Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

           Now that I have watched both the short film and the feature length film, it’s time to compare! Some qualities that the short film had that the full film did not is that it had no dialogue. The rag dolls did not talk to each other in the short film. However, there were other sound effects that made the short film come together. I thought the short film not having any dialogue is what made me a little confused on what the film was about. With the use of dialogue in the full length film, I was able to pick up on what idea the director was trying to get across. The characters talking about what was going on really helped me and gave me the bigger picture. Another quality that the short film had was that there were only two rag dolls. There was also only one machine in the short film. This was also the first machine in the beginning of the full length. On the other hand, the full length had a total of 9 rag dolls, and multiple machines that they had to defeat. The full length film also accomplished some things that the short film did not. One example is that the long film gave me a better understanding of what the true meaning behind the film was. I truly enjoyed both the short film and the full length film. However, I definitely enjoyed the full length more because it had a really good plot and kept me interested throughout. The use of dialogue in the full length made the film much better. It was easier to understand due to the unique and unusual plot. I was also left feeling better at the end of the full length compared to the short film. After the short film, I was a little relieved since he defeated the machine, but I was also upset since 9’s friend sacrificed himself. Even though multiple rag dolls souls were taken, I was relieved at the end to know that they were free and happy. I really enjoyed watching both the short and full length films, and thought it was so interesting to see how the directors made it into a full length. 

Research 9, The Feature Film

            I was so excited to now watch the feature film after watching the short film. I was so amazed by the short film and couldn’t wait to watch the full thing. After finishing the feature film, I was very pleased with the movie. I thought that it was really good and I really enjoyed it. I was really impressed with how they made the short film into a full movie. I definitely understand what the director was trying to portray when making the film. I had many mixed feelings throughout the film. I was always on the edge of my seat while the rag dolls were fighting or running from the machines. I was also really upset every time that the machine took one of their souls. The plot was the same as in the short film. After watching the full movie, I understood that the plot was a post-apocalyptic world. 9 is the main character of the other rag dolls. Each rag doll has a soul that is part of the scientists. The rag dolls live in fear of the machines and hide from them. 9 is very intelligent, brave, and is determined to take down the machines. He made some mistakes but learns from them quickly and takes responsibility for them. He also pushes to do what’s right and is very caring towards the others. It shows what the director thinks about life and souls. It also shows his personality of how strong and potentially dangerous machines could be. The full movie was definitely very interesting, and I enjoyed every moment of it. 

Research 9, The Short

           After watching the short film, 9, I was left wanted to know more about the film. At one point in the short film, I felt really bad when the one stitched dog sacrificed himself and died to the evil creature. I also felt uneasy watching it because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. I felt very anxious while watching the evil creature chase after the stitched doll.  I was then relieved when the creature fell and the the doll was now safe. My opinions about this short film is that is was really interesting. I did think it was a little confusing but I still enjoyed watching it. The plot in this short film was also very interesting. The setting was very unique and looked like they were in a world that had been damaged. There was pieces of machines and other junk everywhere. It was pretty dark and the only source of light was a lightbulb. The characters were also very unique in this short film. There were stitched dolls that were very unusual looking. There was also an evil creature that looked like it was made from machine parts. The stitched dolls had different personalities character traits. They were intelligent and also caring toward each other. When the one doll sacrificed himself and the other came up with the idea of how to conquer the evil creature, this was shown. This short film also showed a lot about the director. It really showed how creative he was and how he views life. It also shows that he has very unusual and different ideas. Overall, I really enjoyed watching this short film and thought it was such a creative idea! 

Genre Choice for Film

         After doing research on a couple of genres my group and I have finally made a decision. The genre we have chosen is thriller! We feel that out of thriller, horror, and action that thriller best suits our pitch. Our pitch is “A person receives threats in the mail and must figure out who is leaving them.” Once we researched the three genres we decided that action didn’t really suit it. Action movies involve a lot of fight scenes and loud sounds which we don’t think fits our plot. It also seems like it wouldn’t be properly developed in 5 minutes. Now my group and I thought very hard on deciding between horror and thriller. Both genres can be applied to our films and our vastly similar. The key difference with horror and thriller are that horror’s are meant to be scary and invoke fear in you. They’re both suspenseful but thrillers put you more on the edge of wonder what’ll happen next. 

        With our ultimate realization that horrors have too much of a focus on fear and can dwell for a little while it left us with thriller. Thriller is perfect for the genre seeing that it builds up a lot of suspense. Thriller allows us to build up our plot and finish it in a satisfying way all in 5 minutes. The CAMS and editing are relatively easy processes for us and they’ll be easy to capture and execute. Using thriller allows us to keep our pitch and not have to really tweak it. Our pitch fits the outline of a thriller. Thrillers create a sense of urgency and that, in our minds, can be implemented well with our plot. We have many ideas on how we can implement the sounds of a thriller and the props into our short film. Before going into this we assumed thriller would be the choice but it’s nice to have confirmation after doing research. Overall thriller seems like a match made in heaven and we can’t wait for the next step in this journey!

Genre Research- Action

• Common CAMS: zoom, pan, POV, tilt, tracking shots, reverse shots, high angles, and tilted shots 
• Common Sound:  ominous music, gun sounds, running sounds, high-pitched music, punching sounds, and objects breaking sounds.
• Common Mis-En-Scene (CLAMPS): 

Costume- common costumes vary; it could be suits/dresses, superhero costumes, alien costumes and many more.  

Lighting- Natural lighting, dim lighting, key lighting, backlight, and soft lights.  

Actors- They can be anyone. Usually have stunt doubles as well.

Makeup- common makeup in action movies depends, it can be natural, or a fully masked and painted face. 

Props- common props include guns, knives, chairs/tables, blood, bullets, glass, cars, sunglasses, and many more. 

Setting- The settings are usually in busy cities that end up becoming where houses or private homes. However each film is different. 

• Common Editing: Jump cuts, cutting on movement and "action", slo-mo's, action matches, flashbacks, and graphic matches. 
• Example Films: Some action films are, Extraction, 007, Baby driver, Bad boys, Angel has fallen, and avengers.
• Elements I like: The elements I enjoy are, I  really enjoy the plots of the films. Usually the actors are fighting for someone or something. I also enjoy the element of wondering who will when a fight or what's going to happen next. 
• Elements not appealing: Sometimes I feel like action movies can get repetitive and that the plot can sometimes be a bit boring in the middle. 

Genre Research- Horror

• Common CAMS: reverse-shots, close-ups, tracking shots, pans, zoom, wide shot, low angle, hand-held, over the shoulder, cantered, and birds-eye 
• Common Sound: no sound, silence, abrupt noises, echos, footsteps, sound of breath, can all be diegetic or non-diegetic 
• Common Mis-En-Scene (CLAMPS):  

Costume - casual clothing for protagonista typically, antagonists usually wear masks or dark clothing                                        

Lighting - low lighting, usually at night in the dark, shadows and shapes to create fear                     

Actors - normally required to act fearful or eerie                                                        

Makeup - bruises, cuts, made to look as if the victim is tortured or in pain, makeup applied to look grimmer                                          

Props - props are normally weapons such as knives, axes, guns. Other props maybe rocking chairs and creaking doors                                      

Setting - Typically somewhere isolated, perhaps an abandoned house, the environment is normally abandoned and dark

• Common Editing: cutaways, jump cuts and fade outs
• Example Films: Us, Insidious, The Conjuring, Annabelle, The Nun
• Elements I like: I like the fear and suspense it creates. I enjoy the anticipation it builds up for eerie moments
• Elements not appealing: I feel like they may drag on for too long and are all really similar. The silence and eerie sounds can be disturbing at times 

Genre Research- Thriller

 My group and I had to choose three genres to research that we thought our short film would fit into. Some things that we had to research for our genres are common CAMS, common Mis-En-Scene, and common editing. The first research is on the thriller genre. 

• Common CAMS: tracking shots, pans, reverse shots, high angles, over the shoulder shots, point of view shots, tilted shots, and zoom. 
• Common Sound: eerie sounds, sometimes complete silence, footsteps, animal sounds, and even sometimes extraterrestrial sounds. 
• Common Mis-En-Scene (CLAMPS): 

Costume- common costumes in thrillers include masks, ripped clothing, hoodies and jackets, casual clothing that can sometimes be dark or black, and creature-like clothing.

Lighting- common lighting in thrillers are usually dark/low. The lighting is very important because it displays shadows that create tension and suspense in thrillers.

Actors- the actors in thrillers can be anyone. 

Makeup- common makeup in thrillers is usually dark, sometimes scary, and can consist of cuts, bruises, dirt smudges, and can even be smeared as if the actor was crying. 

Props- common props include fake blood, notes/ letters, brief cases, money, phones, and even broken things like glass. Weapons are also common props such as guns, chainsaws, and knives, which add tension to the film.

Setting- the setting in thrillers are usually in spooky places, allies, abounded and haunted locations, and isolated places. Thrillers are also sometimes taken place at night which add onto the suspense. 

• Common Editing: these include jump cuts, flashbacks, action matches, graphic matches, and sometimes slo-mo’s.
• Example Films: A Quiet Place, The Silencing, Ma, Escape Room, and The Invisible Man
• Elements I like: I really enjoy the rush of adrenaline that I get when watching thrillers. As well as being on the edge of my seat waiting to see what will happen next. 
• Elements not appealing: I don’t really like the anxiety and terror that some thrillers make me feel.  

Genres I Would Like to Research

 Since our pitch is "A person receives threats in the mail and must figure out who is leaving them", I thought these 3 genres are most appropriate: Thriller, horror, and action. 

The first genre we will research is thriller. Thriller could be our genre because since our short film is 5 minutes, creating a thriller is a very efficient way of composing a great movie in a short period of time. My groupmates and I can further execute making a thriller by using non-diegetic sounds to emit suspenseful music while in the editing process. The suspenseful music could play in the background of the main scenes to make audiences truly feel the thriller aspect of the film. We could also film low angles of the mailbox and vertical pans showing empty dark streets. We could further push the thriller genre by never showing the antagonist of the film. The film could end without ever showing the antagonist (That is just an idea though). 

We will research horror more because, horror could also fit our genre. This is because my groupmates and I can implement very little lighting to give the audience a feeling of nervousness and "what's going to happen". Horror could be our genre because we can have whoever is putting notes into the mailbox actually come for the protagonist of the story. Their are many ways we can write our short film to make it into a horror genre. Another reason I want to further research the horror genre is to find out what angles I can use to make the film feel more like a horror. I believe if I used tilts it would make the film feel more like it. 

The last genre we will research is, action. Action could be an option for our short film because, we can make the antagonist and the protagonist try to find each other. That could result in the film becoming an action if there's lots of running away and fighting scenes. We need to research what type of lighting goes with an action movie. We also need to research which angles and sound go with an action. We are looking forward to choosing our genre very soon!