ONE-MINUTE MOVIES
Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:06 am
For the last few years, British film makers have treated one-minute movies as if they must always be jokes. It ain't necessarily so.
Jan and I have just returned from the amazing festival for One Minute Movies in Pozega, Croatia. There were comedies a-plenty but also experimental, political and drama films within that limit.
Of the comedies one lasted just 10 seconds: Abfahrt (Departure) showed a mass of marathon runners thumping through a city ... being passed by a city gent racing to get his train.
Picture showed a young Chinese couple looking at a photo of the two of them when they got engaged, heads together and smiling. The girl seems less enamoured but agrees when the boy suggests they take a similar photo now ... he sets up tripod, camera and self-timer ... and just as the shutter is about to go, she turns to him and says "Lets talk about breaking up." Click!
Beyond Time showed a young couple catching each other's eye as they got on a train, then showed them getting on and off various trains as they grew older together.
There was a very strong audience reaction in favour of It Doesn't Count without an Account which showed in simple animated models how big business fuelled war in order to profit from it, joined EU for the same reason and left no money for health, pensions and improvements. Can you image a political film getting several minutes of applause at BIAFF?
Just Looking was from the point of view of a shop-assistant. It showed a thin man coming in and saying "Just looking" as his eyes roved the shelves. Then a plump man comes in and orders "some of those, one of those ... and maybe a couple of rolls as well." Ouch.
The Most Precious in Lifetime posed the question of what was most important in life to a series of men and women in an old people's centre. The stumbling, hesitations as most could not think of a single thing in their present lives was incredibly touching and only slightly mollified by one old lady beside her husband answering "love".
And the overall winner taking away the 1,000 Euro prize was Bloody a clever piece showing a magazine cover with a pretty woman on it. A pen writes notes and the cover is changed. The surrounding words vanish, a few more pen strokes, her dress gets torn in several places, more notes and her good looks turn to a battered face, more scribbles and the image starts to bleed ... the pen morphs into a scalpel.
The festival has a lot more to enjoy than just the best 60 films ... more of that anon. For now, just consider how much story you can tell, what kind of ideas you can present in 60 seconds.
Jan and I have just returned from the amazing festival for One Minute Movies in Pozega, Croatia. There were comedies a-plenty but also experimental, political and drama films within that limit.
Of the comedies one lasted just 10 seconds: Abfahrt (Departure) showed a mass of marathon runners thumping through a city ... being passed by a city gent racing to get his train.
Picture showed a young Chinese couple looking at a photo of the two of them when they got engaged, heads together and smiling. The girl seems less enamoured but agrees when the boy suggests they take a similar photo now ... he sets up tripod, camera and self-timer ... and just as the shutter is about to go, she turns to him and says "Lets talk about breaking up." Click!
Beyond Time showed a young couple catching each other's eye as they got on a train, then showed them getting on and off various trains as they grew older together.
There was a very strong audience reaction in favour of It Doesn't Count without an Account which showed in simple animated models how big business fuelled war in order to profit from it, joined EU for the same reason and left no money for health, pensions and improvements. Can you image a political film getting several minutes of applause at BIAFF?
Just Looking was from the point of view of a shop-assistant. It showed a thin man coming in and saying "Just looking" as his eyes roved the shelves. Then a plump man comes in and orders "some of those, one of those ... and maybe a couple of rolls as well." Ouch.
The Most Precious in Lifetime posed the question of what was most important in life to a series of men and women in an old people's centre. The stumbling, hesitations as most could not think of a single thing in their present lives was incredibly touching and only slightly mollified by one old lady beside her husband answering "love".
And the overall winner taking away the 1,000 Euro prize was Bloody a clever piece showing a magazine cover with a pretty woman on it. A pen writes notes and the cover is changed. The surrounding words vanish, a few more pen strokes, her dress gets torn in several places, more notes and her good looks turn to a battered face, more scribbles and the image starts to bleed ... the pen morphs into a scalpel.
The festival has a lot more to enjoy than just the best 60 films ... more of that anon. For now, just consider how much story you can tell, what kind of ideas you can present in 60 seconds.
Thanks Dave, a very interesting read, I find it quite difficult to make a one minute movie but will put more thought into it now I have my new Camera.