Research on Short Films (Becky) RVG

MRANGhttp://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/film/4809/rvg#.VClZjfldVQU
RVG
Genre: Action/Adventure
Film Maker: ianbucknole
running time: 2:20(min)


An impatient kid at a Pedestrian Crossing causes chaos when he hits the 'WAIT' button one two many times. A cautionary tale about impatience? Or a high octane chase featuring thrills, spills and 'Tom and Jerry' inspired mayhem? It's a Highway Code Throw-Down in RVG! (red vs green)

Media Language

LS of Child

Camera Work: 

This short film begins calm, opening with an eye level long shot of a young boy walking up to a traffic light where it appears that he is wishing to cross the road. A long shot is used here to show the setting of the film to the spectator as well as show the naturalistic lighting that tells the spectator the time of day/ season that the short film is set.

ECU of Child

The camera then quickly cuts to a low angle ECU of the child's face. This conveys his facial expression and emotions to the spectator, possibly allowing them to feel some sort of empathy for him. By using a low angle, the character becomes more prominent in the frame making him appear more powerful or important to the film. This tells the spectator that he is one of the main focuses in the film and he is where the story begins.

A cut to the next frame shows a POV over the shoulder shot of the red man (stop) sign alight on the traffic light. This shows the spectator their own point of view of what the young boy appears to be looking at, and reinforces the idea that he is waiting at the traffic lights to cross the road. From this shot the tempo and story of this film changes dramatically.

  

CU

ECU

The camera quickly cuts to a CU of the traffic light button where the 'WAIT' sign lights up telling the spectator that the boy is waiting for the light to go green. However, in the next frame, an ECU shows the boys thumb frantically pressing the button, this suggests that he is becoming impatient and wants to cross the road quickly. The spectator is then thrown into a frantic chase scene between the red and green men who represent the traffic lights.

Red Character

Green Character

Throughout the short film the spectator is presented with a variety of camera angles and shots. To the left we can see a canted ELS of the green character running away from the camera/spectator. This gives a thrilling effect to the chase scene as it is unusual and typical of a 'cat and mouse' chase scene normally used in the thriller or action genres. To the right there is a POV hand held camera shot from the green man characters perspective. This allows the audience to become the character and feel as through they're the ones in this chase scene running away from the red character. This allows them to feel more engaged in the action and in more suspense.



Other shots use cameras attached to props in the scene that are used to create comical 'Tom &Jerry' violence in the scene bringing the spectator closer to the characters. Very Low angle shots create pace in this film  and make the spectator feel vulnerable as it appears that the red man is stamping on them and more powerful in comparison.

Mise en Scene:

Costume/Colour:
The young boy wears casual clothing typical for a young male of his age. The character is wearing a light grey jacket paired with a plain white t-shirt and canvas like 3/4 length shorts. He has been dressed this way to convey both his age and gender to the audience. Through his costume alone he comes across as a young boy around the age of 8 years old who dresses or is dressed very masculine. However this makes him appear older than he really is. I believe the costume designer or director decided to do this to make the character older so that it was okay to put across to the audience that he would be crossing the road on his own and he is old enough to do so.

Both the red and green character's costumes are used to convey the image of the red and green man on the traffic light sign. The green of the costume means 'cross or go' whilst the red means 'stop'. The green colour conveys nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. This suggests a protagonist type of role in the film, making the spectator feel less vulnerable when the green man is in the frame as he conveys safety and feel as though the young boy is in safe hands when the green man is there.

The red colour is often associated with fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. Which suggests why he is shown chasing after the green man like there is a war between them.

Fist/palm Gesture

Red is a very emotionally intense color. It enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises blood pressure, therefor increases the intensity of the chase and leaves the spectator in suspense. It has very high visibility, which is why stop signs, stoplights, and fire equipment are usually painted red, it is also used to indicate courage. The courage is passed on by the red man to the young boy at the end of the film when the boy makes the same fist to palm punching gesture that the red man made at the beginning of the film.
Lighting:

Naturalistic lighting tells the spectator the time of day/ season that the short film is set. it also conveys the emotions of the characters as pathetic fallacy of the beaming sun on the young boys face suggests that he is in ore of the  red man and finds him interesting.  

Props:

Throughout the film, props are used to comically tell and narrate the story between characters in the chase and create equilibrium's and ellipses to show a change of scene or the passing of time in the film.

Representation
Age/gender
The young boy wears casual clothing typical for a young male of his age.
 Through his costume alone he comes across as a young boy around the age of 8 years old who dresses or is dressed very masculine.
The age of all characters are unknown, but we are able to guess the age of the boy through his costume and body language. We don't know the identity, gender or age of the two traffic light characters. We can guess that they're a stereotypical male due to the masculine postures and and their physical strength and fitness when chasing each other and jumping over bollards. 

Regional identity:

The area or city is unknown to the spectator as at no point through the film do we hear any dialogue to suggest an accent or any recognizable monuments that may be typical of a certain area. We can only understand that this is an English speaking country as the stop signs say 'WAIT' in English.

Audience

Tom&Jerry TV Show

It could be suggested that the film is targeted at a young audience to teach them about the importance of road safety and that you must not rush when wanting to cross a busy road and safety is the main priority.

This is conveyed though the use of the 'Tom &Jerry' type violence and prank like behavior between the red and green man. This is typical of a childish like humor TV show where the protagonist beats up the antagonist in a non violent way to appear comical but not teach children to be violent.

Narrative


Throughout the film, props are used to comically tell and narrate the story between characters in the chase and create equilibrium's and ellipses to show a change of scene or the passing of time in the film.  

The narrative is circular as it begins and ends in the same place and it is suggested that the chase between the two traffic light characters is never ending.

Genre
The genre of this film is action/adventure. The action genre is conveyed through the use of the intense cat and mouse chase scenes, where there is limited violence to create comedic value. chase scenes are typical of an action genre as they create suspense for the spectator and keep them engaged in the action unfolding.

The adventure aspect of this genre is conveyed through the narration of the events unfolding as well as the different locations in which the film is set. It could be said that this comical chase is all in the young boys imagination to keep him entertained as he waits to cross the road. this could also convey his young age to the audience as younger children have such a creative imagination.