Short Film Analysis 5: Desserts

“One fine day, a solitary man walking alone on a deserted beach, minding his own business, suddenly discovers a delicious chocolate éclair just lying there…” is a brief synopsis of the film from IMDB by Mark Smith. An as ambiguous as the synopsis sounds describes and portrays the film perfectly. The person in the film is never characterised and remains anonymous. He also has no dialogue.

It begin with a long shot of the beach were you cansee the silhouette of a man walking towards the camera from the distance. This shot last for nearly a whole minute which implies the dysfunctional and peculiar storyline. In conjunction with this, the sound of the man humming a couple of notes is foregrounded along with the sound of the wind whistling. The man then stops as he spots something off camera; the video frame then shifts to the left when the man begins to walk towards the object revealing a chocolate éclair on the beach. The character steps become foregrounded so the sound of crushing sand is more obvious; by this point all previous sounds have disappeared.

The shot types with in the film are extremely creative with many extreme close ups. In particular I like the point of view shot used for when he is looking to see if anyone is around who could have put the éclair there. As well as this there is little movement from camera view types in the lead up to the climatic moment. The only suspense created is by the mystery and simplicity of the text beforehand.

When the character finally takes that long awaited bite of the éclair he is harpooned into the sea from a fishing line attached to his cheek. At this point the video is accompanied by his traumatic screams and eruption of noise from sea gulls and other sea birds.

What I can take from this film and its narrative idea is that it is solely based on ideology than a moving narrative to create a lasting and obtrusive message which the audience are left trying to figure out way after the film is finished. I love this idea of having an open meaning film however the idea of no moving story line is one I would have to get used to.

Short Film Analysis 4: Mouse – X

WHO ARE YOU, IF YOU’RE NOT THE ONLY YOU?

Justin Tagg’s leaves audience puzzled and questioning the mysterious and enigmatic cyclical narrative of his short film ‘Mouse – X’. His film was quoted as being ‘destined to be an instant hit with fans of the science-fiction and fantasy genre’s’. However viewers whose interest lies outside these genres would also find ‘Mouse-X’ to be a rewarding thought provoking due to its complexity and creativity of the storyline. Justin Tag bases the theme of his film on identity and his theory of ‘How am I the only me?’. He quoted, “if I could be copied right now, every physical part of me… would that new person be me? Even for an instant? If not, you’d assume that something that makes me ‘me’ is not physical, not contained within my body and it might exist elsewhere. Where could that be?”.

The film begins with an extreme close up of the main character’s eye which goes from a completely blurry screen to a clear frame. This conveys how he might have been put there by someone or something had happened to him such as being knocked unconscious. We then see his eye open sharply and panicked before quickly cutting to a whole body shot of him sitting on a chair with a book on his lap.

The room he is sitting in is very low key, old fashioned, well used and dirty as if it has been intentionally destroyed. This could portray the others that have tried to escape from the room or foreshadow the reoccurrence of the man and the cyclical narrative. As well as this the low key lighting helps to make the room very enigmatic leaving the audience in a mystery of what will happen next. The man expects the room he is in as if he was panicked to be there. He turns his head to the right revealing a shaved section of his head that appears to have the infinity sign, ‘∞’. This conveys the never ending cycle and a repeat of events from the narrative.

After the character has finished interrogating the room he looks down to his lap and opens the mysterious book left on his lap. The screen then cuts to a close up shot of the book where there appears to be a map that ‘someone’ has drawn to help him escape the room. The map of the room is drawn on top of the page titled ‘genesis’ which means the beginning or origin of something. All these little signs (the infinity sign and the genesis page) all foreshadow to the audience the concept and message of the film before we recognise it.

Short Film Analysis 3: The Last Man on Earth

‘The Last Man on Earth’ is a short film from the BBC Film Network created by Carlo Ortu, about a post –appocolyps where only one man seems to have survived. The mans name is anonomus and we are not told why he is the only one there.

 

Even though the film is labelled a ‘comedy’ the beginning of the film juxtaposes the genre and tricks the audience into thinking it’s something it’s not. The film start with just diegetic sound of the rain and a long panning shot of the street where the main character is walking down the middle. The shot then cuts to another long-panning-shot however, this time a bird eye view looking down at the man on the street. This implies the emptiness and isolation of the character and the seriousness of the situation as there is no non-diegetic music or ‘jingle motif’ to accompany the situation. The lighting remains natural and slightly low-key to portray the mood of desolation.

The man then enters a pub and sits at a bar stool; the shot is from behind him and is slowly zooming in towards him. This and the haunting diegetic sound of the wind blowing outside helps to raise the tension for the audience and leave them challenging themselves with their thoughts.

The man then takes a ‘swig’ from his bottle of alcohol after which he abruptly places another smaller bottle on the table from his pocket. The sound of the bottle banging on the table is foregrounded to help establish the importance of what it could be. The character then takes his phone out of his pocket and starts recording his voice. The camera tilts upwards towards his face – this is the first time we see what he looks like. The man is scripted to say a very serious script in a grave and worried tone, by doing this it tricks the audience into thinking this is a drama genre and in fact a very serious short film issue.

Next we are shown a mid-shot from him from the front – the camera is still zooming in closer to the character to engage his emotions with the audience. In the frame we can’t see any bright or distracting colours in the back-ground or foreground; instead all the colours almost merge into one by being mixtures of greys brown and beiges. This helps the audience to focus on just the main character and not be distracted or reassured by anything else in the situation – it doesn’t give away anything.

The man then finishes his monologue by explaining how he is going to poison himself as there is no use living without his fellow man. By this time, he has slammed down his phone and the shot has zoomed in to a close up of his face. The music starts to intensify by using a rising drone crescendoing in the foreground. This raises the tension as the man is frantically drinking the poison to make the audience believe something terrible is about to happen. The non-diegetic music and all other sounds are broken with the foregrounded sound of a phone call. The shot the cuts to another scanning over the man’s shoulder until the phone is in focus showing the called is from a friend called ‘Steve’. The film ends with the man staring down the camera in a horrified disbelief as well as the ringing of the phone which continues when the shot cuts to the credits.

With this short film I believe they use a genre hybrid of drama and comedy to help create more of a contrast between the story concept and the final result. Doing this, they are able to create a ‘funny film’ by tricking the audience into thinking the film would end differently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00pf28k

Social Realism Film Analysis 2 – ‘About a Girl’

‘About a Girl’ is told from the point of view of a northern 13-year-old girl. the whole way through she is directing the audience in a monologue talking about  her hopes and dreams of becoming a famous singer which is completely different to the reality of her working class life. She sings Britney Spears’s songs what the lyrics highlight the sadness in her own life: ‘I’m not that innocent’, ‘Oops… I did it again’ and ‘stronger’. The film begins with a non-diegetic sound of a text tone with the title of the film being ‘typed out’. This inputs a stereotype into the audience’s mind of a teenager as mobile phones are a large part of their everyday life. The implied teenager is then shown in the next shot as a silhouette and is singing the lyrics to ‘Stronger’. She is made to look very small in a large empty area by being positioned to the right of the frame exposing the vast empty space around her. By doing this it makes the character appear deserted and lonely which begins connotations of the girl being rejected or abandoned from the beginning. The mise-en-scene in the film helps the audience understand what conditions she has to live with and the realism of how poor she is. The scenery has been shot in autumn/winter showing bare trees and lifeless scenery to imply desperation and decay foreshadowing events later on in the film as well as being a symbol representing he current position in life. The way she is dressed: oversized puffy coat, big hoop earrings and long untamed hair, suggests her poverty as they are stereotypically cheap clothes. As well as this Large hoop eating are usually labelled ‘chavy’, to imply lower class characters. In addition, the area has been clearly rejected and disregard by the rest of the public and they seem to have no desire to take care for it or clean it up. This mirrors the view the girl has for her unwanted baby by throwing it into the river.

The style in which the film is filmed in is very similar to a documentary; it follows the girl using a handheld-shaky camera. This makes the audience feel like they’re there with her and/or that she it talking to them personally. This helps to create a more obvious ‘realism’ effect as everything appears and seems ordinary; nothing is over emphasised or concealed. By doing this it creates more a shock for the audience when they see her actions and the baby in the canal on the screen. As well as this it helps us to create a personal opinion on her as well as empathise with it.

The final shot is a high angle view of the girl to the right of the canal walking away. This implies the abandonment and neglect back into perspective – we forget her problems for a moment as she distracts us with her stories and ‘chat’. As she is walking away her singing of stronger is foregrounded to convey the struggle and experience she has just felt with. This helps us to empathise with her situation as she is singing it quietly and down beat, making it sound sad.

I believe this short film is extremely effective as it draws the audience in and then hits them with a ‘bombshell’, leaving the audience shocked.

Social Realism Genre

A social realism film is a narrative fiction genre in media including TV and film displaying most or all of the following characteristics: Left-wing bias; Contemporary Urban and/or industrial setting amount ordinary working-class people; story of ordinary life; downbeat pessimistic tone; simple camera and editing; untrained actors. 

A film made in a social realistic style is particularly important in British film. The genre of the film closely links to sociology – the study of human society with particular interest in: representation opt gender; ethnicity and social class; ideology; media consumption.

Short Film Analysis 1 – A TV Movie

A TV Movie

‘A TV Movie’ was DepicT! 2009’s winner for their short movie competition. The creators describe there film as: “What do you do if you are bored? Watching TV, of course! But that’s not so easy, if you are a TV set”. This made me curious into what the short film would lead to because of its charmingly simple storyline – that was one of the reasons I found it so entertaining.

One of the first things I pick out about the mise-en-scene is the neutral colours used to decorate the scenery and surroundings this portrays the TV’s feeling of boredom as it is uninteresting and common. This dubiously juxtaposes the idea of the TV having feelings as this isn’t ordinary and is unexpected.

When first viewing this short film we assume the piece is mostly diegetic sounds however, if we analys the noises with what we can see on the screen we can tell they used the technique of foley heavily (recreating sounds to give emphasis certain to particular noises). This includes: whistle noise when the remote falls on the floor, the popping noises and the ‘Boooiing’ sound whenever the tv has an idea. This helps to give more of a character to the tv and make it more human like. Foley is also used for the squeaking of the tv screen and the the wheels as well as emphasis on all the diegetic sounds.

What I really enjoyed about this film was it was simple and short but still allowed you to develop and opinion of the TV character with the audience and empathise with it as if it was a real person.

Genre Research Areas – Codes and Conventions, Postmodernism, and Structuralism

Postmodernism and Genre

Although Postmodernism seems like a very ‘deep’ philosophical idea, it is really a fairly simple theory. Post-modernism claim that in a media-saturated world, where we are constantly immersed in media 24/7 – on the move, at work, at home – the distinction between reality and the media representation of it becomes blurred or even entirely invisible to us. In other words, we no longer have any sense of the difference between real things and images of them, or real experiences and simulations of them. Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher, said how Disneyland was a good example of this blurring of reality and simulation, which he called ‘hyper reality’.

 

(Source: OCR Media Studies for A2 Third Edition, Julian McDougall, Page 136)

 

Influences on Genre from Structuralism

The study of language and meaning as a system – a network of meaning. Language relies on a shared understanding of ‘rules’. Linguists study the structures of language; in media texts, structuralists would claim to work out the deep structures being employed. For example in a film genre, structuralists would work out deep structures that give meaning to the text. Within structuralism, neither the filmmaker nor audience would necessarily be aware of these structures.

(alevelmedia.wikispaces.com/…/Structuralism+and+Post+Structuralism.pp)

 

Codes and Conventions

Codes and conventions and iconography became a popular way of categorising film in the 1960s and 1970s. Theorists like Metz (1975) and Wright (1975) then took the ideas from structuralism to look for repetitions and variations between films over a number of years.

Conventions: Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.

Codes : Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories – technical and symbolic. Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film. Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character’s actions show you how the character is feeling. Some codes fit both categories – music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

(http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Codes-and-conventions)

Audience Research Areas: The media effects debate (hegemony vs. pluralism),The hypodermic Needle theory and passive audience theory, and Active audience theory and postmodernism/pluralism.

The media effects debate (hegemony vs. pluralism),The hypodermic needle theory and passive audience theory, and Active audience theory and postmodernism/pluralism.

 

The media effects debate (hegemony vs. pluralism)

The classification and regulation of video games, television and films are notable examples that are all to do with the need for the authorities to ‘protect’ people from material which might cause social harm of one kind or another. This will be achieved either through classification or through censorship.

At the other end of the regulatory spectrum, we find forms of regulation that at first glance appear to be unrelated to this ‘protective obligation. So while we are thinking about media effects constantly In one way or another, it is useful to distinguish between three kinds of media regulation:

sRegulation of media content

sRegulation of media access and distribution

sRegulation of media ownership and commercial practices.

Hegemony vs. Pluralism

Passive’ audience/hypodermic theory are sometimes referred to overall as ‘Media Effects Theory’, i.e. the media has a direct and powerful effect on its audience.

 

The hypodermic needle theory

Dating from the 1920s, this theory was the first attempt to explain how mass audiences might react to mass media. It is a crude model and suggests that audiences passively receive the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data.

Governments had just discovered the power of advertising to communicate a message, and produced propaganda to try and sway populaces to their way of thinking. Basically, the Hypodermic Needle Model suggests that the information from a text passes into the mass consciousness of the audience unmediated, i.e. the experience, intelligence and opinion of an individual are not relevant to the reaction of the text.

This theory suggests that, as an audience, we are manipulated by the creators of media texts, and that our behavior and thinking might be easily changed by media-makers. It assumes that the audience are passive and all different.

This theory is still quoted during moral panics by parents, politician and pressure groups, and is used to explain why certain groups in society should not be exposed to certain media texts(comics in the 1950’s and rap music in the 2000’s), for fear that they will watch or read sexual or violent behavior and will then act them out themselves.

 

Passive Audience Theory

The Passive audience Theory is connected to the Hypodermic syringe theory in that they believe the audience is ‘passive’ recipient of media output.

Passive theories tend to see the audience behavior as directly affected by media content and theorists are connected to measure these effects, particularly with regard to the effects of media portrayals of sex and violence.

 (Source: AS/A2 Media Studies, David Probert, Page 110)

 

Active audience theory and Postmodernism/pluralism

Any of various theories of audience that see the audience as active participants in the process of decoding and making sense of media texts.

In active theories, the beliefs, values, social and educational background and life experience audience bring to a text are seen as influencing the way they accept, negotiate, or challenge the preferred reading. Basically, they audience are free to develop their own interpretation.

 (Source: AS/A2 Media Studies, David Probert, Page 2)

Links to Pluralism: This theory links to pluralism as they also believe the audience are free to have their own views and that the media do not affect their opinion.

Links to Postmodernism: Active audience theory links to Post modern texts as they tend not to have embedded ideology therefor are not patronising to an audience and allow them to develop their own interpretations.

Genre Representation areas – Genre hybrids, The high concept film, Intertextuality & Genre and zeitgeist

I used a Web 2.0 tool to present my work called, Slideshare.

Text: Genre hybrids, 

Genre is not considered static, it changes all the time – resulting in hybrid (or sub-) genres and changing codes and conventions. Genre Hybrids is the combination of 2 or more genres coming together in a film, for example: Romantic-comedy.

(http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Genre)

 

Intertextuality

The practice of deliberately including references to one text in the narrative of another, either as homage to the text referred to or as a device intended to engage the interest of the audience by appealing to their prior knowledge and experience media texts.

• E.g. Kill Bill (Quentin Tarantino, 2003) makes many references to Westerns, Gangsters and Japanese Samurai Films.
• The Simpson makes references from scenes and other films e.g. Catch Me If You Can.

(A2/A-Level Media Studies, David Probert, Page 82)

 

Genre and ‘Zeitgeist’

A Zeitgeist the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time, e.g. after JFK shootings and assassinations left paranoia in the 1960’s. We can only really tell the public mood when looking back at it from the future.

1960-70’s American horror films mirrored the zeitgeist of paranoia and violence.

(American Horror Story – Documentary & http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/zeitgeist)

 

The High Concept Film

High Concept – a simple and often striking idea or premise, as for a story or film, that lends itself to easy promotion.

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/High+concept+film)

As quoted by Justin Wyatt, who explains:

‘High concept films is typically a film that combines several elements: a narrative that could be summarized in a single phrase; an image or song that the potential audience associated with the film; “total look” style of cinematography characteristic of television and magazine advertisements and music videos; pre- sold stars or subject matter; character typing rather than character exposition; and merchandising tie-ins’

(Justin Wyatt, 1994, “High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood.”, University of Texas Press.)

Audience Research Areas: Prosumers (Tapscott and Williams), Clark’s view of media audiences, John Hartley’s view of audience, and Julian McDougall’s view of audience.

 

Audience Research Areas into Prosumers (Tapscott and Williams), Clark’s view of media audiences, John Hartley’s view of audience, and Julian McDougall’s view of audience.

Prosumers

The definition of prosumers is an amateur user of electronic equipment that is of a standard suitable for professional use.

An example of this is YouTubers and non-proffessional short film directors.

YouTubers: They produce media text and content through a whole array of mediums. One of the most popular being a Video Blog (Vlog). By doing this has resulted in a change in how content is delivered to the consumer, with many institutions such as the BBC creating online services for their audience.

As people individually and collectively program the Web, they’re increasingly in command. They not only have an abundance of choices, they can increasingly rely on themselves. This i9s the new consumer power. Its not just the ability to swap suppliers at the click of mouse, or the prerogative to customise their purchased goods (that was last century). It’s the power to become their own supplier – in effect to become an economy unto themselves.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prosumer and OCR Media Studies for A2, Third Edition, By Julian Mcdougnall, Page 93)

 

Clark’s view of media audiences

Clarke (2007) states that in media industries it is important to carry out ‘regular audience research’ using methods such as rating collection, questionnaires, surveys and screen tests. By doing this you are able to find the most recent interests of an audience and develop a film that they will enjoy and that will engage them.

 

John Hartley’s view of audience

John Hartley published a book in 1978 and co-authored with John Fiske, was the first to analyse television from a cultural perspective.

The Hartley Classification there are 7 socially grouped categories when it comes to identifying audience:

• Self – ambitions or interests of the audience
• Gender
• Age Group; Class – different social classes e.g. working, upper etc.
• Ethnicity
• Family
• Nation.

Hartley also suggests that institutions produce: “Invisible fictions of the audience which allow the institutions to get a sense of who they must enter into relations with”

In other words, they must know their audience to be able to target them effectively.

“Institutions are obliged not only to speak about an audience, but – crucially, for them – to talk to one as well; they need not only to represent audiences but to enter into relation with them’

(http://www.slideshare.net/MissMoore866/media-theory-audience-representation-narrative-genre)

 

Julian McDougall’s view of audience

McDougall explores issues in education, and calls on educators to abandon prejudices and engage with what students are already actually doing with new media forms.

He advocates a shift away from students viewing cultural products as texts to a view where even video games need analysis, explanation and research. In this way, he is very much an advocate of exploring new and less traditional forms of literacy, as well as analysing the relationship between new media and postmodern theories.

He believes it is harder to perceive a media audience as a stable, identifiable group in the online age. However, audiences still make sense of and give meaning to products.

(http://www.slideshare.net/MissMoore866/media-theory-audience-representation-narrative-genre)