"Urban Savannah" & "I Love my Nails"

Today in lesson we watched some video's and were told to look out for how they informed, educated and entertained. We were then told that these three functions were something to be considered when creating our own videos. We had to observe and take notes on the elements we felt we could incorporate into our own videos.

Urban Savannah
Urban Savannah was filmed in the UK in 2004 and directed by Matthew Cook and Vincent Lund. We watched this short ten minute film first. It used basic animal instincts and incorporated this into the lifestyles of modern teens and there opposing social status'. It was very much an observation film, where the camera went unnoticed throughout. I thought this was a very good way of showing modern day living as it allowed the characters to go about their day without the distraction or interference of the camera. It makes it all seem very lifelike, as though we were getting a discreet inside look at the lives of others.

The film was entertaining, educational and informative and covered these three main areas extremely well. The comedic element was what carried the entertainment factor. The smart wit was an exaggerated version of reality which was humorous to watch. Commentary ran throughout the film and this was a constant source of information and explanation. It also used familiar terms which we would most commonly hear when talking about wildlife such as "dominant male" this worked toward consolidating both the human lifestyle with animal instincts. The experts were brought in to add the educational factor and to fully explain the happenings of the film.

The only way I can think to describe the background to this film would be to say to used personification in reverse. Rather than giving something not human, human like qualities, it gave humans, animal qualities. It was a very clever way of combing humour and real life together to form a short film which was informative, educational and entertaining.

From this film I learnt how to use commentary successfully. I thought that for this film, it was a very good option as it went hand in hand with the observation filming. This combination is something I had not analysed previously, and so this was my first opportunity to look into how both work together.


I Love My Nails
I Love My Nails is a UK film made in 2000 and directed by Katherine Freeman.
This film was very different in many ways and I therefore learnt about a different side to the short film/documentary industry. Unlike the Urban Savannah, this film was very much dominated by the interference of the camera. Everything we saw was for the benefit of the camera, with people speaking to the camera throughout etc. Because of this it was more informal. We listened to personal opinions and general chat rather than scripted speeches.

In the lesson we learnt to look out for where the film was entertaining, informative and educational.
Entertaining; the sheer shock of the contents of the film was what carried its entertainment. I was constantly enthralled by what I was seeing to the extent that you didn't want to turn off.
Informative; throughout the film we were hearing about the lifestyles and opinions of the women and men in the nail salon, and this was where the information fed through as we learnt about people's reasons for there obsession with their nails.

I learn what works and what does not from watching existing films, from this film I learnt that it is best to stick to one theme. The majority of this film was very informal and chatty and had a very unscripted feel to it, however every now and then it would cut to a short scene which would may be two man dancing and showing off their nails etc. It just diminished the realism of the film as you then began to question whether the rest of the film was as set up as the short scenes. I felt the two contrasted each other and did not work well together.