Short FIlms: Synopsis + Inspirations from other Short Films

The Grandmother (Lynch, US, 1970) (34 minutes)

Synopsis: Something about a boy being abused by his parents so he spends time with his grandmother? The story is told through music and weird images that are a blend of live action and animation.

Inspiration: I liked the focus on music being used to tell the story and I liked the stylistic choices that Lynch used to convey his film

The Wrong Trousers (Park, UK, 1993) (30 minutes)

Synopsis: Wallace & Gromit short with a penguin starting to replace Gromit as Wallace's companion  and how the penguin takes an immediate liking to the trousers Wallace got Gromit for his birthday.

Inspiration: The use of humour and animation to tell the story

When The Day Breaks (Forbis/Tilby, Canada, 1999) (9 minutes)

Synopsis: This film depicts how the animals lives are changed forever after an incident involving them occurs and the consequences that follow off from this which affect their daily normal routine. This is a fully animated short.

Inspiration: I liked the use of animation and I liked the first couple of the minutes of the film as I felt it introduced the characters effectively with the use of the animated objects.

About A Girl (Percival, UK, 2001) (9 minutes)

Synopsis: A girl talks about positive experiences to the camera (her hopes and dreams) whilst her experiences shown present a more dark reality to her life. This is concluded with a shot of a dead baby.

Inspiration: I liked how the character talked directly to the camera as this made a deeper connection with the audience but this film also inspired me that if I was to have a twist in my film, it would make sense and not come out of nowhere.

Wasp (Arnold, UK, 2003) (24 minutes)

Synopsis: Follows a poor single mother with 4 kids and shows what happens when she goes on a date with an old friend and what happens to her children who are waiting outside the pub.

Inspiration: I thought this was a great short film as I thought it was really interesting how the characters were developed and their interactions with one another.

Connect (Abrahams, UK, 2010) (5 minutes)

Synopsis: A women has many different imaginations and connections during a bus journey. These range from making a connection with a stranger to imagining a gunshot.

Inspiration: I really liked this film as I felt it presented simplistic ideas about the world in an effective way. This film is the same time that my short film will be around so the way that this film manages to show different scenes and concepts in the same setting inspires me to do something similar.

Swimmer (Ramsey, UK, 2012) (18 minutes)

Synopsis: Someone sees events and swims for the duration of the short film.

Inspiration: I didn't like this film or really appreciate any features about it so I think this mostly has inspired me to do a short film with more action and a story at the center of my film.

The Gunfighter (Kissack, US, 2014) (9 minutes)

Synopsis: A narrator controlls the outcomes of a gunfight and the people's thoughts about each other.

Inspiration: I liked the use of an unseen narrator as I thought it added an extra layer of depth to the film. However I don't think I'd make my short film solely a comedy as I found the jokes were too repetitive after the first couple of minutes.