"Guilty" (Short Film) from S. Larson on Vimeo.
MRANG
Media language
Mise en scene
Editing
Camera
Sound
Before we are introduced to anything on the black screen we hear the diegetic dialogue from a male with an American accent, after about a second the title 'GUILTY' fades on screen and the letters shuffle before coming together to make the word. The title stays on screen as the black screen cuts to our first scene. We are shown by a CU shot, a male characters hands opening a car door.
As the male's dialogue carries on, non-diegetic music sound track of classical music starts playing in the background. The scene is lit with low key lighting which suggests this is short film is a thriller. There is high frequency cuts from a hand held camera and slow motion is used, this technique is used to give the effect that time is passing while he is driving the car. A POV shot is used at the front of the car filmed with a hand held camera where we can see the male character driving down the street in night time, the only lighting is used are the headlights of the car and street lights which means us as the audience cant see where he is driving. The scene then fades to a MS of our protagonist where we get our first fight of what he looks like. His costume consists of a white tee-shirt and a black bomber jacket, his facial expression looks like he is thinking deeply about something, in his dialogue he is reading the letter he wrote to 'Mrs Patterson'. The scene then fades into a black and white home video of a group of young boys, the dialogue tells us that two of these young boys are the male protagonist and his best friend. The two young boys are both wearing long sleeve tops and trousers (costume) and they are standing posing for the video with their arms round each other.
There is a shot reverse shot which cuts from the home video of the young boys to a MLS POV of the man driving in his car and then back again to the home video. A MS shows a black sports car pulling into a parking bay and by the looks of it the car is quite expensive which suggests that the protagonist is fairly wealthy. This scene then dissolves to a MS of the male character sitting in his car and he appears to be looking for something as he rummages through a pile of books on the passenger seat next to him and he finally finds what he is looking for, a letter. A MS from outside the car door has the camera positioned as if someones is standing outside the car window looking in. This sets the idea that the film could be a thriller as it gives a chilling and terrifying atmosphere. An orange filtered light is shone onto the piece of paper the character is writing on which spotlights it, this shows that the letter is a significant prop in this short film.
The movement in which the character moves in is ghostly as if this is not reality. A MS shows the protagonist rubbing his head on his hand and his facial expression looks confused. His dialogue tells us that he was drink driving and killed his best friend and we find out now that the letter he is writing is a letter of apology to the mother of his best friend who he killed. The male characters ghostly movements suggest that he may not have survived the car accident either as he talks about how he was unable to attend the funeral. A set of high frequency medium shots fade in and out of each other showing the narrator finishing of the letter than smoking a cigarette in his car. The next scene fades into a long shot of a police car driving past our protagonist, as the police car drives past the protagonist he waves at the police car but the police car doesnt wave back which implies that the policeman didn't see him because he's not really there. The scene then dissolves to a MS from the back seat of the car, the shot shows the protagonist throwing the letter in frustration on his dash board, he then leans over to the glove box of his car and pulls out a gun(prop).
From when he throws the letter to reaching for the gun there is no hesitation from the protagonist which suggests that this was what was planned all along. A MS from outside the car shows the protagonist winding up the windows, the windows are tinted black so we now can not see inside the car. An ECU of the male characters face shows his facial expression is blank showing no emotion but fear in his eyes as he looks up at the car ceiling. The scene then fades to the home video of the young boys again and the video flickers from black and white, to colour, to black and white again. This then cuts to a blur of colours running across the screen which seem to be made to look like a movie tape however the picture can not quite made out. The scene then fades to a MS of the character with a horrified facial expression and the only lighting that is on the character is is a spot light shining down onto his face. He then looks up at the ceiling of his car and points the gun and his head. The scene then cuts to black and the non-diegetic narrative we hear throughout suddenly stops and the foley sound of a gun shot is heard.
Editing
Camera
Sound
Before we are introduced to anything on the black screen we hear the diegetic dialogue from a male with an American accent, after about a second the title 'GUILTY' fades on screen and the letters shuffle before coming together to make the word. The title stays on screen as the black screen cuts to our first scene. We are shown by a CU shot, a male characters hands opening a car door.
As the male's dialogue carries on, non-diegetic music sound track of classical music starts playing in the background. The scene is lit with low key lighting which suggests this is short film is a thriller. There is high frequency cuts from a hand held camera and slow motion is used, this technique is used to give the effect that time is passing while he is driving the car. A POV shot is used at the front of the car filmed with a hand held camera where we can see the male character driving down the street in night time, the only lighting is used are the headlights of the car and street lights which means us as the audience cant see where he is driving. The scene then fades to a MS of our protagonist where we get our first fight of what he looks like. His costume consists of a white tee-shirt and a black bomber jacket, his facial expression looks like he is thinking deeply about something, in his dialogue he is reading the letter he wrote to 'Mrs Patterson'. The scene then fades into a black and white home video of a group of young boys, the dialogue tells us that two of these young boys are the male protagonist and his best friend. The two young boys are both wearing long sleeve tops and trousers (costume) and they are standing posing for the video with their arms round each other.
There is a shot reverse shot which cuts from the home video of the young boys to a MLS POV of the man driving in his car and then back again to the home video. A MS shows a black sports car pulling into a parking bay and by the looks of it the car is quite expensive which suggests that the protagonist is fairly wealthy. This scene then dissolves to a MS of the male character sitting in his car and he appears to be looking for something as he rummages through a pile of books on the passenger seat next to him and he finally finds what he is looking for, a letter. A MS from outside the car door has the camera positioned as if someones is standing outside the car window looking in. This sets the idea that the film could be a thriller as it gives a chilling and terrifying atmosphere. An orange filtered light is shone onto the piece of paper the character is writing on which spotlights it, this shows that the letter is a significant prop in this short film.
The movement in which the character moves in is ghostly as if this is not reality. A MS shows the protagonist rubbing his head on his hand and his facial expression looks confused. His dialogue tells us that he was drink driving and killed his best friend and we find out now that the letter he is writing is a letter of apology to the mother of his best friend who he killed. The male characters ghostly movements suggest that he may not have survived the car accident either as he talks about how he was unable to attend the funeral. A set of high frequency medium shots fade in and out of each other showing the narrator finishing of the letter than smoking a cigarette in his car. The next scene fades into a long shot of a police car driving past our protagonist, as the police car drives past the protagonist he waves at the police car but the police car doesnt wave back which implies that the policeman didn't see him because he's not really there. The scene then dissolves to a MS from the back seat of the car, the shot shows the protagonist throwing the letter in frustration on his dash board, he then leans over to the glove box of his car and pulls out a gun(prop).
From when he throws the letter to reaching for the gun there is no hesitation from the protagonist which suggests that this was what was planned all along. A MS from outside the car shows the protagonist winding up the windows, the windows are tinted black so we now can not see inside the car. An ECU of the male characters face shows his facial expression is blank showing no emotion but fear in his eyes as he looks up at the car ceiling. The scene then fades to the home video of the young boys again and the video flickers from black and white, to colour, to black and white again. This then cuts to a blur of colours running across the screen which seem to be made to look like a movie tape however the picture can not quite made out. The scene then fades to a MS of the character with a horrified facial expression and the only lighting that is on the character is is a spot light shining down onto his face. He then looks up at the ceiling of his car and points the gun and his head. The scene then cuts to black and the non-diegetic narrative we hear throughout suddenly stops and the foley sound of a gun shot is heard.
Representation
The social group represented in this short film is masculinity however it is portrayed in a negative way because the main character is shown to be weak in the sense that he is writing this apology letter.
Narrative
This film is told in a non linear structure because it goes back in a flashback. We are revealed by the story that the protagonist has killed his best friend in a drunk driving incident however not much of this story is revealed and the plot tells us that the letter is written to his mother.
Genre
The genre for this film is a thriller because it has typical thriller conventions such as low key lighting and shaky camera work.
Excellent
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