3 short films with different genres

“Mop”- comedy short film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhn6AnCOtMI

This short movie shows us a night cleaner who unintentionally kills someone and he must therefore
hide the body without anybody noticing. We can understand that the genre of the film is a comedy.
This is due to the fact that comedy has four micro aspects that are used in the making of it. The first
clip of the film is a montage of the city which helps the audience gain a wider understanding of
where it is set. The film meets Todorov theory, as this has an equilibrium that disrupts the normal
every day which is the death of the agent, from slipping over the wet floor, then the problem is
resolved as the body is removed, but then we are given another scene to find a new equilibrium,
which is a new dead agent. The reason people usually watch comedies is to be entertained. This is
because they want to relax and try to separate themselves from reality. Therefore, the target
audience for this film would be teenagers as most teens have a stressful day at school and watching
a comedy would cheer them up due to the effects of the film making them laugh, this will change the
mood.

Editing:

This clip begins with a montage of the city, which helps show the audience were it is set, which is in
the city. Through the use montages, it links to the conventions of the comedy genre as it is usually
fast paced unlike the majority of other genres. This helps to add to the humour part of the genre. An
establishing shot has also been used to show the use of the corridor and to show the set and where
he is working. The speed of the film varies throughout. This is because we see fast shots at the
beginning to help show where the film has been set. However, there are also slower clips used
throughout. Such as, when the agent slipped and died, we had a close up of his face and then a slow
paced camera movement to show us what he is thinking. The variety of different cuts in the video,
help us to understand the pain and struggle that he is going through from trying to remove the dead
body. The effect of this is so that the audience can see the amount of work he is trying to put in to
cover up the dead body. The cuts are also conventional to the genre as the multiple cuts shows us
the struggle of the cleaner trying to lift the dead body.

Mise-en-scene

The use of iconography has been used in the first 30 seconds. For example, the mop, which is then
labelled as a murder weapon as the agents slips on the wet floor and dies. This helps us to realise
that it is a comedy film as the use of a mop helping commit a murder is unrealistic as it is not a
dangerous weapon. So the use of it as the “weapon” shows off a funny side to it. This makes the
audience laugh as he mops the floor and before he can put down the wet sign before someone falls
over it and dies. Once he gets rid of the body, he then comes back to find another dead body on the
floor. This meets the genre of comedy as he didn’t get the sign out onto the wet floor which resulted
in someone dying and we can see he is panicking as we see him rushing trying to find ways to get rid
of the body. The use of the iconography helps show us as an audience that the genre is comedy.
3 short films with different genres

Cinematography:

During the film, cinematography has been used many times to help show the different emotions that
the worker goes through. For example, close ups, and bird eye view shots to show off a different
angle of the event, which also helps bring a funny element to it as we see the body being dragged off
the screen and makes it more humorous for the audience, and helps the audience believe that he is
really dead as the body is dragged away from the screen looking unresponsive and motionless. Close
up shots were used to help the audience see the emotion and facial expressions of the worker as he
has just committed manslaughter. The close ups have also been used as the audience want to see his
reactions and expressions, but we do not need to see what he really says as dialogue is not a big part
of the short film as it is not used. This helps bring a funny element to the film as it meets the
conventions of comedy by having no dialogue. The use of the high angle shot was used to add a
more serious and dramatic approach as we are looking down at the characters, which is effective as
High-angle shots can make the focus seem defenceless or helpless, which he is because he is dead.

Sound:

In the film, most of the sound is diegetic. This consists of, the slipping onto the floor, the body being
dragged away and the pressure of the worker trying to hide it. These are sounds that are all due to
the setting and atmosphere he is in; when the body is being pulled to the lift, the sounds are already
being made due to the friction against the floor and the buttons of the lift. The use of this helps
making it amusing, as there is no dialogue and it is all about the facial expressions, actions and the
environmental sounds such as the panic on his face but the dragging of his body.

Ancestors- sci-fi short film.

Ancestors is about how the humans have “ruined” earth, numerous countries in the forthcoming
and an explorer going to see his ancestral world to find out what happened to all the humans on
Earth, which is shown in the film of many shots of the earth looking dead and dry. We can tell that
the genre of this film is a sci fi film. This is because it uses the four micro aspects of a sci fi film and
has different conventions that are used to help support the genre. For this film, the target audience
would once again be teenagers, as the whole subject of the film is space, and space seems to amuse
teenagers the most and many teens show interest in the topic. People who tend to watch sci fi films,
tend to be interested in science, the theories of space and space in general. The fil also fits
todorovs’s theory as there are interruptions to the equilibrium. This was when he found the bone in
the ground, then the attempt to repair the damage by putting the bone back into the ground as the
bone belonged 3 year old girl.

Sound:

Sound has been used to help show the genre of the film as there is the use of non- diegetic sound.
This includes the voiceovers that were added into the film over the movements he is performing.
The sound of the wind blowing has also been added. The environment has been used to help us as
an audience that the earth is “dead” as the sound of the explorer walking over the dead grass and
leaves shows that the earth is very dry and soulless thanks to its ancestors. The film also has a linear
narrative as the film shows one point in time. However, most of the actual video is non- linear as the
shots are moved from one location to another to help emphasise the point he is making.
3 short films with different genres

Cinematography:

In the film, there has been a wide range of shots used, in particular the wide shot. This is to show the
audience that the environment we live in is slowly falling apart due to our human actions. The film is
about how the Ancestors ruined earth and we can see that they have by the use of long shots to
show the dead ground and the dehydrated trees. They have also made a sandstorm to help show
that the effects the humans have had on earth is huge. This helps to make the audience feel
sympathy towards the explorer, as instead of seeing the amazing features of the planet, he has seen
a slowly dying earth. With the use of close-ups, we can see his emotions about the problem. For
example, when he is wondering the ground.

Editing:

Editing has been used in this short film by helping show what the voiceover is actually speaking
about. This is evident when he is speaking about the ship he is on, when it then cuts to show that he
is flying a ship. This links to the convention of the genre as the ship shows us it is a sci fi genre. The
use of editing in a fake sandstorm, helps us to understand that the earth’s conditions are slowly
changing and getting worst as there are starting to be many storms. This helps emphasise the genre
as you would expect to see a sandstorm in a sci-fi and helps show the effect of a change in climate

Mise en scene:

In the film, there was a wide range of props that were used. Such as, the ships and the tools that was
used on board the ship. This helped us to see that the genre is clearly sci fi, through the space
technology and being on board a space ship, which is in associations with the sci-fi genre. This has
been used so that the audience can recognise a clear genre and understand that the film is a sci fi
based film, we know this due to all the conventions being used. Also the costume of a space suit
links to the genre as we would rarely see someone travelling in a spacesuit other than going to space
to help protect you.

Dropped- short action film

The first camera angle that is shot in the film is a close up. This is to cause tension and to intensify
the dramatic scene, this makes the audience feel the urge to carry on watching as the film starts at
the end and then leads into a flashback. The use of a close up also helps to show the emotion of the
character and to emphasise what has just happened and to see what the actor is thinking. The use of
iconography is also used through the prop of a phone. This makes it apparent to the audience that it
is an action film as it leaves a mystery as to who is texting and calling this certain man who we still
don’t know about and why he is in this situation. Without this, we could still guess it is an action film
as it starts with the man sitting in his car with all cuts on his face. However, the genre of the film may
be confused as he is driving through woodlands on his own and we are not sure what is going to
happen. Some audience could think it is a horror film.

The film does not fit with Todorov’s theory as it does not start with an equilibrium and starts straight
at the recognition. We understand this as we can clearly see a disorder has occurred. However, it
then skips the next steps and goes straight to the equilibrium. This shows that it has not decided to
follow the usual pattern of a film and start the film off with a plot twist, instead of showing a
representation of all characters and giving the audience time to give an opinion on each character.
3 short films with different genres

The use of non-diegetic sound has been used in the film as well to create tension and suspiciousness.
This helps to add to the narrative and to help explain the storyline. The non-diegetic sound that was
added was mysterious music. We understand this as the pitch was very low and the tempo was quite
slow. However the tempo did start to increase. This helps to suggest that something is about to
happen because the volume slowly gets louder and helps the suspense grow. This then leads to the
narrative being restricted as we are not sure in what is going to happen in the next scene and keeps
the audience guessing.

They have decided to use quick short takes to emphasise the fight scene and to make it more
dramatic. The short takes also emphasise the skill in their martial arts fighting.