Short Films Amplifying Women's Rights

Women’s Wellbeing Survey (2019), 35.3 percent of women in Sri Lanka agreed that men can have a good reason to hit their wives and 47.5 percent of women felt men are superior to women. This suggests that a significant percentage of women endorse GBV and suppression which can be considered as an ideological issue.  A study conducted by the World Health Organization confirms that in Sri Lanka, one in five (20.4%) women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Most women experience controlling behaviour from men. According to a study titled "Preventing Sexual and…

Gender-responsive short-film making might reflect several vital characteristics. We would like to share a few of them with you:  Not reinforcing gender stereotypes Ensuring fair representation of characters from diverse gender groups  Not endorsing traditional gender roles  Empowering women and other marginalised gender groups and making them feel empowered  Making it a priority to adequately address the voice and lived experience of women and other marginalised gender groups.  Courageously challenging gender norms and highlight gender diversity Using gender-responsive language   Portraying  women and other gender groups in a gender-responsive way 

Short film is one of the highly powerful transformational tools that can capture the lived reality of women. It can give them a voice; feel them heard; empower them with the deepest sense that their voice matters a lot. Short films can challenge  the systems of oppression , inequality and discrimination and echo the voice of equality.  They also  have the power to portray patriarchal systems that put women in an inferior, weaker and less powerful position and establish greater alternatives. Most importantly, as cinema is widely used as a medium to transform people through emotional engagement, short films also…

What is a Short Film?  Well, there could be several definitions of  what a short film is. Some can define it based on time. Some can define it in comparison with feature films. However, in short, a short film is a concentrated audio visual story based on a single incident that reveals a specific journey ideally of a principal character.  What are some of the widely accepted characteristics of a short film compared to a feature film? Short in duration (conventionally less than 40 min). But a lot of people make an average of 10-20 minutes. If you are targeting…

There could be plenty of ways to generate powerful story ideas. Every short film maker has their own way of coming up with a story idea. There is no fixed formula for this. When you try to develop an idea for a story, it is possible that you might develop a lengthy list of ideas. It  is important for you to arrive at one specific, powerful story before you begin your filmmaking journey. How do you do that? Is there a trick? No, there are no tricks but methods. And yes, there are many methods. Here we have some proven…

In the previous section, you found inspiration for an effective story. It's likely that you have several excellent story ideas now.  In this section, we are going to specifically look at how you narrow down those ideas, arriving at one concrete story idea. Question: How do you do that? How do you narrow down-several story ideas into one specific concept? Or How do you select the most compelling idea out of many? Well, we have some suggestions for you.  #1 : Choosing the most compelling idea/concept. How do you choose the most compelling idea?  You can discuss/brainstorm your idea with…

A screenplay is a written work for a film, television show, or other screen art media. It expresses the characters, their actions and dialogues that occur when they face particular life situations and the interrelationships among them . Screenplays, or scripts, are the blueprint for a movie. A screenplay is written in a specific format to depict how the story will be told through the eye of a cameraHow do you write your screenplay?  #1: Doing your background study  Before you do anything, it would be beneficial for you to do a background study on the components of the story…

Now you have a screenplay of a good standard for a short film. What’s next?  Now you have to prepare for the production. There is some preparatory work related to technical and artistic aspects to be done before going for the shoot. It is called “Pre-production”. Pre-production refers to the work done before actual production begins. This includes elements such as designing the production, preparing the technical script, storyboarding, casting, location scouting, identifying equipment and crew, etc.  Simply, pre-production is the planning stage.  

Filmic Firstlight (iOS / Android): This is one of the advanced apps used for mobile photography. It has options for advanced manual controls, a wide range of filters, and the ability to add film grain. Here is a tutorial. Adobe Lightroom (iOS / Android): This is yet another amazing camera app with full manual controls, a robust automatic camera, and the ability to shoot in RAW. This has a powerful in-app editor, including retouching, colour adjustments, perspective adjustments, and the ability to create presets. Click here for tutorials.  Snapseed (iOS / Android): This is a free professional photo editing app…

#1. Editing There are 9 steps to follow for editing video on an Android, and each one is just as important as the last. Here’s a quick preview of the 9-step process for Android video editing: Step 1: Start a New Project Step 2: Edit Down the Video Step 3: Add In B-Roll Step 4: Add Transitions Step 5: Add Titles & Text Step 6: Add Music Step 7: Adjust Volume Step 8: Adjust Colour Grade Step 9: Export Video Final version and preview  

A film review is an art. It is often done in order to describe various vital aspects of films such as character, plot, etc. Sometimes, it is done in view of explaining a specific aspect of a film focusing on the work of a particular director or genre. What does reviewing a short film using gender as a lens mean? While the idea of using gender lens is a broader concept, in a short film, especially when short films are produced to foster equality and address various human rights issues affecting women, the review could certainly focus on the following…

A good cinema can help change the way people see the world. A good cinema empowers people devoid of their social differences. It can enrich the power of the soul. It can make people feel that their story is heard. Good cinema sometimes may not provide an answer, but it can help discover the best questions and potential pathways to solutions. A good cinema can challenge the system that generates oppression, unfairness, discrimination and violation of greater human rights.  You may have attended a large number of film screenings and discussions. So, you know how it generally works. However, we…