Greg's Summer Research

Summer Research

1. Black Hole (Media Language)

Black Hole starts with a shot of a dimly lit office. The camera is on a dolly, so it moves diagonally, towards our main character and stops at a medium close up distance. The main character is wearing a boring tie and white shirt, and has a tired look on his face. The ambient sound, which consists of phones ringing and a few people talking, tells us this is a generic office, and we can see that the protagonist hates his job. This is emphasised when the main character. We cut to an eyeline match of him trying to get the copier to work, and a match on action of his feet as he kicks the machine. This shows us that the main character is stressed and has had enough.

When the black hole is printed, the main character’s face changes from stress to confusion. When he open the copier, we get a match on action to see there is no paper there. He takes a sip of drink, then we get a long shot at eye level that shows the main character putting it on the paper. There is a cut to a medium shot and we get a foley that tells us something weird has just happened. We are cut back to the long shot a second later, but the paper cup isn’t on top of the paper. When the protagonist looks inside the hole, we get a match on action, that shows us a very low angle shot from inside the hole. There is a low pitch vibration foley used during this shot, to give the black hole a sense of mystery. The main character still has a confused facial expression.

The main character then crouches so he is eye-level with the paper, like he’s trying to figure out the magic trick. We get a medium close up at eye-level that shows the main character putting his hand in the hole. We hear the same foley again and he pulls his hand back quickly, which shows us his shock. His shock is also portrayed through a change in facial expression and looking both ways. He puts his hand in again, and the foley repeats, but instead of jerking his hand away from the paper, he reaches in and retrieves the cup. After putting down the cup prop and picking up the paper, a medium close up shows us his facial expression changing from shock to intrigue.

The next scene starts with a slightly low angle shot of the main character moving towards a  vending machine. We cut to a medium shot of the character placing the paper on the glass, putting his hand in and coming out with a chocolate bar. A cut to a close-up of the main character eating the chocolate bar shows us that his facial expression has changed to a more positive one. We see that now he knows what the hole can do, he is planning to do something or many things with it. We get an eyeline match that shows us the main character is looking at a door, and we think his idea involves the door in some way.

The final scene starts with a medium long shot of the main character through the other side of the door. We can see that the lights are off inside the room, which means no one is inside. It also adds some enigma, as we don’t know what is inside the room that the main character wants. We hear the foley that tells us he is using the hole, followed immediately by a match on action showing the door being opened from the inside via the hole. This tells us that the door was locked to the staff, so whatever’s in there must be important. When the main character opens the door, he stands there for a few seconds, like he’s admiring what is in front of him. We still don’t know what he is looking at. We get an eyeline match and we finally see what he is looking at: a vault. The main character goes to the vault and attaches the paper to the door. Now we know his intentions; he is going to steal from the vault. What follows is a montage of shots showing the main character taking money from the vault. The final shots show the main character actually climbing through the hole into the vault. We get a shot of the tape holding up the paper coming loose and dropping the paper to the ground, trapping the character inside. Another shot shows the paper hitting the floor. We hear him banging on the metal door, and we cut to the same shot, but moved further away from the vault. It moves out again to show us he is all alone, and then ends by cutting to black.

2. Silent Things (representation)

Silent Things starts with a fade from black into a tilting extreme long shot of two people on a beach, flying a kite. There is no non-diegetic soundtrack in the background nor any dialogue. The only diegetic sound is the sound of the kite against the wind. The titles are white on black with a simplistic font. The film title is the same, but lacks capital letters, and has a full stop. We then cut to a very low angle shot (possibly P.O.V) of the kite flying around. We then cut to a two-shot of the two people on the beach. The male is flying the kite while the female watches. We don't know much at this point, but we assume they are friends. Their costumes don’t look expensive, and they look more functional than fashionable. The male’s hair doesn’t look well kept, whereas the female’s hair and makeup looks quite well kept, but not fashionable. We see that the female is playing with her hands close to her body, which could imply that she likes to keep to herself, and she is not very outgoing. We then get a cut to later in the day, when the two friends are working on the kite. This confirms to us that they are friends, and close ones as well, considering that she is helping with the kite.

The next scene shows the male flying a kite the next day. It starts with a long shot from behind the character, which shows us that the female character isn’t there with him. After an eyeline match shot of the kite, that tells us he is looking at the kite, we cut back to the long shot from behind, as a girl enters the frame. We cut to a medium shot from the side of the male character, as he looks to see the girl and then looks back quickly. He could’ve started a conversation, but the fact he didn’t tells us he might be an introvert. We get a cut to a medium close up of the male character and we can see, out of focus, there is a group of people behind him. After a couple of seconds, the group start shouting inaudible things at him. All we do hear is the word ‘girlfriend’ repeated a few times. We can tell from the male characters facial expression that this happens to him a lot, and he is trying to block it out. After the girl manages to get rid of the group, the man starts talking to the girl, because she may have gained his trust. During the shot reverse shot sequence, we discover that the man has Asperger Syndrome. His dialogue consists of short sentences and a lack of eye-contact, which could indicate social awkwardness.

The next scene shows the female character from the opening meeting the girl and the main character. You can see from a close-up of the woman’s face that she doesn’t approve. Her facial expression tells us she doesn’t like it when he meets other people. When she approaches the girl and the man, we see she doesn’t have a filter on what she says, as she talks as if the girl isn’t there, and doesn’t even acknowledge her. He doesn’t say much to her, which tells us he doesn’t want to talk to her.

In the next scene, we see the man and the girl sitting on the beach. In the long-shot from behind them, we see a ferry roll into the frame. During another shot reverse shot sequence, we find out about the man’s fascination for ferries. We also find out that the man is easily persuaded, as the girl easily persuades him into joining her in France. We also see the woman from the opening watching them

We cut to a new scene taking place in the evening. We see from the man’s facial expression and body language that he really doesn’t like this. We cut to some shots of the crowd around him, which tells us he doesn’t like crowds. When the girl tries to reassure him, he pushes her away, which confirms to us it’s the people he doesn't like.

3. Mix Tape (audience)

I believe that Mix Tape is a short film targeted at kids in their early teens (13 or 14) and a few years before (between 9 and 12). I say this because the two main characters, Ben and Lily, are both within that age range, and the story is about Ben trying to get the attention of Lily by giving her a mixtape, which contains music he found out she likes. I think a lot of boys of that age range can relate to Ben, as they are at an ange where

It could also be aimed at more middle-aged people (people who were children during the 60s and/or 70s), because of the use of music from the 60s and 70s band The Kinks and the use of the tape prop. The way Ben tries to get Lily’s attention seems quite old-fashioned. I believe this is set in the present day, because Ben says ‘it’s his dad’s old music’, but their costumes and set look like it’s from the 60s. I think it could serve as a throwback to people of that age category, because of the themes and how relatable it is to middle-aged people.

I also think it is targeted at middle and lower class people of those age categories. The short film is set between two houses that are either semi-detached, or on a terrace. Their costumes don’t seem that expensive either, and the sets aren’t richly decorated. When Ben rings the neighbour’s doorbell, we see it says ‘flat 2’, which tells us the house is shared between several people, and Lily’s family is not rich.

4. Love Field (narrative)

Love Field is a short horror film with a twist ending. It narrative can be applied to a few narrative theories. One of the theories that you can apply to Lovefield is Todorov’s theory of classic narrative. Todorov’s theory states that all stories have an equilibrium, a disruption, a resolution and a new equilibrium. Because Love Field has a linear narrative structure, you can apply this theory. Todorov’s theory cannot be applied to non-linear narrative structures. The equilibrium in Love Field (and all other linear narratives) starts at the beginning of the film. We see some shots of a wheatfield in the middle of nowhere. These shots show us a peaceful theme.

The disruption starts either when we hear a phone beeping, or when we see the crow. The crow is a bird that is mainly associated with death, which is a contrast to the shots we saw during the equilibrium, which showed. The phone beeping is an indication that something is wrong, because it tells us that the owner of this phone (who i think is the woman) tried to call someone, but something happened to her before she could finish the conversation and hang up. The disruption lasts most of the short film. As the narrative makes us believe the man has murdered the woman, but the narrative is stopping us from seeing the body. We can tell from body language and facial expression that he is panicking, as he looks around quickly and runs to the car, to grab a blanket to hide the body. You can also see from the make-up and costume he is wearing that he is a farmer, and he probably did this in his own field.

The resolution is also the twist ending. We find out with a panning shot that the man had not killed the woman, but was actually helping the woman give birth. The blanket was used to cover up the baby and keep it warm. Their facial expressions tell us they are both happy that the birth was a success, especially in the unhygienic environment. It is also the start of the new equilibrium, because all the issues caused in the disruption have been resolved, but there is now a slight difference (the baby’s birth). Love Field ends with an extreme long shot moving away from the characters which answers all of our questions. The phone was used to call the emergency services, as we see a police car drive towards them. We also a tractor stopped in the  field, which tells us the farmer stopped to help the woman, and is not related to the woman.

5. This Is Me (genre)

This Is Me is a short film that is hard to pin a genre on. The story is quite dark and depressing, as it tells us how Bertie Timson gets completely paralysed, but it is told in quite a comedic way. So maybe it is a dark comedy.

The film has some semantic codes similar to a dark and depressing drama, like the hospital set, and the lead character lying on a hospital bed alone. But it also shows some comedic semantic codes, like Bertie (who is fat) lounging in the back garden in nothing but some colourful trunks, sunglasses and a necklace. Also there are some animated effects used, like when we see Max’s digestive system, and also when we learn about blue ice. You wouldn’t see this kinds of effects in a dark drama, but it's more likely you’d see them in a more child-friendly and comedic film.

This is Me is a hybrid between two genres: comedy and drama. Steve Neale’s theory about repetition and variation says that genres repeat the same conventions, while creating new ones. This also results in sub-genres. Dark comedy (which is the genre of This is Me), is a subgenre that mixes dark and depressing themes with comedic presentation.