Convention Research: The Last 3 Minutes

This short film called, “The Last 3 Minutes” was about the last three minutes of a man’s life. It is a drama that features a series of cuts, natural lighting, and non-diegetic music almost throughout the entire thing. The beginning scene begins with low key lighting and a long shot to show the entire scene. That is common when a film starts just to show the audience what the scene looks like. Throughout the entire film, there is hardly any dialogue or spoken words at all. 

Some angles used in the film are low angles, high angles, profiles, and even dutch angles which aren’t too common in dramas. For example, a low angle is used at the start when the man clutches his chest. This is showing that he is a victim of the circumstance he in. He is weak and essentially powerless because there is no one around to help him. Also, most of the scenes are filmed in from the point of view of the subject. As the man’s life is flashing before his eyes, his memories are in first person.

The lighting used were mostly natural lighting. There was low key lighting at the start, and in some scenes three point lighting, but for the most part, the lighting was delivered naturally by sources in the settings rather than by the set. 

The costuming and settings of this film differed from each part of the man’s life. For example, during the scene of the baseball game, it took place on the field and the people were wearing their uniforms. There was also the battlefield scene. You can assume that the subject was wearing his army uniform because they were on a battlefield.

One likable aspect of this short film was how it took place in first person. It made a lot of sense because it really showed how the man was recounting his entire life during his final 3 minutes. There wasn’t anything not to like about this film because it ended up flowing nicely.