Genre Research
When it comes to which genre to go with for our short film, we are considering a few different options. We are looking at going forward with a drama, a thriller or a romance. I'll be looking into the various codes and conventions of these genres in order to decide which genre will be best for us to go with and which will be the most realistic for us to create.
Romance
To start with, I'll be looking into the Romance genre. The common plot points involved in Romance tend to be based around the love shared between two individuals and the battles faced between them. In a short film, you could expect to see an introduction to a relationship, a conflict that calls the relationship into question followed by a (hopefully) emotionally satisfying resolution. There tends to be a slow and gentle music track behind the action.
There aren't particularly ​any clear stereotypes of characters; most character ideas are based around regular people to make the story seem both plausible and relatable to the audience. Likewise with settings, there are many that can be used. There aren't too many settings off-limits to those who wish to do Romance films although there are a few that could be considered more popular. A beach, for example, is often seen as a very romantic setting and thus is used by a lot of film-makers. Ultimately, however, the aim for Romance films is to make the audience feel an emotional connection to the characters in a short space of time, more often than not also providing the audience with a positive outcome.
In terms of camera shots, you can expect to see a variety of close-ups and medium shots to show character emotions and reactions to how each other act. Not only this but every shot tends to be well lit or edited brightly to seem idyllic; there are rarely dark scenes or dim settings. Aside from character shots, there also tends to be cutaways to long shots of the various beautiful scenery around the immediate area.
Action
Action films are like a polar opposite when compared to that of romance films. Straight away the main focus with these films is with the action sequences and rarely would you see one with a heavy amount of dialogue. Even with the shorter action films, I've still found that there is rarely a lot of character development featured. Where these short films make up for their lack of artsy character development is in the editing. Often you'll see a lot of short action films with very good picture quality and cool looking set pieces. Ultimately, a short action film should begin with an introduction straight into the conflict and keep the audiences gripped the whole time up the eventual climax which could work as either a finished story or a cliffhanger. Usually, it would be uncommon for a short film to end without a conclusion but with action films it can sometimes add to the suspense (it's still fairly rare to see though).
In terms of characters, there are a few main stereotypes. For example, the villains are often in dark clothing in contrast to the heroes being in bright. Another one of these similar to this is the stereotypical plot in which a hero has something taken from him and he needs to get it back; this can be a fairly easy plot to follow as an audience as well as creating it as a film maker because there are so many different ways you can make it work by using different props and character motivations. Most settings can be used and there's an abundance of local areas that fit the action genre for us.
Shot-wise, mostly every shot is used in these action films but the editing has to be fairly quick and the shots can't last too long else it will tamper with the continuity of the action sequences. There are often close-ups as reaction shots when certain events take place but they are mostly comprised of mid, two and tracking shots. The lighting is usually ambient without too much external influence which is because action films tend to have more of a feeling of verisimilitude than most other genres because the whole point of an action film is to give the audience the belief that the events taking place really could occur.