The History Of Short Films
A short film can be defined as a motion picture that is between 40 minutes or less, a film created by either professionals or amateurs at a cost that isn't there to really make a profit. This rough definition was taken from the full definition the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science to explain that a short film isn't like a feature film in a sense not as much money is used and the length is a lot longer.
For my secondary research I need to look at the cinematography used as short films were new becoming, from the experimental shorts used in the 1920s onwards to the first sort of short film that wasn't technically filmed but using pictures to create motion it allowed them to come to life to create an early stage of short films.
For my secondary research I need to look at the cinematography used as short films were new becoming, from the experimental shorts used in the 1920s onwards to the first sort of short film that wasn't technically filmed but using pictures to create motion it allowed them to come to life to create an early stage of short films.
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'A Trip to the Moon' created by Georges Melies, was way ahead of time when created. Something an audience back in 1902 had never seen, using elements of motion pictures as narrative is created using actors and stage movement. Since the film is silent the audience have to understand whats happening by looking a mise-en-scene, costumes and the characters and how they act in situations. Even actors were used for on-stage props, people dressed as stars, the moon and planets to create this movement.
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This film is very artistic, which you find a lot in older films as there wasn't the technology to create CGI backgrounds or characters, it had to be made by hand which included drawing and painting with a lot of the locations being props rather than using special effects (since this was the new beginning of the film industry). The Lumiere Brothers being a huge inspiration to Melies which ends with him creating a 12 minute film, leaning more towards the Experimental Genre as it is something so different from a usual and 'normal' genre, which a narrative that can now be seen as a fantasy.
Looking into other sources of secondary research, I went to the library to find books that has a breakdown of how the short film industry has developed throughout the years, especially when it comes to editing and the new techniques discovered as a way to replace silence.
What I found from this book was the discover of how film writers would create a silent film but once again think about the movement, even though these are very old films people were very creative and had made productions that till this day improved the film industry despite only being shorts. |
Films had remained silent until 1928, film makers like Melies and The Lumiere Brothers (Louis and Auguste) had to find other ways of showing a narrative that didn't have dialogue. Once again using movements of actors and mise-en-scene to tell the story, even if it was extremely obvious by the costumes they wore or the exaggerated acting. They started to master techniques like juxapostion, parallel action, framing, lighting, camera angles, focus, filters, montage and camera movement, throughout as the film industry grew the techniques were developed by still as simple as when Melies and The Lumiere Brothers had used in their productions.
Their content was such a simple concept, since it was such a new thing, they would film anything that would be somewhat exciting to an audience that's never seen a moving picture, 'such things as a train pulling into the station or workers flooding from factory gates' these productions were first displayed to an audience from 1895.
Their content was such a simple concept, since it was such a new thing, they would film anything that would be somewhat exciting to an audience that's never seen a moving picture, 'such things as a train pulling into the station or workers flooding from factory gates' these productions were first displayed to an audience from 1895.
The Kinetoscope was 'new' cinematic technically, introduced in 1891, there was a strip of film within that would rapidly pass between a lens and an electric light bulb allowing one viewer at the time to peer through the peephole to watch an moving image, the beginning of a new generation of film and allows people to see something captured as photography to then turn into film. The co-creator of the Kinetoscope was Thomas Edison, also the creator of the light bulb, the genus idea of creating something so far in the future in 1891 but yet helped changed the world and allowed film makers now to create their own productions starting from the Kinetoscope.
How has it developed?
Since the beginning of moving images, the creation of cinematic productions has changed in so many ways since. Even though the techniques used over 100 years ago are still used to this day but have developed a lot more. Widescreen cinema didn't begin to be used extensively until the introduction of the cinemascope in 1953, created by Henri Chretien (a French Physicist), as his creation would show the motion picture as it would be projected on a screen as the image would be at a larger scale compared to other methods, like the Kinetoscope.
Nowdays the codes that Meiles and The Lumiere Brothers used have been developed into codes on what a short film should involve, a sort of guide filmmakers follow to construct their productions well.
- The Enigma Code: Where you structure the production that catches the audience's interest and creates a drive to move forward, by doing this you need to think about the genre, something that can puzzle the audience to get them really thinking, with mystery and hope (if the production is to make the audience feel emotional). Something that drives the audience to curiosity.
- The Connotative Code: Where you use characters and settings to show signs of meaning, to show how much detail is imputed and adds more towards the narrative.
- The Action Code: Where small or large patterns of action is placed within a narrative to create something more exciting for the audience, which would most likely disturb the smooth running of narrative. Its used to show the audience one thing in order to reveal something else.
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I decided to watch the Alfred Hitchcock film 'Rebecca' but only the trailer as it allowed me to see the amount of advertisement put within to really grab the audience, saying the production is the 'best motion picture' far from any other production shown before, that they've developed on camerawork, narrative and editing since way earlier productions (released in 1940) a way of promoting how exciting the narrative is for the audience, using the 'Enigma Code' using the mystery and romance to grab the attention of the audience but also not showing too much of the actual production within the trailer to keep the audience curious.
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Technological Advancements
A lot had changed since the creation of the Kinetocope as in then influence others to creative updated versions and bringing the cinematic industry to life. The basic of having a bit of film for one viewer at the time and the large scale it had to only see a small amount of film has develop a lot more, as the Cinemascope was a camera that had a special lens which could create a wide picture onto a 'standard 35-millimetre film'. As it also didn't distort the proportions, making it somewhat clearer. Though at first the Cinemascope was ignored but as the increase of the television moving into the film-viewing market, it starts to attract an audience within the 1940s and 50s. Further down the line, new inventions of the basic Kinetoscope were introduced, like the Projector. Something we used nowadays, despite changing appearances they all work in the same way. Used for turning photography into a much larger form which is viewed on a screen (usually a white screen) though the type of projector used to view films (shorts) is the motion-picture projector as its a lot more different from a regular one, as there's a shutter that operates a flash within each successive frame onto a screen.
Looking into Orson Welles and seeing his new fascination with editing. For his films he used innovative narrative using photography, dramatic lighting and music to create this dark atmosphere and mood. Since he was a writer, director, producer and an actor, he then found an interest for editing while making his film 'Citizen Kane'. He was interested by how the scenes can be interpreted in different ways by editing, turning a happy scene into a sad one or a slow scene made fast. That visually it mattered but also using sounds to create better ambience (and mise-en-scene to become very eye-catching). But Orson wasn't the first film-maker to become fascinated in a field he's not familiar with, George Melies believed that reality was really dull and that editing is manipulation, tricking the audience into believing that it could be real when it's not actually, grabbing their attention. As it all links back to Melies and the way he wanted to experiment with new mediums (also inspired as he was a magician) since the reality of magic is boring but the trick show to the audience is much more exciting and wonderful, 'ability to deceive the eye by skilful intercutting' this same 'magic' used when editing.
Throughout the years, different film-makers had their own interpretation of what film editing should be like, for example Sergei Eisenstein (Soviet film-maker) saw cinema as a montage, a collection of scenes put together, that he describes in a way that its 'intellectual'.
Looking into Continuity Editing, their are changes that people have made throughout as their perspective of how it should be changes when more knowledge of filmmaking is produced. So rather than have a continuity of time, making something rhythmic and hide construction from the viewer, more rules have been added in how to produce a simple base when filming and editing, how there needs to be more close-ups, a longer sense and fewer medium shots (as you want to show more scenes of emotion than just a 'general' shot) originally the rules implied that you need to use 180 shots eyeliner match and a match-on-action. |
Using iPhones, obviously for most, avoiding using iPhones to film a production is best since it doesn't give you much of an in-site of how to use a camera and automatically fixes the quality so you don't have too. But there are some filmmakers out there who are using their own iPhones to create short or full length productions. For example filmmaker, Steven Soderbergh (the filmmaker of 'Ocean's Eleven', 'Erin Brockovich', 'Behind the Candelabra', etc) had filmed 'Unsane' an 1 hour and 38 minute film all on his phone. Demonstrating that even the technology we use daily can create something much bigger than we thought, a camera some much smaller and easy to work with.
Using a 'Stedicam' (camera stabiliser) makes filming smoother and better quality, it allows the scenes shot to look better. A clear example would be from a scene in 'Moonlight' where the characters stand in a circle, having one person walk through, throughout the camera spins around capturing all the characters's emotions and showing everything within this short scene. (watch) showing the man walking out the car towards to other characters who look as if they're having an argument. Though the originality of the stedicam was used in 'Rocky' as he runs up the 'Philadelphia Steps' the camera equipment is used to avoid the shaky camera as the camera man follows the character's steps to the top.
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The 'stedicam' is a replacement of the 'Tracking Rail', which not only was it expensive but also very time consuming as you'd have to constantly move the camera around on the rail to either reshoot the scene or to be able to move it around into the positions. The 'Tracking Rail' would need a team of people to use it as someone had to operate the camera whilst someone had to either push or use the controls for the rail. Whilst the 'stedicam' only needed one person as the equipment is strapped onto them.
The use of digital cameras are a lot different from the original camera equipment, these days they're much smaller, lighter, sharper and more powerful with what they can film. What seems to be the upcoming camera to use is the 'Autonomous Drone Camera' a camera that can not only fly with a controller and shoot scenes from extreme lengths but is now able to shoot scenes using it's self-flying mode allowing it to capture scenes on it's own. They're extremely useful when a producer wants to shoot a wide shot scene (most likely of a location) it's a lot easier to use a drone rather then having to hire out a helicopter or a crane, it's smaller and much lighter.
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The cameras we used allow us to record all our footage onto a memory card and internal storage, memory cards advancing and allowing people to place even more footage and having plenty of space, minimising the use of heavy and large cameras but also avoiding using chemicals and moving us away from tapes, CDs and DVDs, everything now is put within a small sim card or memory card which can hold thousands of data. That cameras could capture HD footage, that was introduced in 2009 and editing techniques advancing so now CGI (computer-genertaed imagery) is there to trick the eye, making people something is real when it's all been cleverly edited. And for the far future we'll be able to watch 3D films without 3D glasses, such smart and magical techniques to make cinematic even greater.
Productions and People Significant in the Short Film Industry
'The Great Train Robbery' produced by Edwin S Porter in 1903, based on a story about robbers highjacking a train, taking all passengers off and stealing the money on board until they are faced with trouble and there is a shoot out. This description is based on what I saw when watching the short film, others could have their own perspective.
The film is 12:09 and is silent throughout (music has been added in by YouTube account) the costumes used are very obvious for peoples roles, such as the robbers as they were almost cowboy like costumes and hold guns, carrying large bags of money to show they've stolen it. Since there is no dialogue, using costumes and dramatic movements tell the story more. Especially further in the film when an extra gets shot, he jumps up in the air before twisting around to then fall on the floor to emphasise he's been shot. They use large windows to add a sort of green screen where they place another clip over, so the beginning when the train is seen pulling up in behind the station, you only see this from the large window. You can also tell the sets are most likely made out of some sort of card since closing the door, the door actually bends as they try shutting it, which also shows that it was hard to edit out errors as the actor comes back to try and close the card door properly, of course the technically wasn't advanced back then and trying to remove a bit of footage actually meant handling the footage themselves. The majority of the time, the camera angles were just wide shots since they'd get all action (tried too) in one shot, so that meant avoiding moving the camera used too much. Around 3:12 you can see a fake body was used when the character through someone off the train, this comes back to George Melies idea of showing an illusion, sort of magic, making the audience believe he actually through someone off the train. It would of fooled someone back in 1903 but not nowadays, simple but clever to use this fake body prop to add a bit of drama within a long scene, which there a lot of long scenes of the same thing happening but Edwin added small burst of drama just to keep it more interesting despite finding it hard to edit and shorten the scenes.
The film is 12:09 and is silent throughout (music has been added in by YouTube account) the costumes used are very obvious for peoples roles, such as the robbers as they were almost cowboy like costumes and hold guns, carrying large bags of money to show they've stolen it. Since there is no dialogue, using costumes and dramatic movements tell the story more. Especially further in the film when an extra gets shot, he jumps up in the air before twisting around to then fall on the floor to emphasise he's been shot. They use large windows to add a sort of green screen where they place another clip over, so the beginning when the train is seen pulling up in behind the station, you only see this from the large window. You can also tell the sets are most likely made out of some sort of card since closing the door, the door actually bends as they try shutting it, which also shows that it was hard to edit out errors as the actor comes back to try and close the card door properly, of course the technically wasn't advanced back then and trying to remove a bit of footage actually meant handling the footage themselves. The majority of the time, the camera angles were just wide shots since they'd get all action (tried too) in one shot, so that meant avoiding moving the camera used too much. Around 3:12 you can see a fake body was used when the character through someone off the train, this comes back to George Melies idea of showing an illusion, sort of magic, making the audience believe he actually through someone off the train. It would of fooled someone back in 1903 but not nowadays, simple but clever to use this fake body prop to add a bit of drama within a long scene, which there a lot of long scenes of the same thing happening but Edwin added small burst of drama just to keep it more interesting despite finding it hard to edit and shorten the scenes.
'Un Chien Andalou' produced by Luis Bunuel in 1929, very much an experimental film (which were very popular within the 1920s) the originality of the film was a dream Luis and Salvador Dali (the co-writer of the production) about a dream the two had, one having ants crawl out of his hand whilst the other had a dream about his eye being sliced open. The film doesn't really stick to a narrative and is more about the strange events Bunuel had imagined. The audience is introduced to Bunuel as a character only at the beginning on the production as he is sharping the blade that will later cut the main actresses 'eye'. Unlike 'The Great Train Robbery' this short film involved a lot more angles, appearing a lot more 'well done' then earlier productions. Still in black and white, and also silent, their movements weren't so dramatic as Bunuel used props to create weird and wonderful effects, using close-ups to show key faces and props that the audience must remember throughout. For example, the small patterned box shown all the way till the end, where it stays perfectly intact until the very last moment, a way of ending the scenes as a whole and the story. The effects were brief around the beginning, around 4:34, where the tie was placed on the bed, one second it was loose and the next it was together, using the jumpiness of the camera to use as a quick transition. Then we go further around 4:52 as the ants begin to crawl out of his hand (much like the dream) there's a small hole placed within the fake hand but real ants walking around, quite easily have fooled audiences and honesty can be seen as quite horrific. The film is more about the visual aspects rather than the narrative, it didn't have to make sense as long as the producer thought everything fitted together and certain things are not what they seem. The use of wide shots, the camera actually following around the characters and using over-the-shoulder shows that times had really changed since the early 1900s and that movement of camera was important in make the scene more dramatic and interesting for the viewer. One transition that is fascinating, is around 12:09, when a character is shot dead, as he falls to his death, he goes from a small apartment in Paris to a large woodland area, as he drags his hand across a naked woman's back (she soon disappears) and his lifeless body falls to the new ground, adding to much of the strangeness to the production as you have no idea how he got there or why but doesn't seem so significant as the scene goes straight back to the apartment. Then the removing of the lips (14:11) where we switch from his lips slowly disappearing to then seeing hair onto them (which is the main female's armpit hair, very strange) this sort of editing is what grabs the audience, weird and wonderful, once again (as I mentioned before) film-makers believing that editing really adds to a production, you can really change a scenes mood using editing. Melies believing that reality is dull and that editing can make it so much more interesting, the same way Bunuel creates his production.
Lumiere brothers, were French Inventors. They had created an early motion picture camera (also a projector) called the 'Cinematographe'. A new type of camera that could capture movement rather than just photography. Their first film and also considered the first motion picture was 'La Sortie des oeuvres de l'usine Lumiere'. The brothers had always been quite clever and very intrigued by science, which would become helpful when creating their invention as their had to right mindset to create this amazing camera. The boys father had gone and seen Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope in Paris, the boys were already somewhat fascinated with motion picture and the Kinetoscope was a step in helping them create Cinematographe, turning to Cinema which is what we know call it. Since making their invention they had created 40 films just during 1896, the footage was just normal everyday living, for example of a baby feeding or an arrival of a train. This was the start of changing cinematic history as they began gathering a crew of cameramen to different cities around the world to show films and shoot new material. Later inspiring film makers like Georges Melies.
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Georges Melies, was a French writer and producer, who had experimented with motion picture. He was very fascinated with the Lumiere Brothers's production as he was even a spectator of a showing of their films. But he saw a further opportunity for film, to make something a little more imaginative then just real life scenes. Since he was a professional magician, he already had quite a creative mind set and knew how to tricking the audience into believing something was real. He had discovered about basic camera tricks, looking at stop motion, slow motion, dissolve, fade out, superimposition and double exposure. Adding those elements to the 400 films he had made between 1899 to 1912. These films were full of fantasy and were seen as playful and absurd. Though he knew the basic camera tricks, it never had occurred to him to actually move the camera for more close-ups or even longer shots, which nowadays we know it makes a production look more intriguing.Sadly his end of his career drove him to poverty and then death, as the industry grew and pushed him out of business in 1913.
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Luis Bunuel is a Spanish filmmaker, as he had created many strange but exciting films. He was seen as the leading figure in surrealism. Though his films were very much preoccupied with themes of 'cruelty, eroticism and religious mania'. To be seen as very different from other filmmakers, his mind was creative but in such a way where the visuals were all very new to see. I suppose he used believes against religion (since he was an atheist) as a way of helping him write this very much grown-up productions. He was very much fascinated with the natural world, especially insects which you see quite a lot in 'Un Chien andalou' as the moth with the skull on its back and the ants crawling out the man's hand. It was very much eye-catching. He was very determined to make his mark in the film world, by creating productions that really got people talking. After finishing 'Un Chien Andalou' (in such short time) he was funded by Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, who were wealthy investors, in making another film. Though could also be seen as a mistake as his next film 'L'Age d'or' was banned for its heavy use of sexual appearance using religion, though it didn't stop him to move further. 'He conceded himself solely with act of creation.'
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Harvard References
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Book References:
Clifford Thurlow (2005). Making Short Films. New York: Berg. 49-59.
Robert Edgar-Hunt (Unknown). The language of film. Switzerland : AVA Publishing SA. 150-158.
Clifford Thurlow (2005). Making Short Films. New York: Berg. 49-59.
Robert Edgar-Hunt (Unknown). The language of film. Switzerland : AVA Publishing SA. 150-158.