Textual Analysis of 'Pudding Bowl'

In order to see what makes a successful short film I have been watching a few to see the different conventions that are used. I have then deconstructed them to see what conventions have been used and the ways in which they have been successful. 

Pudding Bowl is one of the short films that I have watched and deconstructed. 

• Camera work: 

Some of the camera short where very artistic in the fact that the camera angles were different from what would be stereotypically shown. Like the mum mashing up the meat, the camera angle changes as though we were inside the bowl. This denoted the aggression that the mother had as, which is the reason as to why the boy would be unable to go out with his friends. 

As the boys friends were up against the video asking him to come out we saw a long shot of the boy in the house sitting on a chair on his own. Everything around him was tidy with nothing in the room being out of place showing that the children have a tight structure to their lives without any entertainment being given to them as he was sat on the chair not doing anything. The shot then changed to a close up of the little girl cutting and sticking things down showing that they have to make any entertainment or fun in their lives up for themselves, the expression on her face shows her to not have any cares she is also very oblivious to what is going on around her. 

Another interesting shot that we saw was as the little girl took her glasses off the shot changed to a blurry point of view show which showed us what she was able to see due to no longer having her glasses on. This shot also makes the audience feel sorry for the little girl as she is trying to make the best out of a bad situation however this means that she is unable to see anything. 

• Editing: 

The editing style changed quiet a few times throughout the short film depending on the mood that was being portrayed. As the mother was cutting off all of the little girls hair the speed got a lot faster showing the aggression the mother had over cutting it all off. The speed at which the hair was being cut of also signified how little the hair meant to the mother, it also made the haircut seem so much more dramatic. The fact that it was done so carelessly also meant the audience was left wondering what the outcome would be and how it was going to look.   However as the little girl was left with the hair all around her showed how much having long hair meant to her.

At the end of the short film as the little girl was riding down the road on the bike the slow motion of the action denotes how happy she is in what she is going. This is the opposite of the speed up scene of her hair being cut as that would have been a dramatic time for her. The genuine expression of happiness on her face conveys the idea that she wants her daydream to be a reality due to not having any cares. The slow motion is also used in order to make it obvious to the audience that the scene is occurring in the little girls imagination and isn't reality. 

• Mise-en-scene: 

The mise-en-scene clearly shows that this film is portraying the 50s era as many things have changed from them to the present day. The TV shown in the long shot of the boy sitting doing nothing is a lot smaller but fatter than the TVS that we would have today. Also the fact that the boys are knocking for him to come out and play further shows the time period as now a days children would text or ring each other to see if they were going to come outside in order play. The clothing in which the characters are wearing was also very dated and lacking in colour. The fact that a bowl cut was given right away without any thought being given was also typical of them times as that is what was in fashion. 

• Lighting:

Throughout the film the lighting is very dark and gloomy which portrays the mood of the house. As the boy is sitting in the chair we see the room looking very shadowed with the only lighting coming outside which gives the impression that he is feeling trapped inside the house, with outside being hissingly sense of freedom however he is unable to get out of the house. The lighting them changed and gets a lot lighter in the little girls daydream was this shows how she know feels happy and free. 

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

Codes in Media

Codes are systems of signs which create a meaning. They are spilt into two different sections, technical and symbolic. An example of a code that is used in order to create a meaning is a candle lit dinner with roses on the table would denote the fact that two people are on a date.

Technical codes: This is all about the ways in which we use the resources around us like camera work and editing software in order to help you tell your story.

Symbolic codes: Unlike technical codes that you are aware of while watching the short film, the symbolic codes are what show what is occurring beneath the surface of what you are watching, like the emotions in the characters are feelings or the type of relations that they have with the other characters during that scene as that may change the atmosphere of the scene.

Conventions:

Conventions are the ways in which everything is down in media. All forms of media have different conventions to them, while studying media last year I learnt all about the different convections that music magazines have.

Media codes and conventions work together in any genre of film in order to make it as successful as possible. You can not start to describe a media code like what something during the film symbolise without talking about the conventions as to why it has been symbolised in that particular way: for example- The lighting that has been used with be that high or low due to the conventions that are stereotypical of that genre. 

• Romantic film will have bright lighting making the scene happy.
• Horror film will have dark lighting filling the scene with mystery that something dramatic is going to occur next. 

Due to short films only being around 5 mixtures long it can be hard to put them into a genre of their own, they sometimes have aspects of more than one genre in them. This makes finding the stereotypes of that genre harder to look out for meaning that the typical conventions are harder to analyse.

 

Research Methods

Primary:
Primary data is data in which a person has collected first hand, the data did not exist before it had been collected. Primary data is collected in many different ways like, interviews, telephone conversations, questionnaires and emails, as the person doing to research is getting all of the information first hand for themselves.
Secondary:
This is the opposite to what primary data is, as the data has already been found and the person doing the research has found it either online using search engines like google and magazines.

When creating my short film the research that takes place towards getting my end product will mostly be primary research, as all of the research I get will have to be my own. The research also has to fit the film genre of my choice. This means that I will be using research methods like emails, interviews and phoning people directly in order to find out the information that I need. This will benefit my research as there wont be any misinterpretations of questions that are being asked or I wont have unnecessary information that I don't need and isn't going to help me further. I will be getting primary research using many different methods, however all methods of research have many different positive and negatives:

Emails:

• Positives:
• Free
• Quick and Easy
• Can send as many until you have got the point you want across
• Messages are less likely to get misinterpreted as you can write as much or as little as you want. 
• Negatives: 
• You are relying on the person you have emailed to reply 
• Finding email adresses for some of the people you may want to get into contact with can be hard. 
• Can not see if the message has been delivered or read  

Phone Interviews: 

• Advantages:
• Questions are harder to be misinterpreted as you can explain what you mean in a lot of detail 
• Direct way of getting to your target audience 
• Everyone has a phone or has access to one so you anyone will be able to take part in a phone interview 
• They can be done on the go so isn't going to take a lot of someones time if they are a very busy person 
• Disadvantages: 
• You may loose signal or mishear them
• Talking and recording your results at the same time may be difficult 
• If the person is abroad the call maybe costing your lots without you realising 

Internet: 

• Advantages: 
• Easy to access 
• Can find almost anything that you want when you search it 
• More and more places have free wifi 
• Can ask questions via social media so can have a range of answers 
• Disadvantages: 
• Not everything that you read online is reliable so you cant believe everything that you have read
• Sometimes there is lots of information around the subject that you are searching but the information that yo have found does not directly answer the question that you are looking for the answer to 
• You may get distracted from what you are meant to be looking for and end up on social media website or on gaming websites, which will cause you to get behind on your work 

Newspapers/ magazines: 

• Advantages: 
• Every shop that you go into will be selling newspapers and magazines 
• If the newspaper/ magazine is based on the topic that you are looking into then it is going to be full on information that is going to help you 
• Disadvantages:
• All stores may not sell the magazine that you want 
• Information in magazines may be over the top in order to get more people to buy the magazine, as it makes it more interesting to the reader
• They can sometimes be expensive

One of the main reasons I would look into using newspapers and magazines in order to do some research is due to the fact one of my ancillary texts is a film magazine review page. As I don't read many review pages Im not very familiar with what they are like and the information that is included in them which is why I need to look into in further to ensure mine is going to be including everything that it needs to. Looking into the magazine review pages will also mean that I can see the conventions that they have used in order to use them for my own. 

Inorder to collect information about which genres of films people like watching the most I may do a survey as this will allow be to find out what my target audience like the most. This will allow me to design the questions in the way that I want to in order to get the most information possible, if the survey is one verbally I will be able to ask any follow up question that I have at the moment. Another method I can use in order to collect data is a focus group, as you are able to gather multiple options together in one go. 

Quantitative research: This is research that is all based upon numbers, like pie charts and graphs.

Qualitative research:  This type of research is opposite to quantitative as its all about peoples opinions and the facts that you have found out. This type of research goes into a lot more detail and you can find out why someone of the outcomes of your research have come out in the ways in which that they have. 

Most of the research that I am going to be collecting will be qualitative as when doing things like surveys I will be finding out why people feel the way that they do and how that is going to have an impact on my short film. 

Inner and Outer Form

All of the different film genres have Inner and Outer Forms to them. 

Thematic which is the inner form in a film are the typical storylines that films have. The themes that the film has throughout it, different morals the film is trying to signify, messages behind certain things that occur throughout the film and the characters that are in the film. 

There is also Iconography which is the outer form of films. The outer form includes the location in which the film has been set in, this will include everything that is being shown in the Mise-en-scene. The colours in which have been included in the scene, if something in the scene signifies danger the colour red may be shown in the scene. Finally the Iconography also includes the way in which the film is being marketed. 

Listed below are some examples of Inner and Outer forms of different genres:

Inner Form of Horror Films: 

• Death 
• Spirits 
• The unknown 
• Mystery  
• Demons 

Outer Forms of Horror: 

• Darkness 
• Big abandoned houses 
• Children's old and broken toys 
• Lots of hair and make up 

Inner form of Romance:

• Two people meeting a failing in love without spending lots of time together 
• Small plot twist with things all going wrong however everything turns out perfect in the end
• Family get involved, sometimes one of the families doesn't like the boyfriend/girlfriend

Outer forms of Romance: 

• Lighting is bright with all of the colours looking as bright or very pastil 
• Set in very public places 
• Lots of presents 
• Technology is used more in newer films- couple texting and messaging each other all the time. 

History of Short Films

Add caption

At first all films were short films, however as technology started to develop more and more films were able to become longer. The first films shown were only able to be viewed by one person at a time through a kinescope. Soon after this projectors started to develop however they were only used in order to show the most known and popular films. Films then proceeded to have major improvements done to the editing and sound during the early 1900's, the editing improvements meant that films were no longer just one shot. Now that short films have now got even more popular they are able to be found on multiple media platforms. Websites like 'Short film of the week' and 'Films short' have been created in order to allow people to watch many of the short films that have been created all in one place. The websites have different categories and genres so it makes it easier for the viewer to film what they are wanting to watch.




Short Film Synopsis

My short film is going to be set in a school environment with one scene taking place in the woods. I have 5 different characters, one of them is going to remained unknown throughout the whole film (Aaron), one of them is going to be a victim of bulling (Megan). There is then three girls who are the bullies, Hannah who is the meanest of the bullies she is the person that ends up getting killed, there is then Lilly who is mean however wants to make Hanna see sense the fact that she is being horrible to Megan for no reason, and Emily who looks at situations from the outside but will mostly agree with what Hannah says.

The film starts with a flashback which will be the last scene that is going to be shown. It then goes back in time to show all of the things that caused the flashback of the killing to occur. We go back in time to see the girls being in lesson and excluding Megan from the convosation that they are having with Hannah not being scared to voice her opinion in the fact that she doesn't like Megan, this scene gives the audience an overview of the fact that the three girls are very close to each other and don't like Megan. We then see Lilly trying to get through the fact to Hannah that they need to start being nice to Megan as they have been unfair on here for many years however they have no true reason to be horrible to her. As Hannah gives into Lilly and goes to talk to Megan they see her talking to a mystery person (Aaron) however they are confused however they don't know who he is as he goes to their school. Following Megan through to the common room where the only way she would have been able to leave is by passing them once again, they try to find her however she isn't in there anyway so Hannah gives up and goes off to her lesson. However as she goes to leave she gets a mystery text message which she refuses to show her friends however it clearly distresses her, without discussing the text message further she leaves in a stress.

As Hannah finishes her lesson Megan follows her in a fluster trying to emphasis the fact that she cant do what the text message says as she will be in great danger, as Hannah questions how she knows about the text Megan refuses to give any answers to Hannah proceeds with what she was doing. While Hannah is making her way towards the woods which is where she has been told to go she is being followed by Aaron, the camera shots that are going to be used will show that she can feel someone following her however every time she looks over her shoulder there isn't anyone there. Aaron is going to stand on something which makes Hannah turn around suddenly not giving Aaron enough time ti disappear the camera is going to show Hannah's scared emotion has she sees who Aaron is, there is then going to be a long shot of the woods with a sound effect added over the top of a scream followed by a gun shot. This will make it clear to the audience that Aaron murder Hannah, as the next scene shown is Hannah lying on the floor with Lilly and Emily standing over. Aaron is gonna be shown in the shot in the background however the girls are unaware that he is there, Megan is also going to be in the background stating the fact that she told Hannah not to follow what the text saying conveying the fact that she truly wanted to keep Hannah safe. The two girls are then going to receive anonymous text messages saying 'Who's Next' at the same time Aaron is going to be shown in shot without a phone in his hand which denotes the fact there is more than one person against them as he didn't send the text message.

Film Genres

My starting point for creating my own short film was the genre I was going to pick, in order to do this I brainstormed a list of film genres before picking the genre I want my short film to be.

• Teen drama 
• Mystery 
• Thriller 
• Crime Fiction 
• Horror Fiction
• Sci- Fy
• Drama 
• Western 
• Action/ adventure 
• Romance 
• Western 
• Romance  

There also sub-genres of the main genres that have been listed above: 

• Rom-com, which is a sub-genre of romance.
• Slasher, which is a sub-genre of horror.
• Weepy, which is a sub-genre of romance. 
• Chick-flick, which is a sub- genre of romance and/or comedy.

Analysing a pervious students work

I have watched many different professional short films in order to get an understand of the ways in which they include different conventions and to make note of any similarities that each of the short films have. However many of the professional short films that I have watched have been produced with a large budget meaning that they are going to have a lot of things that I don't in order to create their film like microphones and camera equipment. So I have watched a previous students work as this is going to be more comparable to what my short film is going to look like, they would have had the same resources as me in order to produce their film.

I choose to watch stick up for me by Sarah Johnson. The reason for this was that Sarah has used many of the same effects during her film like putting text messages onto the screen in order to allow the audience to see what is being said. The short film also has a similar story line to mine as it shows a mean girl situation with one girl trying to help to victim which then becoming best friends at the end. Having text placed onto the screen makes the film much more interesting as it means the audience have to concentration on the screen at all times as it may lead to them missing a text messages which would then cause them to miss what is going to happen next. Although a convention of short films is to not have a lot of dialogue in them I feel like this short film could have included a little more, although many of the conversations were done through text messages you get more of a feel for the relationships the characters would have had with each other through the ways in which they spoke to each other. I liked the ways in which would could see clearly throughout the film the locations that they are in, it was shown clearly through the mise en scene.

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Probb was an individual that came up with the idea that each film with a narrative structure has certain types of characters. The theory that he created has been influential to many directors in the creation of their films. Probb also said the fairy tails follow a certain structure.

The different characters that are included in these films are as follows:

• The Villain: The villain in films is used in order to create difficult situations which a hero will fix the fixing of the situations also leads to the villain being killed or disappearing. Due to people the individual that is going to be the most heated character nothing about them is going to be positive or nice to prevent the audience liking them for any reason. They will ugly or shown to be wearing unfashionable\ different clothing. For example in most fairy tail films the villain will be a wicked witch or step mother. 
• Dispatcher: This individual is the person that sees the evil that the villain is causing to occur and makes it known by all of the characters. 
• Helper: This person is someone that will work alongside the hero in order to prevent the villain from causes massive amounts of damage and problems. As the hero will be the most loved person in the film the helper wont be portrayed to be as good as the hero or as attractive and they aren't going to be the most loved person in the film. 
• Princess\ prize: This is the individual that the hero wants, in a disney film it would be a princess that the prince would want to marry. However the villain causing problems to prevent this from occurring in a simple way that is intended. The hero with the help of the helped will then over come all of the tasks that they are faced with in order to get the princess\ prize that they want. One they have done this the villain leaves in order to get the happy ever after they have wanted from the start of the film. 
• Father: They will give the task out to the hero that they need to complete in order to gain success. 
• Donor: Sets the hero up for the challenges that they have yet to face or will give them a magical/ superpower in order to help them. 

I feel like the characters discussed above or dominant in action and fairy tale film, they don't dominantly have an active role in films like horror films. 

Analysing a media text

In order to be able to make a successful short film of your own the best way to get an idea about what different conventions that you need to include and the ways in which the film should be filmed is by watching previous short films that have been created. My short film has multiple genres within in which means that there are a rang of short films that I need to watch in order to get a feel for the ways that my short film showed be filmed.

The short film below is a Horror film that shows many of the typical conventions that causing it to be an obvious.

Sound:
As the film first starts within the first five seconds you are aware that it is going to be a horror film as the tense music followed by the scream as the title is shown gives this away. The scream as the title appears gives an indication of the fact a women is going to be harmed or killed during the film. As th news report of the missing person is being shown on screen with the girls voice in the background makes the audience feel like the missing person on the screen is going to have an effect on the women who is talking in the background. As the two women are having their conversation and saying things in sync with each other we can see the close friendship that they have, the use of having the two women talking in sync allows the audience to see the type of relationship that they have as they are talking in a jokey manner. Although the women did turn the TV lower to prevent it from being the dominant part of the scene as she looks away from her laptop it then becomes the most clear thing that the audience can hear, with an added sound effect to the back of it. This is further implying the fact that something more is going to occur during the film in correlation with the news story being shown, as soon as the news story goes off so doesn't the added twinkling noise in the background. Once we start to see a black figure appear in the background of the webcam a low pitched tense sounds starts to appear the sound isn't very dominating as the women's voice is louder however it ends more tension to the scene, due to the news article being such a dominance this is who the audience are going to think they person is. The same twinkling noise starts to appear as the figure disappears behind a wall. The tense noise then re appears once again however gets deeper to show that the figure is actually there and something more is going to occur. The creaking of the floor boards as the women walks across them is a typical stereotype of horror films it adds more tension and shows how quiet the rest of the house is as we are able to hear them. The use of the women doing things in sync then occurs again however this time it isn't for a good reason, they are both screaming in fear of the fact some random person is in the house. From this moment onwards everything else gets more tense, the twinkling noise in the background then becomes a repetitive thing through the next few scenes. We hear further screams coming from the laptop in order to show that the person that has taken her is harming her which causes the women on the phone to panic even more.

Lighting:
As the film starts and we see a long shot of the woods the lighting used creates shadows on the house which is typical of horror films. It creates an image of the fact the house is haunted, it also looks abandoned as there is not any street lights making the area friendly and welcoming. Throughout the film the lighting is coming from background lighting like fairy lights or the light that is coming from the laptop screen. The woman on the other side of the laptop has what looks like a bed side table lighting up her face. There is then a light coming from a door behind her which later allows the audience to she the shadow that appears later on. Due to the lighting in her bedroom only coming from the bed side lamp and back door/window we are unable to see what is occurring in the rest of the room, the lighting is focused on the two main areas of the room that we need to see.  Although we would typically associate fairy lights with happy lighting the ones used in this short film are out of focused, they are also a orange// red colour. As we see many more long shorts of the living room while she is on the phone there are many lamps and candles being used in order to light up the room which means that there are many shadows in the room, which denotes the fact the genre of the film is horror. 

Mise en scene:
The film has been set on halloween with the two women having a night in, so the mise en scene is of their home environments. The women that is in her bedroom doesn't have anything extra in her room to help the storyline of the film, she is just on her bed with her laptop in front of her the audience does not see anything else. However we see a little more of the other women's living area. We also see that she has a bottle of wine on the table which may have added to the reason that she over reacted a lot to what she has seen and also split over while carrying the knife which also cause her to harm herself. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIFkut11Xpc