Short film analysis.

Lovefield.1.

This is the first shot of the short film and as well as being an establishing shot its also the title. The title then disintegrates and the cameras slowly lowers and tracks thorough the cornfield.

These are all medium shots and the positioning and movement of the camera crates meaning as the camera slowly creeps up the sign to show a black crow sitting on the top. The connotative meaning of a black crow is death and this gives the audience the impression that the film is a horror.

A lot of extreme close ups are used in this film not to portray characters facial exprssions but

to show aspects of the mise en scene like props. One of the close up shots is of a mobile phone and you can here the digetic sound of a

phone constantly beeping because it can’t reach a line, which implies a feeling of

desperation.

The next extreme close up is of a blood spattered rag and this appears instantly after you see someone’s hand grab the straw as if they were in pain and then you hear screaming which not only confirms the

person is in pain but that the audience think that this is a horror. The camera then pans towards the left and you see a person’s foot clenching with pain and you can see and hear from the digetic sound of someone

screaming that they are struggling.

This is shot also has narrow depth of field shot, this has been done to make the audience focus on the bloody hand and the aggressive clutch

around a knife. As this is a silent film, the digetic and non digetic sound of this shot is really important to reinforce the red herring.

This shot does not strictly follow Todorvs theory of theRule of thirds, as half of the shot on the left is the back of

Suspected murders hear and the right side of the shot is of An open field which suggests to the audience that escape

Would be difficult and its a very isloated place.

This shot is a narrow depth of field shot showing the main character and the crow.

This shot shows the link between the two and I think that the crow is the main focus point of the shot to accentuate the meaning of a crow

which is death.

The sequence above shows shot reverse shot. The reason for this is to create a tense atmosphere for the audience as the camera shows close ups of the characters face to show his reaction and expression to the

crow that is taunting him.

The three screen grabs above show aspects of the mise en scene e.g. costumes. The costumes are one of the main factors when trying to represent your character correctly and from the shots shown above this character is portrayed as maybe violent from the blood on his hands in the first shot, intimidating from

the second shot from the tattoo’s which are actually misleading as they represent someone balanced and loving as he has scales and below “mom” with a heart. The final image is a recognisable character from

quite a few horror films, the middle age, sweaty long haired hill billy.

These 2 screen grabs represent the lighting in the film. The lighting helps to understand the atmosphere and characters feelings. The lighting in this short film does show feelings etc… For example the first image is at the

very beginning of the film and from the grey dull clouds you as the audience can tell that the narrative is going to be dark, whereas the second image is at the end of the film an where the audience see the red herring and you can

tell the lighting is a lot brighter creating a warmer atmosphere.

2. Signs.This is the first shot you see of the

character, automatically just from the position of the camera you can tell that he’s not of much importance and hasn’t got a powerful status as the camera is

looking down on him therefore so are the audience.

A lot of medium and close up shots are used in this film to capture the main characters facial expression. This helps to represent the character as there is no dialogue in this film to help the audience understand what kind of character he is. The shot above is a medium shot and just from these two screen grabs above you can see

that the character is quite timid and shy as he has just been caught looking at the woman on the opposite escualtor.

This shot is where the male character first spots the woman and because the movement of the camera

zooms in it suggests that this is another main character which we have just been introduced to and she is of some importance to the storyline.

This shot represents narrow depth of field. The main character is the only one in focus which draws the

audiences attention to him showing his depressive and sad state which again helps with the representation of

the character.

The film does use Todorovs theory of the rule of thirds, where the screen is spilt up in to

three sections and in the screen grab to the left our character is directly central to the shot

making him the focus.

The two screen grabs above show a shot reverse shot sequence. This shows the audience that the two characters will or have a link in the storyline and helps the audience to suggest what is going

happen e.g. they will end up having a relationship.

The mise en scene is especially important in this short film as the representation of aspects such as characters, props and costumes have to be really obvious as the film has no dialogue to help explain the narrative of the story.

The narrative of the story is told through notes written on a piece of paper with a thick marker. The screen grabs above show the woman communicating with the man for the first time and the second screen grab shows how over

time they’ve used the same communication technique from the notes props) stuck on his fridge and the fact that he’s kept them means that he obviously has feelings for the woman.

I don’t think that the lighting in this film is very well thought out as the shot on the left is at the beginning of the film where the character is sad and lonely and the lighting doesn’t represent that feeling, and then the shot on the right shows the character at the end of the film feeling happy and the lighting used is the same as the other shot.

This is the title for the film which is shown after it has finished, I think it’s simple black

and white font because it represents the simplicity of the film and the whole idea of

writing notes for a storyline.

Time is represented through following the characters daily routine. The screen grab the left is of the male getting up and getting ready for work and the position of the shot shows the window in it so we knows it morning. The screen grab on the right shows the character going to bed and we can tell its night time by looking at the window situated in front of the main

character.

3. Strangers.

One of the first shots is a tracking shot of the train, because the train moves quickly past the screen it suggests to he audience that the storyline will be quite Fast paced and also the fact that the location is underground on a train you

expect it to be an adventure.

A lot of extreme close ups are used to again catch the facial expressions of the characters because this is also a no dialogue film and from the above screen grabs the shot represents a tense atmosphere for the characters and

this can be identified because of the close up.

This is a narrow depth of field shot. This has been done to focus the audience’s attention on the Arabic newspaper to enforce its

importance in the narrative. It also helps the audience to have an idea on a theme of the film.

A lot to the shots in the film are like this which doesn’t follow todorovs theory of the rule of thirds as the

screen hasn’t been equally split to create an effective shot. What the shot does show is no location just

darkness around the character this can portray a sense of being stuck or underground.

This is the location of the film and from the dim lighting and the fact that its underground it shows implications of genre

specific elements for an action adventure.

The mise en scene in a non dialogue short film is very important to help the audience understand the narrative and storyline; in this particular film the props are the main aspects that help to deliver the messages and themes. For example the close up of the necklace is of the star of David which is Jewish and the close up of the Arabic newspaper suggests that

one of the themes is religion.

The same as “signs” the film title is in black and white but I think for a different reason and considering the

themes of this film I think that it has a link to do with a racial issue. This title is shown just after the film starts

which make the audience think about it and its as if the title its self is a

message in the film.

The screen grab on the left on the right shows the character now with someone else standing on the platform just after

exiting the train. Also I think that the first screen grab represents time in a different way because these two strangers

of opposite cultures have just helped each other escape and centuries ago they wouldn’t even of spoke. The way the first

screen grab is positioned with the characters standing on opposite platforms just accentuates the divide between them

and their backgrounds.

4. Teeth.The first shot in the film is an establishing shot, it is shown for a couple of seconds then fades out into the title. The shot gives nothing away on the genre of the film and even with the music which is slow paced you still can’t identify the genre.

A variety of shots are used in this short film. As you can see above one of the first shots shown is an extreme long shot and this is to introduce the audience to the characters and also to shown the location again to set a tranquil

atmosphere. The second image is a medium shot of the two men fishing from this we can gather that the characters are friends and also from this shot we can tell the characters are older from their outfits. The last image

above is a close up to show facial expressions of both the men and a more personal introduction as we can see their faces clearly now.

Narrow depth of field is shown in this shot, the reason for this is to focus the audience

attention on the man facing the screen pulling a prank on his friend behind him. This helps

top create humour in the film.

The framing used in the majority of the shots is to keep the objective central. This is effective as that’s what the audience’s attention is drawn to as they have nothing else to concentrate in the shot, therefore this film has not followed Todorvs theory. The second image show the “teeth” which is the main aspect of the film central to the

shot and its like that in all the shots of the false teeth.

An underwater camera is used to capture the false teeth falling into the lake, this also adds to the humour as the men will not be able to retrieve them from the bottom of

the lake.

As this film has no dialogue the mise en scene and representation are very crucial in order for the audience to understand the audience. From the props used above we can tell the friends are on a

fishing trip and from the costumes, especially the hats we can tell that they are relatively old.

Time in this film is shown by the use of fading out on shots, for example the sequence above shows how the character shown in the first screen grab just lost his teeth and his friend

continually laughing which then fades out into a long shot of the two back to back.

5. The Job.This is the first shot we see, its both an establishing shot because we now know where the location of the film is set now, and a long shot as at the same time we are also introduced to two of the characters who are dressed in suits links with the title of the film “

the job”.

The camera positions that are used mainly in the film is level, so it doesn’t show characters any less powerful or less equal than others therefore suggesting to the audience that everyone has a fair chance of getting “the

job” The camera angles that are used a lot are medium shots, these are used In this film to show the relationship between all the characters, their outfits and body language.

Unlike most of the other films “the job” doesn’t use narrow depth of field. It uses wide depth of field to make sure that everything in the shot is

in focus, so not one thing is more important than the other.

The rule of thirds is followed in this film, for instance the shot to the left shows one of the characters as well as the location of the film.

The film uses shot reverse shot sequences to keep referring to the character on his own and his importance to the narrative of the film. Again the camera angles used are medium shots.

Because this film has dialogue the mise en scene isn’t as important for films that hasn’t. This film is an

example for that as the costumes are suits which does help with the representation of characters but

one of the main props is a piece of paper which defines who gets the job and the audience don’t even get to see what is written on it, making no

significance to the audience.

I think the title reflects on the narrative of the story. Clear and simple but effective.

6.Wrong side of the bed.

These are the first few shots that the audience see, and already we can gather what the narrative is about as we follow the characters daily routine in split screens. The camera angles of these are medium

shots to show the character and his surroundings to help the audience relate.

The screen grab above shows a tracking shot, this is done to make the audience feel as if they are apart of the characters situation as they entail on his jourey with him and therefore it also make the character more relatable.

Its hard to tell whether this film follows the rule of thirds as it is constantly split into two screens, and without pausing the film to look closely at the still image its hard to identify the framing as you have two screens which you have to concentrate on in order to understand the narrative and structure of the film.

I think the target audience for this film is large and could possibly be from the age of 10 and over because

the term “ the wrong side of the bed” is commonly used to refer to someone that’s in a bad mood and a lot of people hear their parents say this to them. Also it shows the difference of having a good day to a bad

day which everyone has once in a while.

This film has no dialogue, so digetic sounds help to accentuate the surrounding noises to create a more realistic atmosphere for the audience, e.g. the two screen grabs above are of an alarm clock and a toaster which can be heard in the

film.

7. Inside.