Anyway, while browsing the site I found an interesting short thesis film created by students of Chapman University, (the same university that the student thesis film "Into the Silent Sea" came from, directed by Andrej Landin) and decided to check it out. It's called "East of Kensington", a thriller written and directed by Kellen Moore during his time at Chapman. It tells the tale of Peter Pan after he drops off Wendy, Michael and John back home to London after their adventures in Neverland. The film takes a disturbing turn, which captivates you till the very end. It's twenty minutes long, which is the same length as the films we're making, so I made sure to pay attention to the structure of a film that's already proven to be successful.
I thought the short was visually impressive. The dark color theme was cohesive during the entire film and gave it a certain tone and mood that was very effective. Also, the dreamlike scenes with Wendy were haunting and beautiful. Overall the shots were truly appealing to the eye and very well executed. Furthermore the attention to detail was spectacular. Everything from the scenery to costumes to the pictures on the walls and in the newspaper were accounted for. This is something to keep in mind when designing our sets and collecting props and costumes for our own films.
Now that we're in the writing and story creating phase of our process, there is a lot to consider about structure and story. A short film only has a certain amount of time to leave an impression, so every part of it must be well thought out and purposeful. Specifically this film, I learned a lot about ways to include back story without taking up too much time or hitting the audience over the head with exposition. Granted, the characters and plot for this film are well known to the audience, so a lot was dependent on that, but there was still an entire implicit history of the characters lives fit into a twenty minute time frame. The use of the dream sequences and careful dialogue to explain what happened to the children while Peter was away was well done.
Another important characteristic of a short is feeling like a full story, even though it's really only a snippet or event of something larger. "East of Kensington" jumps right into the story, without much background. Then at the end, although it doesn't seem like an ending, has a feeling of completion and finality. This is something that I believe is significant to contemplate while writing the script to our own films. Watching other peoples' short films is extremely helpful and rewarding when you are attempting to do the same, and a lot can be learned from the trials, errors and successes of those who have created films before us.
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