snap shots the films i have ananylsed

my name is lisa




the black hole

synopsis

the short film not my time is about two childhood bestfriends mercy and lily, when shes 13 lily commits suicide. after years go by although she deeply misses her friend mercy moves on with her life. until little by little events begin happeneing which make her think her firend has came back for? after a meeting in the local cemerntry will mercy take lilys hand and go over to the otherside or will she make the heart wrenching to decision to say good bye to her friend for the last ever time.

the plan

The plan is a short film about a young guy who has had enough of his old life so he packs up his stuff leaves his job, his girlfriend and takes all the money out of his bank, he then travels to a different city and gambles all his money and looses, on the way he loses his car and a girl nicks his camera after he takes a picture of him, he then gives up hope and when his ex girlfriend calls yet again he answers the phone and just when the audience think he is going to go back to his life he sees a picture of himself on a mini billboard one that the woman (eve)took when she nicks his camera and on the back it has her address and he hangs up the phone on ex and smiles again knowing that it’s just the beginning of a new life for him.
During the duration of the film the only dialogue we get apart from when he is having a conversation with people such as eve, the casino workers and the truck driver is the voice over that constantly flows throughout the film even when there is gently soft music the main character (Mitch) continues to talk over it. This gives the audience an insight into his mind and his thoughts and lets us understand where he is coming from and where he is ending. It also creates an emotional attachment with Mitch and the audience as we get to relate to him as we understand his problems.
The main character in this short film is Mitch, because it is his life which is being told and was seeing it through his eyes and hearing from his voice. However eve is an essential part to this short film, because it’s because of her he loses his car and his camera but it’s also because of her that he don’t give up and return to his old life, she is hope and it’s because of her that he is able to get to where he wants to be.
The locations we see are Mitch driving up the highway the petrol shop and the casino, I believe it to be set in America because the petrol station and the road and signs give clear indication that is. The locations are important in this film as driving up the highway shows us his leaving his old life and as a good feeling to it, the petrol station is where he first meets eve and as the argument with her but it’s also where he ends back at after looses everything in the casino to se that eve has left a note for him and he realises his new life has only just begun.
The genre of this film is a drama because it is a serious film about a young man’s life it also has those emotional attachments that dramas tend to give to the audience because you really understand and feel for the characters involved. It also has the soft quiet yet suspenseful music that dramas tend to have not only are they skilfully emotion based sounds/music but they make the audience aware of that type of film they are watching and they had to the dramatic effects and feelings that drama give.
The film has an ambitious but sad mood to it, because we cans see the characters ambition to move on and his determination to get there but we also see his stupidity and naivety by thinking he can just drive off and find it, plus the fact that he really needs to leave his old life behind is quite sad considering he had a girlfriend that loved him, but on the other hand it has a good feeling to it as you see his drive and passion for starting over and when he finds eve it has a happy mood because you feel like you breathe a sigh of relieve that everything worked out great for him. So this film brings a mixture of moods and emotions and that works perfectly fine because the story is told and makes more of impact because of these moods and we can really understand the characters trials and tribulations.
The colours in this film m are black white and grey colours, there the characters the film is shot in and hold fort the whole way through the movie. Which clearly represents the type of film it is – a drama? Its works well as when the character is low and leaving his life behind we see the sadness not only through the mood and misenscene but also through the colour effects, although he colours don’t change at happier moments through the film, the sun shining and they appear lighter so this also represents the feelings and emotions.
The camera movements in this film are 360% circle shot this is done when the man loses his camera and his car is gone this is done to make the audience aware that he has nothing left and there is no one around him he is complete alone and the only thing he can do now is gamble all his money as everything else has gone wrong, this is the characters main low point during the duration of the film. We also have a lot of long and mid shots in this film I think this is because what is going on around the character in this film is really important as it shows where his going and where he is heading. Although close ups are the perfect way to show a characters emotion in this film other factors such as colours dialogue mood and sound effects create such a large impact in this film when it comes to the emotions and makes the audience very aware of what is happening and the feelings that are being expressed.
The editing in this film includes jump cuts which is a very popular effect and also dissolve we especially see the dissolve effect take place when Mitch is gambling away his money which happens in very slow motions, it happens in slow motion because we are on the edge of our seats praying that he wins, it also makes the audience have to wait and get right into it as we know he has gambled everything away, but by being in slow motion we watch has it all gets taken away from him and he does lose everything. By doing this it creates a very dramatic effect of the sense of unhappiness and you feel like there is no hope.
The target I believe for this film would be a niche audience mainly because i think it will only really appeal to 18-24 year olds maybe a little bit older, it will appeal to mainly female as it a bit of romance in it and because it is a very emotional film.
This film is a key example of Robert McKee 5 part structure narrative theory. Firstly we have the inciting incident and this where Mitch meets eve for the first time and they have their little tiff. The progressive complication is when eve follows him and she nicks his camera. The crisis is when he comes back and relies that his car has also been taken. The crisis is when he loses all his money at the casino. The resolution is when he goes back to the petrol station ready to admit defeat when he realises that eve has left a message for him.
When it comes to audience theory this film this film is an example of uses and gratifications because this is the type of film that people will interpret depending on their own life situations mainly personal relationships and as an escape, films like this will give people hope and believe that if he can do it so can they . others will interpret it as a good solid drama with trials and tribulation with a happy ever after ending.

snap

The short film snap is about a man who likes taking pictures of real life situations, a family ask him to take a couple of pictures but when they go to take the camera of him he begins to run with and the family man chases him, as he is chasing him the man continues to snap pictures of him, he gets tied up in a skipping rope, he runs through a sheet of paper, he gets junk thrown at him, and the man changes from a white man, Chinese man and a black man then back to the white man again, and at the end the man runs out of filming film and then we see his art gallery with loads of pictures from the event.
In the film we hear a very upbeat background sound, its also very happy and lively music which suits the comedy genre perfectly. The other sound we hear are the sounds of the camera snapping away, kids skipping and laughing and the usual business of the high way traffic. All these sounds give the film a sense of normality so makes it even more comical when the disruptions actually take place. The only time the background music stops is for other effects to take place for example the man skidding on some stones and the children laughing and singing.
In this short film there is one main character but unlike others there is not just one character, we have the main character who is the man taking the pictures yet we have 3 different men which chase him the wife and the kids of the man who’s chasing the camera man and the children. However saying that without all these characters you wouldn’t be able to produce the storyline it has and it wouldn’t live up to the standard of a comedy genre.
The location i believe to be is in a hot sunny country abroad somewhere in the Spanish region i say this because at the beginning when the waiter ask the man if he would like anything else to eat it ask him in a different language to English although the camera man speaks in English. The surroundings are very exotic clear blue skies, sunshine all the colours are very vibrant and bright and symbolise a happy emotion which is key in a comedy film.
The genre of this film is comedy as i have already stated, this is because it’s got very happy upbeat music, the mishaps that happen during the chase are hilarious and it gives you the unexpected in a normal situation, because you would not expect a stranger to run off with your camera and take pictures of you whilst you chase that person, this film also represents the comedy genre as the reason why is answered at the end and you get a normal situation and happy ending, in this case all becomes clear when we see the pictures in the art gallery as an audience you get your explanation and your closure and that sense of reality is restored.
There is defiantly a very happy mood to this short film because of the reasons listed above, the vibrant colours are key as you would not have dark colours such as black and grey in an upbeat happy comical film, the music also relates to the happy mood because it just that happy upbeat lively music and of course they actually story which is funny and gives the audience a reason to life and puts them in a happy mood as all comedy films should.
The film is set in present time you can tell this by the up to date dress sense it summery and casual, also the fact that the camera used is of recent digital technology and you have up market restraunts on the beach.
The camera movement in this film is tracking the characters are constantly being followed by the camera or it could be done on a crane movement. We also get jump cuts as you do in most films but in this film the jump cuts add effect as they add effect to upbeat fast paced film, and they have a likely resemblance to the shots being taken by the camera in the film.
I believe the target audience in this short film is 12-28 year olds although depending on your preferences could reach out to a much vaster audience. I believe this because it s a comical film with no nudity or bad language and simplistic so young children and teenagers will understand it and find it funny. The film is defiantly aimed at both genres as there is nothing in the short film that would sway it to one side. The film goes out to a mass audience.
This film follows todrovs narrative theory of equilibrium we have the state of equilibrium; where the man is sitting down and then is approached a takes a nice family picture for some strangers. We have a disruption of this equilibrium; the man starts to run away with the camera as the man approaches him to take his camera back. Recognition of this disruption is when the man keeps chasing him and getting caught up in skipping rope and getting water over him in order to reclaim his camera all the while this man is still taking pictures of him. An attempt to repair this disruption comes when the man runs out of camera film and acts all friendly to the man. We a new equilibrium when we realises the man is an artists and the pictures were for his art gallery.
This film also fits in with the two step flow audience theory which means that the film is interpreted by an individual in its own way because of the media and our own ideas on what we find humorous to us and what the media will define as a comical film. So the way we see this film is not influenced by direct process but by the two step flow.

noise

e in the short film noise the mood is quite a sad depressive, it’s about a sad boy who feels all alone in the world, and he emphasises that it’s the surrounding noise that keeps us sane, and that when that is taken away the world suddenly becomes a very lonely place.
The film starts with the young boy at work, where he then walks home and gets hit by a car, where he then discovers he will never be able to hear anything again, we then experience the world through his ears and although we can see everything that happening we can’t the sounds that they cause.
The music we hear is very gentle music with a soft tone to it, although we hear a lot of non diagetic and diagetic sounds for example the noise from the car crash and the dripping water, and the noises that are put together through a mixture of everyday life situations like the busy streets although we cannot see these things. The sound in this short film really creates the effect of drama and keeping the audience gripped because it very relates to the film, the sound or in this case the lack of it also gives the audience insight to the character and lets them hear what they hear, it also makes the audience aware that the character id deaf without having to directly them that that, and lastly it gives you the audience /character relationship because we are experiencing with the character.
Like most short films noise only has one main character, and that is all it needs, the fact that the characters feeling really come across to the audience really gives it the depth it needs to keep the audience gripped, also the characters voiceover throughout the film, is effective as he is forever asking questions which automatically will plant that seed in the audiences head and have them thinking of the answers and how would they cope if they could no longer hear. This film really creates an emotional bond between the character and the audience and i believe this is why it works so well.
The genre is defiantly a sad drama, which is set in the present time it has the connotations of one with the sadness and grieving and the hurt and upset cause by the grieving like most dramas and especially the sad one they have a way of cleverly making you as an audience emotionally involved so you will watch it all the way to the end.
When it comes to the colours we do see a lot of mixture, as we have the grass and the sunshine and the children playing in the park, however when the character is alone the lighting seems to appear darker and the majority of colours we then see are black and white, which are quite depressive dark colours which clearly reflect his feelings of loneliness and his bitterness to having his sound taken away. The bright vibrant colours we see are in place to make us realize and the character that the world is still a beautiful place even if you can’t see and that you should not take it for granted and that when his hearing returns.
The target audience for this film is in my opinion aimed at teenagers and young adults, at 16-28 I believe this because it’s quite an inquisitive short film, which really gets your attention however older people but find it more simplistic, furthermore unless you are in to films which really question ourselves as a person this film will not entertain you. For that reason it does have a niche audience as i believe that it really is only aimed at one criterion of people.
Furthermore, the editing in this film is quite good, the producer uses a lot of montages with different clips of normal day to day things that make noise all appearing on the screen one after another also in a fast pace. We see a lot of jump cut which is good when we are going through the montages and the pace of the film is speeding up.
We see a lot of long shots in this short film, especially as we are seeing the world as the character see them we get to see all his surroundings, like the children playing in the park and the buildings around him. We have some low angle shot and high angle shots when we are looking at some objects that make noise to defiant he difference between when noise comes from above us or below us we still all hear it the same.
This film fits in with the uses and gratification audience theory because depending on yourself is going to determine how you consume the film, if you are a deaf person you are going to view this film very differently from someone who isn’t because you have experienced it firsthand so you know how it really can affect someone.
This short film fits in to Todrovs narrative theory of equilibrium we get the state of equilibrium where everything is how it should be when the boy is at work doing his job and hearing everything as usual. It is then disrupted when the boy is hit by the car. We know that this has caused damage because we hear the doctor say it and the boy can no longer hear. He tries to repair it the damage by turning on his music full blast but still failing to hear anything. We then have restoration equilibrium when the boys hearing return at the end of the film when he realises life is beautiful in different ways.

wrong side of the bed

The short film “WRONG SIDE OF THE BED” Isa short film from the comedy genre. It is a morning in the life of one man, except we see it through a split screen effect, which means we see it through two different ways, the man who got up on the right side of the bed has a good day unlike the man who got up on the left who has a disastrous day. The man on the right looks smart, meets a girl, gives money to the needy, whereas the unlucky man gets his tie trapped in a door gets slapped by a girl and has his wallet stolen.
Like most short films this film only has one character except we see him in two different situations one when he is having a good day and the other when he is having a really bad day. We see this through the split screen effect.
Unlike most short films there isn’t only one location, we see the man in house on the street in the sidewalk, but in this film we need to see his surroundings to be able to get the humorous feel this film intends to portray.
This film is defiantly one of the comedy genre as it follows the forms and conventions of the genre, for example we have the geek who never gets the girl, the good looking boy who does get the girl, and the fact that everything starts like a normal day and obstacles happen to turn into a different day, and it’s the obstacles they face that give us the humour we seek from films like these.
The sound we hear also adds effect to the comedy genre as it is happy go lucky music, it has a really good rhythmic feel good beat to it that puts you in a good boy and makes you acknowledge that this is a comedy film because this kind of music is really popular within the comedy genre
Furthermore the mood is a really happy mood, the characters are enthusiastic and the music really emphasis the happy mood as its happy music, also the surroundings and colours relate to the mood, for example the colour of clothing, the skylight the buildings are all vibrant colours and very contemporary. The fact that the film has a happy mood gives you the audience a happy feeling which make you even more entertained by the comical obstacles you watch.
The film is set in the present time, with the smart good looking business man with his bachelor pad, contemporary buildings with their skyscrapers, it is good that it is set in present time as I believe the target audience for this film is 14 – 36 year olds of both genders as it is a film anyone can find entertaining and it not directly aimed at any one gender meaning that the film has a mass audience. But because of its target audience and the time it is sent in it means the audience can relate to the film, and we find it funnier as they understand the film and the idea behind it.
During the film we see a lot of medium close-ups, mid shots and long shots, the long shots are very effective this film as we need to see the man through both lights and the surroundings are really important to adding to the humour as you need to know what going on around him as it makes the obstacles that happened more funny as you know why they happened and you can guess what going to happen, in a way the audience can see it before the character which set ups the humour and laughs already. The medium close ups are effective as we get to see the expressions on the characters face which gives us more laughs especially when it is coming from the unlucky man.
In this short film it has been done using a tracking movement, we follow the character from face front which means we get to see everything has it happens and can see the characters body language and expressions as it is although they are walking to us, which adds to the humour more than if we was being them because if we was following from behind we would still be humoured by what happened but would not be instantly aware of the character first reaction. The producer also stuck to the180 degree rule. In order not to add any confusion to the audience in most parts of the film.
This film is a prime example of Levi Strauss binary opposite’s theory in this films case the opposites are good vs. bad in the sense of luckiness. We have the man that has the good day vs. the man having a bad day on a split screen. We have these opposites like Strauss suggested in order to drive the narrative. It’s these conflicts that get the narrative to where it is suppose to be going.
Lastly this film also fits with the audience theory of reception theory, because the way you interpret this film depends on individual differences such as gender class and age, because for certain men who perhaps do believe to be unlucky in life they might not relate to this film in the humorous way intended and could feel like were having a laugh at their expense. Also people of higher class or different backgrounds might get the sense of humour this film is implying and why we find it funny, they might find the fact that we find it funny a bit silly. Although you ant use this opinion to stereotype anyone they are clear examples that can be argued and explains why its fits in with the reception theory.

the black hole

the film the black hole is about a man at work in the photocopying room photocoping endless amounts of paper and getting very clearly bored. he then notices that the papers appear to have black holes on them then he discovers that they are mysterious black holes which are transparent, after having fun theifing sweets from the vending machine he then goes on to do a more sisnister action by deciding to use the black hole to take the money out of the safe at work, when his greed gets the better of him bhe ends up stuck in the safe and the black hole is no longer attached to the safe so there is no way out.
the mis en scene for this film is that the setting is the work place which is relevant as the plot of the film is for him to take the money from the safe, the only things around the character are photocoying machines , vending machines and the room with the safe in it behind him, because it is set in the work place the character is just in his work uniform, and very importantly the room is very dimly lit expressing to the audiece that the day is coming to an end and also lets us know that this character is alone.
in this short film there is only one character, the working man, he also never says anything in this short film, instead we get the diagetic sounds from within the story such as the photocoying printing the paper, him uses the vending machine.i beleive the fact that the character does not talk adds to the action/comical genre of the film, everything that the audience wants to know such as his boredom, his greed and his overall personality is demonstarted to us through his actions and body language. this also makes a dis connect with the audience and the audience dont feel an emotional bond with the main character, by the end you want him to get caught. so although this short film dont keep you grpped through the use of emotional like drama genre films so, it keeps you gripped through its comical use as you find it funny and because you want to watch it to see the character get justice.
i would place this film in the adventure/comedy genre, because it has the conventions of these genre and follows the typical route of these films were normally the characters a re sitting around bored, they find something that excites them weither it be right or wrong, they hit obstacles on their way and they will either get justice if they were in the wrong or they will get a happy ending. furthermore this fits in with todorov theory of equilibrum. its starts with the state of equlibrum when everything is as it should be the man is a t work doing exactly what he should be doing. then the disruption happens when he relises that the the black hole is transparent and he can do a lot of deceiving things because of it, the recognition happens when he starts to steal the sweets out of the vending machien with a narcy smirk on his face, then the safe comes into the screen and we know what is about to ahppen, a return of equilibrium is that the man is stuck in the safe just as he should be as we want him to get caught.
there is quite dark mood to this film, i think from the beginning with the noises from the machines, and the plain colours such as white grey and black which are typically associated with depression, anger, deception and give off an overall bad feel especially the black and grey.
a very good semintoic is used in this film in the asscoation with using the snuickers as being the choclate he steels from the machine, this is a good idea as snickers is assocaited to be a mans chocolate and only real men can handle it and chocalte is associated with greed, which leads us to the climax of the man steeling from the safe.
in this film we see a lot of close uop and medium close ups i beleive this is doen to show the audeinmce the exprerssion on the charatcers face, as this is one of the ways we follow whats going on and understand him as a charcter as he doesnt talk. we do see some mid shot as well which let us anaylse his body language to know what he is up to and understand how he is feeling throughout the film for exampke his slupmed body language when he was photocoping showed us he was bored and didnt care less, then when he discovered the black hole and relized what he could do with it we see body posure go into an upright macho one has if he was better than anyone else.
the camera movement is manly pan this is becasue we are only in one location as in liek most short films, and also because we are in quite confined space, it gives the director the effect of moving back and forth in time with the characters emotions for exmapke when he relizes what he can do his actions become more rapid but still all in this small apce.
int he editiing we see manly jump cut to put the shots together, this also goes with the rapid effect but mainly with the photocoing and the lenses that open up the film, the director also sticks with 180 degree axis of action rule.
i beleive the target audience fpr this filmis both sexes betwen the ages of 18-34 i think this because it attracts both sexes as it has the action and comecial dimesnsions to it, this is also is the most popular target audience withint he film industry which also means that this short fiklm as a mass audience.