Conventions of Shorts Films

Mobius

Duration

One of the convention that this film called Mobius used. The duration of the film is short as it lasted approximately 10 minutes. This therefore show that Mobius is a short film as it last for under 35 minutes.This is illustrated from the screengrab

The impact of this convention had overall within the film is that not much detail can be put in. This therefore means that the director must come up with simple idea. Which mean that it not too many location should be put in place otherwise it will confuse the viewer who is watching the film as they will not be able to keep up on what is going on

Budget

The convention that the film used is budget.The film maker had to their film with the low budget they had. This is illustrate through the use of location that is used within the film. There is only one location that is used which is the dessert. The screen grab is shown below from the time of 3:00 of the film

The impact that this convention had on the film is that there is not much many to make the film therefore the quality of the film will not look great. It would also impact on the amount of special effects that can be used.

Storyline

The convention that film uses is storyline. The storyline of the film is very basic as it was about the antagonist chasing the man who film them a murdered a person and the antagonist want to get the footage. They capture him and kill him. A twist happen and apparently there is another man who film the murder and it makes the realise that this is never going to end. This is  illustrate from one of the screen grab bellow of the film

The director used this convention effectively as the storyine that he made was quite simple and easy to understand. This would therefore would appeal to the audience as they will be able to interpret what is going on within the film and keep up with the pace of the film

Character

One of the convention that this film uses is character as there is 3 main character the who are the two antagonist and the camera man. This is illustrated with the screengrabs shown of character. There are two screen grabs

The director used this convention effectively as he use small cast to make the audience know about the character quickly and because it is a short film. They do not need many people involved.

Twist

One of the convention that this film called Mobius used is twist as they show something unexpected within the film that would surprise the audience. This shown right at the end of the film where it shows someone else filming a person's murdered happen This is illustrated from the screen grab below

The director used this convention effectively as he used the twist to surprise the audience. This would therefore appeal to the target audience as twist as not often used in a film.  

Ambush

Duration

One of the short film conventions that the film called Ambush uses is the duration as it runs approximately 8 minutes. This therefore shows that this is a short film. This is illustrated in the link below and the screen grab of the film itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYUtUw-8ig

This creates a constraint within the duration convention as they have a short amount of time to make a film. This also create a constraint of the amount of locations they can use and the detail of the storyline as it may leave them questioning. By having the film short and simple it will make the audience understand the storyline quicker as there is not a big storyline behind it.

Budget

The convention that this film uses is budget. This is reflected in the use of Mise-en-scene that is used throughout the film. There are only 2 location that is used in the film overall. The first location is used from the beginning of the film and the second location is used 5:03 to the end of the film. This is illustrate with the screen grabs shown below.

1st location top 2nd location bottom

The impact that this has on the film is that the director cannot buy expensive equipment. This also means they cannot spend much money on special effects or otherwise the film would look too expensive. The good impact that this has on the film is that they can borrow equipment or items from there friend and it will not cost them anything.

Storyline

The convention that the film called Ambush used is storyline. The storyline of this film was very basic, it was just about the gang with the guns chasing the the hostage and the protagonist in the car because the hostage has a valuable item that the gang wants. This is shown from the picture of the screen grab on the left. This is shown during the of time of 1:24.

The director effectively used this convention as he had made the storyline of the film look simple to understand. This therefore would appeal to the target audience as this film is not only short but easy to follow.

Characters

One of the convention that this film uses is character. In this film you will see two key characters, one of them is the man that drives the car and the other man sitting behind the protagonist. You can tell this as they are both in every scenes. There are 2 scene which are shown below. One of the scene is at the beginning of the film on the left and the other scene is shown on the right.


The director used this convention effectively as he made the car chase scene at the beginning of the film which grabbed the audience attention straight away. This therefore would make the audience arouse some curiosity on how the car chase scene started and would want to know who the characters are as little background information is given.

Sound

The convention that is used in this film is sound as this film does not use many dialogues.  The only time it is used is during the beginning of the film at 1:34, 4:34 and 5:03. However these dialogue are short and snappy. You can look at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKYUtUw-8ig

The director used this convention very effectively as he used minimal dialogue within the car chase scene. This is because he wanted the audience to worry about the action that was happening within the scene to hold the viewer attention within the car chase scene.

The present

Duration

One of the convention that this film called The Present used is duration. The duration of the film is 4:13. This indicates that this is a short film as this film does not last more than 35 minutes it last under 5 minutes. This is illustrated from the screen grab bellow which show the credits after the last scene where it shows the boy with one leg and his other leg amputated start playing with the dog who has got 3 legs and his 4th leg amputated.

I think that the film duration was perfect as they had made the scene quite short and simple to understand. Overall the film could have been longer with a little bit more of information of what the puppy's personality is because I think the audience who like animals to have seen more of the puppy. However if this scene was to be too long it could be the constraint that this would have had on the film overall as it would have bored the audience eventually. 

Genre

This film uses a convention called genre. This film clearly show a convention of a film genre which is animation because the aesthetic look is colourful throughout the film. This is indicated from the the screen grab below of the mum and the son having a conversation. This clearly conveys that the director had use this convention.


I think that the director had used this convention clearly as they had made it clear that this is a animation film. This also tells their viewer their primary target audience which are the children as it clearly denotes that through the use of colour. 

Storyline

The convention that the film called The Present used is storyline. The storyline of this film was very clear and easy to understand, it was just about a child getting a present from his mum which was a puppy . He does not like the puppy first because he has got an amputated leg.  Eventually from watching the playful nature of the puppy he can't help but like him . This is because the dog relates to him in some ways which is the amputated leg which they both have in one of there legs. This is shown from the screen grab below of                                                           them getting along in the end.

I think that the director had used this convention exceptionally as he had made a very cute and simple storyline that would appeal to the audience. With the storyline that he had use it may inspire the audience to overcome their own barrier and be like the puppy and the child to not let difficulties them hold them back.

Character

One of the convention that this film has used is character. There is only one main character throughout the film which is the child who has the amputated leg. This is clearly shown through the looks of the screen grab which is taken from the time of 2:35.

I think that the director used this convention, as he had made it clear throughout the film who the main focus of the character that the audience need to know about. This therefore would make the audience focus on the expressions of the child throughout the whole film.

Sound

The convention that The Present uses is sound. There are not many dialogue is exchange within the whole film between the characters. There are two times a dialogue is said is during the beginning of the film where the mum and son have a conversation and the other time time is at the end of the film where the child shouts to his mum that he is going out to play with his puppy.

I think that this director had used this convention very effectively as he use an editing technique, a cutaway to convey the child expression and feeling on what the puppy is doing whilst he is playing his Xbox every other couple of seconds.