Bus 44 Belonging

Bus 44 which is directed by Dayan Eng, which was released in 2001. This fascinating story is a short, horrific, and to the point with a heartfelt and disturbing statement of issue facing society. This is an award-winning movie such as: Best Narrative Short Film at Florida Film Festival, at Venice Film Festival This was the first time that a chinese short film had won all three festivals in the history. The actors in the movie are Gong beibi( Bus driver), Wu Chao(The Young Man),LI Yixiang(Short Bandit), Zhou Kui(Tall Bandit) and the police officer. Within the entire of this short film there were only these 6 characters out of a total of around 18 people, that really stand out, they all fit the film very effectively.

The short film takes place on the outer part of a small town, on a bleak country road.
The movie has been set in Hong Kong. In the beginning it sets a calm and relaxed mood for the audience as it attracts them to wonder what could be happening next that could perhaps interrupts the peaceful setting.

In the beginning when it shows a starting shot birds or crickets chirping can be heard which is represents non-diegetic sounds.

After few seconds, the film crosscut to the bus and its running engine, this gives the audience an imagination of what's happening and what could happen, It also gives the audience a sense of curiosity and a feeling to watch the movie till the end. At the end when the young man gets kicked out off the bus, a slow background music is played. The reason the director has used this kind of music especially at a scene like this is to allow the audience to understand what just happened throughout the

story.

There are many camera shots used in this film such as long shots, medium shots, wide shots and two shots. When the young man who is the main protagonist is crouching over the side of the road, while waiting for a bus.The camera shot used here is a long shot . This scene gives the effect that he is tired of waiting for a bus to travel by the look of his face. The director has used this shot to give the audience a feeling of sympathy for the character. When The main character is looking at the approaching bus which is a medium shot of him and the bus which adds character to the young man. A wide shot is used when all the passengers realising that the two robbers are telling them to hand them all the money they have. This gives the audience the feeling that the passengers are shocked but mostly scared.
This wide shot is also used by the director because he wanted the audience to feel sympathy for them. Another camera shot was two shot of the bus driver and the bandit. Where the audience can see the driver is frightened by the alarming bandit.
This camera shot makes the audience feel empathy for the bus driver.

At the end of the film, the young man gets a ride from a stranger but not before the car comes to a stop due to some police officers investigating a bus crash. When the young hears the police officer describing the total amount of people died, the young man looks stunned but then he also slightly smiles, this is also the last camera shot used in the short film. This is used by the director because he wanted to make sure that the audience leaves the short film with an impact of the short film.
This scene is very confusing to the audience to witness as the main character makes a smile. This leaves the audience unanswered questions such as: what resulted the bus to crash? , Was it by purpose or accidental? And why did the young man laughed at the end of the short film