Studying short films.

In the last few weeks we have been watching several short films, such as the most recent video I watched ‘Dipper’, we have been doing this to help us plan out our own short film or trailer, learning the codes and conventions of the short films is another work of progress we began to get us ready to do our coursework.

 Vladimir Propp which was a theorist on short films his theory was that, at the start of the film there is a villain, then there is a donor which prepares the hero, then there is a helper in the quest, there is often then a prize or girl to save or win, the hero is told the task of which he is required to do, the hero is sent off on the task and eventually winning the prize or girl, which leads to the villain failing at trying to be the victor.

 Another theorist called Tzvetan Todorov believed that there is a set narrative stages, beginning with a Equilibrium, followed by a disruption then realisation of the disruption and the eventual attempt to repair the disruption, finally there is a reinstatement of the equilibrium, the short films I watched challenged this theory and proved that it isn't completely correct, as the two films called 'Dipper and Gravity' followed different unconventional routes to the ending of the short films.

  The three films I have watched are (‘Sold, Gravity, and Dipper) watching these films have helped me to work on my analysing skills and developing my ability to look at the typical codes and conventions of short films, I have learnt about the typical stages of a film, and that on occasions films narratives can be completely different to the stereotypical narrative which is what Todorov believes in.