MEDIA LANGUAGE
THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES of this page is to understand the MEDIA LANGUAGE used within my three chosen researched films, I will then compare them to one another and also discuss how this relates to my film.
THIS IS ENGLAND- DIRECTED BY SHANE MEADOWS
NATURAL BORN KILLERS- DIRECTED BY QUENTIN TARANTINO
FRIDGE- DIRECTED BY PETER MULLAN
•Visual Codes (Everything you see including all images, text)
•Audio Codes (Everything you hear, including all sound, speech, music)
•Technical Codes (How the combination of Visual and Audio Codes create meaning for the audience)
•Linguistic Codes (What the combination of Visual and Audio Codes are communicating)
NATURAL BORN KILLERS
I LOVE MALLORY SCENE
VISUAL and TECHNICAL CODES
Mise-en-scene
Editing
Cinematography
DENOTATION
In this clip we are shown a young woman (Mallory) walking down the stairs whilst the camera blurs into focus. The female stands face on with 'I love Mallory' written in a handwritten font with a sweetheart drawing outlining this text. The music is not dijetic, light, chirpsy and happy 1950s theme which relates to the style of the piece. The camera cuts between a close up of the father character eating and a medium shot of the rest of the family eating breakfast. The kitchen is small and old fashioned looking. Whilst the characters Father and Daughter are talking the camera then pans in to Mallorys dress whilst comic music is played to suggest that the father is laughing at what the daughter is wearing. We then cut to an extreme close up of the daughters face looking upset as she tries to defend herself. We then see a shot reverse shot of Mallory arguing with her father, the music repeats the same motif as at the beginning of the scene. Whilst the father is abusing Mallory we cut to an extreme close up of the mothers face looking guilty. The camera cuts to a close up of the father grouping his daughter's bum, it changes to black and white, the camera then shows and extreme close up firstly of his eyes that seem angry, powerful and dominating and secondly of her eyes which look scared and intimidated. The costumes that the characters wear are an important visual code as because the male is wearing a scruffy shirt and dirty trousers, we can assume that he is working class and therefor have a better understanding of who his character is and what his ideologies are.
CONOTATION
This clip is taken from the beginning of the film when Mallory thinks back to when she met Mickey, These memories and scene are set in the form of a 1950s sit com style. The inspiration of this scene was taken from popular shows at the time, specifically 'I Love lucy', in which Oliver stone uses Pastiche in order to present this scene. Speaking on the director's commentary, Oliver Stone explains that
'We decided to go with the sitcom format where we could exaggerate the background and her past, the colors, the set design, like a fake sitcom. And in a sense, she lives in an artificial world; the only release for her is television, thus the channel surfing shallow mentality she possesses.'
The Lighting of this scene is low contrast as this achieves a very naturalistic feel,
The camera cuts between close ups and extreme close ups of the characters, this allows the audience to identify power and status within the characters. For example, the father character dominates this scene as within his close ups we can see a powerful and strong man which contrasts to Mallory's close ups where she looks scared and weak. Another way of presenting this is using a lower angle of the camera as if the camera is placed down low then the male would seem to be bigger and therefor have more power and status whereas the female would be shown as smaller and less of a status. This 'Sitcom' setting of Mallorys life in Natural Born Killers shows the binary oppositions between the idealised semeiotics sold to America based on family life, what 'Appears' to be and the actual reality of the situation. Abuse, is a common and repetitive motif in this film and is exposed in this scene particually. In a NSPCC survey regarding childhood abuse in the UK it was discovered that 33% of the girls had experienced sexual abuse and 255 had suffered physical abuse.
AUDIO and LINGUISTIC CODES
The canned laughter "is a separate soundtrack with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows. It was invented by American sound engineer Charles "Charley" Douglass." This effect distorts the content of this horrible and uncomfortable scene and numbs the audience to the grim and awkward reality of the situation. It is non digetic, meaning that whilst editing the film, sound was overlaid onto the shot for a greater effect. For my film I would like to possibly overlay canned laughter onto my shots in order to make the audience feel unsettled and uncomfortable as by doing this is not only makes the shots more effective but also adds an element of dark comedy.
HOW AM I GOING TO RELATE THIS TO MY FILM
My genre is Realist Drama, I am going to use similar lighting as I feel this gives a realistic feel to the camera shots, as with over exposed lights I believe that they do not help to create a natural atmosphere and can ruin the shots. I like the idea of using canned laughter (similar to sit coms and chat shows) as this intensifies the scene and it juxtaposes with the horrible reality of whats happening in the shot. I am going to use many close ups and extreme close ups because I feel that this allows the audience to see the characters true feelings and emotions. As well as having the canned laughter I would like to incorporate an answer machine with messages playing throughout the scene (in a Digetic form) as this helps the audience keep informed about what is going on and it allows me to challenge the boundaries of the 'typical' soundtrack in a film.
•Audio Codes (Everything you hear, including all sound, speech, music)
•Technical Codes (How the combination of Visual and Audio Codes create meaning for the audience)
•Linguistic Codes (What the combination of Visual and Audio Codes are communicating)
NATURAL BORN KILLERS
I LOVE MALLORY SCENE
VISUAL and TECHNICAL CODES
Mise-en-scene
Editing
Cinematography
DENOTATION
In this clip we are shown a young woman (Mallory) walking down the stairs whilst the camera blurs into focus. The female stands face on with 'I love Mallory' written in a handwritten font with a sweetheart drawing outlining this text. The music is not dijetic, light, chirpsy and happy 1950s theme which relates to the style of the piece. The camera cuts between a close up of the father character eating and a medium shot of the rest of the family eating breakfast. The kitchen is small and old fashioned looking. Whilst the characters Father and Daughter are talking the camera then pans in to Mallorys dress whilst comic music is played to suggest that the father is laughing at what the daughter is wearing. We then cut to an extreme close up of the daughters face looking upset as she tries to defend herself. We then see a shot reverse shot of Mallory arguing with her father, the music repeats the same motif as at the beginning of the scene. Whilst the father is abusing Mallory we cut to an extreme close up of the mothers face looking guilty. The camera cuts to a close up of the father grouping his daughter's bum, it changes to black and white, the camera then shows and extreme close up firstly of his eyes that seem angry, powerful and dominating and secondly of her eyes which look scared and intimidated. The costumes that the characters wear are an important visual code as because the male is wearing a scruffy shirt and dirty trousers, we can assume that he is working class and therefor have a better understanding of who his character is and what his ideologies are.
CONOTATION
This clip is taken from the beginning of the film when Mallory thinks back to when she met Mickey, These memories and scene are set in the form of a 1950s sit com style. The inspiration of this scene was taken from popular shows at the time, specifically 'I Love lucy', in which Oliver stone uses Pastiche in order to present this scene. Speaking on the director's commentary, Oliver Stone explains that
'We decided to go with the sitcom format where we could exaggerate the background and her past, the colors, the set design, like a fake sitcom. And in a sense, she lives in an artificial world; the only release for her is television, thus the channel surfing shallow mentality she possesses.'
The Lighting of this scene is low contrast as this achieves a very naturalistic feel,
The camera cuts between close ups and extreme close ups of the characters, this allows the audience to identify power and status within the characters. For example, the father character dominates this scene as within his close ups we can see a powerful and strong man which contrasts to Mallory's close ups where she looks scared and weak. Another way of presenting this is using a lower angle of the camera as if the camera is placed down low then the male would seem to be bigger and therefor have more power and status whereas the female would be shown as smaller and less of a status. This 'Sitcom' setting of Mallorys life in Natural Born Killers shows the binary oppositions between the idealised semeiotics sold to America based on family life, what 'Appears' to be and the actual reality of the situation. Abuse, is a common and repetitive motif in this film and is exposed in this scene particually. In a NSPCC survey regarding childhood abuse in the UK it was discovered that 33% of the girls had experienced sexual abuse and 255 had suffered physical abuse.
AUDIO and LINGUISTIC CODES
The canned laughter "is a separate soundtrack with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows. It was invented by American sound engineer Charles "Charley" Douglass." This effect distorts the content of this horrible and uncomfortable scene and numbs the audience to the grim and awkward reality of the situation. It is non digetic, meaning that whilst editing the film, sound was overlaid onto the shot for a greater effect. For my film I would like to possibly overlay canned laughter onto my shots in order to make the audience feel unsettled and uncomfortable as by doing this is not only makes the shots more effective but also adds an element of dark comedy.
HOW AM I GOING TO RELATE THIS TO MY FILM
My genre is Realist Drama, I am going to use similar lighting as I feel this gives a realistic feel to the camera shots, as with over exposed lights I believe that they do not help to create a natural atmosphere and can ruin the shots. I like the idea of using canned laughter (similar to sit coms and chat shows) as this intensifies the scene and it juxtaposes with the horrible reality of whats happening in the shot. I am going to use many close ups and extreme close ups because I feel that this allows the audience to see the characters true feelings and emotions. As well as having the canned laughter I would like to incorporate an answer machine with messages playing throughout the scene (in a Digetic form) as this helps the audience keep informed about what is going on and it allows me to challenge the boundaries of the 'typical' soundtrack in a film.
Here below, I have found an article whilst researching abuse published in the Gaurdian in September 2012.
'This is England' by Shane Meadows.
Shop Scene
VISUAL and TECHNICAL CODES
Mise en scene
Editing
Cinematography
Denotation
The first shot is a medium shot of 3 men, dressed in leather jackets and blue jeans spray painting on a brick wall abusive language 'Paki' 'Fuck off. The lighting is natural day light .The camera then cuts to a medium shot of an Asian shop keeper facing away from the camera tidying up, we then see a young skin head walking into the shop. He is dressed in a long black jacket, buttoned up checkered shirt and denim jeans. His head is shaved signifying that he is a skin head.The camera then cuts to a close up of the boy as he shouts and demands free cigarettes and booze 'Get them you filthy paki bastard', the camera cuts to the shop keeper in a medium close up to show his reaction to the abusive language. The camera cuts to a long shot as it shows the young boy running around the shop being chased by the man. the camera is a steady cam. The camera then cuts to another medium shot of another character, older but dressed similar to the young boy as he walks into the shop. We cut to an extreme close up as he pulls out a samurai sword, the camera cuts to a close up of the sword pressed up against the shop keepers face, we then cut to a long shot of the men outside the shop who finish spray painting and run into the shop to help steal things. We are then shown close ups of the young boy taking cigarettes and booze from the shelf,then a medium shot of one of the men with his pants down. The camera pans round to reveal the other characters taking things from the shop and running away. The camera then cuts to an extreme close up of the older skin head as he shouts at the shop keeper whilst holding the sword in his hand, pressing up against the shop keepers neck.
Connotation
The first shot immediately suggests racism and violence, from the word 'Paki' and 'Fuck' being spray painted onto the wall, We can understand immediately which characters have a higher status as the spray paint suggests that the shop keeper is under the command of the Skin Heads. As the little boy walks in we can see that age does not define who has the power and authority. Although it is the Shop keeper who SHOULD have the authority as it is his shop, the boy by using violence and verbal abuse gains his power. The shop keeper does not retaliate violently to the boy and asks him to leave, this shows that maybe he could be intimidated but also unable to control the situation as he just accepts the violence. Once the other older male characters run into the shop a theme of identity is evident. The four older men and one young boy take over the shop by raiding it for cigarettes and alcohol, they group together to form under the umbrella of the 'Skinhead' identity of being threatening, angry and aggressive. In the opening 13 seconds we can anticipate what will happen later on in the scene otherwise known as 'Dramatic Irony'. We can also understand the ideologies of these characters. Skin Heads typically aligned themselves with the white nationalist National Front, which was a British far right, racial nationalist, whites-only political party. By the late 1970's Skin heads where commonly associated with racism and Neo-Nazism. This is evident in the scene when the young boy calls the shop keeper a 'Paki'. The steady cam and hand held camera, give a feeling of 'Reality' and attempts to make the audience feel a part of the scene, as if they were their. The use of an extreme close up, shot reverse shot between the shop keeper and 'Combo' shows the dominating power 'Combo' has over the shop keeper. By using the extreme close up, we are immediately drawn into the shot as all the background distractions are taken away and as a result our focus is on the characters their facial movement and choice of language.
AUDIO and LINGUISTIC CODES
At the beginning of the scene we hear one of the characters asking 'How do you spell off, is it one f or two?' this draws attention to the lack of education these characters have, instead of using intelligence to gain their power they use violence which is evident from this scene. The choice of language is exceptionally violent, abusive and racist which again relates to the 'Skinheads' ideology. Their is no sound apart from the Dijetic noises within the scene. This is interesting as it adds another element of realism and naturallness to the scene.
HOW AM I GOING TO RELATE THIS TO MY FILM?
I will use the sense of Realism in my piece, using Pastiche to develop this idea. In 'This Is England' their are very few Non Dijetic noises, I intend on replicating this idea in my film as I like the feel of Reality it has. The setting of this film is working class England, although I cannot go to the exact location, I will be using areas such as 'Acton' in London to shoot my film as this could be seen as a working class area and allows me to follow through with the Realism Genre seen here in 'This is England'. I will also use the motif of Power and status, although not through violence but through different shots and Sounds I will attempt to portray the different characters with a contrasting Power battle.
Shop Scene
VISUAL and TECHNICAL CODES
Mise en scene
Editing
Cinematography
Denotation
The first shot is a medium shot of 3 men, dressed in leather jackets and blue jeans spray painting on a brick wall abusive language 'Paki' 'Fuck off. The lighting is natural day light .The camera then cuts to a medium shot of an Asian shop keeper facing away from the camera tidying up, we then see a young skin head walking into the shop. He is dressed in a long black jacket, buttoned up checkered shirt and denim jeans. His head is shaved signifying that he is a skin head.The camera then cuts to a close up of the boy as he shouts and demands free cigarettes and booze 'Get them you filthy paki bastard', the camera cuts to the shop keeper in a medium close up to show his reaction to the abusive language. The camera cuts to a long shot as it shows the young boy running around the shop being chased by the man. the camera is a steady cam. The camera then cuts to another medium shot of another character, older but dressed similar to the young boy as he walks into the shop. We cut to an extreme close up as he pulls out a samurai sword, the camera cuts to a close up of the sword pressed up against the shop keepers face, we then cut to a long shot of the men outside the shop who finish spray painting and run into the shop to help steal things. We are then shown close ups of the young boy taking cigarettes and booze from the shelf,then a medium shot of one of the men with his pants down. The camera pans round to reveal the other characters taking things from the shop and running away. The camera then cuts to an extreme close up of the older skin head as he shouts at the shop keeper whilst holding the sword in his hand, pressing up against the shop keepers neck.
Connotation
The first shot immediately suggests racism and violence, from the word 'Paki' and 'Fuck' being spray painted onto the wall, We can understand immediately which characters have a higher status as the spray paint suggests that the shop keeper is under the command of the Skin Heads. As the little boy walks in we can see that age does not define who has the power and authority. Although it is the Shop keeper who SHOULD have the authority as it is his shop, the boy by using violence and verbal abuse gains his power. The shop keeper does not retaliate violently to the boy and asks him to leave, this shows that maybe he could be intimidated but also unable to control the situation as he just accepts the violence. Once the other older male characters run into the shop a theme of identity is evident. The four older men and one young boy take over the shop by raiding it for cigarettes and alcohol, they group together to form under the umbrella of the 'Skinhead' identity of being threatening, angry and aggressive. In the opening 13 seconds we can anticipate what will happen later on in the scene otherwise known as 'Dramatic Irony'. We can also understand the ideologies of these characters. Skin Heads typically aligned themselves with the white nationalist National Front, which was a British far right, racial nationalist, whites-only political party. By the late 1970's Skin heads where commonly associated with racism and Neo-Nazism. This is evident in the scene when the young boy calls the shop keeper a 'Paki'. The steady cam and hand held camera, give a feeling of 'Reality' and attempts to make the audience feel a part of the scene, as if they were their. The use of an extreme close up, shot reverse shot between the shop keeper and 'Combo' shows the dominating power 'Combo' has over the shop keeper. By using the extreme close up, we are immediately drawn into the shot as all the background distractions are taken away and as a result our focus is on the characters their facial movement and choice of language.
AUDIO and LINGUISTIC CODES
At the beginning of the scene we hear one of the characters asking 'How do you spell off, is it one f or two?' this draws attention to the lack of education these characters have, instead of using intelligence to gain their power they use violence which is evident from this scene. The choice of language is exceptionally violent, abusive and racist which again relates to the 'Skinheads' ideology. Their is no sound apart from the Dijetic noises within the scene. This is interesting as it adds another element of realism and naturallness to the scene.
HOW AM I GOING TO RELATE THIS TO MY FILM?
I will use the sense of Realism in my piece, using Pastiche to develop this idea. In 'This Is England' their are very few Non Dijetic noises, I intend on replicating this idea in my film as I like the feel of Reality it has. The setting of this film is working class England, although I cannot go to the exact location, I will be using areas such as 'Acton' in London to shoot my film as this could be seen as a working class area and allows me to follow through with the Realism Genre seen here in 'This is England'. I will also use the motif of Power and status, although not through violence but through different shots and Sounds I will attempt to portray the different characters with a contrasting Power battle.
Here is a photograph taken from the 'Shop scene' showing the difference in power and status.
FRIDGE
VISUAL and TECHNICAL CODES
Mise-en-scene
Editing
Cinematography
Denotation
The first shot is a POV worms eye shot , it shows the clouds moving through a period of time, the camera then cuts to a close up of a puddle on the floor,then changes to a window and pulls focus to reveal a shadow of a man looking out of the window, all the shots are in black and white, in the background we hear children shouting, the camera then cuts to a medium shot of a young girl (the character of Alice) dressed scruffy and sitting by herself, it cuts to another medium shot of a homeless man sleeping outside with matches being thrown on him by young children, the camera then cuts in to reveal a close up of the mans face which is all scarred and deformed. It then pans to reveal a young boy running towards the camera, he then jumps into an open old fridge. We then cut to a medium close up of the two young boys who were chucking the matches being told off by another older man (the character of Rudy).The Scottish Dialect suggests the setting is in Glasgow. We then see a shot reverse shot between Rudy and the young boys and then Rudy and the homeless man, this enables the audience to understand the connotations of the language, the camera then pulls focus to reveal the homeless man going back to sleep on a low angle to show status.The camera then cuts to another shot reverse shot between Rudy and the two young boys about to have a fight. The boys are stood on an elevated wall whereas Rudy is lower down on the ground, separating status and level.There are then two close ups of the young boys faces, they are smiling and abusing Rudy. This follows on to the worms eye shot of the young boy getting into the empty, old fridge which follows into a medium shot of Rudy and Alice sat on a step, dressed in scruffy clothes drinking alcohol. The next shot is a long shot taken of the young boy, and the boy in the fridge, the camera pans slowly into an extreme close up to reveal the boy shutting the fridge door which follows through into another worms eye shot of the door closing and complete darkness.The next shot is of the man from the window looking down Birds eye shot onto the back yard of the council estate, he then shuts the curtain and carries on washing up. An establishing shot of Rudy and Alice drinking is then shown in a medium shot, they are discussing the little boy that is stuck in the fridge and that he needs help, we are then shown a shot reverse shot of the fridge and the couple. The next montage of shots are all a medium shot, showing the fridge and the couple. They try to open the door but realise the door is stuck and the boy is locked in. The camera is hand held. The camera then tracks to show the man attempting to get help from the neighbours but no one is willing to help. There is then a close up of the woman sat next to the fridge drinking her drink and talking to the boy trying to keep calm. There is another medium shot of the couple trying to open the fridge because the boy is suffocating, it then shows the man putting a pipe into the fridge door allowing the little boy to breathe. The camera then shows another shot reverse shot of the homeless man approaching the Alice, he attempts to hurt her but is kicked of by Rudy. The camera is hand held, it then shows the four characters (The young boy in the fridge, Rudy, Alice and the boy who locked him in) all standing around the fridge. There is another Birds eye view shot of the characters opening the fridge door, a close up of the boy laying down in the fridge, then another medium shot of the boy being lifted out of the fridge alive by the boy who locked him in. The camera then fades to black.
Connotation
The first montage of shots allows the audience to understand the location of the short film, an extremely poor working class destitute area in Glasgow. The costume of the characters suggests what type of people they are, being very poor and homeless. There seems to be a lot of abuse and violence on the estate established at the very beginning with the homeless man having matches thrown on him, the low angle of the homeless man suggests that he is of a lower status than the younger kids who are positioned higher, this is mirrored later when the young boys are stood on a wall about to fight with Rudy and again, they are positioned as higher and more powerful due to the camera angles. The Birds Eye Shots of the neighbour looking down onto the situation but failing to help and shutting the curtains suggest that the area is known and used to violence and young kids dominating but yet people don't bother helping because they need to help themselves first and take care of themselves because of there destitute situation. The young boy in the fridge could represent the society that the characters live in. The fridge being a metaphor for society. It suffocates them into being trapped in their situation due to there financial status and living standards, however no body is willing to help them and so they suffer slowly. This is reinforced by the Post modernism used . It Is shown through the black and white camera shots throughout the film, this creates a mood , by not enabling colour the tone of the film becomes dark and gloomy which is reinforced by the camera shots (the high angle shot of Alice being towered over by the deteriorated council tower blocks). The other function of the trapped boy could be a dramatic device. The two alcoholic homeless characters Alice and Rudy are put in the contrary position of having to understand how to open the fridge door before the young boy dies, forcing a large amount of responsibility onto the characters, this being something they are not accustomed too.
AUDIO and LINGUISTIC CODES
The use of sound is also important, At the beginning there is a non diegetic sound of a slow piano but that soon goes and every sound becomes diegetic of children shouting, bottles clinking and the language of the characters allows the audience to follow the story well. Adding to the sense of realism and bleak setting of the film.
HOW AM I GOING TO RELATE THIS TO MY FILM?
I like the use of camera angles used in this film, the immediate difference of status becomes obvious within this film through camera shots and angles. The young adults often dominating the shot is shown through a higher camera angle. I would like to mirror this in my film and use similar shots as I feel that it is simple, clear and effective and the audience can follow the narrative well. The sound technique is something that I would like to transfer into my film, having non diegetic music change into diegetic, forces the audience to understand the realistic setting of the film.
Here below I have attached the clip.
VISUAL and TECHNICAL CODES
Mise-en-scene
Editing
Cinematography
Denotation
The first shot is a POV worms eye shot , it shows the clouds moving through a period of time, the camera then cuts to a close up of a puddle on the floor,then changes to a window and pulls focus to reveal a shadow of a man looking out of the window, all the shots are in black and white, in the background we hear children shouting, the camera then cuts to a medium shot of a young girl (the character of Alice) dressed scruffy and sitting by herself, it cuts to another medium shot of a homeless man sleeping outside with matches being thrown on him by young children, the camera then cuts in to reveal a close up of the mans face which is all scarred and deformed. It then pans to reveal a young boy running towards the camera, he then jumps into an open old fridge. We then cut to a medium close up of the two young boys who were chucking the matches being told off by another older man (the character of Rudy).The Scottish Dialect suggests the setting is in Glasgow. We then see a shot reverse shot between Rudy and the young boys and then Rudy and the homeless man, this enables the audience to understand the connotations of the language, the camera then pulls focus to reveal the homeless man going back to sleep on a low angle to show status.The camera then cuts to another shot reverse shot between Rudy and the two young boys about to have a fight. The boys are stood on an elevated wall whereas Rudy is lower down on the ground, separating status and level.There are then two close ups of the young boys faces, they are smiling and abusing Rudy. This follows on to the worms eye shot of the young boy getting into the empty, old fridge which follows into a medium shot of Rudy and Alice sat on a step, dressed in scruffy clothes drinking alcohol. The next shot is a long shot taken of the young boy, and the boy in the fridge, the camera pans slowly into an extreme close up to reveal the boy shutting the fridge door which follows through into another worms eye shot of the door closing and complete darkness.The next shot is of the man from the window looking down Birds eye shot onto the back yard of the council estate, he then shuts the curtain and carries on washing up. An establishing shot of Rudy and Alice drinking is then shown in a medium shot, they are discussing the little boy that is stuck in the fridge and that he needs help, we are then shown a shot reverse shot of the fridge and the couple. The next montage of shots are all a medium shot, showing the fridge and the couple. They try to open the door but realise the door is stuck and the boy is locked in. The camera is hand held. The camera then tracks to show the man attempting to get help from the neighbours but no one is willing to help. There is then a close up of the woman sat next to the fridge drinking her drink and talking to the boy trying to keep calm. There is another medium shot of the couple trying to open the fridge because the boy is suffocating, it then shows the man putting a pipe into the fridge door allowing the little boy to breathe. The camera then shows another shot reverse shot of the homeless man approaching the Alice, he attempts to hurt her but is kicked of by Rudy. The camera is hand held, it then shows the four characters (The young boy in the fridge, Rudy, Alice and the boy who locked him in) all standing around the fridge. There is another Birds eye view shot of the characters opening the fridge door, a close up of the boy laying down in the fridge, then another medium shot of the boy being lifted out of the fridge alive by the boy who locked him in. The camera then fades to black.
Connotation
The first montage of shots allows the audience to understand the location of the short film, an extremely poor working class destitute area in Glasgow. The costume of the characters suggests what type of people they are, being very poor and homeless. There seems to be a lot of abuse and violence on the estate established at the very beginning with the homeless man having matches thrown on him, the low angle of the homeless man suggests that he is of a lower status than the younger kids who are positioned higher, this is mirrored later when the young boys are stood on a wall about to fight with Rudy and again, they are positioned as higher and more powerful due to the camera angles. The Birds Eye Shots of the neighbour looking down onto the situation but failing to help and shutting the curtains suggest that the area is known and used to violence and young kids dominating but yet people don't bother helping because they need to help themselves first and take care of themselves because of there destitute situation. The young boy in the fridge could represent the society that the characters live in. The fridge being a metaphor for society. It suffocates them into being trapped in their situation due to there financial status and living standards, however no body is willing to help them and so they suffer slowly. This is reinforced by the Post modernism used . It Is shown through the black and white camera shots throughout the film, this creates a mood , by not enabling colour the tone of the film becomes dark and gloomy which is reinforced by the camera shots (the high angle shot of Alice being towered over by the deteriorated council tower blocks). The other function of the trapped boy could be a dramatic device. The two alcoholic homeless characters Alice and Rudy are put in the contrary position of having to understand how to open the fridge door before the young boy dies, forcing a large amount of responsibility onto the characters, this being something they are not accustomed too.
AUDIO and LINGUISTIC CODES
The use of sound is also important, At the beginning there is a non diegetic sound of a slow piano but that soon goes and every sound becomes diegetic of children shouting, bottles clinking and the language of the characters allows the audience to follow the story well. Adding to the sense of realism and bleak setting of the film.
HOW AM I GOING TO RELATE THIS TO MY FILM?
I like the use of camera angles used in this film, the immediate difference of status becomes obvious within this film through camera shots and angles. The young adults often dominating the shot is shown through a higher camera angle. I would like to mirror this in my film and use similar shots as I feel that it is simple, clear and effective and the audience can follow the narrative well. The sound technique is something that I would like to transfer into my film, having non diegetic music change into diegetic, forces the audience to understand the realistic setting of the film.
Here below I have attached the clip.
Here is a photograph, I found whilst researching the location of the film, the black and white image portrays a bleak and miserable block of flats in Glasgow.