TGIS - 'thank goodness it's summer'
It is now officially the beginning of my summer holidays, so I have decided to start my research on short films. After viewing some of the available short films available in the last weeks of school, I thought it would be helpful to understand short film conventions. To find this out, I looked online by typing in 'Codes and Conventions of Short Films', in which I used information from current LinkedIn Slideshares and Prezi's made by other A2 Media students. Here is an example of one of the websites I used to gain information:
In addition to using the internet to gain a deeper insight into short films, I also used a booklet provided by my teacher and went to the library to view the history of short films. By using all these resources, I have managed to create an information pack full of revision notes all about short films.
From my research, it is evident that Short Film Festivals have progessed into becoming a wide spread phenomenon! My all-time favourite film festival in London has got to be BFI's, as they showcase some of the world's best shorts from emerging film-makers like myself. I particularly love how the festival is divided into themes which cover different areas of interest; in 2009 these included New British Cinema, French Revolutions, World Cinema, Experimenta, Short Cuts and Animation. The BFI Film Festival also provides an extensive programme of industry events, public forums, education events, lectures, masterclasses and Q&As with film-makers and film talent.
(I hope to go there this autumn or maybe the next)
The video below shows my favourite short film, which I found while researching. 'Silent' is a modern, animated short film and follows two street performers who dream of bringing their "Picture and Sound Show" to life. When they discover a magical contraption inside an old theatre, they embark on a cinematic adventure of sight and sound to find the audience they always wanted. This short, created by Academy Award Winning Moonbot Studios was presented by Dolby and celebrates how storytellers, inventors, and technology work together to create cinema magic.
The link opens a blog by Moonbot Studios and includes a video on how they made this short film, which I find very interesting:
http://moonbotstudios.com/2015/04/2-emmy-awards-for-silent.html
Doing this research was a real eye-opener for me as beforehand I had a very basic knowledge of of short films and was unaware of the amount of film festivals available all around the world.
