LO1: Short Film Analysis

Short Film Analysis

The Dentist

• Audience - 16+ male, ABC1/C2DE audience via male representations between ages of 20-40 and mature themes such as death, denotations of gore and corpses intended for an older audience.  

• Narrative/Subject - Plays with audience expectations through following conventions of the western genre: initially starting with a robbery which turns when the robber has a tooth ache that the dentist fixes however, there is then a twist where the dentist steals the robber's gun and shoots him. This then follows with a panning shot that reveals the dentist to be a serial killer. The camera tilts to the side in a medium close-up of the dentist to signify his insanity.

• Editing - Shot reverse shot structure signifies the twist via an over the shoulder shot that puts the audience in the perspective of the robber therefore, indicating the audience to sympathise with him despite typical conventions of following the victim (set up as the moral protagonist) that would be typical of Vladimir Propp's theory of stock characters. Some cuts between a close up of the robber's face when his tooth is pulled and his hand gripping the chair to signify his pain.  

• Visual/Special Effects/Music - Low-tempo and slow paced incidental music plays as the dentist points the gun at the robber which continues to the reveal of another man's corpse in the wagon which grows over time in a montage of the dentist changing clothes to change his identity. Visual effects include the title card.

Papers, Please

• Audience - Mature 16+ audience, educated ABC1 background of both genders: 40-50 year old, male protagonist. Mature themes such as illegal immigration and terrorism intended for an older audience. Denotations of gore and death.

• Narrative/Subject - Commentary on soviet Russia and border control: follows a border patrol inspector responsible for letting people into the country of Arstotzka; following the man's mental health and morality throughout the short film as people beg to be let in. This eventually culminates into letting a man and his wife into the country where they set off a bomb and shoot the inspector. 

• Editing - Heavy use of shot-reverse shot structure between the inspector and citizens, montage of citizens being processed in sync with the music.

• Visual/Special Effects - Special Effects come in play as an explosion when a terrorist gets across the border and a blur/highlight effect which mimics the inspector's eye going through people's papers. Visual effects are present at the start to mimic a typewriter to convey the context of setting and story. 

Good Dinner - Short Documentary Film 

• Audience - 20-50 ABC1 and C2DE, wide audience due to non-offensive or potentially inappropriate material and portrayal of a mixed demographic of ages, ethnicities and gender. This documentary also highlights working class life through its representations which the audience can reflect themselves onto. 

• Narrative/Subject - Documentary which interviews staff members and owner of an Asian/American restaurant in the US on the last day before its closure. 

• Editing - Slow-motion shots of the staff working as one of the people being interviewed speak in the background non-diegetically. Scenes are cut together so the documentary can proceed through each person.  

• Visual/Special Effects - Special effects are non-present, only visual effects via subtitles, headings to introduce the location and context and a title card.