BFI - British Film Institute

For a class trip we were taken to the BFI for a day and given a set list of activities to complete in order to help form our own ideas for a short film. During the day we worked in the mediatheque, watching a list of short films to gain ideas.

Lap - Meloni Pole

http://www.indiemoviesonline.com/watch-movies/lap

Lap was the first film I watched,which is about a lap dancer and a blind man that meet at a bus stop. I liked this film as it had a lot of interesting shots around this bus stop encounter, which was a visual reference I was thinking about using in my own short film.

A succession of low lit close ups are used for the mans glasses and the rain dripping off them, which works well to connote his poor sight as well as creating an intimate sense of touch that affects him, being blind and her job as a lap dancer. In addition to this the highlighting of the rain works well to connote a kind of pathetic fallacy when contrasted to the deflated emotion we see on her face in a close up of her leaning against a bus stop. A smooth transition of panning down the length of the bus after she gets on and walks down the aisles is a also interesting to the idea of mise en scene and pathetic fallacy as the camera is left on a close up of her window, with rain pouring down it, connotative of tears.

In addition to this as the narrative progresses the bus stop encounter is constantly referred back to in a number of interesting shots. For instance there is a rule of thirds shot at the bus stop, depicting her as being alone with the vast amount of space next to her. In addition to this her sense of loneliness is reiterated as another shows shows a mirror image either side of the screen, suggesting that all she has is herself. The repeated visual motif of her at the bus stop creates a sense of importance to this encounter and the importance of the decisions made there, which is something I wanted to incorporate into my own short film around my protagonists 'train journey'.

Johnny Go Home - John Willis (1975)

'Johnny Go Home' is another short film i watched at the BFI where the opening sequence was set in a train station.

I really liked the use of low key lighting and dark shadows as the train pulls into the underground station, as it makes as though the train is arriving in stages as it is only part highlighted. In addition to this the Ariel view of the busy station and diegetic overhead announcements build on a sense of tension as the shot is too busy to keep focus. Leaving an audience lost and confused, which is something I want to install in my viewers to empathise with my protagonist in my station scene.


Dreams of Leaving - Bill Nighy


I only got to watch the very beginning of this short film, however in the first few seconds of the opening sequence there is a man looking out of a window whilst a voice over acts as an internal monologue. I really liked this as it is how I wanted to start my own film and it worked really well, as the shot inside the train was compelling and the disjointed dialog added intrigue, that I think would compell an audience.