Representation: I have created a short film whereby a mother and daughter’s relationship is represented.I think this representation challenges existing short films because it displays the point of view from the mother instead of the daughter. I wanted to twist existing short film stories as when someone is kidnapped in a film, the focus in mainly on that person and not how the family is affected. By showing the journey of the mother, it allows for a connection with teenagers and their parents or carers of what could happen to them. By only having two main characters in the short film, viewers do not become confused by new characters and can understand the feelings of the characters as well as what is happening. Whereas, if there was a large group of characters like in Slap, viewers may not build such a connection with the characters and attach with the story.
My short film could relate to Echo, where a teenage girl is trying to trick people by faking a phone call to get money off them. In Echo, this teenage girl is represented in a bad way by lying and pretending to get money and here are screenshots from both Echo and my short film showing this happening. Although, Freya went through something in my short film that was not her fault; it is similar to Echo where something associated with a teenage girl happened or was happening and was not moral. There could be these similarities because with teenage girls in society, we often associate them with these dangers and being naughty being a teenager. This reflects society, the vulnerability teenage girls have and how manipulative people can be. To improve my short film, I could have had more representation of groups to connect with more people but representation was not as important to me as showing a story to people that could happen to anyone and has happened to many people. I wanted the story to be meaningful and so people go away thinking about my short film and different theories of what happened as many families affected by kidnapping are left wondering too. Genre: The opening scene makes it unclear as to what genre the film is. The shot reverse shot between the tv screen and mother constructs a representation between the 2 characters and also begins to suggest genre through the mothers character expression and movement. The cinematography of the mum is long and shots are stable as I wanted to indicate that the mum’s journey is lengthy and the focus of her attention. This conforms to existing short films whereby there is a twist in the story that makes the audience doubt what’s going on and what they thought about the genre. The twist in the story is where the kidnapping is revealed as it brings a new mood to the film. My short film could relate to the short films Arrival or the Operator. The Operator has a suspense genre and this is similar to my short film as through the short film, the viewer wants to know what’s happened to the girl and the end scene builds up suspense of knowing an answer but there is not one. The arrival is a drama genre which I think my short film can also relate to as it is quite serious and there are many true stories similar to my short film but the last scene is quite dramatic as you’re hoping for more but it doesn’t happen. It may have been useful to my short film, if I would have directly used a true story of someone getting kidnapped with a similar setting to make the short film seem more realistic and easier to connect with as there would be more emotion attached to the story as it had previously happened to someone. However, the whole premise of kidnapping is true so it would relate to someone’s story in some way but similar to the Operator, it gives more meaning to the short film.
Narrative: My short film conforms to existing short films as it is linear and has a beginning, middle and end. The short film does have a beginning of the tapes and the kidnapping scene. The middle is the different shots of the mother’s journey of dealing with her daughter’s disappearance. The end is the phone call where the kidnapper ends the mother’s call. However, it does show some of the past including the VHS tapes and the kidnapping throughout the short film but not enough for it confuse the audience as it is memories of a little girl compared to a teenager. Although, there are these flashbacks, I did not want to do this enough to puzzle the viewers and make them misunderstand the short film as this would not be effective. Thus, it is slightly non-linear as it not the current time the whole way through. There is a binary opposite and it is shown in the beginning compared to the ending of the short film. The beginning of the short film is happy and positive with VHS tapes being played of fun memories. The ending is a dark scene with a phone ringing and a questionable ending that doesn’t indicate anything. This is a binary opposite because the film starts cheerful but ends in a chilling and creepy way. I wanted to end the short film in this way because when people go missing, answers are not always found and I wanted it to come across that there is not always a happy ending, especially when people go missing. On the left are screenshots of both short films showing something from the past and on the left are the present.
On the left are screenshots of both short film showing something from the past and on the left are the present. 
My short film could relate to The Ellington Kid. The short film is non-linear as there are quite a few flashbacks in it but there are some parts which may confuse some viewers as to what’s in the past and present. The Ellington Kid tells a story using it's flashbacks and this is similar to my short film where a story is presented by memories shown and then the mums reactions are displayed. Although, the stories are not similar, the short films narrative are similar with them both reverting back to flashbacks. Nevertheless, as there is someone narrating the story and then flashbacks are shown; this is useful as it makes it more recognisable for the audience. For my short film, it may have been beneficial for the daughter to narrate over the flashback of the kidnapping so the audience knows that it’s in the past but I think having the scene quiet, builds to the scary atmosphere in the scene.
Audience: The target audience for my short film would be teenagers and perhaps parents. I think my short film is an entertainment film but also both thought provoking and educational. The short film is negotiated within its reading as a viewer may take something different from the short film as someone else would. I purposefully wanted this to be polysemic and each spectator having their own thoughts and what they take from the film. My short film could relate to the Operator. It is similar to the operator as it serious and has a deep meaning of how great the 999 operator services are and are often left to not know what happened once the calls ends. Young children may not enjoy this short film as they may not understand why the topic is significant, whereas a teenager or an adult who does know their significance, may prefer this short film to an animation. Kidnapping and operator services are both crucial topics to a lot of lives and because they both end with no explanation, younger children would not enjoy this. This is because younger kids are used to happy endings and everything working out so for this not to happen in both short films, this would not be the audience that the films are aimed at. For my short film, it may have been favourable to not include the kidnapping scene but indicate that she has gone missing but not actually show it. This would mean that it would appeal to a wider audience but I think it is important to show that scene so there is no confusion for the viewers, and they know exactly what happened.
I also wanted to make sure that the film was able to be watched on portable devices and therefore easily consumed by the target audience. In my construction I had this in mind when making choices on cinematography and lighting especially. The film can be shared online and via phones and tablets and doesn’t need to be screened on a cinema screen and with surround sound. The film is more about the message and narrative drive than the spectacle and I want all spectators to be able to access this.
