Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

Hi, blog, I will be comparing the two films 9 in this blog. One is a short film, and the other is a feature film. To start off I will be listing the qualities that the short film has and the feature film doesn't. One thing that the short film has that the main film doesn't is good pacing. Everything moves smoothly and the film is completed in 7 minutes. Another thing the short film has different from the feature film is the plot. The short film has no real plot and is just the cat beast chasing 5 and 9. Now ill be listing the things the feature film has but the short film doesn't. The main thing that the feature film has is dialogue. All of the different ragdolls have voice actors and significant dialogue. In the short film, nobody speaks. Also like I said before, the movie has a full-on plot. There are also more characters and villains. There are about 6 robot villans and 9 protagonist ragdolls. I personally liked the short film more than the movie. I didn't like the writing or the pacing in the movie, and everything was just executed better in the short film. Another thing that I preferred more in the short film was the use of no dialogue. I felt that the film was just fine without the ragdolls talking because you could understand their expressions. I also thought I was also cooler because it made me think and wonder why they weren't able to talk. They both were alright films in their own aspects but the short film was just better.

Research 9, the feature film

Hi, blog, I just watched another version of the short film 9! My impressions of this movie are not so well compared to the short film, however. This movie was directed by Shane Acker. But it was not produced nor written by him. The film was produced by Jim Lemley, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, and Dana Ginsburg. The film was written by Pamela Pettler. To start off, I think this movie was well-produced, just not well written. To give context there are 10 main characters: 9 ragdolls and one human that created them. He created them to stop a war against robots that run off human souls (he also created them) and to save the human race. Each ragdoll has one part of his soul. The movie starts with one ragdoll (9) waking up and meeting another (5), but he gets captured and starts a whole journey. Along the way, he meets the rest of the ragdolls and ends up defeating the mega robot. I think the plot is good, but like I said before it's the writing that throws it off. The characters often don't make sense in my opinion and are easily persuaded. There's barely any emotion, and when there is, it doesn't seem right. There's some character development, but the pacing is way too fast to realize it. The things I liked about the movie were the fight scenes and the lighting. The fight scenes were choreographed really well and were directed perfectly. You can see everything progress in a smooth motion and clearly. Besides those reasons, I didn't really like the movie, but I didn't hate it at all.

Research 9, the short

 Recently I just watched a short film called 9. It was mostly made by Shane Acker. Shane Acker is a director and producer who mostly makes short films. For this movie, he was the writer, producer, and director. This was an assignment provided by UCLA for a workshop. My impressions of this short film are pretty good. There wasn't exactly a plot but everything was straightforward enough to understand. Even though the short film was only 7 minutes long, I felt connected to the characters. Even though they never said a word, you could tell they had feelings. I also liked the idea of the characters not talking. They expressed more because of that. Another thing I liked was the characters themselves. Since there were only three characters, not much work was needed to express things. I liked how the monster took away 5 because it added to the suspense and it showed how much 9 was scared. The ragdoll was a cool concept but I felt like everything needed more backstory.  Another thing I liked about the short film was the pacing. It started off a little slow but it got straight to the point about a couple minutes in. One thing I didn't like was the lighting. I get how it was supposed to take place in a dystopian setting but not everything had to be so dark. Other than that, I really liked the short film.

Genre Choice for Film

 To conclude our search for our movie genre, my partner and I finally made our decision. We have decided to pick the mystery genre. The reason why we chose mystery out of the other two is that it fits our movie the best. Since our film is about finding treasure, at first we were thinking about doing an adventure film. We originally wanted to chose it, but, we didn't want our movie to be generic, like most adventure films. The reason why we didn't pick a thriller was that it just didn't fit our pitch that well. We didn't want an action-heavy movie or a gloomy tone, and there was no way to complete the film without those aspects. With all that said, the mystery genre is the best fit for our film. Some reasons why the mystery genre is the best fit includes the aspects, the pacing, and the suspense. To fit our pitch, we need those features to make our film the best it can be. The aspects of a mystery genre for our movie we want is the way of solving conflict, the stakes, the atmosphere, and the red-herrings. Those aspects allow us to shape our film and fits the theme of finding clues to solve a mystery. The reason why we like the pacing of mystery movies is that it allows us to build suspense. The quick pacing gives the conflict less time to be solved, builds tension, and keeps the flow of mystery throughout the film. The reason why we like the suspense of mystery films is because it holds the whole movie together. Suspense holds the movie together in hand with the pacing and the tension leaving the watcher on its seat. For example, a film that does all of that is Enola Holmes. It connects to all those aspects perfectly and shows that it works. Our group doesn't need to change our pitch because it fits just right with the genre.  We are happy with what we chose and we believe that this genre allows our movie to be the best it can.

Genre research- Mystery

The aspects of the mystery genre include:

  • Common cams:

- Shot/reverse shots, mid-shots, close-ups, wide shots, close shots, extreme close-ups, high-angles, low-angles, pan shots, tilt shots.

  • Common Sound:

-Non-digetic sound, diegetic sound, dialogue, and ambient sounds.

  • Common Mis-En-Scene

-Clothing specifically varies to match the era/location in which the film was set in. Usually has dark lighting, has makeup that varies to match the era/location in which the film was set in, props depending on the movie(letters, clues, etc.), Setting depends on the movie.

  • Common editing 

-Mostly cuts and fades to show the passage of time.

  • Example of films 

- Zootopia, Enola Holmes, Knives Out 

  • Elements of the genre I like

- The pacing, the suspense, and that most mystery movies leave me satisfied with a good ending.

  • Elements of the genre I don't like

- Corny conflicts or plots. 

Example of a mystery movie: 

Genre research- Thriller

The aspects of the Thriller genre includes:

  • Common cams:

- Bird's eye view, dutch angles, Low angle, Close-ups, shot reverse shot, Extreme close up, zooms, and tracking shots

  • Common Sound:

-Diegetic, and sometimes intense background music

  • Common Mis-En-Scene

-Basic costumes, just normal civilian clothes, dark lighting, any shape or sized actor, popular, or unknown, basic makeup, props can range from a pencil to something like a gun, settings can be anything nonfictional and fictional

  • Common editing 

- Fast and slow-paced editing, using a lot of quick cuts and drawn out scenes

  • Example of films 

- Fight club and A quiet place 

  • Elements of the genre

- I love the excitement, thrills, and terror that the films bring, it is very engaging 

  • Elements of the genre I don't like

- Sometimes the suspense is too long of a wait, and it doesn't follow up with a compatible amount of thrill.

Example of a thriller: 

Genre research- Adventure

The aspects of adventure movies include:

  • Common cams:

- Long shot, Mid shot, close-ups, point of view shots, over the shoulder shots, mid-angles, low-angles, high-angles, birds-eye view, pans, and tracking shots.

  • Common Sound:

- Diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, dialogue, and ambient sounds.

  • Common Mis-En-Scene

- Varies in costumes, (usually jungle wear), usually bright lighting, regular makeup just to brighten faces, props vary depending on the movies (boulders, artifacts, etc.), setting varies on the location (usually in a jungle, temple, city, or space)

  • Common editing 

- Cuts, dissolve and fades.

  • Example of films 

- The Goonies, Jumanji

  • Elements of the genre

- Action, excitement, Grand journeys, Courageous  Protagonist, Evil adversaries

  • Elements of the genre I don't like

- Sometimes are riddled with trophies and overdone ideas, also many films revolve around a miguffan.

 • Elements of the genre I do like

- Very fun and interesting quests, Feels like you're on the adventure with the characters. An overall solid genre.

Example of an adventure film: 

Genres I Would Like to Research.

To continue on with our project, we needed to add on to our idea. we need to find the genre for our project. We brainstormed some ideas about the project and found three genres that could fit with our pitch. The first Idea genre that we thought of is the genre of Mystery. The genre of mystery is about the solving of a death or a crime by a detective of some sort. However, our pitch does not deal with murder or a well-known detective. It but will be based on the core idea of solving a mystery with clues that the protagonist has to follow. The protagonist will act and mock the stereotypical actions of popular fiction detectives like sherlock holmes. This is probably my second favorite genre for the project. I had this genre in my mind when we were creating the pitch. The Second genre that we brainstormed is the Thriller. The thriller genre consists of using the themes of suspense, excitement, emancipation, and anxiety. Even though the pitch we created didn't have the idea of it being a thriller in mind, it does have the themes of it. It could be easily turned into a thriller if we just use darker ideas, and have a different tone. The last idea that we thought of is the Adventure genre. The adventure genre consists of a journey or a quest that the protagonist has to travel through, where he learns lessons on the way, leading to his end goal. This genre fits even more with the pitch than the original genre we thought of. We would probably make the short film reminiscent of "The Goonies". Having an exciting riddle in the film. This is my favorite genre of film, and I wanted to make a film using this genre last year, but at the time, I didn't have a good idea. These are 3 really good ideas, but we need to pick one.