Short Film

The genres I've chosen for my short films are scifi, film noir and horror. here is my research! Disclaimer: for the short film evaluations, I have done a seperate paragrah compaing the differences.

Film Noir

Film Noir is a genre of film characterised by black and white tones, pessimism, cynicism and fatalism. It usually involves a murder mystery of some sort and a key character is the femme fatale. The name Film Noir was used to describe detective and thriller movies after ww2, from the 40s and 50s but Film Noir actually dates back to the 1920s. People believed the reason women in these movies were portrayed as powerful was because after world war 2 men gained a lot of trauma and became "weaker" and housewives started working. The target audience for film noir in this day and age is probably older or elderly people, this is because they most likely grew up watching these movies. During the time the films came out the target audience was probably middle age men who wanted inspiration on being 'powerful' and for woman as well as a lot of their characters were portrayed as powerful too, but not always. 

An example of film noir is touch of evil by Orson Welles. It's one of the last films of the film noir era, I watched this at the beginning of the year. The film came out in 1948 and originally wasn't very successful at the box office. The reasons its classed as film noir is because it is black and white film, it's a crime and mystery, and it came out in the 40s/50s.The film isn't great in my opinion. Famous Film noir makers are, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder.

This is an example of a short film noir film. What I liked about this is the intro scenes, the panning scene of the architecture and also the scene where he opens up the cigarettes, you can see there is an alcohol bottle near him, this is all consistent with the theme/stereotype of a 40s 'strong male detective. He has colour graded this really well, although it could be a little lighter at the beginning. The end title screen is fantastic, it features cigarettes and wine,a glass and a gun, all of these are significant to the film noir genre and powerful/bad boy/mysterious themes. The title font is very reminiscent of what you would see in any classic film noir movie/show, it reminds me a lot of alfred hitchcock's title screens. The script is effective yet simple for the 1 minute time period, it follows the theme of a film noir and a detective asking questions, you are also not informed much about what has been going on which is good as it leaves it up to the audience.

Horror

A horror film is a film intended to scare the audience and create adrenaline and anxiety which is why people like watching horror films. They can feature psychical violence and gore or psychological horror, to create suspense. Most of them feature a bad character and a final girl, although not always. Horror films are sometimes copy and paste as its hard to come up with new ideas after they've been done so many times. That's why there are lots of new horror films that try and do something not done before, and they turn out very good as its a challenge. The target audience of a horror film is usually teenagers and almost always has been. This is because teenagers are still seeking thrill as they go throughout life. Other audiences are people who feel outcasted in society, it can be an escape from reality or it can act as a comfort to them. Horror divides audiences as its so subjective and a lot of people would never watch horror because they are scared of it, but they've probably watched some over their lifetime as it's such a popular genre and their friends and family may have made them watch them. Horror films provide create psychological responses in different people depending on their life experiences and that's why i love them so much as everyone has a unique connection to them.

In this film the guy is walking and he sees a the 'hat mam', he freezes and feels like he cant move, he braces himself for the hatman to get him and then suddenly hes gone. the guy looks down and the hat mans clothes are on the floor, he then hears runnin g behind. him and turns around to nobody there. the hat man then appears behind him and then the guy dissapears and his bag is on the floor. The character reprresnts anxiety or fear and bracing yourself for the worst, or maye it represents life creeping up on you. We dont know much about him or the hat man, this leaves the interpretation up to the viewer. The colour and location matches the atmospere the film is trying to create, the dark alley and dim lighting, and the lighting is also darker when the hat man is shown, which makes it harder for the main character to see him and figure out what it is. The location is lonely and isolated from the public so there is no one to help him. There is a lot of up close shots to show the main characters fear.

Sci-Fi

Scifi is also a genre that people like as it evades reality. It is usually futuristic and dystopian, films like ET, Nope, Alien, Blade Runner and even Lord Of The Rings. Scifi speculates what the future could look like using technological advances or speculating ideas and conspiracies. Scifi can include space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. It is said that the first scifi story was written in the second century, A True Story, written by the Syrian satirist Lucian, is thought to be the first sci-fi story, which explored other universes and extraterrestrial lifeforms.

This is a really cool example of a short sci-fi film with meaning/moral behind it. They have chosen a very wide and open setting, an empty field which is usually a common theme of sci-fi movies. The colours are dark and blue and add an eery yet hopeful atmosphere to the scenes. They have used point of view shots to show that she is running from something and attempting to protect herself. She then meets the person following her and it turns out they both have barcodes and although we dont know what this means, it signifies community and not being as outcasted and as alone as you thought. The lady running thinks she's running from someone bad, but she's not, this person is trying to show her shes not alone. The soundtrack they have used is very unsettling and action driven which adds to the suspense, the music then builds up at the end as she feels relief.

Commonalities

Commonalities between the genres:

A common theme between the genres is pessimism and darkness. These films explore unsettling themes that get the audience questioning. For example in scifi, people may question mortality, the future, conspiracy and what things we haven't discovered yet. Horror brings up similar questions, what if there was a murderer? What if i was in this situation? It also causes the viewer's to experience anger and grief, and empathy. Anger at the villain and maybe the 'stupid' main character, but also empathy in situations you usually wouldn't think of. Same with film noir, you may start trying to figure out who the "killer is' and you take the perspective of the detective. A major common theme is figuring things out, all genres make you question what will happen next and who the bad guy is by building suspense. These genres also all connote the emotion of fear of the unknown, causing anxiety and then adrenaline/excitement which is what makes you want to answer these questions. Or grief and empathy which makes you upset and angry, and when watching these films you dont ignore these emotions, the emotions help you learn things about yourself and get you questioning. Some people with anxiety may love these genres as its almost a projection and of their fear or it puts their anxiety in hindsight. It gives people a sense of control and escape, and others with anxiety may fear these films because they are uncomfortable with uncertainty and these films lead them to a rabbit hole of rumination about what 'could' happen. People who feel like they dont have much control in their life may like these films because it represents the uncontrollable in their life, outside of themselves. Uncertainty is so powerful to the human brain as your natural instinct is to question things and figure them out and thats why these genres are so successful because they cause the audience to generate answers and create opinions and also find the deeper hidden meanings. I usually almost always find metaphors in horror that somehow match whats going on in my life and thats why I love it so much because the viewer can basically project their own ideas/feelings on the fictional situation in a way that relates to them personally. 

Commonalities between the 3 short films analysed:

Dark/Eerie colours; The colours used in all 3 films represent each genre. 

Signifiers of the genre; barcode, cigars, typewriter, hatman