In this Amanda Gorman short film, Earthrise, you may notice how her establishing shot includes her face, but is out of focus. What effect does this have on you as you begin to watch and listen?

Also, pay attention to when she includes clips of her face — specifically, when her face is centered in the screen versus on the right side of the screen, and when you can see her speaking versus when you can see her body movements. Consider how Amanda incorporates both footage of herself and stock footage, and how this impacts you as the viewer.

Greta Thunberg’s Nature Now starts with an establishing shot that fades from black to full color. Like the Amanda Gorman example above, it features Greta’s face — this shot, however, is fully in focus and shows Greta making eye contact with the camera lens. Think about how this has a different effect on the audience than Amanda’s establishing shot, and which style may be more aligned with your short film.

Throughout the film, when she is shown on screen, Greta stays in the same position and always makes eye contact with the camera. She also includes dialogue with another person. Like Amanda, Greta uses footage of herself and stock footage, as well as pre-existing footage of her in protests. She has chosen to include titling to accentuate her script. All of these factors are considerations for you to make with your own short film. 

Ode to the Earth, created by Marion Ansaldi and Thomas Schaefer, uses nature (specifically, snowy mountains) in the establishing shot. As the audience, we never actually see a person speaking, but we can assume it is the girl featured throughout the clips, which is one possibility for you to consider regarding how to film your own footage. (Perhaps you don’t mind being in your own film, but you would prefer not to speak directly to the camera.)

This short film uses all original footage. It switches between wide, expansive shots and close-up shots. The ending is a great example for how to include credits, too.