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.