Greg's 5 More Short Films

Film 1: Black or White

Black or white is a short comedy about two men, one black and one white, arguing over who 'she' will choose. The film makes you believe that they are comparing their ethnic stereotypes and arguing over which is better for 'her'. The film has a twist ending, which is when they show us that they are not two men, but a cup of tea and a cup of coffee, and 'she' picks the tea. We know which one is tea and which one is coffee, because in the extreme long shot (or big close up, however you look at it) of the mugs with the men in them, we see behind one of the mugs is a tin saying 'coffee', and behind the other mug is a tin saying 'tea'. There are no titles in this film.

The film says white people (or tea) are light, sweet and relaxing, while black people (or coffee) are dark, sophisticated and smooth. They both say they are hot, but the black man accuses the white man of being 'common'. The whole film is a shot/reverse shot sequence between the two characters. All the camera shots are at eye-level, and all the shot distances are similar for both characters. This tells us that they are both equal and ensures that there is no bias.

This film is a comedy, mainly because it's use of innuendos. For example the black man says 'I've got more energy, if you know what I mean.', and also says 'sometimes girls want something a little bit stronger'. The film's equilibrium starts when they were made, and the disruption starts when the film starts, and they argue over who she wants. The resolution and new equilibrium start when 'she' picks the tea. The ambient diegetic sound consists of water droplets, makes the viewer believe that they are in a steam room, or something similar. When you watch it again, it is more obvious that they are in mugs as we can see the outline of the mugs behind the characters. There is no non-diegetic soundtrack.

Overall, this short film conveys the differences in ethnicity in a very unique and interesting way, and it's simplicity makes it an effective short film.
Film 2: iThoughts

iThoughts is a short romance about a man trying to pluck up the courage to talk to a woman she sees. The title font is uneven, and it scrambles for a second before becoming clear. This could be a representation of someone's thoughts. This text shows up throughout the film, replacing the dialogue with the man's thoughts. Whenever he gets near the girl, we see his thoughts tellling himself to stop being an idiot. Most of the camera shots are at eye-level and are between medium shot and close up. This makes us feel more empathy for the main character. The non-diegetic soundtrack has a slow pace and includes minimal instruments. It nicely sets the tone of this sequence.

We can see from the male's facial expression and body language that he is really nervous. For example, in a close-up shot from the girl's side, we see the male enter the frame, see the girl and move out of the frame quickly before the girl sees him ogling her. Also, at the end of the film, when he finally says 'hello' to her, we can (barely) hear his voice. We do see some shots involving the girl, and her facial expression tells me that she wants him to approach her. I get the feeling that she is also quite shy, because she doesn't approach him, but it is harder to see.

Todorov's 5 stages can be appplied to this sequence. 

Film 3: Post-it Love

Post-it Love is another short romance about two co-workers trying to get each other's attention with artwork made from post-it notes. Through the short film, we see their post-it art get more and more elaborate and bigger each time. The short film also has no dialogue, and lets the visuals tell the story. This film also has no titles

The opening camera shots show us that the two characters are pretty much exactly the same and they are perfect. They do the exact same actions at the exact same time, and even notice each other at the same time. We see from their facial expressions that there is an attraction between them. The woman's facial expression changes to one that tells us she is finding it difficult to talk to him.

In the next scene, which is in a new day (we can see a change in costume) we see an eyeline match of the male character looking at a smiley face made of post it notes. When he goes to look for who sent it to him, we see, out of focus, the woman look to see if he's seen it. Again, they are doing the same action at the same time. As the man turns to look in her direction, she comes into focus and we see her move quickly back with a shocked expression. We see a happy facial expression on the man's face, as he knows she did it, and he likes her. His facial expression changes to one

The next scene shows the next day, and we see a long shot of the girl opening the blinds to find a sun on the window made of post-it notes. We notice that the art work is getting more and more elaborate.

Film 4: The Last 3 Minutes

The Last 3 Minutes is a short drama about an old man's whole life flashing before his eyes as he slowly dies from a heart attack. All the camera angles, except for the opening few shots before the heart attack, are all POVs, which show the old man's surprisingly interesting life. There is very little dialogue in this film, leaving the camerawork and image editing to tell the story.

The film tells us that old people may seem dull on the outside, but they have experienced a lot of things that should be shared. We see POV shots of the man's failed relationship, his time in war and some parts of his childhood.

The crystal is originally a source of enigma, as we don't know its origins until the end of the film. When he looks into the crystal, we see a woman looking through the other side. A graphic match takes us into the first flashback, where we see from the POV that alcoholism has caused these two to break up. I see this when we see a wine bottle prop enter the frame at an angle that tells us he is drinking from it. We see after the woman leaves that she left behind a piece of clothing. He looks at the clothing and we get

Film 5: The Fly

The Fly is a short comedy about the driver in a bank robbery trying to swat a fly and messing everything up while trying to. It is a dark comedy because it shares syntactic and semantic codes of a drama, like the guns and the screaming, mixed with comedic delivery and some syntactic codes seen in comedies (mainly the driver's overreaction to the fly).

The title frame of The Fly show red text in a large font size, in front of a background that flashes between black and white. The non-diegetic soundtrack is loud and fast-paced, and a choir repeat 'FLY!' throughout the 3 second title sequence. This gives off a theme of insanity, and it's also foreshadowing for what will happen later.

During the moments the fly isn't annoying him, the shot frequency is quite slow, and the shot frequency increases when the fly starts annoying the driver. This shows us the driver's urgency to get rid of the fly. There are more close-ups used when the driver is trying to swat the fly. We feel as uncomfortable as the driver in these scenes. When there is calm, there are more long shots.
 
The film has a clear use of Todorov's theory of 5 narrative stages. It's equilibrium is at the start of the film when the driver is nervously waiting for his counterparts to return. The disruption starts not when it lands on the windshield, but when it gets in the car and we hear the foley of the fly buzzing. The confrontation lasts most of the film, as the driver tries to kill or get rid of the fly. The resolution comes when the driver accidentally destroys the car's engine with the shotgun, and there is a new equilibrium, where we assume, because of the police siren foley, the crew get arrested.