Plot Devices, Robotic Dystopia, and a Love Story on Two Screens

In a way, making a short film can be much harder than a feature length. That’s not to deny the difficulty, endless hours and labor that go into the production of a feature length film, but rather to highlight the other types of challenges that are often overlooked in the production of an engaging and effective short film.

With a feature length film, filmmakers are fully able to present a full story arc within an extended amount of time. With a 90+ minute time frame, there is much room for plot and character development, narrative twists and an extended denouement. However, with a short film, you have an encapsulated amount of time to tell a story, and therein lies one of the biggest challenges in making a short film.

In this edition of Film Obsessions, I present you with three remarkable short films that flourish in their uncanny storytelling abilities in such a limited time frame. Additionally, with the astounding special effects, technical merits, and creative narrative techniques of these films, they also serve as a testament to the wholly original and speculative power of the short film merit.

In the midst of summer blockbuster season and Michael Bay’s attempts to take over the world one pair of 3D glasses at a time, let these three shorts be a reminder of the powerful art and culture of independent filmmaking, and the free, open forum of the internet in which artists have the opportunity to share their work with the world.

Plot Device

Directed by Seth Worley, this magnificent little film is a living, breathing example of how studio-quality special effects and production value can be harnessed even with a tight budget.

When a young filmmaker peruses amazon for guide books for amateur filmmaking, he inadvertently orders a special device that unleashes the full spectrum of cinematic glory on his front lawn. With top-notch special effects and nods to nearly all genre filmmaking, Plot Device is well worth 10 minutes of your time.

Directed by: Seth Worley

Runtime: 9 minutes & 14 seconds

Robots of Brixton

In Kibwe Tavares’ Robots of Brixton, the famed south London district is re-imagined as a low-class industrial dystopia infested by a mechanically inclined robot population designed to carry the hard labor of the blue-collar workforce.

The film is not only an astounding model of some of the best animation in today’s cinematic society, but it has a distinctly direct and poignantly executed social message.

As the film follows the day-to-day activities of low-class robots performing manual labor and trying to get by, it explores the overpopulated, poor, and cutthroat world in which they live in.

Toward the end, the film is interspliced with footage from the violence that erupted in London in the early 80’s, providing a sharp social commentary for the state of affairs in today’s society.

Directed by: Kibwe Tavares

Runtime: 5 minutes & 36 seconds

Splitscreen: A Love Story

Shot entirely on a Nokia N8 phone and winner of the Nokia Shorts Competition 2011, JW Griffiths’ Splitscreen: A Love Story is a beautiful little short that should confirm to any amateur filmmaker that money, fancy equipment or a big crew is far from necessary in making a great film.

As the title suggests, the narrative structure of the film employs two different split screens showing different, yet similar POV of day-to-day  activities that ultimately lead to the titular love story. It really is quite an astonishing accomplishment that the entire film was shot on a cell phone, as the sharp visuals and striking cinematography would lead you to believe otherwise.

Directed by: JW Griffith

Runtime: 2 minutes & 25 seconds