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.