LO1: Short Film Analysis

Still Falls the Rain - A short film by Miguel Santana from Miguel Santana on Vimeo.

Narrative: This short film tells the story of an English man remembering hardships/poverty he experienced as a young child during World War 2. The films starts by showing the man sitting on his bed remembering what a police officer said to him as a child. The film then cuts to the old man feeling pain and slowly collapsing to the ground. The film cuts to a young boy staring at the burning remains of a house. The film then focuses on the man's memory of stealing food from a previously bombed house, and then being chased by a police officer because of this. During the chase the boy falls enabling the officer to arrest him, however the area suddenly begins to be bombed by Nazis, stunning the police officer and allowing the young boy to grab a rock and strike the officer on the head with it. After the struggle the boy staggers to pick up the bag of food he stole and leaves the officer lying there, presumably dead. The film cuts back to the old man lying on the floor struggling, while he remembers the sight of the police officer lying there dying.

Characterisation: I believe that the boy can be considered both the central character, and a dynamic character, since the narrative revolves around him, and since as a boy he appears to feel no remorse for murdering the police officer, while when he grows older, the memory deeply disturbs him. It is because the character murders the police officer that I do not refer to him as a protagonist. However as an audience we route for the boy, since he stole the food because of the poverty caused by war, and it is highly suggested that he lost his family via his house being bombed. As an audience you feel more sympathetic towards the boy murdering the officer, because of the way the officer violently pins him against the wall and tackles him to the ground. Meanwhile the police officer can be considered a stock character, since he represents the stern police officer which all audiences can regognize, however we are slightly more shocked with the way the officer speaks and arrestst the boy.

Camera work:
-Low Angle Shot is used when the boy is staring at a burning down house, to connote that how huge an impact the war has had on him.
-Hand Held shots are used when the man begins to collapse to show that he is out of control of the situation.
-Close up/insert shots are used to show that the boy has no food and is hungry.
-Low Angle Shot is used when filming the police officer to demonstrate that he has power over law breakers.
-Broken down house is revealed using a cantered angle shot to connote the idea of confusion/chaos caused by bombings.
-Steady hand held shots are used when filming the police officer to show that he is more likely to be in control of the situation while shaky hand held shots are used when filming the boy stealing food to connote that he is panacking about the situation, all throughout the short film, hand held shots become less shaky when the police officer becomes in control, ie during the boy's arrest.
-Medium shot is used when filming the chase to demonstrate how close the officer is to catching the boy
-Medium close up shots are used when filming the old man lying there dying, while remembering the sight of the policeman lying there dying. The camera slowly moves closer to both characters, creating the impression that the old man is gaining more of an understanding of what he did wrong all those years ago.





Quattro Formaggi (short film) from Wytse Koetse on Vimeo.

Narrative: This short film opens with a shot of middle aged man sitting in a small house with no windows, surrounded by flies. The film then reveals that he is staring at a person on a moped driving towards him. The man then turns around and stares at what appears to be a man's corpse, which is surrounded by flies. The person on the moped (who turns out to be a pizza delivery man) drives up to the house, and appears to be concerned by the areas desolate nature. The man sat in the house calls him over, and the boy slowly walks towards him, stepping over glass and rubble. When the the delivery boy approaches the man he is greeted bluntly, and then passes over the pizza saying "Quattro Formaggi" (meaning four cheeses) and the man takes it. The man asks calmly "And the beer?" therefore being passed a bag of beer by the delievery boy, who then tells the man that the food will cost $24.50, and then notices the corpse besides him, the man sneers and asks how much again and laughs, and then begins to put his hand behind his pocket, the delivery boy panicks and runs away to his moped. When he leaves the corpse rises and exclaims "Free Pizza" revealing the whole situation to be a set up. The two schemers enjoy the pizza and discuss where they will eat next, they deside to eat at Pasta di Mamma, the film then cuts to the delivery boy riding away on his moped with while the two men laugh.


Mouse from ELO films on Vimeo.

Narrative: This film starts with a women begining to pack a suitcase in a messy looking apartment with clothes. The woman appears to be paranoid when she hears someone at the door. A man called Danny walks who she embraces who them passes her a bag of cocaine. The woman complains about the small amount within the bag, stating "she hasn't had a hit since yesterday" revealing that she is an addict, Danny explains that something went wrong with the drop off. When the woman enquires more the man asks to eat first, grabbing a can of beans. While he begins to eat the woman snorts a line, and carries on speaking to the Danny. Suddenly Danny runs of into the bathroom and throws up. When the woman asks what he is over reacting about Danny states that theres something in the can. It turns out that inside the can of beans is a dead mouse. Danny origonally states that he's going to get a full refund because of this, until the woman decides that they should call the company and use this agains them, to gain a fortune. The couple decide to call them and state that they almost died. They dial the number and leave a voice message saying that they encouteured something really damaging for your company followed by Danny's number. The woman goes crazy panacking after stating that the message sounded like a hoax, she worries about how to preserve the "evidence" and then breaks down into a cursing frenzy. After calming down the woman states that they need to eat the mouth in order garuantee their fortune. She begins to cut the mouth with a knife until Danny states that she wouldn't eat the beans with a knife, so she attempts to cut the mouth with a spoon instead, before consuming the mouse the couple decide to do a line first in order help them go through with it. When doing the line Danny immediatly goes and swallows part of the mouse. The woman becomes furious with him thinking that Danny was going too take all the money/fame and orders him to spit it out. The woman then goes ahead to swallow the entire remains of the mouse. Danny asks house she feels resulting in her spurting the mosue out of her mouth.

BUNDLE OF NERVES from Ryan Spindell on Vimeo.

Narrative: The films starts with 2 security guards desperately opening a door to a huge house while lightning strikes behind them. One security guard asks another if they lost him. The other turns around and says "Err, Bill?" suggesting that what they were running from is right behind them. The other replies "Lets Go!" as they both run inside the building. When inside the building both security guards discuss how they wish something normal would happen, suggesting that they are constantly running from such perils. Bill then asks the other security guard if he was having a boy or a girl however instead of replying Bill shines a light on what appears to be a moving glowing boil attached to his neck saying "There's an egg" and pulls it off. Bill then shines his torch around the room they are in (which appears to be an old grand home/museum). Bill then finds the artifact that he was looking for when suddenly the doors start to be forced opening by what sounds like a monster. The two security guards try to keep the door shut, while Bill asks the other if he was ok, since he has been acting weird all day. The other replies girlfriend stuff. Bill offers his help on the situation however the other replies that he's terrible at girlfriend stuff. An alien looking tentacle bursts through the door and the struggle becomes harder. The security guard states that he's worried about his girlfriend because she's late, Bill asks if he thinks his girlfriends cheating on him. The security guards says that she's late as in the baby's late, and says that he's not ready to be a farther. Bill replies saying that Dad's have all kinds of super powers, and recons the other guy would be a great parther due to a time when he saved him from a sewer. The monster begins to more successfully break through the door, meaing both security guards step away and prepare their fire arms, one security guard says to Bill that he recons he would be a great Dad to which Bill replies "I couldn't imagine anything scarier". The monster bursts in and they both open fire.
"Side Effected" - Short Film from Lev Pakman on Vimeo.

Narrative: The films starts in a business meeting, with a man listing names of a product to which the client keeps replying "No." the client offers the man coffee. The client then explains that all the names suggest that the product isn't needed, and explains that the name needs to suggest that everybody needs it. The film reveals that the product is a drug for a users eyes, and the client asks what the progress is on the drug tests. After explaining that all is well the client then asks that if anything were to go wrong, the man would tell him, the man affirms this to which the client replies "interesting" and then reveals that the rat tester had told him that the drugs were making the rats colour blind. The man denies this and explains that the rat man is disgruntled since he threatened to fire him. The man then confirms that the drug is safe, to which the client asks if he would give it to his mother, the man hesitates and eventually says yes, and agrees that he would also give the drug to his childeren, the client and the clients childeren. The client concludes that the man would surely take the drug himself. The client smiles and passes the man a pot of pills. The man makes up every excuse possible to avoid taking the drug, forcing the client to close the meeting. However before the man leaves the client asks him to pass him a green apple on the way out. The man stares at the apples confused for a moment, and the client asks him if he enjoyed his coffee, revealing to the audience that he had already spiked the  man withe the drug, since he can't distniguish the red apples from the green apples.