Initial Ideas

 

The Prestige by
Christopher Nolan

Batman begins by
Christopher Nolan

I believe Drama is the most effective genre to use especially when it comes to arthouse short films, directing me to use this genre in my product. The conventions in drama are easier to follow when working on a low budget, mainly because the narrative is character focused. One convention of an art house short film that is sometimes used is direct address to the audience; they use this to break normal conventions which is something I will be aiming to do with my piece. However the use of direct address can be cliché and look very amateur, which is not something I personally want my film to be like, making it a convention that works better in theater not so much moving image. A convention of drama art house films that is effective in evoking an emotional response in audiences is the use of flashbacks; this is something that I want to use in my film to drive my narrative to being more emotive. Director Christopher Nolan uses flashbacks in many of his films, some have stronger continuity with the narrative, such as in his film The Prestige, and other times they are more evident, which is seen in his film Batman Begins.  

Still from Tim Burton's Alice In
Wonderland

Christopher Nolan has influenced me with the conventions he uses in his films especially in his narrative choices of a surreal reality which has always interested me in films, especially when it is portrayed by director Tim Burton., which is seen in his adaption of Alice in Wonderland. However, his adaption of Alice in Wonderland is very highly stylized, which will be especially hard to recreate on a low budget and I believe will weaken the emotional response of the film. For my short film, even though I am a fan of Tim Burtons surreality, I would be more drawn into following Christopher Nolans style of using a surreal reality such as where magic truly exists which is seen in his film The Prestige.

The target audience my film will be aimed it will be teenage girls aged between 16-21 years old, i believe this audience will have a better understanding of the themes that will be present in my film and some audiences may be able to empathize with the protagonist in the film. The two ancillary products I will use will be the film poster and the webpage, because these are products that are usually associated with advertising art house films.