Short Film Analysis
This Is The Life - Craig Devine
The opening title is plain and simple, however it gives an incite to the short film, that it has a clear and simple story line. Also, using the colours white against black could mean that the story has a silver lining and a powerful mess conceptual message.
The opening sequence is of an "average" family at breakfast, the camera angling is so that the audience feels like their a fly on the wall. That they are there seeing all the different points of view. After this opening shot showing a hectic weekday morning, the film cuts to a close up of the mother. Showing the expression of a nervous, stressed mother, which immediately tells the audience that there's something the mother has pressing on her mind.
"Dads coming home" prompts a blank expression from the boy, showing that his relationship with is dad isn't very close. Or that there is something holding them back from getting close.
Non-diagetic, instrumental song starts at the end of the scene and carries on throughout the next, creating a sound bridge. The next scene is a montage of shots that shows time passing by and the bond shared between brother and sister. A close bond is shared between the boy and the girl, this is portrayed to the audience, when the sister senses her brother is feeling a little down and decides to take his brother home in a trolley.
When the dad is introduced, the setting has is in an under developed area, which is the stereotypical area for crime. So the dad coming back from prison is realised by this point due to stereotypical schemas. The background is one that stereotypically would be a working class area. The camera work is just hand held and during the reunion of the father and son, the actors fade in and out of focus for a more meaningful, emotive and moving scene.
The next shot is of the family having dinner, a low angle shot of family life trying to get back to normal. In this shot the audience are shown a hierarchy in the family, the mum and dad are the highest, then the sister and finally the little boy on the floor. So that the audience knows who is the "head of the house"
Shot reverse shot of the expressions exchanged between the dad
and the son (Dean). This allows the audience to understand that the dad has been gone for a long period of time, which is supported by "sorry I'm late, I forgot where this place was" when he was late for picking Dean up from school. To the audience these particular close ups, make it seems as if you are either Dean or his father, portraying their different point of views. Also, Dean's father looks like a stereotypical prisoner, as he has sideburns and cigarette roll ups in the car.
So therefore, even from only 3 minutes in, the audience already has a pretty strong idea of what's kept the family apart and Dean from bonding with his dad. Even though the bond between Dean and his father may be distant, his father still knows ans scenes when something is making Dean unhappy. So he lets Dean drive the car for a bit, and they have a lot of quality father, son bonding time, which they have both been desperately missing. The non-diegetic music is acoustic and very moving, showing that this is an occasion that will be remembered and cherished by both characters.
Being in and out of prison has obviously put strain on all relationships in the family, but in particular between the mother and father. In one scene the mother and father are verbally fighting throughout the night and it affects the children. This shows that the family are finding it particularly hard to cope and that they have to work through their problems. But also that their future as a family is just as unstable as their father going in and out of prison.
A simple medium close up, in a low angle shot is used throughout the probation officer scene. The camera, although hand-held, stays relatively still, within the shot is a pot of pencils out of focus, just to show its a probation office without actually saying the words.
The emotion captured, tells the tale of a father wrongly accused of a crime, and has just accepted that he's got to let it go for the welfare of his family. A man that wishes he could spend more time with his son.
Finally the audience sees the father bonding with his children and having a great time. The daughter is on the outskirts of the "boxing ring", showing that the bonding that was needed was mainly with Dean.
The short film contains a hero cycle, in that the father rarely got to see his son and thought he had missed his chance. However, in the end he gave up on trying to prove his innocence and just let that concentrated on what was most important to him, his family.
Throughout the short film, using a hand-held camera is and obvious theme. Hand-held cameras allows the audience to feel as if they are actually in the scene, and create a realism that a tripod cannot.
Key Words
- "Fly on the wall" - A shot that usually shows the majority of a room or scenery as if the audience is on the wall watching.
- Instrumental - Music that doesn't contain and lyrics.
- Hierarchy - a group of people in a rank order (usually the amount of control one has).
- Non-diegetic - refers to music/sounds that occurs outside the story world, that aren't meant to be there.
- Hero cycle - A cycle that (usually main) character go through to come out better at the end of a story.
