Short film research: 8

    Common sounds for short films in the war genre are explosions which would be diegetic noise, there is also music for tense scenes which is non-diegetic. When listening for certain sound cues, one thing is very noticeable on the opening scene of this short film. That is its diegetic sound. There is the sound of a plane flying above which is somewhat disorienting. It provides a good insight on the setting of this film and makes the audience uneasy yet captivated to see what happens next. Dialogue is rarely considered to be a huge feature in war films, and in the case of this particular short film, dialogue is not used at all which is unique. 

  Mis-en-scene plays a big role in the authenticity of a short film in the war genre. Costumes mainly are the focus. They have to look like they belong in the overall setting and time period for the audience to take the film seriously. Props such as weapons also should line up with this. The short film "8" does a great job at this despite it being a fictional conflict between the factions named the "knots" and "crosses". It looks as if the uniforms are based on ones from World War 2 but have a unique spin on them. The weapons are also heavily weathered giving almost a post-apocalyptic feel to them.

  Editing is relatively simple in war short films. It is not necessarily an action film focused on one particular character who is a lone wolf fighting a seemingly endless number of enemies with no help. There isn't much need for things like cross cutting and split screens. I did however notice many inserts in the short film "8" when it focused on a certain object (such as the mine).

  This film is a pretty good example of the genre of war in short films. Regular length films have a much bigger budget and stereotypically go all out in terms of numbers of cast and focus less on intricate details and experience of the characters. "8" does a good job getting a more personal feel to war in a way that captivates the audience. Usually, something like this would be boring and hard to watch but this was very well put together.

  Personally, what I like about the war genre is that there is a lot of historical events to choose from. Doing research on these events in order to replicate them (albeit a fictional scenario) is very fun to do. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but those who like history will find it useful. Also, I really like the costumes that correlate to the certain time period chosen. For instance, I really liked the costume as well as the props of the Cross guy from this short film because he resembled a U.S. Army GI while at the same time creative with his own thing. Also, I like that the genre could incorporate elements from other genres like action movies and thrillers with similar sounds to action movies and similar editing to thrillers.

  There isn't really much to dislike about the war genre, but there is one thing that is somewhat worrying about it. The theme can be repetitive because war is always the same. Different things could happen, but it's hard to come up with unique experiences through storytelling. At least ones that could captivate an audience. There are several ways to be able to captivate the audience despite this, but it could be considered unorthodox and even unethical. It is something to think about for sure.