The Caterpillar and Fly (Short Film)

When creating a short film, the best way to get ideas about camera work and editting is by watching other short films made by professionals to give yours a more professional look. The Caterpillar and Fly is a short film which involves the two main characters of a grandchild and his grandpa. One day the boys hamster dies whilst he is at school and the grandpa comes across this. He then goes outside to capture a butterfly, place it into the hamster cage and tells the boy that his hamster has turned into a butterfly. The boy has to then let this butterfly free, teaching the boy that sometimes you have to be brave and let things go. The next day when the boy comes home from school the grandpa isn't in his usual seat, giving the idea that the grandpa died, but before had taught the boy a vauluable lesson in letting things go and setting them free.

 

Now in the beggining scene there is a sound bridge. This technique is good as it could be used to show continuous life outside of the short film and that everyday is like the following. This is usually used from the title of the screen to the next scene. Next an close up establishing shot was used but not on a place, but the main character (the boy). This would be handy, especially is the cast of a short film is a little bigger than usual. For this instance his family did play a part, but the establishing shot helped us focus on this one character.

An editting technique used which was different to what I have seen before was the use of 'fade to black' cuts. These were used to establish a new room or situation for the boy, cutting out useless filming of him running upstairs or walking through halls. And finally, jump cuts were used in a whitty way for the grandpa when catching a butterfly. This showed a long period of the same movement happening, making us realise that the grandpa spent a long time trying to catch a butterfly for his grandson.

 

I hope to put as much thought into my editting techniques and camera shots as much as the director and script writer did with this short film as this was a perfect example of profesionalism for a short film.