Short film analysis

1. Short film analysis

2. About a girl One main character • At the beginning of the film, the girl is portrayed as a young innocent girl who is singing and practicing her dance moves. • Right from the beginning of the short film we are introduced to this young girl and we are watching this from the girls point of view, this makes the audience feel sympathy for her as she doesn’t have a very good relationship with her parents and her dad doesn’t want her to move in with her. There is only one main character which is a common convention in short films as there isn’t enough time to develop other characters.

3. Narrative Structure • We notice that throughout the film when she is with her mum or dad, she mentions that she is a lot older than they think she is. • She is also singing ‘Opps I did it again’ throughout the film which has the lyrics ‘I’m not that innocent’ this contrasts against what she is doing because we later find out that she isn’t that innocent. • Because this is a short film, there is very limited amount of time to have a proper narrative structure with a beginning middle and end.

4. Playing with the audiences expectations • At the end of the short film, the girl is by herself carrying a plastic bag, she then throws it in the lake • This plays with the audiences expectations as even though the audience expect something to happen due to the grey imagery and build up, they are very shocked when they find out that there is a dead baby in the bag. • The end of this short film had left the audiences with many unanswered questions which have lead the audience to speculate because they did not expect this to happen. • All the enigma which is created builds up suspense and tension which helps to play with the audiences expectations.

5. The Catalyst • The catalyst is the trigger for the whole film, which unfolds a series of events. • The catalyst in this short film is the white plastic bag which she is carrying. • The audience is unaware of what is going on, and they don’t take much notice of the plastic bag but are aware that the girl is carrying it. • However, if the girl didn’t have the plastic bag the whole series of events wouldn't have happened.

6. The black hole One main character • In this short film, this man is the only character, and the audience aren’t introduced to any other characters because of short timings of the film. • The whole short filmed is based on this man and how he reacts and responds to this black hole which has been printed out. • We notice that throughout the film the man becomes more and more greedy with what he wants. He manages to get snicker bars out of the vending machine, but then he manages to get all the money out the safe as he becomes greedy.

7. Narrative structure • The narrative structure in this short film is much shorter which means there isn’t a distinctive beginning middle or end. • The audience are not aware when the middle or end could be because the film is so short itself it makes it much harder to predict these things. • The difference in these narrative structure manage to make these short films more exciting and engaging to the audience.

8. Playing with the audiences expectations • In The Black Hole the audiences expectations are played. • In this short film, the man manages to tape the black hole to the safe and to reach and get money out of it. He then decides to get the rest of the money out by climbing in to reach for it, whilst doing this, the black hole which was taped onto the outside falls off leaving the man trapped in the safe. • This manages to create a large amount of suspense and tension, which leaves the audience wondering what could have happened to this man, and it leads them to speculate.

9. The Catalyst • A catalyst manages to start off the whole story which leads to a whole series off events. • Without this catalyst the short story wouldn’t have unfolded. • The catalyst in this short film was the black hole which was printed out. If this black hole wasn’t printed out then there wouldn’t’ have been a story. • Once this black hole was printed out, it lead to a hole series of events such as the man getting the chocolate out of the machine and getting the money out of the safe which lead to him getting stuck in it.

10. Get off my land One main character • The reason there is only one main character in these short films is because there isn’t enough time In the film to develop any more characters. • In this short film, the main character was the man who was with the lady. • Although there are two other characters which we get to see throughout the film, the audiences main focus is on the man, as he manages to cause a series of events keeping the story interesting and keeping the audience engaged.

11. Narrative structure • The narrative structure challenges Todorov’s theory because it doesn't have a specific beginning middle or end. • This common convention in short films can sometimes confuse the audience and keep them on edge because their isn’t a proper narrative structure because it is a short film.

12. Playing with the audiences expectations • In this short film Get off my land, the audience are very shocked with what had happened. • The man argues with the person who claims to own the land they are walking on, and suggests that they fight it out, leading in him getting shot and killed and later on the woman getting killed. • When the man gets shot, this leaves the audience very shocked and confused because it was very unexpected. This is because the man who claimed to own the land walked away, the audience did not expect him to walk away, bring back a gun and shoot the two innocent people. • Also at the end when the man said he wasn’t sure if it was his land in the end, which could leave the audience very frustrated which keeps them engaged in the film.

13. The catalyst • The catalyst in this film was when the man climbed over the fence. • This is because, at the beginning he seemed quite hesitant about it, but he then decided to climb over the fence. • If he never climbed over the fence, the whole series of events which followed would never have happened.