Task 2 - Research Into Existing Products - Short Films - Lynne Ramsay

Lynne Ramsay

Lynne Ramsay is a female director from Scotland. he doesn't like the title Female Director so she is just a Director. She has done a lot of work as a short film Director and a feature film Director. Gasman is her most known short film and Ratcatcher and We need to talk about Kevin. She has a very distinctive style which is to focus on the sound and create images with the sound. she also uses a lot of close ups in her films and these types of shots capture lots of emotion within the characters faces.

Gasman

This is is one of her well known short films and it is about a family at Christmas time that goes to a party. The male character has 2 children with one woman and 2 with another and the kids don't know about each other until the meet each other at the Christmas party. This is not said through dialogue in the film but it is told to you through other sounds and the imagery in the film. this is what the film does sets up images in your head and uses sounds but not dialogue which makes the films very clever in what they do. As a short film I thought this was very good as a short film as it gets a proper story line across but isn't to long.

The cinematography in the film uses a lot of close ups of characters but not always their face it is different parts of the bodies. This shows up close every little detail on what the characters are doing and this creates a very dramatic effect in the film because it makes you focus things that you wouldn't normally focus on. she also uses an effect that is good which is where she will either speed up or slow down a shot. This may only be fore a second but it creates a good effect that is also unique to her.

This film is all about the sound that is used and this creates an effect that isn't really used in a lot of films because the ambient sound is amplified and makes you notice stuff in the film that you wouldn't normally. This is one of her unique styles and this is a good thing because it means that her work stands out from other peoples.

Task 2 - Research Into Existing Products - Short Films - Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold 

Andrea Arnold is a British film director from Kent. She has made several feature length films and a few short films too.

Wasp

The short film that i watched as called Wasp and this short film is 26 minutes long and it is about a woman with a baby and three other children living on benefits. most of the film involves her being in a pub with a person that she hasn't seen for ages and her kids waiting outside the pub. The baby is asleep outside and a wasp fly's into his mouth. this scares the mother and she takes it out on her other kids.

There are some key themes in the film as it deals with child poverty in Britain because the children are abused and live on benefits and this shows the conditions that some people live in in Britain today. Parenting is another issue that is raised in the film as the parent of the children is very irresponsible because she drinks and swears at the children. This is something that happens in Britain and is a key issue that is in the film that shouldn't happen in real life.

The cinematography for this film is very simple but is really effective. this is because the camera never really stops moving  and this is to show realism and shows that it is made to look like real life.This camera effect is like a Fly on the wall documentary. The lighting and sets that are used sets a realistic environment which is a strength for the film in my opinion. There we multiply POV shots that were from the children's prospective and this mean that you can see what that sort of live looks like from the child's prospective and this meant that you empathise with the children because you can see what their living is like.

The editing in the short film is quite fast and this is another one of her unique styles because she has fast editing which creates effect. The fast editing has breaks with some slow shot this is to create effect as it make it seem like time has paused if it is an intense scene. This is a unique style of hers as this is not done in most films. In most films the editing is slow in the slow parts and then picks up if there is any action or something intense. This is flipped for her and this creates a really unique effect and it is what gives her an advantage because it it something that not very many people do which makes her work stand out. 

All in all i think this is a very good short film as it has a lot of unique features that make is stand out from other ones out there and there is lots to like about this film as it raises lots of ethical things that where acceptable back then but shouldn't be.