#macro feature

Festival winners. Watch a selection of the best festival winning short movies and animations, including Oscar winners, Cannes Winners, BAFTA winners, and LA Shorts Fest winners. These are short films and animations that have won or been nominated for the Animation Academy Award, won a BAFTA, Palm d'Or etc.

BACKGROUND:-

Name of film: The Chubbchubbs!

Director: Eric Armstrong

Writer: Jeff Wolverton

Awards: Oscar for Best Short Film, 2003

Source: http://www.filmsshort.com/festival-winners/

Synopsis: An alien attempts to warn the others on the planet of an approaching danger but, in the end, fails to protect himself

Length: 4.5 minutes

MACRO FEATURES:-

Narrative: Meeper valiantly tries to warn the patrons of the Ale-E-Inn, an intergalactic watering hole with its own constellation of stars, of impending danger, the Chubbchubbs, only to find himself face to face with the toughest creatures in the universe.

Genre: Comedy, animation

Theme: Safety, morals

MICRO FEATURES:-

Cinematography: Due to the animation genre, the film uses mostly long shots to explore the setting and close ups to communicate the emotions of the characters.

Mise-en-scene: Armstrong has employed unfamiliar mise-en-scene in the setting and costumes to explore the alien storyline.

Editing: Continuity editing is exhibited which creates a simple narrative, which is very stereotypical of animation films.

Sound: The film uses familiar and popular songs which juxtapose the unfamiliar mise-en-scene and creates human features in the aliens. This, therefore, reinforces the messages and values and creates relatability.

WATCH PIXAR'S MONSTERS UNIVERSITY INTRO HERE: http://youtu.be/eVrwX0kbcB0 WATCH 4 ANIMATED SHORT FILMS HERE: BLUE:http://youtu.be/4pIUttWxy9c FRED:http://you...

BACKGROUND:-

Name of film: Small Fry

Director: Angus MacLane

Writer: John Lasseter and Angus MacLane

Production Company: Pixar

Distribution Company: Disney

Awards: None

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPd17QKM22g

Synopsis: A fast food restaurant a mini variant of Buzz forcibly switches places with the real Buzz and his friends have to deal with the obnoxious imposter

Length: 7 minutes

MACRO FEATURES:-

Narrative: The short film employs a linear chronological narrative to communicate the themes and morals

Genre: Animation

Themes: Loss and morals (sticking with parents etc.)

MICRO FEATURES:-

Cinematography: Due to the animation, the film uses mostly long shots and close ups

Mise-en-scene: The film uses recognisable characters and familiar settings to communicate the morals for the young audience

Editing: Lots of CGI is used for animation

Sound: This is extremely important for this short film as it is the main narrative carrier in animations by Disney

Little girl likes little boy. Little boy likes BMX bike. Something has to give. Directed by Michelle Lehman Tropfest Australia 2008 Winner

BACKGROUND:-

Name of film: Marry Me

Director: Michelle Lehrman

Writer: Michelle Lehrman

Production Company: Conti Bros Films

Awards: Tropfest Winner 2008

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFdbZHMBxfg

Synopsis: Two young children from the same neighbourhood in Australia both play on their bikes with 'training wheels' across the road from each other. The girl wants to be friends with the boy and is always extending the arm of friendship towards him, but he is too obsessed with his bike and also, because she is a girl, despite all of her efforts, he is not interested.

Length: 7 minutes

MACRO FEATURES:-

Narrative: The use of representations and stereotypes are essential for the narrative as it explores the fragility of children's relationships and also the need to please and need for affection

Genre: Drama

Themes: Friendship, love, acceptance

MICRO FEATURES:-

Cinematography: A combination of long shots and close ups are employed in Lehrman's short to explore the audiences relationship in the narrative. The long shots portray a distance, and also enhances the distance between the characters, while the close ups make the audience feel like they are looking on a scene that they should not be. It also portrays the personal emotions felt by the characters.

Mise-en-scene: The typical and simple mise-en-scene created enhances the narrative and the use of the intrusive shots as it explores the realistic and also relatable nature of the characters.

Editing: The use of editing is particularly interesting because the use of rack focuses and also slow zooming circle at the end is much more experimental than a long form film and therefore fits into the short film form conventions.

Sound: Throughout the piece are various melodies of non-diegetic sound to explore the loving theme and enhances the emotion portrayed and explored by the characters.

Best short films. Watch the best short films by country and region, including North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Africa and the rest of the world.

BACKGROUND:-

Name of film: The Black Hole

Director: Olly Williams and Phil Sansom

Writer: Olly Williams and Phil Sansom

Production Company: HSI Films

Distribution Company: Future Shorts

Awards: None

Source: http://www.filmsshort.com/best-short-films/

Synopsis: While working after hours copying documents, a bored clerk kicks and punches the buttons of the photocopy machine when it jams. The photocopier releases a piece of paper with a black circle in the centre, and when the clerk puts his cup of coffee on the spot, he discovers that it is indeed a black hole. The clerk uses the black hole to get a chocolate bar from a vending machine. Then the greedy employee decides to use the black hole to open the door of a room with a safe and steal the money from inside.

Length: 3 minutes

MICRO FEATURES:-

Narrative: This chorological and simple narrative is the main micro feature at exploring the greed of a person and also, therefore, allows for morals and philosophical questions to be employed

Genre: Crime, comedy, drama

Themes: Greed, boredom, money

MACRO FEATURES:-

Cinematography: Unlike many other short films I have seen, the cinematography is relatively simple for this short. Due to its simplicity, the audience begin to feel like they are intruding on the crime of the character and therefore reinforces the excitement that the character has in the audience.

Mise-en-scene: This element is extremely important in communicating to the audience the regularity of the actions that the character is completing and therefore exploring the theme of boredom. It also explains a sense of irregularity and the audience believe that the character is not normally like this.

Editing: The editing is relatively regular and un-experimental, unlike the narrative. The only aspect which makes a real difference is that of the black hole itself which therefore works as a plot device.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00fzr90

BACKGROUND:- Name of film: Lullaby

Director: Kevin Markwick

Writer: Kevin Markwick

  Distribution Company: Shorts International

Awards: Audience Award, Filmstock International Film Festival, 2008

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00fzr90

Synopsis: After seeing the kids off to school, a mother takes the memories of the day she lost a baby and finds the courage to move on

Length: 7 minutes

MACRO FEATURES:-

Narrative: The use of narrative in this short film is very important as it is relied upon to convey the overall message of loss and grief. It is used by Markwick to explore the theme of loss and also communicate the difference in pain between women and men when loosing a child.

Genre: Drama

Theme: Loss and moving on (grief)

MICRO FEATURES:-

Cinematography: Markwick has chosen to employ simple cinematography to give the audience more opportunity to focus upon the narrative. He also uses close ups of the characters which makes the audience feel like a part of the scene and therefore like they are intruding and/or reinforcing the emotional impact.

Mise-en-scene: The use of mise-en-scene portrays a happy, middle class, relatively normal English family and therefore increases the emotional impact as it could be any family, consequently creating relate-ability.

Editing: Emma Collins, the editor, has employed continuity and simple editing techniques giving a similar effect as that of the cinematography; it does not detract from the all-important narrative, also reinforcing the regularity of the mise-en-scene.

Sound: There is diegetic sound throughout the short film; speech and the mother's humming lullaby. The only non-diegetic sound is a quiet melody which has connotations of a lullaby. This use of sound reiterates the normality and regularity of the narrative.