Applying the 5 key concepts from
section A, 1b to short films of your choice
Tick Tock
Edited, Written & directed by: Ien Chi
Date of production: January 2011
Found & watched on YouTube.
This
is a very inspiring, touching short film. A young man realizes he only
has a few minutes left; all worries leave his mind except what
matters to him the most.
After looking through quite a few shorts films, this is by
far the best one I came across, I was really impressed and inspired by the way
this was filmed and edited. The way the story is told backwards (probably
experimental) really paid off as it really added to the inspiring atmosphere,
also using this technique helped keep me engaged and once It reached the end,
it pulled the whole story together.
Representation
I would say
that for this film, it represents more the young adult area the majority of the
actors in this short film seem quite young and the story line is quite romantic
and inspirational. Issues such as death are represented quite highly in this
short film, the reality of what really is important in your life, and this is
shown through the use of dialogue and actions. Nothing else matter for the main
character apart from spending his last minutes with the women he loves.
It is hard to define a specific genre for this short film, in
my opinion it is almost a romantic drama as it projects a real-life situation
and realistic characters which really works well in conjunction with the main
message of the film of concentrating on what really matters (the people who
matter most). As a result of this it really influences the idea of social
realism as real life events are actually happening and it puts the whole idea
of the film in perspective.
The main
character in the short film ‘Tick Tock’ is a young male; there is an idea of a
representation that many people of this age may worry about too many things in
their lives or that they do not appreciate what’s actually most important and
until something happens to impact their lives in a bad way, they finally see
the bigger picture. This is almost a stereotype that young male or just younger
people of today in general take things for granted too much. Another
representation is the costuming, it is almost like a stereotype of a ‘student’
casual t-shirt and jeans with a trendy, slicked hairstyle.
The expected audience for this film being young adults has
definitely helped shape the representations of this film as in my opinion how
different social groups see things is very different to others as it is how the
generation is brought up to view them. So essentially it has been adapted to
fit this purpose of audience as it is a modern film with young actors the same
age as the audience, also the way it is represented in the way of ‘reality’ as
if trying to issue the idea that anything can happen when reality strikes.
In terms of dealing with issues, this film is based on the
issue that when faced with death, all expectations, pride, fear of failure and
embarrassment are forgotten and fall off the face of earth and you are left
with what really is important. By this message it is inspire the audience to
not worry about the little things as much, focus on what is most important
personally, appreciate what you’ve got. It shows this throughout the film,
using the storyline at which events follow on, then we as the audience are hit
with a quote by Steve Jobs which basically sums up what the film has been try
to put across.
Narrative
The use of plot is
very clever in this film, the plot of a man who takes something and only has a
few days to live, who later realises it was all a joke is reversed so that we
don’t as a spectator know what really happened to trigger the events till the
end of the film by using a restricted narration.
The story is played out to provide an informative, description of how it
happened in greater detail to show the audience and understanding of the
characters lives, the situation there in and what’s going on.
The films chronology order is non linear as it events are
reversed; through the theory of Todorov, the film ‘Tick Tock’ is split into
stages, it starts with the resolution and finishes with the equilibrium. This
is to confuse the audience and to make them more engaged, it causes them to
want to continue to watch it to see what the reason for him only having a few
days to live.
Genre
In this film I do not believe there is a main genre as it is
hard to identify what category it goes into, there are of course elements of
certain genres but to me there’s none that stand out to be the main genre. This
is done through the use of the storyline and how it was put together; there are
no real components to add a genre on as it is just like an everyday life
situation. And I think this is why the director has done it this way; it does
however leave the audience asking themselves what genre it comes under.
Short films typically use genre to help identify the audience
appropriate for the film, as they are not usually well known therefore they are
classified within the Genre window.
Semantic codes are often used in shorts films to help the
audience identify the genre, for example in this short film the ‘box’ the main
character is trying to give to his girlfriend implies that it is ‘Romantic’,
this is the common use of iconography.
Another theorist once said that ‘The success of movies all
depends on what we expect and partly on getting something surprising and new
(different)’ this theory applies to this films genre very well as the movie
definitely is what the audience expect in terms of genre however what makes
this film stand out is the surprise of receiving how the man got in his certain
position at the end of the film.
Audience
From the website it is on (YouTube) the film is obviously
open to a wide audience to view, people who have access to the internet,
research shorts films and enjoy viewing them are the people who it’s aimed at, the
demographic I would say being young adults.
The audience may be pleased with the film because it is
inspiring, it is well put together and edited, the way it is constructed and
the order which it is shown is very impressive. It suits a wide variation of
audience as I don’t think it belongs to a Genre as well as the message being
very powerful behind the story.
This film has also been screen on quite a few other websites;
I have found that the film has been categorized under ‘short films’ &
Genres such as Drama & Action.
This film has won the MovieFest Best Picture award in
Hollywood; it was a worldwide contest where over 75,000 students participated.
This award was designed to find the best student movie maker out there and
occurs annually.
Ien Chi is a movie maker who created this film and many
others; he is a young student who finds passion behind filmmaking. He feels
filmmaking has enabled him to find more about himself and about the world
around him, he works on his own and hopes in the next few years to have brought
out his own feature film.
The Elevator
Directed
by Greg Glienna
Produced
in 2010
Found
& Watched on YouTube
A
summary of this film is a man who Is in an elevator is quickly get’s off when
he realises so many ‘overweight’ people are getting on, he soon get’s on
another one with no overweight people on, who turn out to all be ill when the
door shuts.
I
chose this film because unlike others I have seen, this one is very comical
meanwhile clever at the same time. I really found this one exciting, although
it was quite a simple idea.
Representation
I would say
in terms of social group’s middle class, middle aged through the stereotype of
the casual ‘office worker’. The only issues being represented is of the main
characters lift phobia as too much weight is being bundled on.
Obviously
this is being presented in the genre of a comedy so although there is an idea
of social realism through personal experiences of lift for example, the over
situation is unlikely however. On the other hand it is represented so well that
the audience can almost picture themselves and almost step into the shoes of
the main actor to imagine what it’s like as the film unfolds.
The main male character in this film is portrayed as a
stereotypical middle class citizen through the use of costuming (Black shirt
& brown trousers). He is also represented to be quite a calm, polite and
patient man through his body language when he’s in the lift. I would say he is
presented as a mentally weak character due to him not having the willingness to
speak up.
The expected
audience for this film has shaped the representation for this film in terms of
humour, to the audience many can relate to this situation the characters in.
Also the character is sculptured around the target audiences ‘stereotype’ in
terms of the majority being placed into the ‘middle class’ category which in
turn has meant that the representations have been sculptured to suit the
audience.
The film
does not deal with serious personal issues to say but the more unlucky humorous
issue which fall into many situations, it’s almost the more awkward issue. The
issue being the main character trying to get to his floor via the lift however
he comes across some boundaries restricting him, one being too much weight in
the lift followed by everyone ill in the next. It is a very unlikely issue
which to pinpoint accuracy wouldn’t happen to a lot of people, it’s more in the
area of bad luck which makes it funny. I think the director has based it on
this because as a viewer you can imagine yourself in this situation, and
meanwhile watching it almost causes you to question what you would do in that situation.
Narrative
The plot is
a comedy strip on the basis of a man trying to use to the lift to get to his
floor meanwhile he has the worst luck which causes many barriers to come up and
when he thinks he is finally sorted it, another situation arises. The events
then relate to the story which goes into greater details to explain the story
of what the man comes across, the effect of this on the spectator is that they
get to see the story unfold in chronological order using unrestricted narration
so we us the audience know what he knows so it’s almost like we are there with
him.
The
chronology of the film is in linear order as being a comedy it, in my opinions
need to unfold in this particular order to maximise the humour, the
‘disruption’ as it is to speak or the event which comes up to trigger it being
funny needs to happen fairly near the beginning to ensure it can be played on
throughout until the resolution or good ending occurs.
In terms of
the Todorov theory of Narrative, this film ‘The elevator’ has all the
components which Todorov specifies, the equilibrium being him going to the
lift, the disruption being too many overweight people getting in the lift,
confrontation is him getting off it before it got too heavy & the
resolution being all the ill people finally getting off.
Genre
The Genre in
this film is very easy to identify due to the overall construction of the film
and on the basis of the humorous storyline it is therefore a comedy.
Short films typically use genre to help identify the audience
appropriate for the film, as they are not usually well known therefore they are
classified within the Genre window.
The genre theory of Rick Altman sort of fits in to this film,
he found that films of single genre have things in common with each other, an
example of this is sematic codes, the idea of common iconography which in ‘the
elevator’s’ case it’s not within the mise en scene but the actual story line.
Audience know it’s a comedy when the focus of the film is on something humorous
happening. In terms of Neale’s theory this definitely fits in to it as he
believed it all depends on what we expect, and partly on getting something
surprising and different. In terms of this film and with comedies in general,
the audience always expect it to be funny so the elevator succeeds in that area
and also with comedies you never really know why it’s going to be funny so
there is a surprise in that. The elevator definitely surprised me as I didn’t
know really how an elevator incident could be so funny.
The codes and conventions are used commonly for a comedy like
this film; it all depends on conflicts, in particular in this case between a
weak willed man and strong characters that don’t care. Much comedy arises from
the success of the weak in deflating the powerful like the man getting off the
lift before it gets even heavier and something serious happens. On the other
hand, comedy is also a weapon against fear of the unknown or 'the Other' e.g.
not knowing all the people in the lift were ill.
Audience
By being on the website YouTube, anyone can view the video
simply by browsing and finding the video. By the creator of the film ‘meet the
parents’ there profile is already bound to have quite a few views and
subscribers so by putting it on here they already have a demographic to target.
It is categorized under ‘comedy’ and the good thing about this is that this
genre reaches out to a huge audience as everyone loves humour. Also by being a
comedy it isn’t restricted to having an age boundary so it suits all ages and
all genres.
The audience may be pleased with the film because it is such
a funny, uplifting film which puts you in a good mood. The comedy audience
enjoy seeing other peoples misery is humorous way, and the overall situation is
very unlikely but you as the audience can almost picture yourself there.
This film is screened
on many other video streaming websites also under the ‘comedy’ category.
However the majority of these sites have just direct linked the film from
YouTube so it’s not really embedded right on the website.
From searching the internet I have found that although this
is a great short film, it has not won any awards. Maybe due to the director
already being well known so he most likely wouldn’t enter competitions.
Greg Glienna
is an American director and screen writer known for being the creator of the
original ‘Meet the Parents’. He stars in quite a few of the films he writes and
directs including this one (The Elevator), he sold films he wrote to labels
such as Universal and Warner Bros.
Media Language
Something
that really stood out for me was the technical codes that the camera angle
stays eye level the entire video, this lets you see eye to eye with all the
characters so you can see the main characters reaction within the crowd of
people, as if you are in the lift as well which implements the feeling of
greater interaction. Some symbolic codes I noticed were putting a
building in the background; this makes it look like it’s in a city area so 
you know it’s an
established business place. Another code is the numbers, the numbers symbolize
that they are moving up through the close up on them and how they highlight
once they reach each floor, but actually they are staying stationary as
different numbers light up. Another specific 
shot I noticed was a bird eye view medium shot of
the main character which shows us the
audience how cramped it is in the lift to exagerate the amount of people in the
lift.
