Short filmmakers use a multitude of different techniques to force their viewing audience to look closer at what the film is portraying. Nicholas Clifford’s film ‘We’ve All Been There’ and Matt Bird’s film ‘A Desperate Deed’ make the viewing audience reflect on and review their views on the lower class of people. In both films the main focus is on a small couple or family living in rural Australia that are under terrible financial stress and judgements, by the climax of the short the reality of their lives are brought to the audience’s attention by cinematic techniques carefully chosen by the director.
In both films, Clifford and Bird use settings to help communicate a sense of feeling for the characters in the film. Both films use this technique
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One very prominent symbol is the cars the people drive. In ‘We’ve All Been There’ the old lady is seen driving a Mercedes-Benz, which is often associated with wealth and prosperity, whereas in ‘A Desperate Deed’ the poor family is seen driving a mid-90s Mitsubishi station-wagon, which represents the polar opposite of wealth and prosperity. Further adding to the point of poorness in Bird’s film are the small, beat up shoes from the little girl resting in the footwell of their car, leading the audience to believe they do not even have enough funds to buy her daughter new shoes. Both families are struggling to pay the bills, something we can all relate to. In Bird’s film, the man is seen packing the car with what seems to be weapons, and the wife questions it. The background music playing is very eerie at this point, the director is trying to make it seem like a murder is about to take place. Another interesting and very subtle symbol from Bird’s film is the radio in the car, the newscaster is reporting on the reserve bank raising rates and goes on about how it might affect families holidays and pressure homeowners. The newscaster then goes on to report on how two bodies were found and the man then immediately switches the radio off, further leading the audience to believe he may be committing a
November 1998, written for FILM 220: Aspects of Criticism. This is a 24-week course for second-year students, examining methods of critical analysis, interpretation and evaluation. The final assignment was simply to write a 1000-word critical essay on a film seen in class during the final six-weeks of the course. Students were expected to draw on concepts they had studied over the length of the course.
In Australia the Aboriginals face discrimination daily. The film opened with four young Aboriginal girls singing on a makeshift stage facing their community. When the camera panned to show the smiling faces in the crowd it gave a feel of unity and love. Later it showed two sisters who were trying to hitch a ride into the city from the main road. Yet every vehicle passed them by; once they saw who they were, frustrated the older sister. Gale stated it was because they ‘were black’. When in the town playing their song on the stage in a bar, the youngest sister turned up and took
The most confronting aspect of the documentary was the failure of the Australian Government’s to address poverty within the Mt. Druitt community. It was fairly evident that Mt Druitt’s community is “let down”, especially when Billy, a resident, was accused of failing to pay rent. This certainly struck me, as without a house to
Neill, Alex. “Empathy and (Film) Fiction.” Philosophy of film and motion pictures : an anthology. Ed. Noel Carrol and Jinhee Choi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 247-259. Print.
This movie was filmed among Australian land and in each shot the outback was clean, healthy and wasn’t proposed in any way dirty. The extreme wide and broad shots shown in this film capture the aspects of Australia which aren’t always seen. The visual of the panning camera and the bird’s eye view shots show Australian for its true natural beauty, which should not be taken for granted. If people at this year’s film festival notice how beautiful our country is and truly can be, this could help to promote discussion on how to keep Australia alive and
Small, Pauline. (2005) New Cinemas: journal of Contemporary Film Volume 3, Queen Mary, University of London
settings of the two different stories are located in different areas, where the film used
It is a common mis-conception that films are merely entertainment, and serve no other purpose than to provide for the viewer a two-hour escape from reality. This is a serious under-estimation of the power, purpose, and potential of film, because film, upon reflection, revea...
The film Wendy and Lucy, directed by Kelly Reichardt, presents a sparse narrative. The film has been criticised for its lack of background story, and as a short film, much of the story is left to the viewer to infer from what is presented in the plot. However, Wendy and Lucy is able to depict the intimate relationship between Wendy and her dog as well as reflecting more broadly on the everyday, and commenting on the current economic state of the film’s setting in America. This essay will examine how film form contributes to the viewer’s awareness of the story in Wendy and Lucy and allows a deeper understanding of the themes presented. The aspects of mise-en-scene, shot and editing and sound in the film will be explored.
Bordwell, David. “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice.” Film Theory and Criticism. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. Oxford University Press, 2009: 649-657.
Paul Morrissey has created an atypical piece of cinema in which we view a character’s banal existence through the focal point of a choppy and broken editing style. This clip takes the viewer by surprise as it does not follow the conventional norms that we as an audience are familiar with, such as smooth transitions, clean editing, and sound dubbing.
Rascaroli, Laura. "The Essay Film: Problems, Definitions, Textual Commitments." Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 49.2 (2008): 24-47. JSTOR. Web. 08 May 2014.
Distinctively visual allows one to explore the ways images are created through the use of visual and literary techniques. The Australian bush is a harsh, dangerous and lonely land with no one around for miles. Henry Lawson clearly identifies this as he highlights the difficulty and consequences if one doesn’t adapt to it. The prescribed texts ‘The Drover’s Wife’, ‘In a Dry Season’ and ‘The Bush Undertaker’ by Henry Lawson and related material ‘Spelling Father’ by Marshall Davis-Jones as well as ‘Australia’ directed by Baz Luhrmann paint an image of what is normal for someone in their position as well as what they need to be. This can be seen through the concepts love for the family, the harsh Australian environment and the eccentric minds stereotypically found in the bush.
In Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" symbols are used to enhance and stress the theme of the story. A symbol is a person, object, action, place, or event that in addition to its literal meaning, suggests a more complex meaning or range of meanings. (Kirszner & Mendell 330) The theme of the story is how coldness and lack of compassion can be exhibited in people in situations regarding tradition and values. That people will do incredibly evil and cruel things just for the sake of keeping a routine. Three of the main symbols that Shirley uses in the story is the setting, black box, and the actual characters names. They all tie together to form an intriguing story that clearly shows the terrible potential if society forgets the basis of tradition. The story also shows many similarities between the culture of the village, and the culture of Nazi Germany. How blind obedience to superiors can cause considerable damage to not only a community, but the entire world. Symbolism plays a large role in "The Lottery" to set the theme of the story and make the reader question traditions.
Another example is when Chance watches television. In the book, the narrator explains that when Chance changes the channel, he feels like he is changing himself. As he changes the channel, he gets caught up in all the different images he sees. In the movie, all you see is a man watching television, which doesn't explain too much. In the movie, the only time we find out what Chance thinks of television is when he is talking to someone else.