The Plan (2008)

An award winning dramatic short film about a man who goes to Vegas and loses all his money in search of starting over in life. The short is 100% written and produced by Matthew Kalish, an independent filmmaker. The short film seem to be mid-budget (which would still be very small for a short film).

The story is told in black and white, although it is unclear as to why, however this decision does allow for some even more striking wide shots. Overall The Plan has a very simple narrative that at points I felt wasn't quite enough as the film became a bit slow at times. However what the producer of this film did well was allow for locations to be reused, and for some parts of the narrative to not have to be shown (e.g. the casino scene).

I feel what let this short film down most was the narrative as it simply wasn't strong enough, however in terms of the way it was produced, a short film such as this would be plausible to make as a student with limited resources.

An Ordinary Day (2010)

A self-funded short film about life for ordinary people and what it really means, made by a student.

The short is a drama that through the use of a voiceover discusses how mundane ordinary people's lives can be, however what it is in our lives that creates memories and moments. The narrative is clever as it has so many options open to it in terms of what to include and develop in the film.

The way the film is constructed works well in that the footage is quite repetitive however the audience is not bored by it because of the narrative and other aspects of the film such as sound. However because (especially at the start) there film was almost repeating itself, this would have meant that the film would have been easy and very cheap to produce.

Overall I really liked this short film as it had such a surprisingly powerful narrative which was very well carried by the voiceover. I felt for a student film this was impressive as it seemed as if it was easy to produce but still had a quality to it due to the narrative.

Point Of View (2010)

This short film is produced, shot and edited by Doug Smith who is a film student. It is self-funded and doesn't cost much as it uses cameras he owns and doesn't use any extra props.

The film is a sort of 'day in the life' type film which is shot only using POV shots. It is extremely simple as there is no dialogue, one soundtrack and only 2 actors at most. The narrative is not interesting as there aren't any events that take place, however this was not the aim of the film. The audience is involved very directly in this short due to the use of the POV shots, this is a powerful way of filming however it isn't used to be powerful in this case as it is more of an experimental film.

I liked this short film however when making a short film I would like to have a clearer narrative so that the film can follow more of a story. However this short has shown me that using different methods of camera work definitely makes the film more interesting for the audience to watch.

The Barberless Barber (2010)

This short film is produced by The Middle Coast Film Collective and Tree 9 Films, and distributed by Future Shorts. The film looks as if it would have been produced on a relatively small budget, provided most likely by Tree 9 Films who are an independent promotional film production company.

The short is a comedy about a man who is desperately trying to smarten up for a job interview, and ends up at a 'barberless barber'. The majority of the film is made using stop-motion. The way in which this short is filmed enhances the comedic elements in a comic sort of way.

The soundtrack partially establishes the genre in this short film as it is a very fast paced, and light hearted track. As the film is stop-motion the speed of the soundtrack helps keep a quick pace that reflect the stop-motion style.

To add to the comedy in this film the character often interacts with the audience directly, for example at the end when he winks into the camera.

I really enjoyed this short and especially its unique "quirkiness" throughout. I thought the narrative worked quite well but the film was brought together by its comedic way of filming and constructing.