Pitch

Short Film Analysis #3

Rare Exports Inc.

Rare Exports Inc. is a Finnish short film directed by Jalmari Helander that was made in 2003. The film is about just before the first snow of winter falls, where professional hunters begin their work hunting, catching and training Father Christmas'. "The long process of tracking, hunting and transforming this king of the forest into a finished product is a time consuming process, but the final outcome is a reason to celebrate."

The film is somewhat of a fantasty film while also being a dark comedy. The intended audience is likely to be of an older nature, eventhough the subject matter is of a childrens character. The form in which this traditional story is told suggests that the creator wanted to reintroduce this character to adults.

The narrative is quick and pacy and allows for the 7 minute film to flow naturally. A relative budget for a short film is clearly used as is shown in the props and effects in the film, however, it is unknown.

The short film went on to spawn a sequel and also be adapted into a full length movie which went on to score succes both commercially and critically winning awards and praise from critics a like.

Short Film Analysis #2

Sweet

Sweet is a British short film from 2000. The film is directed by James Pilkington starring Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. The film is roughly 10 minutes long and humorously documents the relationships of Pete Sweet (Fielding) and the imaginary sister of his mate Dave, Poppy and also Pete and Daisy and Stitch (Barratt), Pete’s best friend.

The budget used for the film was very small as Pilkington used friends as the actors and also used his contacts for the crew on the film. Pilkington even used his local pub, and his own flat as locations for the filming.

The film incorporates the conventions of a short film by using a simple narrative structure that has a beggining, a middle and a conclusion which resolves the issues addressed throughout the 10 minutes. It would be fair to say that the lenght of the film is that of an average short film which breaks up nicely.

Short Film Analysis #1

Saw

Saw is an Australian, short, horror film made in 2003. It was directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, who also starred in it. It was originally used to pitch their script for a full-length feature film Saw to various studios and actors.

Colleagues, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, had begun writing a script for a horror film, citing inspiration from their dreams and fears. Upon completing the script, Leigh and James had wanted to select an excerpt from their script, later to be known as Saw, and film it to pitch their film to studios and prospective actors. This excerpt became the short film Saw.

The reverse bear trap, which is seen in the short film around the head of Whannell, is actually a real, working, rusty bear trap making it exceptionally dangerous to use. The film was shot over 8 days for around $2000 (USD).

Documentary Analysis #3

Super Size Me

Super Size Me is an American documentary film, directed by and starring independent filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effects on Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast food industry's corporate influence. The reason for Spurlock's investigation was the increasing spread of obesity throughout the U.S., which the Surgeon General had declared an "epidemic," Also he chose to make the film following the lawsuit brought against McDonald's on behalf of two overweight girls, who, it was alleged, became obese as a result of eating McDonald's food.

The film was produced on a very low budget (around $65,000), which is evident in the shaky use of a single camcorder and also the quality of the sound throughout most of the film. However, this did not affect the success as the film, as it managed to make around $30,000,000 worldwide, making it one of the most successful documentaries of all time. Also the film won an award at the Sundance film festival and was also nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Despite its’ success the film has split critics, some citing it as a very powerful film with an effective message, while others are not so complementary. For example in the comedic documentary reply Fat Head, Tom Naughton, another documentary filmmaker, suggests that Spurlock's calorie and fat counts don't add up and criticizes Spurlock's refusal to publish the Super Size Me food log which includes all the relevant nutritional information.

The film features many of the codes and conventions of a documentary film. For example the film is full of graphics and animations showing various facts and figures relating to obesity in America and also the number of fast food chains in the country. Also the film features many interviews, half coming in the form of formal interviews with appropriate professionals, the other half coming in the form of vox-pops with the public giving their opinions on the matter.

Documentary Analysis #2

Catfish

Catfish is a 2010 American documentary involving a young man being filmed by his brother and friend as he builds a romantic relationship with a young woman on the social networking website Facebook. For the documentary, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost film Nev, Ariel's brother, as he begins a long-distance relationship with Megan Pierce, the older sister of 8 year old art prodigy Abby Pierce whom Nev befriended on Facebook, conducted over the Internet and phone calls and the film develops from there.

The film is shot entirely by handheld cameras, by Ariel and Henry. We know this because at various points in the film we see the cameras and also whenever the holder of the camera is moving we get the shaky camera movements. Also the filmmakers use a camera that is hidden away at one point in the film so that their subject does not know they are filming them. 

The film follows many of the codes and conventions of documentary films. for example the film features interviews, most of which are pre-planned interviews with only one or two coming as vox-pops. There is no voice-over, which is odd, however, in place of the voiceover is captions which give any extra detail with is necessary. Also, there is some music featured in the film at various points.

In an interview Ariel Schulman stated that some viewers believe Catfish to be a fake documentary, or a hoax. Among those on that list are fellow documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock and comedian and actor Zach Galifianakis. The film also has critics opinion split with many questionning why the young filmmakers would choose to document the relationship that Nev is involved in so early on. However, well-known critic Roger Ebert referred to the questions as a "severe cross-examination" and also stated that "everyone in the film is exactly as the film portrays them to be."