Short Film Conventions- Style and genre

The genre is the category/type of film it is e.g, a thriller, action or romantic. The British movie industry tend to do certain movie genres the most like Social Realism and Romantic comedy this is reflected in British short films too :

Social Realism is a fictional genre particularly associated with British cinema, the style of this genre is gritty and unforgiving, aiming to show life in Britain as it really is for a some of the working class population. Social realist films often tackle difficult and challenging themes confronting the 'realities' of society with a pessimistic tone. An example of this is the short film “Double take” by Toa Stappard which is a very gritty film; we see crimes committed in a casual fashion by different people. This film is a social realist film as it shows the dark side of the life in Britain, most people in Britain would say that they have been affected by some sort of crime. Another example of this is the film “Gravity” which focuses on gun violence; this is also quite an urban gritty film that deals with important social issues, this is something that many people will be interested to watch as it may show them a reality that they have never seen before.

            Romantic comedy is also another popular genre in British film. Romantic Comedy is a sub-genre of romantic films and comedy films; they have light-hearted, humorous stories, centered on romantic ideals. The short film “Veronique” by Patrik Bergh is a romantic comedy; it is very simple but effective. The boy is having a fantasy about having a relationship with a girl he sees on the bus, he seems very deluded because he only said one word to her after many times of seeing her but he thinks that they are having a full blow relationship. The plot of the story is quite funny and some of the lines are too. It works very well as a romantic comedy because it reflects how people in real life will exaggerate or fantasise about relationships with people they don't even know, and that awkward moment when you want to say something to the girl but can’t get the words out.

            Social realism is a very interesting genre, however we are most likely to do a romantic comedy as it will be more effective to do with the resources that we have. “Veronique” is very simplistic, it only has a couple of characters, there is one setting and there is no real dialogue, it is all done through voice over’s, however it works very well, this is the type of film we will try and create. Also romantic comedy’s will appeal to a much wider audience as there will be much lighter content, this is good because it will allow for allot more exposure.

By Amilcar Johnson