VoiceOver Narrative Short Film's Analysis

I have come to a decision that I want a voice-over narrative over my short film for the majority of it. I feel like this tells you whats really happening in the mind and this is what I want to express, that the mental toll has effected him badly and can see this clearly. Being alone as made him feel extremely isolated and I feel like I can of course express this visually but also having a voice-over narrative makes it even more effective.

What Is Life.

Firstly, there is a piano key played at the start repeatedly making it very suspenseful and emotionally unaware of whats going to happen. We begin to hear his voice with no excitement and enthusiasm but deep suggesting its a serious subject to him. There is various wide shots of him demonstrating how alone he is, how insignificant he is, just him and wild life. We are hearing his thoughts and no one else is, no one else is around. You can tell he is at a lot of unease due to his body structure being very sloppy and his hand on face being very confused. There are various scenes of going out of focus or showing a lot of blurriness, this might relate to the fact that the meaning of life which what he is asking himself is all blurry and unclear also. Furthermore, we see a lot of shots which are of the nature around him, like he is looking around to see what is the point of life and be inspired. He ends up helping out and doing good then later finding the message to the point of life. It is a very interesting story and they use some clever techniques to make it interesting and watchable.

Gone Goodbye.

The beginning scene opens with a dark color grade scene of a car moving a long suggesting its not a happy moment - something serious is occurring. We have an aerial shot of the car simply moving away from the screen, perhaps suggesting someone is running away, making us question why. Then we realize as the voice-over starts he states 'Dear Catherine, I'm Leaving you', this means he is writing a letter and we are hearing this, and the car does in fact mean he is running away, from the problems with Catherine. The music in the background is low pitched piano music which makes the ambiance dark, sad and very serious. Us hearing his inner thoughts of a letter to someone else makes it feel very personal and like we are invading his privacy. After some time of the car driving being very suspenseful, we eventually see him get out the car. The voice-over stopped, and the music carries on, now making the visual the most important element. We see various close ups, slow movement shots and establishing shots showing he is so alone, being the only human there.

Lover.

Straight away we hear his voice, his inner thoughts, expressing like a letter to his ex of how much she needs her and means to him. Making us again feel very intruding for hearing it as it feels extremely personal. His voice is very low, rough and husky demonstrating that he really is not fine over the situation and makes the audience feel sympathetic. The music in the background begins and it is long strides of chords played making the audience feel very anxious cause we want to hear what he has to say and it adds to the intensity. He begins to smoke a cigarette which is another sign of him being at unease, the main reason for smoking is that it simulates a feel good flow toward the brain, so he is in need of this. The colours around him are very dark being blacks, greys and whites - all plain and boring colours, adding to the dullness of the scenes emotion currently. Himself is wearing very bland colours which adds to this even further that he is depressed. Moreover, we see that he keeps sitting up and down expressing he cant control himself, that he is a mess. We see various close ups of him being very nervous and troubled, smoking more and more. Then we see flashbacks showing colour, meaning it was a brighter time in his life being with his ex. It is a short yet engaging short film and kept me watching what he had to say. I like his use of flash backs, showing more colour and happiness where as his current situation is the complete opposite. I will try and use this in my own short film.

Short Film's Analysis

I feel like analyzing other short films is important. Firstly to see what short films are, as I am making one myself therefore I need to look at some in depth and as I am new to short films this is quite necessary. Furthermore, It's interesting to find out the structure of short films and the techniques they use within short films, as this is different from an actual film I need analysis both.

I'm Beautiful.

This short film is very short and it keeps within our attention spans because of this. It tells a very important message that is not needed longer than it is In the opening, It immediately gains our attention from her saying 'look at me'. This brings the audiences input from using direct address as it makes us feel involved. Then she goes and says do you think I'm beautiful' making us feel involved again, asking us questions. The lighting is very dark throughout the short film and the instrumental played in the background adds on the effect of sadness from the piano playing in low keys, then it gets more intense when a violin is played gradually louder and she gets more serious and louder in her voice. As the music gets intense, she then explains all the things she does to feel beautiful, as the expectations and standards of beauty is so high at this day in age. She shows a powerful message visually of her journey of this, containing graphic images, close ups of her face of her emotion of what the 21st century expectations is doing to her. She ends it on a message that is powerful, making us feel sympathy towards her and all girls. The short film is short, effective and tells a very important message. It is a great short film.

The Present Short.

I've decided to analysis a completely different short film, this one being animation. This film is more slow paced and longer, which is a lot more effective for this story. The whole reason it is so great is that the suspension of the end of the film. Straight away we see a close up of him engaged in the video game, like every teenager. Then the mother walks in with a present and says to open it which intrigues our interest to see what's inside. He carry's on playing the game and then eventually opens it. He finds a dog inside and realizes that it is 3 legged, and he gets frustrated and pushes him away. It makes us wonder why he is so annoyed and unhappy with his mum getting him a three legged dog. Moreover, there is a lot of angles throughout the short film which keeps us engaged and the use of POV shots of the dog is really used well. Then leading to the end when he finally pays attention to the dog, we eventually see why he is so annoyed of his mum getting a three legged dog. He picks up his crutches and the shot is still and above his legs, he moves away from the still shot and we can finally see he has also a leg. We then get the message that he didn't like the dog because it reminds him of himself and how much he hates his condition of having one leg. In the end he learns to love the dog and decides to play with it.

She's Lost Control.

There is firstly a slow movement in the opening shots that are slow paced or either still with little action, showing the scenery, making us wonder what is wrong. Then after seeing her face showing little emotion engages us more. The next shot shows her body and dermatillomania, which leaves us shocked. The soft, sad music begins to play whilst she does her morning routine whilst a narrative starts and questioning her why she started doing this to herself. We start see close ups of her face which make the scenario more dramatic and also to her picking her skin, making us barley wanting to look at the screen. We are hearing the narrative as like whats happening in her mind, questioning herself of the reasons why she did this to herself. We see how her condition affects and disrupts her morning routine on a daily basis, and how she is loosing her mind from it. It is a really smart and professional short film that is quite engaging to watch and explains the struggles of having this condition very well.

Techniques Used In Existing Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Films

Furthermore, I am going to write some notes on why I think some films containing post-apocalyptic genre are successful.

I am Legend
The sound track is such an important element to a film and is so underrated as you do not understand how much of an effect it gives. I Am Legend uses some very dramatic and depressing music which I find very effective. One of my favourite and most powerful track within the film is by James Newton Howard called 'Sam's Gone', this adds even more absolute sadness to the scene that his dog Sam is dying and emphasis now he is even more alone. When creating my short film i defiantly want to use music as an addition to making the whole scenario more sad.

They also use close-up's, mainly of his face, to emphasis his deep emotion which gives sympathy of the audience and we feel more close to the actor.
Moreover, In the beginning of the film you see many establishing shots of the derelict surrounding. They are establishing and low angle shots of New York city, it shows the lifeless run down New York which is unusual as New York is normally one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world. This immediately creates an image that something is not right in the audiences minds which is a great technique and I hope to include this in my film. 

They also use grey a lot in the opening of the film, this is to symbolise death in man made objects, which is very smart and I am going to either do this or colour correct the film to make it seem more darker and serious. The shots are also very still and not much movement, this enhances the stillness of the rest of the world, nothing is happening, and it is just him in an isolated world. Mis en scene is another reason of why the film is very successful. They had a high production value containing shots of abandoned cars and scenery. I however cant do this as I do not have that big of a budget, although there are many abandoned places around me so I can use this as my advantage.

Summary of techniques used in I Am Legend:
- Sad Diegetic music
- Still shots
- Extreme close ups
- Dark colours
- Establishing shots of the abandoned areas

Zombie Land

I have also chose Zombieland to analyse as I think this is also an extremely popular film containing the same genre as mine, post-apocalyptic.  My favorite part of the film is especially the opening scene.

In the opening scenes of Zombieland, it shows many scenes in slow motion which makes the whole situation completely more dramatic, this technique I definitely want to use in my short film. Moreover, there are many scenes of carnage in the background such as cars in a jam, which gives the sense of something wrong to the audience. Due to a low budget I can not show this well however I will try and do my best with what I have. Likewise to I Am Legend, the opening scenes are very dark as they also use grey and dark colours and the lighting is also very low key, This makes the scenes dismal and washed out, and very anxious as something is not right and definitely what I need to do in my own film.

Furthermore, they use a lot of different angles and camera shots which makes it more interesting to watch as well as a sense of reality. They use many close up shots which makes it very intense to watch as you can closely see the insane terror in people's faces, from the scenario they are in.

At the very start, we see a shot that is firstly blurry and titled, the camera quickly turns upright and zooms out, showing more of the car. The audience realises that we are upside down in a crashed car and that it's a POV shot. You do not usually see this in post-apocalyptic films yet it is very effective as again it feels like you are there in the scene, creating more of a reality
and intrigues you in.


Summary of techniques used in Zombieland:
- POV shots to add realism
- Slow motion making it more dramatic
- Dark scenes
- Many camera shots
- Excellent mis en scene such as items in background

Maze Runner
Lastly, I decided to look at the techniques used in Maze Runner, as this was a completely different concept compared to my other 2 pots on techniques in films. 

I'm going to be talking about the opening scene as this is quite effective and lures you in, due to the techniques used. At the very begging they make you clench on to watch more, by using very little light but just enough to see from below. A high angle shot is used so its hard to see what's happening. Then they finally use a close up shot to introduce the character to the audience, to show his expressions. Then further in, we see a point of view shot which has been used in my other post on 'Zombieland', this is effective as it makes the audience feel like we are in there, on the elevator and feeling his emotions. Finally daylight appears, so we finally have the opportunity to see the character fully. I think this is very interesting to make people wait to see what's happening, with little information, as it engages you to know the situation, so I may have to use this in my own short film. 

Summary of technique used in Maze Runner
- POV shots to add realism
- Dark scenes to make it more unclear of situation
- Close up shots to show emotion

In conclusion
Seeking the techniques within already existent post-apocalyptic films have been very helpful. I now know what has made these films successful, so I can hopefully include the generic techniques within them for my own benefit. Firstly, one technique that is consistent throughout is the use of dark colours and scenes. This is something I think is essential to include to give the sense of this genre so the audience is aware of what genre they are watching. This can be easily done with the shot and even enhance it in editing. Moreover, the use of shots is another technique that really stood out to me. The majority of what I saw was still shots to exaggerate the stillness and deadness of the surrounding. Then for the characters they used POV and close ups. The POV shots were so we can get a more surreal experience watching and act like we are there and for the close ups we see their true emotion. These are all really smart and effective techniques that I am going to try and include in my short film. Music is also used throughout these 3 films that I watched, they use extremely sad and depressed music to add to the catastrophe. Only one technique that I can not include for sure in my own film is the incredible mis en scene in the background of broken down cars and left over mess. This is very costly and way above my budget which is a shame.

Post Apocalpytic Genre Codes And Conventions

The apocalyptic genre is one of the most diverse genres out there, you can have many possibilities and limitless scenarios that could be made for this genre, as everyone will have different opinions on how the world will be after being wiped out which makes it so interesting. There are many codes and conventions however that you constantly see within films that have this genre:

Mis en Scene

Most apocalytpic films are set in an area of ruin or abandonment, such as 'I am legend' or another popular setting is the location in a sandy deserted area that is completely wiped out, seen on films like 'Mad Max', or 'Planet of the Apes'. Moreover, the opening scene is usually black and grey and we typically associate this with death and darkness so it makes us feel very uneasy.

Sound
There are several main types of sound used in post apocalyptic films, firstly slow and sad songs are used that emphasise the loneliness of the character being left in the post apocalyptic world which adds to the complete devastation. On the other hand, another popular sound is having a tense build up in a soundtrack, engaging the audience and lastly having a tense score that are up tempo for fast action filled parts such as in the Mad Max soundtrack.


A Hero
Most post apocalyptic films usually have one main character, a hero, where he manages to solve the crisis for the rest of the world and mostly retain human civilisation. For example, at the end of 'I am Legend' he finds a cure or Thomas in 'the Maze Runner' who helps everyone through the maze.

Desolation
In post apocalyptic films you always see desolation as they are trying to make the audience feel absolute looniness and helpless right from the beginning to give sympathy towards the character(s).

Survival and Challenges
Tordov's theory is adopted a lot in this genre, as the majority of characters no longer have there original lives, hence the apocalypse part. Most have a challenge of returning somewhere, collecting of fighting something as their disequilibrium and when they manage to do this, there becomes an equilibrium hopeful ending.

Research Of The Post-apocalyptic Fiction

What is Post-Apocalyptic Fiction?
Post-Apocalyptic Fiction is a sub genre of that is concerned with the end of human civilisation, its set in a world or civilisation after a disaster that ruins the world. 
Post apocalyptic genre is very modern in film, it hasn't been around for that long. Although it has been frequently used throughout history. It mainly became popular since the film 'I Am Legend', which was based off a book.           

I decided to particularly only focus on the post apocalyptic fiction genre and build my film around this genre. This genre intrigues me the most as I love the films that has this genre included. I chose to research 3 films WALL-E, I am Legend and Zombie Land as these are some of my favourite films containing the same genre. I wrote down some information of inspiration from the films that I want to include in my own product.
  
WALL-E

I want my product to be similar to WALL-E because in their film it shows so effectively how isolated, abandoned and devastated he was after the humans were gone. I want my dad, playing the main character, to give off the same effect of being so isolated and alone so it should be emotional towards the audience and give off a lot of sympathy.

I am Legend

I am legend has a very similar plot to mine as he is in a post-apocalyptic world and he is the last survivor, however mine is to do with a nuclear attack and I believe this is more likely to happen than that plot which was a virus turning everyone into mutated zombies. I am legend has used many abandoned areas and overgrown places to demonstrate the effect the virus has been on the environment, I want to especially do the same and go to abandoned areas too as it’s my advantage of living near lots. Moreover, At the beginning there is scenes of him and his family being killed, which is quite an effective technique as we feel even more sympathetic towards him. I am going to do this however use flashbacks for the same effect. Lastly, they have edited in post production so the scenes are more dark and seem more fearsome for the audience by using colour correction and changing the brightness. I especially want to do this in my product and exaggerate that dark times are happening and by doing this in post production too I should use this technique effectively.

Zombie Land
Zombie land is a great film that again shows a similar plot however its due to a virus that is the reason of the rapid population decrease. Zombie land shows the story of a handful of people who survive, and the main story of the main character shown in the image on the right. Zombie land has some serious elements within it however it is largely a comedic film, and shows a more how to survive a post-apocalyptic world, which is not what I am going for. This film really brings out many components that I do want my own product to include such as betrayal and relationships. I want to empathise these in my product a lot as I think they are effective and will gain engagement to the audience watching.

The Effects Of A Nuclear Attack

My teacher suggested for me to research in the subject of my plot, being nuclear war. As my film is post-apocalpytic she suggested for me to research the effects of a nuclear war so I can gather the information and be more correct within my product. So therefore, this post will be about the effects of a nuclear war.

Nuclear war is a real possibility which is one of the main reasons i have chosen this topic for my plot. I find it extremely interesting, Especially now that trump is a possibility for a president, he could have access and possibly start a nuclear war. Countries such as Russia, UK, USA, France, China, Pakistan and North Korea all have the weapon of Nuclear to start a nuclear war. 

Those at the hyper centre of the bombs would be instantly vaporised. It would be instantly vaporised after the initial destruction. There would be enormous fires from the attacks crated by the nuclear explosions. In countries across the world would be hundreds of millions of tons of smoke that will rise to the stratosphere, in a short amount of time this smoke will spread and cause a scenario as dark as the night. It will cause a dense layer blocking the sunlight trying to reach the surface, the thick blanket of smoke remains there for many years and the world we once recognised would now become a cold, dark and horrible place to live in. The temperatures would drop rapidly and some areas would be below freezing for a very long time. At night the frost would occur to extreme amounts which will prevent food from growing and growing seasons would become virtually eliminated. Above the surface parts of the ozone layer have been destroyed allowing dangerous amounts of sun's UV light to penetrate the atmosphere. The leftover radioactive fallout would spread across the world making it impossible for many living things to survive. Most human beings would die due to not being able to grow food and not having shelter at the time from the radio active poisoning. Only some people would survive with shelters. The entire planet wild once again experience a massive extinction. If only a couple of nuclear bombs were detonated, it would still cause a catastrophic moment in history. Currently there has only ever been two nuclear bombs that have purposely been donated in the aim to kill. The first one was during august in 1945 and was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima - shown in the example video below. The second one was three days later and was detonated over Nagaski, Japan. These two bombings resulted in the deaths of around 200,000 people so this clearly shows how people each nuclear bombing is. A lot of people in these two bombings died instantly and most died living there last few moments in pain and misery as their flesh melted from their bodies. Many perished while looking for water to ease their suffering. It is a horrible experience in a nuclear warfare setting.