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
…show more content…
to show that the characters are in need of some help, like how 'We've All Been There' shows debt by showing Jess' overdue rent bills, confusion by showing her flat tyre and her actions show that she does not know what to do, insecurity by showing the old lady's car broken down in the middle of nowhere and her locking the car down, only opening the window a crack for the man, and joy when they both came home safely and Jess' rent was paid off. 'A Desperate Deed' uses the same technique to show similar things; it shows debt by showing their beat up car, their small house and their lack of furniture or toys, nervousness when they did not know how the night was going to pan out and when he was stopped in front of the police station, insecurity when the man is trespassing at another man's house trying to steal a tree, and finally joy when his plan worked and he returned home safely with the tree. Secondly, both filmmakers use symbolic objects to subtly convey a message to the audience.
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
murder. Finally, both Clifford and Bird’s film challenge their viewers thoughts on lower class people. The films use plot devices to make the protagonists seem sketchy and untrustworthy with their unshaven beards, scruffy hair, tattoos and their speaking in slang. However, Clifford’s film breaks the stereotype earlier on in the film when the man that pulls up offers to help the old lady repair her flat tyre, plus the man’s general sense of humour, especially when his own car broke down not too long after. In contrast, Bird’s film maintains the stereotype until the end of the film when the tree was revealed. There was no humour during the short and the couple acted in very suspicious way as well as shifty sounding music playing until the end. Nicholas Clifford’s film ‘We’ve All Been There’ and Matt Bird’s film ‘A Desperate Deed’ demands their viewing audiences to change their ignorant assumptions and prejudices about lower class people and their families by way of clever use of settings and symbols in their short films.
This film captures this class distinction without subduing the atmosphere through the use of a variety of cinematic devices. “A good film is not a bag of cinematic devices but the embodiment, through devices, of a vision, an underlying theme” (Barnett, 274). The audience can see this theme of the realities of the oppression, poverty and despair of this time period through the use of the things mentioned, but also through the character development that is driven by the character’s hopelessness. Each of the characters associated with the lower class is motivated by the conditions, which are viewed through the cinematic devices mentioned above: color, spherical lenses, long shots, and high angle shots. Sources Cited:.
The film starts off showing the only sincere moments that viewers will watch with cuts to beautiful fields and artistic shots of headlights coming down a road. Director Jack Riccobono is quick to come away from these scenes as he delves straight into the bitter world Rob and Kevin are divulged in. Their story is told through first person accounts of the films Rob and Kevin, showing viewers their life stories through their own words and actions. The director uses techniques commonly found in documentaries, such as having titles and narration, to fully engage viewers into the lives of the subjects.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Since the creation of films, their main goal was to appeal to mass audiences. However, once, the viewer looks past the appearance of films, the viewer realizes that the all-important purpose of films is to serve as a bridge connecting countries, cultures, and languages. This is because if you compare any two films that are from a foreign country or spoken in another language, there is the possibility of a connection between the two because of the fact that they have a universal understanding or interpretation. This is true for the French New Wave films Contempt and Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard, and contemporary Indian films Earth and Water directed by Deepa Mehta. All four films portray an individual’s role in society, using sound and editing.