Monday 17 October 2011

Research into existing products - Documentary, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward.

Context: This documentary was made by Peter Joseph, who is a writer, actor and director famous for his work on creating two more documentaries of the 'Zeitgeist' series, this feature is the 3rd in this independent series. This particular documentary was released theatrically on the 15th of Januarty, 2011 and sold out crowds in 60 countries, overshadowing the success of the other two films in the series. It has been noted as the largest non-profit independent film release in history, it is also available on Youtube; so the audience doesn't have to pay to watch it and there is also a free download of the documentary on it's website.The documentary itself is based on the idea that we need to shift out of the Capitalism system that we are now governed by; and goes on to explain protential models of better socio-economic ruling, aswell as covering topics such as human behaviour to add to the overall explanation.

Genre: The genre of the documentary is focused on the socio-economic / political topics, as the documentary itself is based on the idea of Capitalism, that some people get what they want because they have money and land, but others lose out because they do not have the same social status or wealth. It also looks at politics and where countries that are meant to be 'free' are actually governed by other people and most of the decisions aren't ours. It later turns slightly biological as it touches upon the topics of human biology, human addiction and human disease. There are also elements of Sociology, as the documentary goes on to explain human behaviour, social pathology and human nature.

Style - Textual Analysis: The documentary begins with a black screen, as small bold white font appears on the screen. Darkness rolls over each line once a new line appears, but when pieced together, the sentences create the quote, "In a decaying culture, Art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay and unless it wants to break faith with its social function, Art must show the world as changeable, and help to change it." by Ernst Fischer. This quote means that art must be a real representation of the world around it as this is it's aim as a social function, so if the environment around it is decaying, the art must show this. Also, art must show that the world is changeable, as art is exposing what is around us, especially if its bad, it must act as a warning to it's audience that we should change how we're living. This is a relevant quote to the documentary as the feature is to expose how we're living is unjust and unfair on some groups and that we should change it; so this documentary is acting as a warning like art does.


Once the quote fades away we hear the non-diegetic sound of static (white noise), this then fades into a audio clip of a news report about unemployment. As this happens a image of flickering television static with a blue / aqua tone to it fades into the screen, now we can hear more audio clips of news reports about banks, loans, economic crisis all overlapping each other while the faint white noise is present in the background. As the audio clips roll on, we hear some audio clips that aren't news reports, often advertisements for tobacco or alcohol, showing us that we're overall a consumer, no matter how much financial trouble our country is in.


Abruptly all the news clips stop and only one non-diegetic audio clip can be heard, this is a male explaining how his grandmother taught him to play Monopoly, this is now the voiceover for the documentary (Peter Joseph). The image of the static is now becoming blurred and more fluid, much like a liquid. As the voiceover continues, Joseph explains that his grandmother bought everything she could and would always win, telling him "One day you'll learn to play the game", linking to the idea of Capitalism. The image is now zooming out, to reveal a water droplet with static inside, as accasional smoke flickers in the background, as the background turns into a blurred cityscape. As Josephs voiceover continues, we see a close up of a pavement, the water droplet hits the pavement and spreads the static like fluid across the floor as a slight booming sound is heard as Joseph explains that in the end "It all goes back in the box".



We see another low angle close up of pavement by a car as the liquid is spreading across the pavement and down the road. This image fades into a close up of a briefcase, surrounded by the spreading liquid which fades into a close up of a shoe, being drowned as Josephs voiceover becomes more fast paced and dramatic as he explains "What happens when you climb the ladder of success and the thrill wears off?".  We now see a long shot of Times Square, New York; here the television screens show static and the liquid is flooding the roads and rising upwards. Finally we see a close up of a mans face, as he is drowned by the liquid, this could mean that consumerism and capitalism is drowning us and taking over our lives.





Suddenly the whole shot becomes blurred and is covered in static as it flickers and turns to a yellow, 'sepia' effect as we hear loud white noise and a high pitched screech.We see an extreme close up of a mans eye, then a mid shot of him, which fades into a horizontal pan of advertisements and billboards with no sound, only static when the shots change.
A medium long shot is then shown of a homeless child lying down, then a close up of his face as we hear a faint humming in the background. We then see an over the shoulder shot of the man, looking on at the child, which quickly jumps to him looking on at a rich couple sat outside a restaurant. Close ups of the rich couple eating and laughing and drinking are shown in slow motion as loud mechanical noises are played. We see a close up of a large TV screen, showing a TV show based on two rich, spoiled girls which is shown by their nice cars and mansion, this is combined with cutaway shots to the homeless boy, showing the two extremes of our society.




We see a close up of the mans face and his blank reaction, as he picks up his briefcase off the floor in slow motion, and walks away from it all, this shot then fades to black. There is a close up of his feet and electronic, melodic music plays as white credits fade in and out of a black screen, with cutaway scenes of the man walking through a city environment. These features, such as the expensive CGI for the liquid, the polished production with no camera wobbling and the effects used such as static, tells us that this production had a larger budget than films such as Supersize Me.




Form: The introduction to the documentary is in an abstract style as there is many images that don't make sense unless you look into what they mean, such as the liquid spreading represents consumerism and the imagery of the homeless boy combined with the rich couple mean nothing unless you compare them against each other to see how status and wealth changes. There is also an element of narrative as we follow the story that Joseph tells about his grandmother and we also follow the story of the old man reliving his life.

Audience:
I think the audience for this documentary is anyone from the ages of 18-50, this is because the feature is very factual and focuses on the socio-economic / political genres, that many young people or teenagers may not show a particular interest in or understand. At times this documentary is very serious and full of terminology especially when focusing on the social pathology and biological side of things so this makes it very intense and I believe adults will be interesting in this, but not really young people as programmes aimed at young people aren't usually educational. Adults may be interested in this feature as it affects them, especially when voting on things such as elections as some people who want to become leader will either inforce or reject Capitalism and it will effect the way in which we live. It has been viewed 11,182,999 times on Youtube and therefore shows its watched by a wide audience, especially as it's available in 30 different languages.

Sunday 16 October 2011

Research into existing products - Documentary, Supersize Me.

Context: Supersize Me is a documentary created by Morgan Spurlock in 2004. The documentary focuses on the impact that fast food giant McDonalds has made in America over the past couple of years and also how their food is affecting the young generations of today combined with what consequences the growth of the company has on our health and environment. This documentary follows Spurlock as he lives on a diet of purely McDonlalds for one month; 'Supersizing' a meal whenever asked by Mcdonalds staff. Throughout we follow his personal journey as he conducts this unofficial experiment on himself, seeing the effects the food has on his body, health and mood, all the while being monitored by doctors and health officials.

Genre: Documentary in itself can be classed as a genre, as it seperates itself from the other types of films as it's often based on reality and features opinions of real people instead of actors. The official defintion is "A film, television or radio program that provides a factual record or report" and this is no exception. Spurlock keeps to the common conventions of the documentary genre as he provides us with archive footage, a constant voiceover throughout, interviews with professionals, vox-pops with ordinary people on the street, graphs and graphics, and titles which all help to demonstrate his point about what McDonalds is doing to America and young people and what will happen to him personally. There is sometimes an element of comedy in this documentary as there are vox-pops in which people give comical answers or times in which Spurlock makes jokes to move away from the feature becoming too serious.

Style - Textual Analysis: The documentary begins with a black screen and we can hear the diegetic sound of children singing "The Fast Food Song" by the Fast Food Rockers. This then fades into archive footage of a large group of children singing at what appears to be a summer camp as the camera tracks backwards as the children do the arm actions to the song. This then fades out and white font fades in, showing a quote from the founder of McDonalds, "Look after the customer and the business will take care of itself", this is crucial as it sums up the message of the whole documentary, McDonalds is famous, as it attracts customers easily, provides a service and keeps them coming back for more.



We then hear non-diegetic pan pipes as an image of the American flag appears. This is where Spurlock begins his voiceover for the documentary, explaining that everything is bigger in America, as we see jump cuts of footage of things such as cars, houses, shops and obese individuals. Then we see a graph image of Obesity Trends among US Adults changing over a series of years, helping to demonstrate how the rate of obesity has risen since fast food increased whilst also being a convention of a documentary. We then see photographs of Spurlocks mother overlap each other as he explains food in his childhood.



Archive footage of a fast food restaurant is shown as the camera pans horizontally. More achive footage follows of obese indivduals and then a close up of an old man smoking as Spurlock explains smoking is the leading cause of death in the US, followed by obesity. Slowly, a number for total numbers of deaths per year rolls vertically up the screen, followed by a long shot of a crowd. We then see a cartoon of Ronald McDonald in court on the front of a magazine as lawsuits are explained in voiceover.



We then see an animation about 2 girls who filed a lawsuit against McDonalds, the animation allows us to see how their body changed over time due to eating so much fast food. More achive footage follows along with a mid shot outside a McDonalds franchise as the footage is sped up as people walk past, but then people who walk into the franchise are highlighted, this shows us how many entered the store. Newspaper articles slide onto the screen over the archive footage. This jumps to a animation of a map of the world as McDonalds symbols (representing their locations) appear all over the map at an alarming rate so areas are packed tightly with symbols, showing us that there are so many of them. These turn into dollar signs and we're told that McDonalds serves 46 million people a day, so they must be making a large amount of money!
Archive footage follows but these images are mainly of McDonalds franchises and jump accordingly to the pace at which Spurlock talks, we can still faintly hear the pan pipes in the background, these different stores are to show us all the locations in which the stores can be found.



We see a long shot, vertical pan downwards of a law court as newspaper quotes glide ontop of the image, along with sheets of paper where Spurlock highlights certain sentences in yellow or red colours (keeping with the colour code of McDonalds) and reads them out so we can get an idea of how a lawsuit against a franchise is possible.
More images of other franchises are shown aswell as a pile of fast food. This leads to Spurlock appearing on an empty street, addressing the camera as he asks what would happen if he ate nothing but McDonalds for a whole month. He is dressed casually in a red shirt, jeans and a green jacket stood in natural daylight. After his speech, he utters the words "Supersize Me", a clear link to the title. Here is where we hear the non-diegetic sounds of an electric guitar as the title images appear of different burger pictures fading in and out at the top of the screen, this is where Queens track "Fat Bottomed Girls" begins, a comical link to the issue of the documentary.




Throughout the documentary that follows, Spurlock sticks to the conventions of a typical documentary; having opinions from both professionals and ordinary people, testimonials from ordinary people, archive footage, graphics / animations, voiceover, technicality of realism (natural sounds and lighting) and use of text and titles, all to create a documentary which relays a very real and important message about what can happen if you're careless with your dieting choices and how the population may possibly end up if things carry on as they are, just by using these features and one handheld camera over a month.

Form: The form in which the documentary takes is that of a narrative style. During the documentary we are following Spurlocks personal journey as we see how the fast food effects him on a daily basis, both mentally and physically. We watch the narrative unfold as we see Spurlocks health deteriorate over a period of time as he uses himself as his only participant in a potentially dangerous experiment on the human body.

Audience: The audience for this documentary is anyone from the ages of 15-50, this is a very broad age range. I think this is because its relevant to anyone, as the company McDonalds caters to all ages, such as including play areas and loveable characters for small children, but offering cheap deals and the ease of fast food for adults. Young people will be able to see how big the corporation is and what eating this on a regular basis could do to your body, hopefully teaching them life lessons about eating the right foods before they gain any significant health problems. Also adults will be able to see how McDonalds targets their children with advertising and toys in their 'Happy Meals' and stop feeding this to their children and reinforcing that fast food is a good thing as it is known to cause obesitiy, diabeties, increased risk of heart attack, aswell as other problems.

Research into existing products - Short film, Goodbye to the Normals by Jim Field Smith.

Context: This short film was made in 2006 by Jim Field Smith. Smith is a British director, writer and accasional actor who is mostly known for his creation of short films and tv series including,Where Have I Been All Your Life and BBCs Comedy Shuffle. He has also worked on some feature length films such as Shes Out Of My League.

Genre: The genre of this short film is comedy and this is clear to see throughout the film, as it's based around a young boy wanting to run away to America. When his dad tries to convince him otherwise, the boys mind is made up and he rejects any help including a lift and food from his parents with witty phrases and good comical timing. When the boy leaves and then stops in the middle of the street to return to his family, the comedy is present again as he walks straight past them, runs inside the house and comes sprinting out holding his passport as he runs into the distance. This is comical as we expected him to stop pretending he was leaving, but instead he proved us all wrong and ran off to America after all.

Style - Textual Analysis: The film begins with a long shot of a woman stood outside an open front door, she is dressed casually and watching the car pull up infront of what appears to be her house as we hear the diegetic sound of a car moving, we can also hear the non-diegetic sound of a guitar strumming in the background as a soundtrack. A silver car pulls up infront of her and the woman smiles as a man dressed in a black suit exits the car and approaches her. The man kisses her on the cheek as they hug, he then walks inside the house and she closes the door behind them. It can be assumed that they are a married couple by the way they act with each other.


A black screen then appears with thin white text as the title saying "Goodbye to the Normals" as the guitar strumming becomes quieter.


We see a close up of a teddy bear sat on the arm of a chair as the man picks it up and it squeaks. The camera then pans upwards towards the mans face as he sits down. This is where we hear the diegetic sound of him sighing and the dialogue begins as the man says "Hello Magnus". The camera jumps to a mid shot of a small boy sat on a chair with his jacket and rucksack on who replies. The sequence in this living room is now filmed in a shot reverse shot manner, mostly in close ups or mid shots to show the conversation between the two characters. Throughout the conversation we can hear a clock ticking in the background.



The comedy element is clear in the sequence when the boy explains he's running away to America and the man (we can assume is his dad, because they live in the same house and he's trying to stop him leaving) can't find anyway of faulting the sons plans, so he just says "Fair enough" and there is an awkward silence between them before Magnus bursts into the sentence "Im all packed" to break the tension before the dad asks if he will be gone for long, Magnuses reply is "Forever" while he makes a deadly serious face, this is funny as we know this small boy believes he'll be gone forever, but the situation is almost impossible. In a last attempt to make Magnus change his mind, the dad states that he will have to turn Magnuses bedroom into a "Brain surgery room" in a deep voice while doing some crazy hand movements. Magnus doesn't find this funny at all and acts as the adult here, saying "Don't be ridiculous" and looking his dad up and down. This is funny as usually children like this type of humour, but Magnus is trying to act independent and "grown-up".




The mother then walks into the living room at a mid shot where we see both of the parents and offers Magnus some banana sandwiches. Instead of being happy, Magnus asks "Are they Fairtrade?" to which the mother replies "They're organic", Magnus then looks annoyed and replies "Is that what I asked you?" as the mother looks shocked and walks out of the room. Again this is a comedy element as Magnus is concerned with his food being Fairtrade at such a young age, as he's trying to act grown up, and is then disrespectful to his mother, almost asif they are equals, not that he should respect his elders.


We then see a low angle mid shot of Magnus stood next to his parents outside their front door as he shakes their hand like an adult would do when leaving a meeting, there is no compassion or hugs or heartfilled goodbyes, as Magnus is pretending to be an adult. We see a low angle shot looking up at the parents as his parents say goodbye aswell.


This jumps to a long shot of the street that the house is on, as we see Magnus run down the road away from the house as the guitar strumming begins again and the camera rises upwards. We see a close up reaction shot of the parents looking confused, they then stand on their toes to get a higher view so they can see how far Magnus runs down the road.



We see a close up of Magnus running in slow motion, before he abruptly stops and turns around to face his parents, smiling. This is where we hear the non-diegetic sound of the track "Burslem Normals" by Robbie Williams begin. The camera jumps back to a close up of the parents smiling in slow motion, which turns into a close up of Magnus running towards the camera in slow motion; this sequence makes everything seem idealistic, the boy is returning, the parents are no longer worried but happy to be reunited with their son. We then see a mid shot of the parents smiling as the mother holds out her arms to hug Magnus in slow motion, but then from the left of the screen, Magnus runs straight past his parents and inside the house. The soundtrack abruptly stops here as the idealic moment is broken by Magnus rejecting his parents. This is also a comedy element as we expected Magnus to do the opposite but instead see a mid reaction shot of his parents looking upset and rejected.




As Magnus comes running into the shot again, we hear him say, "Forgot my f***king passport" as in long shot he runs off down the road and the soundtrack begins again. This is also comedy as you do not expect a young child to use that language and we didn't expect him to leave again.
As the camera rises, the shot fades out into black.

Form: This short film is made in the narrative style, as we follow this family as they try to convince their son to stop playing games by pretending he's leaving. The narrative allows the audience to see if the boy will really run away and if the parents let him, which they do. We follow the boy leaving the house and the parents reactions, (believing he'll return) then we see the parents reactions again as the boy leaves for good. We also follow the boys journey as he begins to leave, then returns for his passport, then finally leaves.


Audience: I think that the audience for this short film is anyone from the ages of 16-40, this is because 16 year olds can reflect on their own behaviour as small children, and may realise that they did the same games when they were younger as the character in the short film and they'll be able to realise the comedy as the audience expects Magnus to return, when really he doesn't. Also adults will be able to understand the comedy as they can compare Magnuses behaviour with the behaviour of their children and understand the comedy as they may take the view of the parents, that its just a game he's playing, then be shocked by the results.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Research into existing products - Short film, Guys Guide to Zombies by Daniel Austin.

Context: I discovered this shrot film on the BBC website under the Film Network section. This short film caught my eye as it was the first that i've seen that is mostly animation instead of 'real life' footage. When researching the creator of the short film, Daniel Austin and his brother Matthew Austin, I discovered that they had no previous experience creating a short film in the form of animation and they developed their skills as the creation of the short film took place. Daniel Austin's portfolio mostly consists of short films such as "Bloodline" and "My Inner Short". This specific short film won the BBC New Talent Animators Award in 2007, the creators first ever award.

Genre: The genre of the short film is clearly comedy, the short itself is imitating the 'infomercials' of 1950s / 1960's, this is shown by the fact the whole film is in black and white and often features static. It's pretending that a new threat is at large to the general public - Zombies, as we all know, Zombies are fictional creatures and this whole short is based around the reign of terror they would cause if they were real, and possibly how they may act in society and gives them comical jobs such as businessmen and car merchants. It's also comical in the fact that it tries to justify zombie behaviour and pretend that they're innocent, when really it does a really bad job of covering their behaviour up and shows them thinking about brains.

Style - Textual Analysis: The film begins with a black and white image of a studio logo, with electrical static over the image as we can hear the noise of the static. We see the big, bold, white font which says, 'This film has been declassified' which makes it seem like it was the footage was meant to be restricted because of its importance and has now been released to the public as the threat is imminant to everyone. Trumpets sound in a fan-fare fashion as we see a black and white title image of clouds with small white font over them saying "Guys Guide To", then large, black, bold font saying "ZOMBIES", much like the horror films of the 1960's about sea monsters and aliens, where the main point in the title is emphasised, followed by "A public safety film," making it seem like the film will be beneficial to the public. It then jumps to a curtain with white bold font over it saying "They're already here!" making it seem like zombies already walk the earth.



We then see archive footage of army tanks racing across a sandy desert, a convention of classic infomercials. The images have static playing over them so they look old and worn out and give it that retro feel as film making wasn't as technologically advanced as today.
We hear the non-diegetic sound of an male American adult, giving a voiceover to the film as we see an animation of zombies walking in a line into a house, then a close up of a cartoon zombie face as the man describes the threat that zombies are; voiceovers / narrators were also a convention of 1950 - 1960's infomercials.


We see a animated poster of a traditional boxing fight, with a picture of a zombie on one side, and a young teenage boy on the other, opposing each other and the narrator states that they, "Dont need to be our enemies" as a banner saying "CANCELLED" in bold white letters rolls over the poster.

Archive footage is then shown of a goverment meeting where all the members stand up and cheer and clap, the narrator claims that this is the passing of the "Zombie Rights Bill", adding to the comedy element as we all know there is no such law.

A cartoon dollar bill then falls into the shot, with a picture of a zombie in the middle instead of a president, the narrator states that the "Zombie Dollar" is an important part of their economy as the zombie on the dollar bill winks.
A newspaper scrolls down the screen as it reaches an advert for zombie labourers, the "Romero Brothers" who are zombie plumbers, again giving the undead comical jobs that they don't have in real life, the narrator states that zombie labourers are also crucial to the functioning of society.


We then see a large, bold, white font title saying, "They eat brains dont they?" This leads to an animated close up of a teenage boys face in shock at the zombies, which leads to a left pan to a couple of zombies smiling wearing suits as the narrator tells us that zombies "Are just like you and me" and not a real threat at all, this is clearly part of the comedy element of the film, as zombies are meant to be nothing like average people.
He goes on to say that even famous individuals are zombies, and we see cartoon images of these actors slide onto the screen, and we hear the diegetic sound of a clicking everytime the slide changes, like an old fashioned slideshow; including Humphrey Bogart and Ronald Reagan, these two celebrities were popular in the 1960's, linking to the 60's feel of the short film.


This leads to a mid shot animated scene of a zombie sat at a table as images such float around his head as the narrator reads them out, for example, the narrator says that zombies want a good job and financial security like the rest of us, as a cartoon briefcase and a dollar sign float around his head, along with a image of a human brain, as this is what they're meant to eat.
These all appear under the American flag as they're meant to be the basic "Zombie Rights".


We then see images of zombies stood at gas pumps, stood teaching a class (the comedy element here is that the teachers name on the board is "Mr Ughhh", which is the way in which conventional zombies are meant to speak), and performing dangerous Hollywood stunts. Obviously these jobs have been given for comedy effect, to make the audience imagine what life would be like if zombies really did have these job roles.
We then see a animated map of america, with zombie symbols in every state, this fades into the American flag as the narrator says that we should respect the rights of "Each and every person, whether they be living, dead or somewhere inbetween".

The title "Your will - is not your own!" appears, as a file with "Top Secret" written on it appears and an image of a zombie and a brain falls out as a romantic harmonic tune plays in the background.The narrator explains that our brains are our private property and nobody is allowed to take it from you, discussing the fact that zombie brains function differently to ours as they think of brains 52% of the time, and that is quite a lot while the narrator tries to pretend that it's not!


This is followed by an animation of cells, where a white blood cell is being surrounded by zombie cells, the white blood cell becomes frightened and gets into a car made of other cells and drives off, but is eaten by the zombie cells, which corresponds to the behaviour of conventional zombies as we hear a shrill screaming noise.

The tune changes to become more upbeat and faster paced as the title "Living with the Dead" appears, this fades as we see a horizontal pan of a zombie walking down the street, as the narrator says we shouldn't abuse the undead, instead, commit kind acts, this is followed by images of these acts; such as the young boy from earlier on handing a zombie a cake and then taking him to a Baseball game where the zombie gets hit on the head by the ball and falls over, (this is a slap-stick humour element).


As the narrator goes on to talk about the public voting for zombie rights and to have them in the population, an image is shown that if you vote against zombie rights, you're sacrificing the freedom of your nation, as we see two members dressed in Klu Klux Klan uniforms collecting all the anti-zombie votes. Addressing all the individuals that vote anti-zombie, the narrator calls you a communist and then we see archive footage of armies marching and archive footage of Joseph Stalin waving to the crowds.

The video ends with an abrupt static sound and the screen goes grey with electrical static over the top of the image.

Form: The short film is definately in a narrative style, as it's meant to inform the public about how to treat zombies and what the life of an average zombie consists of (even if it is fiction), there is a narrative throughout the short film that we should get to know and understand zombies instead of rejecting them from society.


Audience: I believe that the audience would be anyone from the age of around 11-50, this is a broad audience age range, but zombie cartoons and comics are still very common today and I feel that most children know what zombies are and would enjoy the cartoon element of the short film, showing that zombies could do ordinary jobs. I also believe that it can be watched by adults and older adults as they will know what is meant by communism and they will understand the Klu Klux Klan and Stalin references that children may not. Also older adults will remember infomercials from the 60's era and know what the style was like, so they can relate to how this fictional infomercial compares to the real infomercials of that era.

Research into existing products - Short film, Scene 26 by Rob Hardy.

Context: This short film was created by Rob Hardy, I found this short film through the BBC website, in the Film Network section. I extended my research into Rob Hardy; he is a cinematographer and director whose career has consisted of created short films, such as Honeymoon, but also working on feature films such as 'Blitz', 'Is Anybody There?' and 'Red Riding'.

Genre: Rob Hardy is known for the genres of Drama, Thriller and Horror, and I would have to say that this short film is a mixture of these. There is a drama element where we don't know why the man is there, who he is and how he will escape. The thriller element is also present as we hear a bomb under the bed and wonder if he will escape in time, and what the gas was coming out of the tube and into his mouth and what it may have done to him. Finally, the horror element is present as at one point we see blood and glass all over a bathroom floor, then a persons feet as blood drips from them hanging from the ceiling, and we can't help but wonder if it was suicide or murder, or if the man is next.

Style - Textual Analysis: The feature starts with a black screen as the bold white font of 'Scene 26' fades into the shot. We then hear the loud non-diegetic sound of symballs clashing as we see a close up of a mans face as he lies on the floor, eyes wide open with panic with a tube taped into his mouth. The shot zooms out to a long shot, as we notice that the man is tied up with rope lying in a hotel corridor with some of his clothes ripped, meaning that he may have been involved in violence or attacked as we hear the non-diegetic sound of a high pitched screeching as the man begins to move.  An aerial shot of the mans face shows us that the tube is leading underneath the door behind him as we hear some sort of gas being pumped through it. The man pulls his face away from the tube, pulling it out of his mouth but some still remains in his mouth and we can hear the diegetic sound of the gas.


A long shot of the man sitting up and shuffling to the wall gradually zooms in to a mid shot as we see his face, shocked and confused and trying to get away from the tube. We hear the diegetic sound of a young child laughing in the distance, a convention of a horror film, as often childrens laughter can be scary and eery when you're in a situation like this. A mid shot of the door enables us to hear the diegetic sound of someone scratching against it from the inside as the laughter grows louder, almost asif someones laughing at the mans fear as the door handle begins to rattle.

A long shot of the man lying down, still tied up, but struggling to shuffle down the corridor is seen as he gets closer to the camera, we can also hear his heavy breathing through the tube and grunting, showing fear and struggle. We then see a POV shot from behind the man watching him shuffle, as the man goes out of sight, the camera pans to the left so we can see him, giving an eery element to the video that someones wtching him as we hear a shrill screetching sound along with a tap dripping.

An aerial shot appears of a meal left outside someones door, which the man shuffles towards; a mid shot of the man at a low angle level to the floor (which most of the film is shot in) shows us him sucking food up through the tube, showing us that hes desperate and may have not had food for days, he may possibly be a hostage. We see a mid shot of the man sitting against the wall, resting. This jumps into a long shot of the corridor with an open door at the end of it, this gradually zooms in as we hear random noises like the dripping tap, the ticking of a clock and shrill static.


The man struggles to this door as the camera follows him in reverse tracking, then a POV shot watching him crawl from behind him. We can see a mid shot as the man crawls into the room, and notice that there is a room to the right of the camera, over the floor is broken glass, a broken lamp and a bloodied towel, this could mean that there has been some violence / abuse, the dripping tap sound grows much louder here.


As the man peers into the room to his right, he finds that there has been some sort of horrible event here, as he see's blood all over the bathroom floor, broken tiles, a shower curtain and streams of tissue, and finally, a body hanging from the ceiling with blood dripping down their feet. Was he intended to see this? Was this a murder or horrible suicide? Is he next? This is what we're waiting to find out.


We see a telephone off the hook next to him, we hear the diegetic sound of a woman, speaking in a paniced fashion, but in a foreign language as she repeats the same thing. A mid shot of a box under a bed in the room is shown as it gradually zooms in, as it zooms, the voice on the telephone grows louder and so does a ticking sound, could this mean that the box is a bomb and the voice is trying to warn him?


We see an aerial shot of the man struggle under the bed towards the box. This jumps to a long shot of a young girl walk into the room, wearing a white fluffy mask as we hear random piano keys. In a mid shot she removes the mask to reveal a blank expression as she stares at the man for a moment and then steps over him. She then climbs onto the bed before beginning to jump up and down on the bed with the man underneath. We see close up reaction shots of the mans face under the bed, his expression is paniced and he looks in pain as we see the matress being forced down on his head.





At one point the girls jumping is filmed in slow motion, adding a surreal, dizzy quality to the film.
We then hear her laugh loudly, and as a cymbal crashes again, we see the original long shot of the man back in the corridor with the tube in his mouth.

Form: The short film itself is partically of the narrative and abstract style,  the narrative style is present as we follow the mans journey down the hotel corridor and into the one room to see if he will escape or what will happen to him. The abstract style is present as the little girl jumping ontop of the bed crushing the man doesn't make much sense, we don't know what her motives are, also, we have no idea what the box under the bed means or what the ticking noise was, we can only assume.

Audience: I believe that the audience for this short film would be 16-45 year olds, as anyone under 16 may not understand the random imagery of the box or the reason why the voice was foreign (to add to the dramatic aspect that we need an answer or explanation but we cannot understand it when its in a different language), I also believe the surreal / horror / thriller elements would capture an older audience who are gripped by the journey of the man and how he will escape or what happened to him to put him in this situation.