Recently, in class, we went over how to analyze films what goes into understanding that art. As a practice assignment, we were able to choose a short film to analyze.
We had to look over:
- Camera
- Audio
- Misc en scene
- Editing
- How the director conveys their message
- How the director supports the overall theme
- How the director represents their audience
- Who the film is representing
- What the genre of the short film is
- What is the archetype of the main character
My work:
We watched the Lost & Found By Omeleto
https://youtu.be/VBps1IvCyj0?si=KVBABlr9_HxxXjyL
What it's about:
- Lovers, a crocheted dinosaur and fox face doom as the fox fell into a well and the dinosaur tries to save her. However, on the way, the dinosaur gets his skin (yarn) caught in a nail, preventing him from saving the fox, but in the end he uses his entire body (all the yarn) to save the fox. The short film ends with the fox trying to crochet the dinosaur back into its shape.
Camera:
- The camera implies how small the characters are
- The director uses a lot of high angles to make the dinosaur smaller as he tries to save the fox, emphasizing his distress
- The director also uses a lot of low angles to make the fox seem like the “damsel in distress”, which shows that the fox is helpless and someone in need of saving
- At the end of the short film the camera does a dolly zoom, which illustrates the helplessness of the fox attempting to put the dinosaur back together, further emphasizing the empty space around her has her lover, the dinosaur, is gone
Audio:
- There is no dialogue throughout the short film
- The sounds are similar to asmr, like the water, the slouching of the fox as it gets wet, the pull of the yarn/strings
- The music is highlighted which marks important events (hopeful or sad)
Misc en scene:
- The visuality of the short film is very cozy (warm lights, books, wooden furniture)
- The background noises like the pebbles falling and the water filling up the well, fill in the empty space
- Everything around the characters like the set makes the characters look very small, possibly indicating the idea that despite these are small characters, their problems are just as big as ours; not to undermine others problems
- The short film seems to be taken during the night further highlighting the coziness, yet the chaos of the night
- Without the dialogue there is an emphasis on the action
Editing:
- The film is very short (about 7 minutes)
- Each scene is very short which emphasizes the speed at which this event occurred
Convey their message:
- The message of this short film is to highlight the struggles that other people face, despite who they are.
- Everyone has struggles, and despite how small something looks, it can be something big for someone else
- Don’t undermine others problems
Support the overall theme:
- The overall theme could be about highlighting how powerful love can be, like going to severe lengths (like hurting yourself) just to help that person
Represent their target audience:
- The target audience could be people who are interested in something short, yet impactful
- The audience could also be people interested in art as this is a stop motion which includes artistic accents, and also makes the audience appreciate the film more, as this was mostly likely a time consuming making
Who they are representing:
- This short film represents the love that ignores the “normal”, how the dinosaur and the fox are in love
- This short film gives representation to how powerful love is
- It give representation to the little people, that society undermines
Genre:
- I would consider this genre a tragedy, as it ends with one of the lovers dead as the other one tries to crochet them back together
- This short film could also be a romance
- This short film is a stop motion, which highlights the effort that went into making this film
Archetype of the protagonist / main character:
- In this short story, the protagonist is a hero, as he (the dinosaur) saves the fox from drowning in the well despite ripping himself apart to save her
Reflection:
Overall, in this assignment, I learned how to analyze a film; what to look out for and mark as an important fact. This assignment helped me understand how to watch and dissect a film. I still have more work to do as I need to improve my vocabulary to describe what it going on. I need to try to understand films at deeper length, and figure out what the reason for making it was. I need to put myself in the directors shoes and understand why everything happened. This assignment was an introduction into this course.
