Background Research

(The purple titles are links)

The BBC Film Network website was a huge inspiration to me when it came to getting new great ideas for a short film. It had amazing tips on how to write a short story-from beginning to end. The other very helpful thing about this site is the amount of short they had on hand. I watched quite a few shorts that were all about 5 minutes long just to get a greater understanding of how to portray a story within such a short period of time.
I realized that our film does not have to try and squeeze in an entire lifetime of events into the time frame. I know now that as long as the short film has a purpose, and definitely a meaning, it is a film worth watching. The short films that caught my eye the most are the ones who included children as main characters. I believe children have such a vulnerability that it makes it easy for the audience to empathize with them. Their view of the world is completely different from adults, yet all adult understand this because they were once children themselves.

Here are a couple shorts that I really enjoyed:

A Fairytale of Forgotten Things
This short felt very enchanting and magical. It draws in the viewer with its mystical feel. Every person, a dreamer or not, wants to believe there is something more than just what we see from day to day. For some people it is that little bit of hope that makes them go on.

Dragonfly
This seems like such a simple story line from the get go, yet it has a much deeper meaning once you really think about it. The double timing gives the short an interesting affect which keeps the viewer interested. I also really enjoyed the special affects of the boy magically turning into a dragonfly. It seemed so flawless and perfect. The boys wish (as well as the purpose of the film) of escape has come true in the end.

The Unloved is an independent film that i saw a while back when it aired on Channel 4. I thought it was very moving and gave a great insight of what it is like to be in a poisonous household that leads to childcare. It made me realize how much of a story can be told with complete silence. I think the silent moments of close up shots of the main character- which is a little girl- meant the most. Once again like I stated above, I loved the vulnerability of the little girl. Her innocence is being tampered with everywhere she goes.