evaluation

My short film shows representation of social status and family and relationships. In my short film, two brother trolls are torn apart by their different views on how they should be living. When one troll leaves the other to peruse a normal life in the town, his distraught brother desperately searches the surrounding areas to find him. The desperation he shows when searching for his brother through character expression and movement represents the importance of family to him. This is shown by the amount of people that he asks if they have seen him. Also, by the panic shown by character expression and movement when he first turns around at the river to realise his brother has left him. Lastly, when he is seen crouching by the river with the photo of his brother. On the other hand, it could be said that for the other brother that family isn’t very important this is why he leaves. This differs from operator in which sound is used to convey the importance of family when the woman on the phone begins to panic as she has her child with her. The location I used to make the brothers home is next to a bridge, this conforms with existing troll stories as they are known to live under bridges which represents social status and norms. This is similar to the fly as the use of the location outside of the bank helps tell the viewer where they are.

Family is represented by using props to make a “household” for the trolls a household is a big part of being in a family so to represent that I used props to make a home fit for two trolls. I used old tarpaulin and rags to symbolise their bed by the river which would be part of their house. This shows family as it gives a sense of togetherness when they both wake up by the river together. I also used everyday items such as a watering can and a bucket to make it seem like more of a home for the trolls as they would only have basic items living under a bridge. This is similar to slap as they use a normal-looking family home with props to make it seem as if the house is lived in.

I used sound to make it seem like a devastating situation due to his brother leaving him behind. To do this, I used piano music that gets faster or slower depending on the level of intensity the troll would be feeling due to being left alone by his brother. When he first leaves and this brother realises, the music intensifies to symbolise the panic he’d be feeling due to being alone. The costumes of both the trolls represents their social status. Because they were wearing old clothes that were tattered, the conventional representation would be that they are outcasts in society and don’t have homes and jobs. This is similar to tight jeans, in which the boys’ clothes are a representation of their social status of average working class in London.

The camera angle and movement was used to represent family in one of the opening shots where a low angle shot is used to symbolise that they were waking up next to each other as a conventional family could. Editing was used to convey representation of family life as boring and repetitive. The beginning shots of the brothers still united at the river contain more short disconnected shots to convey time. This is similar to arrival as editing is used to tell the story.

 

 I would class my short film as being in the family genre that also has elements of comedy. This is achieved by making sure that it doesn’t include humour, images or themes that would be unsuitable for children. My film includes depictions of trolls which children could’ve found to be frightening. Therefore, the costume and makeup I used was minimal. I thought that the less realistic-looking mask with the comically big nose suited the film the best. I also didn’t use any foul language in my film, due to there not being any sound at all. This conforms with existing family films as they are all made sure to be suitable for all ages through the use of cartoon depictions of characters which alter characters appearances to suit the young audience and the intolerance to foul language. I also used minimal editing to make sure that it is easy to follow so children will be able to understand the story. I also added some slightly humorous parts in my film through character expression and movement so that children would find it funny and want to keep watching. This is similar to the fly in which the main character uses character expression and movement for comedic value when sat in the car.

Family genre is also represented with the lighting of my film. I used natural sunlight in most of my short film. This conforms with other family films as it is bright and cheery.

 

 My short film features a linear narrative as the story progresses with every scene. It doesn’t include any flashback scenes, nor does it have any scenes in which the narrative is unclear or not in order. This differs to Ellington kid as it uses flashbacks to tell the story of the kebab shop. My film also has many scenes that follow the editing effect of the Kuleshov effect such as the scene where the troll follows the trail of beard hair. The subsequent shot is of him walking towards the trail, this helps the audience to realise that hes going looking for him from the use of two consecutive shots. Using a linear narrative conforms with many family films to make it easy to follow.

 

 

 

My targeted audience is families and younger people. This is because my story is tailored to be suitable for younger viewers. Also, the actors I used were teenagers which helps the younger audience feel more engaged in the story as they can relate. This relates to the Ellington kid as the actors they use in it are in their late teens which helps the targeted audience relate.  Through mise en scene, it is easy to identify that my film is suited to a family audience. My short film could potentially be viewed on many platforms. It is uploaded to YouTube so that it gets as many views as possible. Because of this it could be viewed on laptops, tablets, or even a screen as small as a phone. Viewing it on any of these platforms would be suitable as it is more about the story than the spectacle of the film which some big directors choose to achieve. This conforms with many short films as they are usually used to send a message, show off directing skills to potential film makers and to tell a story instead of being used to create a great spectacle. An example of this is tight jeans as it is just used to tell a story.