Thursday, 30 September 2010

Joseph Beardsall Five Minute Film Analysis

Strangers Analyze



The reason I decided to analyze "Strangers" is because I believe it strongly relates to our film and fits into the same genre of film. The genre of the film is drama, its a 7 minute film based around the difference in religious society's and the hatred towards each other. The first shot is a long shot of a train traveling down the underground which is a great shot to introduce the scene and set the location.The lightening is rather darkened but the train lights are very bright. There's also a diegetic sound of the train as it gets closer. Then comes the title and a medium shot of the back of a man looking at a train stopping then a panned close up from right to left of the man's head as he gets onto the train. Finally a medium shot of him walking down the train revealing what he is wearing. These shots show very good continuity of the train stopping and him getting on. As he sits down he has a harsh look at the man across from him, then the other man in a close up of his eyes and paper looks similarly back. This reveals the conflict between them.

The paper that the Arabian man is reading is the first sign of his religion as it is an Arabian paper so you presume he is an Arab. The next shot is a close up of the Jewish man still staring at the other man but also holding his necklace which has a Jewish symbol this then shows both their religions and also the reason for the conflict between them. The next significant part of the film is the medium shot of the train as a group of skin headed men walk down the train and sit next to the two men. The Jewish man then sees the group of men and puts the necklace back down his shirt so the gang do not recognize his religion this is portrayed in a medium close up of the Jewish male. One of the men sprays the Arabs paper with black spray paint in the sign of a Nazi which introduces the conflict between the gang of men and him, meanwhile the Jewish man is watching the conflict unfold. The gang of men are all similarly dressed in white shirts and have tattoos and ear pieces which help to show they over power the other two men.

Now there are a number of shots to show the conflict between the men which also helps build tension for the viewer as you can tell that the Nazis are trying to start trouble with the Arab. The tension is shown through a close up of one of the Nazis faces and him looking down then a close up of his foot been placed between the Arabs crouch which is also to show the skin heads intimidation towards the Arab. The two shots show great continuity as the Nazis looks down then it shows hes looking at his foot and him moving his foot. The next shot is of a close up of the Arabs face and him showing a sign of fear and defeat as he puts his head down to also show he is inferior to the men. The there's a long shot as there was at the beginning showing the train coming through the tunnel and then a pan from right to left to show it stopping.

There is no dialog throughout this film which means it relies on signs, camera angles and mise-en-scene to show the storyline. The next shot is a medium shot of the Jewish man as he prepares to leave the train and in the same shot there is diegetic sound of his ring tone which is a Jewish ring tone. This then reveals to the Nazis the man is Jewish. This suddenly changes the conflict onto him because Nazis are enemies of Jews and also Arabs. Then there's a over the shoulder shot of two of the Nazis backs and the Arab sitting in front of them this is to show that the conflict has not completely directed towards the Jewish man and the Arab is still a target for the Nazi men and also there is a large Nazi sign tattooed on the back of one of the Nazis heads which just confirms that they are Nazis.

Then there is a close up of the Arabs making eye contact with the Jewish man and a medium shot of the Jewish man doing the same and quickly throwing his bag to the Arab. This is where the two enemies make a short alliance to escape the situation. A medium close up of two Nazis confirms there shock at the attempted escape by the Arab and Jew. Then the shot speed increases and there are a range of close ups showing a struggle before two continuing medium shots panning right to left of the two men and then the Nazis chasing them. Then there is a medium shot of both the Arab and the Jew leaving the train followed by a shot of the doors closing and the Nazis been left on the train. A close up of the Arabs face as he breaths heavily reveals his relief to have escaped.

Finally there is a long shot of both the men celebrating their triumph as the train disappears down the tunnel. The men exchange bags and in a medium close ups of each of them they acknowledge there alliance and bid each other farewell. To finish there is one last long shot as both men disappear in opposite directions which show there alliance is over but there is now no hatred between the two men. What made me want to analyze "Strangers" was the moral story of two completely different people working together and becoming friends which is also portrayed in a different way in our own short film.

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