Case
study 1: Ben and Jackie
I have
chosen three case studies that related to my film idea in terms of genre and
style. My
first case study is Ben and Jackie, directed by Jason Wingard, a
romantic comedy about a taxi driver in love with a passenger that he takes
shopping every Monday. This short film was made for the reed film competition in
2011. The short film is in live action and follows a very simple storyline
which makes it easy for the audience to comprehend what is going on. This is primarily targeted at middle aged men
who have been rejected by someone they like. However, it could be targeted at a
variety of individuals who just generally hate Mondays, such as teenagers.
The themes
of this short film are love and loneliness. These themes are easy to relate to
and many individuals can re-count similar memories to this situation. The theme of love is explored through the slow
cutting rate when Ben and Jackie are waving at each other and the use of
non-diegetic sound creates a romantic mood and loving atmosphere. Non-diegetic
sound is a sound track or beat that is relevant to the audience. In this case
the romantic music sets a calm soothing mood. In contrast, the theme of
loneliness is portrayed through the long shot at the end of the clip which
shows the surrounding area. There is a clear road with the cab driving away.
The car driving away is symbolic as it suggests Jackie is driving out of his
life as she has a boyfriend.
The
characters used in this short film are very stereotypical and live up to their
label. For example, the young Muslim is an archetype boy who is angry with the
world, as he thinks the cab driver is racist. We can tell he is from Manchester
by his accent and he is a young Muslim by his clothing, such as his Taliban
scarf and Islamic hat. The main
character, Ben, is represented as a typical cab driver. A middle aged man who
doesn’t take too much pride in his appearance and just wants to fall in love. The
long shot at the beginning of the film shows Ben standing next to his car; this
also connotes loneliness, as it is just him and his car in the shot. He is
dressed in dull coloured clothing and seems to look the same in every shot. The
use of the medium long shot when the camera is looking through the windscreen
makes the audience feel as though they are in the car with Ben. We sense that he does not have very much
confidence as conversation is limited and boring when he is around Jackie. The
close up of the flowers and the price connotes he is cheap and not very popular
with the ladies. He buys her budget flowers and says, “I might get a shag out
of it” which makes us question whether he is making an effort because he really
likes her or is he just looking for a bit of fun. This could also suggest he is
acting like an archetypal slobbish male who just sees women as a sex object and
does not really care about finding love.
The shot
where the close up of Jackie’s face is frozen for a few seconds helps to
emphasize her beauty and how much Ben admires her. She is smiling which shows
the contrast of how happy she is and how unhappy and miserable Ben’s life is. The
shallow depth of field is used when Jackie is going to ASDA as it is blurred
and Ben’s face is in focus which draws the audience’s attention to him watching
her and hoping he could spend more time with her. The use of the voice over
(diegetic sound) helps create a narrative structure. It creates a stream of
consciousness and the audience can see what he really feels. From this short
film I could take the idea of a boy who doesn’t have very much self-confidence
wanting to be with a beautiful popular girl. I would incorporate some of the
camera angles and editing techniques to help emphasize the boy’s depressing
life in contrast to the girl’s outgoing life. I could use the shallow depth of
field technique when showing my character to make the audience focus on him and
his lifestyle. I am also going to use a similar narrative, a voice over.
No comments:
Post a Comment