Short film narrative & suspension of disbelief

As we will be shortly dedicating the rest of our time to editing the footage we have caught over the last few weeks, in today's lesson we analysed the technique in some of the short films that our former college students had produced. We analysed the films 'Orphanage' and 'Note to self' they were very different films that I believed had different focuses.

Orphanage- For some unknown reason the video of Orphanage from YouTube would not embed so I have hyperlinked the title 

 I thought 'Orphanage['s]' use of camera shots, movement and editing were particularly impressive considering it was an amateur production. I thought the camera technique was very professional, you could see they had used a wheeled tripod to avoid shaking and it truly paid off as I thought it looked like a legitimate film. This short had some excellent match cuts, particularly the ones of the diary, where we got three different perspectives. I also enjoyed seeing the transition between objective and subjective viewpoint when following the blonde character through the wreckage, it truly created the horror/thriller vibe. I do think that some things were left unexplained, or didn't make sense, but they were solely issues with the narrative whereas we were focusing on the techniques that had been used, to essentially avoid the mistakes that were made here into ours. 'Orphanage' showed that there were several continuity errors that could have been bettered if not totally avoided through editing, for instance this unexplained nose bleed that was not on the girls face, then suddenly appeared without cause. However, I do feel it has gave some inspiration for when me and the rest of Clueless Productions properly approach the editing process. Match cuts particularly have shown to be very effective if done correctly. I believe that this group used non-diegetic sound particularly effectively as a form of suspense in their film, it truly enhanced the atmosphere and ticked the conventions of a horror, I thought that both sound and location made it clear from the off-set of what genre this short would fall into.

Note to self



'Note to self' was my least favoured on the grounds of editing, cinematography, mise en scene and sound. Although I did find this story line ultimately more compelling, and containing less continuity errors/unexplained acts, there was a serious lack of professionalism in their technique that led it to be the more amateur and ultimately the worst of the two. Specifically the section with the note writing on the wall, it was long winded, could not be seen clearly on the screen and was (for me) the ultimate technical downfall of the short. I see how scenes like this that are pivotal to the film could be bettered through the use of a montage, or in comic cases a fast forward. Their use of non-diegetic sound effects were somewhat excruciating to watch, they were in irrelevant places and did not appear to support the situations that were occurring. They also appeared to have a true lack of camera shots and editing techniques, although all they used were relevant, they were unfortunately limited. However, there were positives to this film that I intend to carry through to our own editing process. I believe the use of the flash back being slightly distorted was great in conveying the enigmatic air that the film carried, it also introduced the theme of time in an effective way. However I did prefer 'Orphanage' based on the technicalities.