Coursework research

Short Films Analysis 

Stutterer - 12 minutes
A film about a man with a stutter who can speak clearly in his head. The idea of communication is shown through his work and throughout the entire film as he works with forms of communication as typification, and is shown communicating throughout the entire film. This is shown through the editing of sound as they place multiple sound clips over one another when he is confused or distressed. I thought this was really effective and i've taken inspiration from it, and will overlap sounds over one another to create a sense of distress and panic. They also use extreme close ups of his eyes and his mouth especially when these voice overs are used, this is really effective as it makes us feel physically closer to the character, and also emphasises their emotions and inner thoughts. I also really liked this and thought that i could have an extreme close up on my characters eyes when she is in distress to make the audience closer to the character and really feel her inner turmoil and very explicit stress. The lighting used in this short film is very natural, and also creates its own spotlight as when he is sitting in his room at night and opens the laptop, it shines only on him, making him the centre of attention and easier to focus on. I thought this was really good and so I will do this as well when my character is in bed at night, but do it with her phone instead.

Meshes in the afternoon - 14 minutes
An experimental film delving into the male gaze and the sexualisation of women in life and the film industry. The mirrored cape is her husband and mirror face shows and represents she is only face value to him, and that he only cares about her appearance, not her inner thoughts and her as a person. She sees herself as the mirrored face instead of the husband, as all he is and cares about is her appearance rather than her wellbeing. The editing style is very repetitive and uses a lot of long shots as well as extreme close ups, and ominous music. The repetitiveness shows how mundane her life is as a woman and how men expect the same thing from his wife very day. The extreme close ups and long shots could show her extreme distress and turmoil, whereas the long shots show herself distancing herself from her husband and boring life. The repetition and close up of the key in her mouth shows a visual representation of her wanting to escape and the wish of freedom.

About a girl - 9 minutes
The whole film is filmed with a handheld camera, and there is also a large amount of tracking shots used as well. This style of filming is usually connoted with social realism, as the hand held camera makes it seem more realistic instead of cinematic, and makes the audience feel closer to the character. There is also a lot of jump cuts used when the character is giving the narration, this could be to represent the character herself as a young girl whom is very lively and energetic, and could also be used to represent her fragmented thought process, as she talks about a lot of different things whilst walking. The film also jumps to other shots such as the main character with her parents, in a pub, on the bus with her friends, and with a pram and her mother. The fast editing style with the continuous imagery and reiteration of the pram and babies in general, leads the viewer to have a subconscious thought about a child, without ever knowing what its use was until the end. This constant reminder is a good way to keep an audience active and to keep them guessing as to what it's relation to the seemingly random monologue is, in which I thought was extremely clever. I will use this technique in my film too, by having constant reminders of the overarching panic of what happened at the party for my main character.

The Grandmother - 34 minutes
An experimental film exploring the problematic and abusive relationship between a boy and his parents, pushing the young boy to create his own unconditionally loving and caring grandparent, who is not real. The entire film is filmed/edited in an almost stop motion like way, and is very static and rigid, giving a ver eerie and dark sense to the film, making it uncomfortable to watch. The use of chiaroscuro was also used on both of his parents and the boy himself, Mike, to show the good and evil of the parents, and on the boy, to perhaps show his innocence and lack there of. The entire film was also shot in low key lighting to give a dark feeling to the film