Black Hole-Media Language

Sound-

In the opening scene we are presented with a diegetic sound of a printer, this is the only sound we as an audience can hear until we hear a diegetic sigh from the man in the frame. The printer is heard throughout the short film so there is no silence within the film.

Throughout the short film there isn’t a non-diegetic soundtrack which with it not being present creates a realistic sense to the film which makes the office scene relatable to the audience, this also enhances the fact that the location is plain and simple which is what the sound used is also trying to convey.

By the lack of dialogue in the film it makes the audience concentrate more on the characters facial expressions and body language.

The Foleys used created the sci-fi diegetic sound of the ‘Black hole’ this helped establish it was something out of the ordinary.

Camera –
The camera work is simple in the film which again would represent a simple plain office feel, the shot sizes change throughout which allows the audience to see what the character is doing during the scenes which is good as if the shot size was one size it would make the audience lose interest.

There is a POV shot which works really well as from the POV of the ‘Black hole’ looking up at the character the audience can still see a circular frame which allows us to know the POV is from the ‘Black hole’.

 

Mise en scene-

The lighting within the film is dark with a grey, blue tint to it, a single light has been used to create shadows on the characters face.

Due to the lack of dialogue in the film the audience are able to focus their attention on the characters facial expressions and body language. In the beginning of the film the characters whole body looked bored, drained and he looked tired. All of his actions were floppy and wasteful. Once he realised what the ‘Black hole’ was his facial expressions perked up abit and he showed a sense of excitement. Once he had used the ‘Black hole’ for the first time his body and facial aspects became even perkier.

The props within the setting helped establish where the location was for the audience to relate to along with the man’s costume.

Editing-

Cuts throughout have been used in the short film which are the most common form of transitions in films. They are simple and easy which would have helped represent the simple location along with other technical codes to create the realism of the office setting.

Post production editing has been used to create the titling in the film and we get a wipe transition to reveal the film footage.

Silent Things-Representation

Mix Tape-Audience

I believe the target audience for ‘Mix Tape’ is between the ages of 20-50, mainly men, the viewing platform for this film is online only which would mean that the audience would have to be able to use the internet easily which is why I chose 50 as my main targeted age, although a 20 year old wouldn't have been born listening to this particular music and using mix tapes I feel as though they may enjoy it and the having a crush aspect of the film.

 

I would also say the target audience is aimed at British people as the culture of the film was very much British so may not be understood fully or liked by those from a different country or culture. The British may also understand more by the fact that the song is played by The Kinks which is a British band , meaning not many international audiences would be able to relate to that.

Lovefield-Narrative

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure of ‘Lovefield’ is a linear structure as it has a beginning a middle and an end, this allows the audience to follow the story simply although there is a misguiding storyline to begin with.

Restricted and Unrestricted narration,

The opening of the short film is very much a restricted narration, as an audience we expect the worst has happened and get the idea a women has been murdered from the semantic and syntactic codes used. It is not until the end that the narration becomes unrestricted as we realise what has actually happened which then allows us to instantly change our opinion on the only character we see.

Todorov and his 5 stages,

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

1. A state of equilibrium-  This first stage is the opening shot of the field. i.e the pan showing the field as at this point there has been nothing to cause a disruption that the audience know of.

2. A disruption of that order by an event.- This stage arrises when a disruption has occurred which is when the audience hear the diegetic flat tone of the phone, the blood on a piece of clothing, the constant sound of the crow and finally the knife being stabbed into the ground covered in blood. At this point the audience are then at the edge of their seat wondering what is going on due to the restricted narration.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.- The man we believe to be the antagonist is rushing to his car in a panic trying to solve something and appears to be enhanced by the crow as a bad guy about to do wrong.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.- after looking in the car boot the man finds a towel and runs back around his car to use it for what is assumed to be hiding the dead body so we believe that is how he intended to ‘repair the damage’

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium- it is then revealed in the final stage that he man we believed to be the antagonist actually was the protagonist and the blood and knife was him delivering a baby which he used the towel to wrap it in. At this time the non-diegetic soundtrack becomes softer a sense of reassurance is developed from the music which is reinforced when we see an ambulance pull up against the side of the road.

Levi Strauss and binary oppositions,

There are two binary oppositions in the short film ‘Lovefield’ the first one is between good(protagonist) and evil (antagonist), this is shown as the audience is made to believe that the man is an antagonist from the restricted narration and the close camera shots although it is then revealed to the viewer that he actually is a protagonist. The second binary oppersition is between life and death similar to the reason above the audience were made to feel as if a murder had taken place through again the restricted narration whereas in reality a new life had occurred.

This is Me- Genre

Altman and “Semantic and Syntactic codes

In the film ‘This is Me’ the genre mostly being portrayed through codes is comedy. Although small codes of drama are introduced throughout the film making it a hybrid film.

Rick Altman suggests that-Film Genres have typical visual codes that communicate meaning for the spectator.Thinking of them like building blocks for any genre. These are called semantic codes

Sematic codes –

The women- The ladies body language becomes a sematic code as it allows the audience to see the film as a comedy genre , she represents comedy by the way the man narrates that she sets a timer for her visit which is represented as comedic by her lack of concern for her husband.

The titling-The titling of ‘This Is Me’ is rounded which connotes the typical comedy code which is used often in the expected genre of the short film.

The Man- The man in the back of his garden again creates a comedy aspect to the film as he is being a stereotypical older man sunbathing on a chair right in the middle of his garden.

Film genres also have conventions of narrative structure and theme, which Altman says work together with semantic codes to define a genre. Altman calls these narrative and theme conventions syntactic codes

Syntactic Codes for any genre include things like:

· Typical themes

· Typical character relations

· Typical binary oppositions

· Typical narrative endings

· Typical narrative disruptions

Syntactic codes-

Sarcasm in the short film also represents comedy in the film as this is a stereotypical feature of a comedy.

Drama is introduced with codes such as heavy breathing in the hospital ward which in itself is another code used to convey drama.

Neale’s and “Repetition and Variation

Steve Neale suggests that, each genre film repeats conventions of the genre formula,whilst also making new variations.

The short film included typical codes which are easily related to comedy but the director of the film seems to have wanted to create a different side to comedy by introducing a darker side and drama feel to the short film. This makes the audience feel more at edge while watching the film as they aren’t sure where it will lead too.  The film included the stereotypical conventions of a comedy but then also had the variation of a more serious story line included in the film. This short film also includes a cartoon which isnt common but works really well.