Deconstructing Media: Short Films

THE LAST GUNSLINGER

By Alessandro Dominico

This spaghetti western short film has been directed by Alessandro Dominico and is set up in a vacant industrial space.

'The Last Gunslinger' is an Italian short merged with film noir. Low key lighting throughout the 9 minute short signifies the time when the short film was shot and also adds up to the suspense that is consistent throughout the film.

The short begins with various numericals on the old wall.This is the first thing that strikes in our heads as odd and something unusual.

                                        

                                     

The costume of the only character in the film might not be so odd but the various other accessories do spice up the drama. His gun holder, his gun, his leather boots are not very modern, hence we may presume the short to be filmed somewhere in the 60's.

                                                                           

           
                                                                             
The background score is very noticeable because, not only is it suspenseful but it also keeps the audience attracted. The mixture of the old 60's instrumental and the suspenseful effect merged together gives a dangerous thrilling effect to the short.
The character's expression through almost half of the 8 minute film is very vague and remains complacent. However, the sharp glint, the malicious glee and the relieved, satisfied expression through the last 45 seconds after the bullet is fired are quite suspenseful and add so much to the drama as to where the bullet was fired at and who did it aim, that it is quite revolting to finally understand the direction of the bullet as it enters the main character's body himself.

 

                          
                                                                                                                                                                                 

The suspense is consistent even at this point. It is only when the folded paper in the character's hand falls with lifelessness that one can understand the connection between the physical numerics and the directions on the paper. The secret code in this short film is decoded only at the very end of the film.

 

 The title 'The Last Gunslinger' may be answered to as a gunman firing his gun for the last time, only the title does not identify who the last bullet was fired at.

GONE GOODBYE

By Keith Rivers

Gone Goodbye is a 4 minute short film by Keith Rivers that is based on human emotions and how separations may be sad, hence it can be categorized under 'drama'.

 The film begins with an L Cut whereby the transition of the audio comes in before the visual. The soft lighting and the sad element of separation with Catherine represents the genre of drama. The film starts with a very sad and low-volume background score that is over-lapped by a sad yet mature, manly voice. The audio is in a monotone which depicts the lethargy of the character that he didn't care about expressing himself.

Most of the camera shots are static and capture full shots or vista shots. The establishing shot in this short followed the car from a bird's eye view as it went its long course. The vista shot of the parking lot where the character parks his car is quite huge while two turns need to be taken in order to get dropped off. The long travelling  space may be signifying the long and slow pace of life as it is dragging on without any purpose. 

 This is again a full shot, however it signifies the helplessness of the character through his slouched down shoulders and the slow pace with which he is walking. The color scheme used is basically autumny and very dry. Also it is giving a sad effect to the outlook of the short as it is pointing towards reality. The color of he character's clothes are also not very cheerful, hence, signifying, again, a sad situation.

The stick has been used as a prop in this short film, signifying no particular usage at this point, however, one realizes later why it had been added and given so much attention. The cracks outlined by the stick may represent the hard and tough life the narrator has gone through in life and how it has absorbed all life from within.

These two shots may be defined as cross cutting whereby a certain object is shown from both sides in preceding shots. However, lack of head room in both the cuts give an uncomfortable edge to the shot but this may be a deliberate attempt by the director to give the effect of discomfort that the protagonist in the film is feeling.

This is the very climax of the film and needs to be seen with undivided attention as the usage of a balloon that is descending from the sky, yet managing to stay away form the character is quite surprising. Also, the purpose of this shot is also something to ponder over because one can not tell at this stage, exactly why, the balloon doesn't want to be in he character's hands.

This shot whereby the balloon and the character stand in companionship is very  effective as it tells the audience that the balloon is not exactly trying to maintain distance from the character but is only trying to stay away from getting into the hands of this man who it doesn't recognize. The usage of yellow in the balloon might signify sorrow, however, the director has used the colors so welly that the two elements of this shot put together look not only 'sad' but also 'sad in unison'. The de-focus of the background adds to the smoothness of the shot and gives the sea a very  calm feel about it. The point of view of the second shot and the character's facial expression adds to the drama of the shot whereby one can easily tell that the character is amused at the balloon.

                                     
                                          

This shot shows that the character finally catches a glimpse of the letter hung by the balloons strings and as the character tries to reach for it, the balloon flies away, however not fast enough to fall prey to the stick in the character's hand, hence, it stabs itself before it could actually be in another man's hands.

Now, it is again in the very ending that we actually find out the real context behind the entire short. As the character reads only part of the letter before smoldering and shoving it in his hand, one can easily tell that the ;letter was not meant for him to read. While the balloon comes to this part of the beach for the companionship of the sea and not the man, while the man, too, is only there for the companionship of the sea and not the balloon. The balloon turns away from the man because it doesn't recognize the man and doesn't want to be touched by anyone other than its own man. Now as the surprise element opens up, we finally find out that the balloon is basically 'Katherine' and she is looking for peace so that she can get over her break-up.

RUN

By Hunter Peterson

'Run' is a 1 minute short film by Hunter Peterson that, again, revolves around the genre, 'drama' as the content of the brief is based on naughtiness and the strong desire to obtain something.

The film begins with an establishing shot as it can be seen. The shot has been contained in equal amounts of lead room on both ends while this long shot shows the setup as to where the shoot is taking place. The sports bag represents a football stadium or a sports club while the timing as to when the shoot was taking place is daylight as equal amount of light is illuminating the entire shot.

The first shot in this sequence is a mid-shot of the character while enough lead room/nose room gives the shot a very relaxed outlook. The second shot is an extreme close-up of a shoe while the third shot is a worm's eye view, medium-close up whereby the character's facial expressions hold yearning and a desire to wear what he is holding. We don't find out in the very beginning why the shoe is unwearable unless close attention is being paid on the short.

This is a point of view shot of leading lines whereby an object/subject is being seen in the very far distance. This shot attracts attention, however, it looks like more of a buffer shot as the shot doesn't hold much significance except that it is a connecting shot between the character as he wears the shoe and the preceding shot as the character passes through this expanse of the track.

The usage of laces as a prop is quite significant while the simplistic ye neat nature of all the shots is commendable as they still manager to produce the desired impact to the audience. It  is now that we actually figure out why the character's facial expression changes a he sees a pair of old shoes and uses them for the sole purpose of laces. It also explains the yearning expression of the subject as he looks at the new shoes when he takes them out of his sports bag. 

                    

                                         

                                         

This are the various expressions that the character underwent, from realization to a malicious glee and then to the concentration of putting in the laces properly. These expressions explain the character's feelings in the most visualisable way. We can also find a lot about the personality that the character is undergoing for example in this short one might ponder as to why the character did not use the laces from his white pair of shoes if he so wanted to wear the new pair. Now, hereby, one can easily configure that the character is quite particular about his outlook. This is, further confirmed, by looking at his white pair of joggers that look really good with the red laces .

Identifying My Genre

Drama is a film genre that depends mostly on an in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes.It is basically a genre whereby the content of a certain movie or film revolves around a real life tragedy or a real-life social, religious or political problem. For example, I watched 'The Vow' which is a romantic drama whereby the main lead (female) faces memory loss and is unable to recover, however her husband (male lead) is wholly persistent that she try, until both just give up and let nature take its course. Now, hereby the film revolves around a tragic event and how its effects are overcome.

The genre 'drama' is further categorised into various sub-genres. For example a movie might be a romantic drama,for example 'dear john' or a docudrama, for example 'the blind side' which is an enactment of a historical aspect of life  i.e. racism.

Some of the very prominent sub-genres of drama are:

Docudrama 

Comedy-drama

Romance

Tragedy
Urban drama

Now, urban drama is a sub-genre of drama that takes a more socially realist stance on the traditional drama genre. These dramas represent the city or the environment as a character that influences the protagonist to a certain extent. This genre, studies and depicts the effects of multiculturism, racism, poverty, over-population, corruption, e.t.c. on the central character i.e. the city/environment.
I have identified my genre as an urban drama because it is basically focusing on the various problems faced by Pakistan and how amidst these problems, people are still living happily and in constrained peace. I would have chosen romance drama or a docudrama maybe, however, I chose urban drama over all of these because it is a very common scenario that I can actually relate to and it is an everyday exposure that I gain throughout my life in Pakistan.
This is an example of an urban drama short film shot in Pakistan, my country of origin. It identifies the problem of floods damaging a certain part of Pakistan and how a very young child of only 12 years is  suffering through this catastrophe with alot of difficulty.

While this short film focuses on only one of the problems affecting Pakistan, our short film will be focusing on various problems that Pakistan is facing every day.

Genre Research

According to my understanding, a genre of any movie or an artistic piece of work may be identified by various codes and conventions which define a person's perception or his/her expectations. For example, bloodshed may define action, horror or a thriller. How we identify the very specific genre defining this bloodshed is dependent upon the iconography of the movie i.e. the location, lighting, camera placement, expressions, costumes, make-up, props, etc. For instance, to distinguish between romance and a chick flick movie, one would have to identify the location. a chick flick is usually shot in a high school setting while a romantic movie may or may not be set in a high school for example 'Jane Eyre' was shot in classic countryside setting while 'Another Cinderella Story' was shot in a high school setting. 

A genre of any media text can easily be identified by the various codes and conventions it follows. It helps the audience in defining their preferences when choosing a film. These codes and conventions may be easier to define if broken down into simpler terms i.e:

Style and Forms: These are the distinctive qualities in a media text that differentiate them with other genres. For example a horror movie is likely to hold more of disgusting gooey stuff and death while an action movie is likely to be based more on blood and a lot of physical fighting.

  

Paradigms: These are shared attributes of a genre with other media texts. These common elements maybe identified by the costumes, location, character archetypes, shot transitions, or plot content. For example the following stance is very common in all action movies, hence is easily identifiable.

.Iconography: A genre can be identified by the look of the images in the text. This is known as iconography, or the signs, that are associated with a genre. Iconography includes a wide range of ‘signs. To become part of the iconography of a genre, a pattern of visual signs remain constant in that genre over a period of time. This iconography may be identified by the colors, setting, stars and props used in the media text. The following screenshots are taken from action movies and it may be notice that all three images hold up a very serious facial expression.

                                                  

Structure: While a film's genre maybe identified by its communicative tactics, the narrative structure i.e its story line also holds significance when categorizing it. 

Theme: It refers to the main content of a media text. This theme may be identified by the forms and style, paradigms and a text's iconography to lead to the appropriate genre of the text in question. For example, every romantic movie is based on Todorov's theory on narratives whereby the theme revolves around a single content man who sees a women and falls in love. A series of problems arise and are solved by the couple in unison, leading them to a 'happily ever after'. This is the basic theme of the romantic genre on which the structure of the entire genre is built up.

Following are some basic genres and their study:

Horror- Action Horror, Thriller Horror, Slasher Films, Zombie Films

Thriller- Action Thriller, Drama Thriller, Psychological Thriller

Romance- Fantasy Romance, Contemporary Romance, Gothic Romance

Science Fiction- Near future, Military, Science Fantasy

Horror:

    

Image 1 has been taken from the movie ‘final destination 5’ while Image 2 has been taken from the movie ‘insidious’. Both the movies are contained under the genre of horror while both the shots have a very common element of violence, depicted in some way or the other. For example, image 1 shows the character as washed over in blood with a tired, hopeless expression, showing his chances of survival. Image 2 on the other hand is in the act of committing a violent act and the expression of fury and hostility on the woman’s face shows how ruthless she might just be. The low key lighting in both the images signify the dark edges in the movie, i.e. it directs the audience towards a feeling of fright and scariness and forces one to anticipate anything to happen at anytime from anywhere.

Now this here is another image from the movie ‘13 hrs’. When compared with the previous two shots, this one certainly gives one a heart-wrenching feel from the inside. How is this shot different from the above? Firstly, this image is a high angle shot of the character, signifying, to some extent, the authority and power responsible for this victim. Secondly the blood and the content of this shot whereby this super power has taken charge of all of the character’s inner organs assist in the creation of fear in the audience. The white flowers on the very lower left of the image might signify death as they do, generally.  Also, a white light has been used, again signifying lifelessness. Therefore, the content and the level of power a horror film contains, is widely dependent on the usage of the basic codes and conventions.

Thriller:

In this genre, i.e. thriller, I have been able to see two movies. Image 1 is a shot from black swan while image 2 is a shot from kill bill vol 1. A very common element in both the movies is the blood seeping out from the characters’ mouth and eyes and the expressions of pain and of the fear of dying.  We cannot judge anything by the background of image 2, however, the background used in image 1 suggests action and a certain amount of physical violence, leading to the consequent results i.e. the breaking of the mirror to create a destructed look.  Image 2 stars a Japanese character, directing one into believing that the blood might be caused due to kungfu or karate, signifying the movie as a martial arts film. Hence, it is an action thriller. However, image 2‘s character has a very gothic make-up, giving her face a peculiar lift while her expression is a mixture of both shock and anticipation. We cannot really identify the genre, however the character’s make-up and her hair style indicates nothing such as a one-to-one physical fight. Even the direction of the blood seeping out from her mouth does not indicate action as it is only a thin line. The lighting used does not give a fearful feel to the shot, therefore this movie cannot be a horror thriller, either. However, we can assume the movie to be a psychological thriller with relevance to the woman’s expressions and costume.

These are two shots from the movie ‘unstoppable’. As is clear, we cannot see any blood involved in either of the two shots but extreme action is in place. Hence, we can easily determine the movie to be a action thriller owing to the direction of the train, the way the camera has been placed to give a dangerous edge to the feel of the shot, the choppers hovering in the background, the dangerous position, the character is in the first shot trying to hold two parts of the train together, the sparks and the uncomfortable and crowded in background; all suggest an action thriller. The thrilling part being, how the train is actually stopped and how the entire nation is actually depending on one main character.

Romantic:

     

   

 These are a few scenes from the movie ‘a walk to remember’ and it depicts various aspects of a romantic drama. Romantic, because of the various codes and conventions used such as innocent expressions, expressions showing helplessness, happiness, bliss and the eye-to-eye contacts and drama because, generally all real life love stories are said to have problems, happiness, solutions, companionship and an unusual ending most of the time and secondly the helplessness signifies a tragedy that cannot be undone.  

                                                                                                                       

 

‘The Vow’ is another romantic drama, dictating the same lines of content. And if noticed closely, both the movies, i.e. ‘a walk to remember’ and ‘the vow’ use exactly the same codes and conventions. Companionship, innocence, bliss, happiness, helplessness; it’s all there. Therefore, these particular codes and conventions are a common element, defining a romantic drama.

 

                                      
                                      

In comparison to the above movies, I watched ’Beastly’ and unlike its dangerous title, it actually turned out to be a romance fiction. Above are a few shots from the film and while they too show companionship, happiness and innocence, these scenes have some additional elements which distinguish between a romance drama and a romance fiction. For example the tattoo in image 2 does not really represent something usual; a tree with sprouting branches, the rainy background in this image signifies gloominess. Hence, if interrelated, the arm tattoo does not signify something pleasing or enlightening to the audience, but something sad. the costumes of the female lead and her make-up gives a dreamy look and feel to the entire film and that helps building up her character because a dreamy look usually indicates fantasy, someone with charm and a soft nature, innocence of course and wonder. The appearance of the male lead, however, explains the movie title and one only wonder how he manages to get that appearance. Therefore, romantic drama and romance fiction might have some differences, however, the basic codes and conventions used in a romance genre remain the same.

Science Fiction:

                                        

                               

     

   

The above two scenes have been taken from the movie, ‘I, Robot’ while the lower two have been taken from the movie, ‘Iron Man 2’. The most common elements, again, in both these movies is the usage of virtual reality and hi-tech computer systems and the creation of fighting robots, through this high-level technology. The human characters in both the movies seem to be driven by this technology while the robots created may or may not serve a positive purpose, i.e. of saving the world. The scenes derived, however, do suggest combat as the above image shows an army of such robots while the lower image shows a robot, already at work.  These movies have the very common codes and conventions used in action sci-fi movies.

Consequent to the above, I saw ‘avatar’ which, too, has been subjected under the genre of action sci-fi. What distinguishes ‘Avatar’ from the above is the usage of technology, not for the creation of robots but for the creation of a scientific development which allows humans to travel into another world altogether and communicate with the aliens or the other species, whoever, they might be. Image 1 signifies the creation of this scientific machinery whereby a human works on a human to send him to the world unknown. Image 2 shows this other world, its species and how they are in combat with the humans as the latter try to exploit their natural land, its beauty and their species. Robots, too, have been used in this movie, however, in his movie, they are not given much significance, indicating the fast pace of lives and how the human world is already way ahead of the creation of fighting robots. The hi-tech laboratories used, the robots used, choppers that maybe used in a ‘no-gravity zone’ and the various other communication devices used direct one towards identifying the basic genre of the movie i.e. science fiction and the battle between two very different worlds indicates action. ‘Avatar’ may be subjected to the same genre as ‘Iron Man 2’ and 'I, Robot’, however, the use of fantasy and seeing way beyond today, lifts the genre up as the word fiction is better depicted and understood in ‘Avatar’.