Desperately seeking dinosaurs - Abi Black

Desperately seeking dinosaurs was written and directed by Dan Knight for the 2009 Virgin Media Shorts. I found this film really easy to place into its particular genre, being a rom/com. It instantly showed conventions of being a romance as in one of the first shots you see a picture of her screen on a dating website. It is then found more humourous as all around her are figures of dinosaurs being showed to use in close up shots with everything else in the background faded out. It is also shown by her exclaiming she wants a "fossil mad friend for adventure" Other elements of the mise en scene also showed this due to her setting not actually being at home but in her work office, where she has completely personalised it with her dinosaur decorations, and her costume has been made to look like the stereotypical "geeks" outfit.

I think this film uses genre conventions uniquely firstly because this is a very different idea to a usual rom com and also because it is a short film it is over so quickly. You instantly get the impression that she is this desperate spinster, a stereotypical character in many romantic comedies, however I think this is purely down to the fact that she is a bit of an odd character. I also like the sequence of having the piece of paper which she drops with the accidental number for the launderette on it, linked into how her washing gets mixed up with her perfect match, "Brontosaurus Bill" which I think works out well as you fin yourself wishing for her to meet him.

I think this film does use the typical short film format of the beginning, middle and a slight comedic twist at the end. This I think worked well as combined with the soft soundtrack running almost the whole way through to link the shots together from when you watch her drop the leaflet it created a sense of continuity. I also think the music chosen worked particularly well with what was happening connoting a romantic atmosphere throughout.

The themes and issues represented here were love, and finding your "perfect" partner, no matter what your interests are. I think the film had a feel good vibe overall and at the end you weren't left asking any questions about what had just happened or was going to happen.