Analysis - Sundays

• The man who hates Sundays is wearing dull colours and doesn’t seem to waste his money on clothes or expensive luxuries compared to the elderly who love Sundays having expensive cars wear colourful elderly clothes and waste their time with afternoon tea.

• It begins with a long shot of the man who hates Sundays as he sits alone on a bench. This simple shot highlights how he is alone with his views about Sunday. There is no music playing in the background of the shot to highlight him as being strange for not liking Sundays however as an audience member the silence draws in the truth about Sunday, all it really is, is another day. The shot then cuts to a close up of the man as he says how he wishes he lived in one continuous week, the close up is a personal shot as we begin to understand how he resembles Sunday as being the end of the week.

• The scene then cuts to a master shot of fields in the countryside whilst the non digetic sound of church bells ringing fade into the background. During the church bells ringing, there is a close up of someone polishing their car and a longshot of elderly people having afternoon tea this highlights how set up and artificial we have made Sundays, it shows how unneeded all these aspects of life are yet we indulge in them.  It then cuts to a close up to two old men expressing their love for Sundays for two different reasons contrasting to the man who hates Sundays.

• A close up of someone trimming a bush causes for the scene to change as he cuts the bush the church bells stop and it cuts back to the long shot of the man at the beginning as he explains how he feels Sundays are an ‘imposition’, connecting back to the sudden cut to then next shot highlighting how he feels the fairy-tale aspect of Sundays is unnecessary.

Analysis - Two & Two

• The clip begins with the opening credits which mimic a chalk board, the non-digetic sound of children accompanies this image in the background. This was miss leading for us as viewers as once the camera zoomed out to reveal the true context: basic, hostile (prison-like) room with Arabic children – as we are not aware of how children are taught in an Arabic speaking country we are able to pick up on the simplicity and differences between teaching.

• The first close up of a child is of the young boy who is killed at the end for standing up to the authority. Our attention as viewers surrounds that one child which when looking back, highlights how he will be in danger, we are made to remember that boy from the beginning of the short film.

• The slight differences between the costumes (all black and white) to highlight status shift works within the short film as it allows the viewer to easily guess who is more powerful from the rest which in turn sets the scene in a confined amount of time.

• The digetic sound of the three older pupils talking in unison highlights how the power of others can brainwash you to believe things you don’t want to, all because of their power over you.

• In a country where control is highlighted using weaponry – the children are taught and controlled using language and by being patronising as the older pupils mime holding guns at the young boy which symbolises the idea that the patronising, blackmailing and controlling language that is used in politics is as abrasive as weaponry, power is meaningless however when you are given it you can use it in any form against someone. 

Analysis - My Dream/My Reality

• The clip begins with statistics about trafficking – there is silence as the information is loaded on the screen – with a plain black background and white writing all combined highlights the seriousness of the issue.

• Title of “My dream/My Reality” flickers whilst piano chords combined with the harsh sound of wind/noise play non digetically in the background– the flickering of the title highlights her life, a combination of her dreams vs the harsh reality that has come in the way. Also highlights how disturbed her dreams are due to being mentally/physically scared when trafficked.

• The contrast between using two different sets when in the ‘flat’ by having half of the trafficking scene set on stage with an audience watching then cutting to the actual room without the audience watching. This highlights how trafficking can be shown vs what it is actually like, conveying what she remembers of the experience (how real it was for her) and how we will never truly understand. The blank faced audience shown watching the story unfold, highlight how nothing is being done about this issue, we just ignore it. Yet she cannot ignore reality. 

• The calm non – digetic narration combined with the image of her in pain (silent screaming) is uncomfortable for us as a viewer as we cannot hear what’s actually going on in the room, only the calm narration and sound of music over the top whilst her pained facial expressions continue this causes the audience to become anxious and worked up as the audience in the film cannot see the full picture like we can. 

• The woman stares at herself in the mirror, due to the narration highlighting the current and image being the past it conveys the protagonist’s introspection as she stares into her future, like her hurt self is trapped in the mirror.  

• The comparison between the fast pace movement on the stage when talking about what happened leading up to her being taken suddenly changed when she is given the drink. As she takes a sip there is a jump cut to suddenly her falling to the ground then back to when she is stood up, highlighting how distorted her life became after and her falling to the ground symbolises how her life suddenly crumbled. Conveying the drastic change from her dream to sudden reality.

• When we watch the staged version of what happened, the colours on set are warm, orange and yellow lighting are used to highlight the set as a stage to remind the viewer that the staged version is what we imagine it to be like. Whereas, when showing reality in the actual room the colours of the room are blue and grey, to convey a cold atmosphere. When watching the staged version, the camera only faces front of stage (does not move around on stage) yet the real version set in the room changes, and begins with a close up of the protagonists quivering wrapped up body and then cuts quickly to a short lasting view of her in the actual room crying, making the viewer feel more uncomfortable and worried for her as the camera shots are on a more personal level.

• Both the audience and he actress in the staged version adopt blank facial expressions highlighting how the issue of trafficking is not taken seriously and is just used for entertainment purposes. Whereas when in the actual room you see her crying, sitting at the end of the bed tightly squeezing the sheet she is wrapped up in conveying how scared and vulnerable she is and highlighting the reality of the situation.

Forms And Conventions For The Short Film

I have chosen to create a five minute - short film as I then have enough time to get an issue based message across to the audience in a short and impactful way. This in turn will challenge the audience as it will force them to think about what they are watching and the message I am trying to get across. The issue I will surround my film around will be a real issue – a true story, this is because I want my film to effect the audience watching as it is based on a real life issue that needs to be made aware of. The audience will recognise that it is a true story as it is based on a real life issue. I want to highlight the issue in an artistic way using historical influences i.e. Cinéma-Pur (Pure Cinema) and German Expressionism. Both convey a message on emotions of a character through the set of the scene being symbolic (distorted sets) and the way the camera is angled; tilted and distorted/out of focus images. I will also combine artistic camera shots to capture the truth about the scene and the characters emotions. My short film will contain a voice over of narration maybe in an alternative language rather than English so that the audience feel uncomfortable from the beginning. By having the narration in a foreign language it causes the audience to have to pay closer attention to what is going on in the image/scene causing them to have/want to rewind so that they understand exactly and therefore making the message clearer. I will use music to convey the emotions of the characters involved.

My Chosen Brief

Brief 10 -
A short film in its intirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes. Together with; a poster for the film and a film magazine review page featuring the film.