Short Film Comparison

I watched three short films and identified their similarities and key differences in the way they have been produced, in terms of elements such as the mise-en-scene, camera shots/ angles and the way it has been edited to depict a certain message.

Drift - Theo Tagholm (here)


Mise-en-scene

A cityscape can be seen, high key lighting as it seems to be day.  The camera pans around the buildings from a high-angle.  The colours are bland, distorted footage follows as a green are can be seen - almost like a park.  Trees and people are distorted, the opening quote ' I drift, half awake, half asleep' suggests that this could perhaps be a dream state.  The way it is filmed suggests that it is a POV - someone moving/ 'drifting' towards these locations, or moving away.  The city-scape can be seen with a lake in the foreground, the next shot shows the POV shot as walking down a street with housing either side.  This again all shows areas that a character could be living in - there is no narrative or dialogue and we are unsure.  There is a room to be seen towards the end, a lampshade shown.  The low key lighting and dark roads depict the idea of the end of the day; which suggest that the character has perhaps finished their journey as the screen fades to black.  It is very dream like.

Editing, Camera shots/ angles

There is a ripple effect in the editing as it seems to be dream like - the image changes; almost forming into the next shot, and location.  They are wide and establishing shots; but it seems as soon as we are being introduced to the shot, a different location is shown, the editing is smooth and it all flows smoothly together.   There aren't a lot of sound effects, yet footsteps can be heard in the background, or the rustle of something/ someone.  This emphasises the fact that it is a POV shot and the character behind is walking along - 'drifting' along as the title suggests.  There is something intriguing about the way the vision is distorted, objects slowly begin to appear but fade again - almost a little delayed.  The shots seem to morph into each other; as objects from other established locations begin to collide and appear into other locations - such as the lamp post appearing in a lake scene.  



Octo-Dancing - Reza Dolatabadi (here)

Mise-en-scene

The opening shots simply show anatomy of what seems to be an octopus; with restricted movement in the water - they are close-up shots.  Debris can be seen floating around in the surrounding water; there is low key lighting which adds a sense of mystery as there are extreme close-up shots of the tentacles on the sea creature.  The images are slightly disjointed in the end, as they seem to 'dance' to the rhythm of the background sound effects - different coloured almost electric lights also appear in between the shots of the octopus  The end titling sequence shows a ray of light pan across the darkness of the water - an electric blue.  Again, there is no clear narrative and the images are slightly surreal - the main focus is the sea creature and it's movements being emphasised by the strong close up shots of it's anatomy.   

Editing, Camera shots/ angles

The editing is disjointed and fast paced - the footage is pieced together in the rhythm of the electronic beat in the background music.  Debris swirls around in the water then the octopus is the focus, being in the centre of the water.  It seems to be 'dancing' in the way that it jumps; different lights appear - almost as if it is being electrocuted.  It speeds up as a full shot of the octopus appears; perhaps a build up in the narrative.  The anatomy of the octopus is viewed from different angles, high and low with extreme close up shots of the tentacles - this depics a sort of intimacy as we seem to be close to the creature.  Music is interesting, it begins with a hollow trance like sound that soon builds up - it seems to be an introduction to the creature.  The disjointed like beat is dominant in the background.  It is almost repetitive and robot like, with synth like sound effects.  This works very well in depicting a surreal like/ electronic image as the octopus moves to the beat which slightly pulses.

No More - Israr Azam (here)

Mise-en-scene

An establishing shot at the beginning shows a pan around a city, grass in the foreground and buildings in the back,  the image of the following shot fuses together almost similarly to 'Drift' - the following city scape can again be seen.  There are fountains  then a medium - again panning shot suggests the flowing water fountain.  There is a shot showing a street - all these show the use of high key lighting, it is a regular day.  People are seen walking along this street shot, coming in the camera's direction.  A close up zooms inwards on a cup and saucer of tea; a spinning one pence coin is seen afterwards.  These objects and location seem to set the scene of a city, of ordinary and everyday life.  So far we are not aware of the narrative and what these objects may mean - however they seem to be anticipating something soon to come.  These fast again distorted shots show smoke rising from a factory, a clock ticking, and a lamp-post   These suggest to me a time factor or perhaps industrialisation - working life.  It is dramatic as they all come to a holt; a dark cross-fade from the lamp-post shows the tea cup tremble, enhances the idea of oncoming danger as the background music rises with tension.  The tea spurtles, a quick cut to waves crashing on a shore.  Again this emphasises danger in the scene yet also seems to reflect the cup of tea as it spills.  A shot of the feet of people - perhaps men suits shows them walking along; they seem to have a location to get to. 

The mise-en-scene is effective and dramatic - showing a rise in tension and almost simple shots after momentum speeds up; we begin to see freeze frames of action/ events i.e. a theft, female with a wedding ring and a quote - 'happiness', a man catching a criminal and an explosion - which then resume to pace as we see people walking along the street.  It seems to simply suggest that these are everyday issues; the dramatic tension portrays this creatively and artistically through the emphasis on bad actions; by prolonging shots through a freeze frame.

Editing, Camera shots/ angles

The editing varies in pace and is effective - as the rise in tension is caused by a slow pace that suddenly starts to increase - followed by abrupt pauses or freeze frames.  Such as the pausing of the coin which was previously spinning quickly and the resuming of previously paused footage of the criminal/ scenes that depict the issues in everyday life.  There is a variety of camera angles and shots varying from establishing and wide shots to suggest the opening location; to close up shots that portray emotion and emphasise the message behind a certain object or use of symbolism.  The shots seem to pan around from one to another, which suggest a time element as well as being establishing shots.  There is focus to detail; which creates a dramatic effect, even though there is actually no clear narrative - just a message.  

SIMILARITIES:

• The three short films are similar in the sense that they do not have a clear plot or narrative.  They seem to depict a certain theme or message through effective mise-en-scene use; such as props or locations that are up to interpretation, creating tension for the audience.  
• There is also effective use of sound; that again enhances the mise-en-scene, such as the quickening pace of the music as the freeze-frame unfolds and we see the thief being chased like in 'No More'.  The electronic beat in the music montage, 'Octo-Dancing' is rhythmically suitable as the movements are edited to move along.  There is no character development in any of the films, which suggests that they are an artists moving image,  that have deep symbolic meanings open to interpretation instead of stating the obvious. 

DIFFERENCES:

• Despite similar layouts and style in editing and mise-en-scene; especially between 'No More' and 'Drift' - they are different in content and the message that they depict.  For example, 'No More' is significantly different in the sense that a message is being portrayed and it isn't surreal like the other two films - 'Drift' is completely different, being repetitive establishing shots that don't suggest any form of narrative, but an ongoing journey like in a dream state.  Mise-en-scene wise the locations are similar being set in a city.  'Octo-Dancing' however completely differs; being a focus on one subject only; in form of a music video which shows no change in location/ character.  Editing wise, the rapid movement of the octopus is different as it fits in with a rhythm, and in 'Drift' it is the only image that is distorted in the editing process using special effects.