Short Film Critiques

Rationale: For this film, our group decided to create a romantic comedy that ties back to the genre of, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s romantic comedy Amelie. Our working plan revolved around the main concept of a guy mysteriously finding a girl that he deeply falls in love with as he gets to know more about her. Originally we came up with this concept because; we all agreed that this was the best way to represent the theme conveyed in the film Amelie. For this film our group decided to emphasize on the cinematography of our film, so that we can get artistic shots that represent the movie Amelie more. We all thought that this concept was a good idea because it touched on every aspect of the film Amelie.

For this film, I was responsible for developing the concept of the film. As writer, I had to come up with a story line that shaped our main character, to be someone who is persistent and ambitious. To do this I crated the entire narrative to revolve around the main character and his quest to find the one girl he deeply loves. The one problem that arose in my area of responsibility was a way to show how our main character falls in love with the girl beyond superficial looks. Challenging enough, I had to demonstrate that in a way that the audience will also find a connection with the girl. This was challenging because I had to come up with scenes that progressively built his love for her. I solved these problems by creating vivid scene that only involves both the guy and the girl, so that the audience can see their interactions and how that helps unravel his love for her. For example, in the last scene our main character finally gets the opportunity to talk to this mysterious girl he has been following. In this scene I decide to reveal that he had her wallet to bring a connection between the two. This connection brings the two together, because the for the guy the wallet represent s the love that he has been looking for and for the girl the wallet represents the love that she has know found.


The main and most crucial problem that arose from our film was that it completely did not have a clear and coherent narrative, for the story to move along. Our concept was good, but in the narrative that particular concept was not clearly seen. This might have been because the scenes did not have good coherent transitions to the next scene; this could have also been because in our scenes not enough details were given to fully understand our characters position. The only way to solve this problem was in the editing stage of production. This is because the footage we got did cohere to the narrative whatsoever. Thus for the edit, we had to put the scenes in a way that they make sense towards what our story actually is. For this film we had four main scenes: street scene, library scene, classroom scene, and the room/closet scene. In the edit we had to put this scene in place so that they reveal as much as possible about the characters quest to find the girl that he is falling in love with. This was very difficult because we had to basically create the story out of footage that did not make sense to the narrative. Two key scenes in the narrative were not shot; these scenes helped the audience identify how the guy is beginning to like the girl beyond looks. These scenes moved the story along, but since they were not shot in the edit, with the scenes we had, we had to work with the scenes we had so that they move the story forward. For example, the library scene was the scene that moved the story line the most. Because in this scene the audience understands that the girl lost her wallet and that the guy is out to look for her to give her back the wallet and potentially hit it off well. Editing really help our group solve the problem, because we were able to place the scene in order so that they made the most sense as a story.


Overall our finished project was not as bad as we expected. This is because the story makes sense, because of the editing, and the cinematography is of high quality. Thus in our film we have a variety of good shots that help evoke a certain emotion in our audience about the main character. For example the shot where the main character is on the floor with a lot of year books in front of him, shows his true devotion towards finding to whom the wallet belongs to. The bird’s eye view and the wide depth of field, emphasize his ambition towards accomplishing his goal of finding that girl. Not only do the shots make this film look good, but also the sound design conveys the genre of the film better. For example all music put into this film was tied back to the romantic comedy film genre. The music design helped create the romantic comedy atmosphere followed with stylistic shots, amalgamated to create a finished project that demonstrated the romantic comedy film genre in an artistic way. The composition of each shot contains important key details that help the story move along. For example in all the scenes but one, the picture of the girl is always present. This is done so that the audience can follow along in his quest to find her. The bird’s eye view of the picture allows the audience to feel his emotions. The set design also helps portray the overall theme of Amelie in our film. The use of warm colors in this scene helps convey the way the main character feel. Thus the set design helps build and create character, which the audience then sees as an essential part of the film that helps them understand why he wants to go out after her. The last shot helps create closure in the film, which we thought was essential because we were not sure that the last scene gave closure to the film. The long shot establishes their relationship growing and progressively getting stronger all because off that one picture and the wallet. Thus the film overall conveys a good narrative with a good concept, and through all the stylistic aspects in the shooting process help create a film that follows along the main concept of Jenuet’s Ameli.