl and slowly he fell in love with her, unfortunately as he awake he knocked the music box off the table and it broke. In this moment the audience feels sympathy towards the guy as we see the emotion of sadness go through him and how upset he really is. Suddenly from the broken pieces on the floor we watch a female character rise above and grow to the same size as they little guy, they both fall in love and live happily ever after. This gives us a sense of happiness also by seeing the two characters finally together and happy.
