Virgin Media Shorts
"Two guys with telekinetic powers battle it out in the snow"
Genre: Action/Adventure
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The film initially begins with the title sequence for the production company, a brief animation that simply shows their company name and logo, however by having this suggests that this production company makes a lot of short films, and that they are probably some kind of professional in this area of media.
The main sequence begins with a plain long shot displaying a field with trees in the background and the sound of winter birds singing their morning song. Notice at how the ground is covered in snow, an early indication that perhaps this is somehow important to the setting and film. Within seconds, a male character walks into shot wearing winter clothing, including a coat, boots and a hat; the generic conventions of a winter morning. At this point however, the audience is unsure in what genre the film is following as so far there has been no indication or codes that could possibly be associated with a particular genre. But, a few moments later, what appears to be a snowball flies through the shot and hits the male character walking in shot. The man turns round in association with a mid shot, towards the direction in which the snowball traveled in. At this very point however, we notice at how a light-hearted, fun non-diegetic soundtrack begins to play, suggesting some sort of action to follow shortly. The shot then switches to another mid shot of a different male character being in control of a snowball, however when I mean in control, it is not what is typically associated with when having a snowball, as in this film, the man is seen with a snowball levitating from his hand, as if by magic. This follows the generic conventions of possibly a sci-fi genre because of the way magic is used, however because of the way the scene is set out at this moment, it can possibly suggest that this could also fall into a potential action genre.
The original man who was seen walking through the shot at the very beginning (man wearing blue), then looks back at the man who threw the snowball and dismisses his attempts to have a snowball fight with him. From the way the characters are displayed, with both being over the age of 18 and being adults, as well as the idea that they are about to have a snowball fight, the audience can assume that the film will follow a kind of humourous twist to it with potentially the sense of action in it, however because of this fun aspect and the fact that it is two adults acting like children again, the target audience is likely to follow an age range of between 14-50 perhaps, as this idea of fun also attracts the older population. The scene then appears to open and display the main action of the sequence, when the male character is blue is seen kicking the snow towards the man in green, which because of his kinetic powers, forms a snowball and hits the man. From then onwards, a selection of clever and well created effects (as well as camera shots) show the two characters battle it out using their 'magic powers'. The editing techniques used during this action sequence display what fantastic effects can be achieved using the power of media, creating a super-natural like experience which instantly appeals to a range of different audiences. During the build up to the sequence, a selection of different instruments are used to build up the climax of the action scene about to take place, with this non-diegetic sound also adopting the conventions of the action genre. As well as this, good, exciting camera shots such as POV shots and handheld shots, help the audience become a part a the film, again adding to the experience.The most intense climatic point of the film happens towards the end of the action scene, at which point the two characters are building the biggest snowball as possible to use against each other in the final battle. This type of build up can be typically associated with the conventions of the action or adventure genre as generally in these sort of films there tends to be a major climatic point which resolves any disruption in the sequence (following Todorov's theory) to which point a resolution is found. Notice during this climatic build up, the raise of volume and intensity that the non-diegetic sound plays to really create that suspense. Finally, when the climatic point happens and the two huge snowballs are thrown at each other, colliding with one another, the screen fades to white, resembling the snow covering the camera (another aspect which brings the realism to it), which again fills the suspenseful gap; the audience unaware of what has happened.
The shot is then reintroduced with the close up POV shot of one of the male character's feet walking on the snow covered ground again; again at this point, the audience are unsure what character this is. We then see the man wearing blue lying in a heap on the floor, with his eyes closed, assuming that he is injured in some way. The natural response to this would be the other character getting help and for the film finish, however we are left with the character dressed in green, tilting to his left which the facial expression of mischief, and so we as the audience assume that he still has some role to play. The scene then cuts to black. The shot then re-emerges with the same fun, light-hearted non-diegetic soundtrack that was used at the beginning of the film, before we are left with the final shot of the 'injured' character waking up in the form of a snowman, adding to the light humour which has been created for the audience.
One thing that I particularly liked about this short film is the use of editing techniques and effects used to create the snowball effects. This added to the action and enjoyment of the film which ultimately appealed to a far wider range of audiences, and I believe it would be a good thing to include in our short film. 
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