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.