Hollywood
calls them "proof of concept" (POC) films. Short films that
are a sample of an (as yet) unproduced feature film to potential
investors. A POC short film aims to "prove" that its story
will look great expanded into a feature.
Some
POC films also showcase the intended feature films's cast. But
sometimes a different cast is used in the actual feature, for
artistic or financial reasons. For example, Grace,
whose POC I saw in 2007 at a film festival.
It's
common for filmmakers to submit POC films to festivals, hoping to win
awards and thereby entice investors. But while POC
films
might occasionally interest investors, they generally fail as short
films. This is because, like a short story, a pleasing short film
should be self-contained. It should have a beginning, a middle, an
end. And engaging,
well-defined characters.
A dilemma facing those characters. And a final resolution. Closure.
Too
often, POC films lack closure. They leave viewers hanging. We get the
sense that the real
story
begins after the film ends.
Roger
Sampson's Visitor
(2017) is such a film. It opens with Dr. Price (Ashley Felkner)
examining a pregnant woman, while explaining her new experimental
drug. Dr. Price says, "It
will help women, who couldn't be mommies before, to have children."
We
later see Dr. Price at her home, talking to her voice recorder,
repeating the wonders of her new drug. She is pleased that the FDA is
expected to approve it soon.
We
then cut to what appears to be an alien spaceship descending to
earth. We intercut shots of the alien craft's decent with shots of
Dr. Price at home, strangely affected. She falls into a zombie like
trance, eats glass, and exist the house. The End.
Huh?
What did I just see? This ten minute film was mostly just exposition
about Dr. Price's new wonder drug. Then the alien ship is introduced
and Dr. Price leaves home. What was that about?
This
is clearly a POC film. Want to know what happens to Dr. Price? How
the aliens are connected to her new drug (if at all)? You'll have to
watch the (as yet nonexistent) feature film.
POC
films can usually be spotted through
this lack of closure. There is exposition. Characters are set up and
introduced. A great conflict or problem (often upcoming and always
unresolved) is broached. Then ... The End.
Becca
Flinn-White's The
Candlelight Witch
(2018) suffers this same problem. In this six minute film, two
children and a babysitter are alone on a dark night. The babysitter
relates an urban legend about a witch. The witch appears and kidnaps
the babysitter.
Whereupon
one child asks, "So
what do we do?"
The
other replies, "Get
her back."
The
End.
Once
again, I sensed that now begins
the real story: the struggle to regain the babysitter from the witch.
But you'll have to wait for the (as yet unproduced) feature film to
see it.
I
have confirmation that Visitor
and The
Candlelight Witch's
are POC films. But I can usually spot them just from this lack of
closure, which leave me emotionally dissatisfied. Seeing Visitor
or The
Candlelight Witch,
I feel as if I've left the theater ten minutes after the film began.
A
satisfying film need not resolve every
problem. Many fine horror films end with an implication that the
threat lives on. But a self-contained
cycle of dramatic events
should be resolved. Halloween
(1978) had closure even though Michael Myers was still alive and
would return, because Laurie Strode's night of horror had ended.
Tomorrow was another day. Nothing in Halloween
mandated that Myers continue to terrorize Strode in Halloween
2.
But
a well made POC short film needn't lack closure. Some are not merely
advertisements for planned feature films, but stand on their own
artistically.
Becki
Pantling's Off Duty
(2018) is a seven minute film about a psychic police officer. Its
story is self-contained. The officer arrives at an investigation and
resolves the problem. I didn't know it was a POC film until I'd read
it marketing materials.
Perhaps one reason that Off Duty
works as a short is because it promotes an intended TV series rather
than a feature. So really, Off Duty
is an episode
from an intended series. TV series usually offers some closure with
each episode, even if some dilemmas are left unresolved until the
following episode.
This
does not mean that a POC short for an intended feature film must lack
closure.
Another
problem with some POC films is that they start well
into the story.
Yes, it's generally a good idea not to have too much exposition; to
begin a film with the drama already in progress. But some POC films
take this too far.
Ozlem
Altingoz's Birth
(2018) feels like the later scenes of a feature. Maybe she choose to
film these scenes for her intended feature because they're especially
effects laden. (See, investors, how cool this will look when it's
finished?) But as a viewer, I felt as if I'd arrived very late to the
film. That I should
know what was going on, but didn't.
I
was annoyed by this lack of back story. Some mystery is good, but
Birth
inundated me with too many unexplained details. A possessed wife, an
expectant baby on the way, a son's vague accusations against his
parents ... how
did these all connect? Who
are these people? What brought about this situation? What are they
talking about?
The
ending failed to answer any of my questions. It only raised more
questions. Which, I assume, would be explained in the upcoming
feature.
There
is nothing inherently wrong with a "proof of concept" short
film. But do tell a self-contained story. Explain what needs to be explained. And give us closure.
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For more about structure in horror films, see Horror Film Aesthetics: Creating the Visual Language of Fear. This blog represents a continuing discussion of my views on horror, picking up from where the book left off.
