Post-Apocalyptic Fiction Short Film Analysis 1

Elegy.

Diegetic Sound
Sound Effects:
There are various sound effects implemented into the short film to make it more appealing auditory for the audience. Such as the phone ringing at the beginning, and the voice mail message later on when he plays a message of his wife. It makes the scenes more interesting adding sounds. Moreover, he adds warp sound when waking up from a dream making it more dramatic when he wakes up. I am going to hopefully do this also in my short film.
Ambient Sounds:
There is a subtle ambient sound of birds and crickets in the distance, making the outside scenes that little more bit surreal, acting like we are there also. 
Dialogue:
There isn't a lot of dialogue, the only dialogue is at the beginning of the short film when we are seeing a flashback. There is no one else to talk to as he is completely alone, so dialogue is not possible. Instead we hear a narration throughout the whole film and this is practically what he is saying inside his head.

Non-Diegetic Sound
Narration:
Instead of dialogue with other characters, we hear a narration of the protagonist whilst seeing his life in an a post-apocalyptic world. His voice is emotion less, with no enthusiasm at all. It is dull, deep and he sounds incredibly bored of his current situation. He is tired from repeating the same bland routine everyday and missing human contact.
Music:
Once we see the flashback and he starts to narrate, an Baroq-ulele instrument or something similar plays gently in the background. As the backing music is very slow, low and soft it fits in with what he is saying that his routine is repetitive and boring just like the instrumental itself. There is nothing exciting for the music it just makes it interesting to watch with a soft instrumental. This is played throughout the short film, the same melody, and piano is added later. Until the end we hear a very deep, loud and long note played when a light is turned on from a house he walks past. Leaving it on a cliff hanger, it makes us want to watch more as it has intrigued us. Having a sudden change in sound from soft music to a hard and long note played gained our attention, just like his would be at that moment in time.

Camera movements, angles and shots
There is many camera movements, angles and shots within this short film, and this is one of the reasons why it is so popular and successful, winning awards. Within scenes we see many angles and shots instead of just one or two making us see the scene with different aspects. It is very smooth and enjoyable watching it. I hope to pull off the same effect within my short film.

Tracking shot:
There is a tracking shot at the beginning of the short film when he is at work in the office. It goes from left to right of his mouse clicking then typing on a keyboard. It is a great shot and is more engaging than simply just a still shot.
Extreme close up:
Once he picks up the phone, his wife is on the line in distress and we finish seeing an extreme close up of his eyes when he hears his wife is in danger, the background is blurred so we are fully focused on him and we see that this worries him and his eyebrows are down showing concern. Being an extreme close up we see his emotion very closely making us feel more sympathy towards him. 
Long shot:
We see various long shots, showing his whole body within the scene. A long shot is the nearest shot to our eye sight so this makes us feel like we are within the scene actually there. A long shot also shows a lot of the scenery, it is important for this short film to show how quiet the surroundings is. A complete ghost town.
Panning Shot:
At 3:54 there is a panning shot of the building, showing the location he is in. It is an interesting shot and more complex than just a still shot looking at the building. It shows how overgrown the building also that he is in. Making sure the audience is definitely aware of the run down world.

Editing
Fast/Slow cuts:
The editing in this short film is very clean and to a very high standard. Most probably another reason for its great success. The cutting between shots is so smooth and clean it goes perfectly the way through. At the beginning the shots are more fast paced for the flash back, gaining our attention straight away - engaging us in. Then once it is too the present world he is in the shots are a lot more slow once in post apocalyptic world. This suggests that the world has no excitement in it, that it is very dull and unexciting.
Cliff hanger:
The ending is so well put together. We hear him talking about 'your the only one left in the world' then a light turns on from a nearby house and he turns and stops talking then it cuts there. This is a very smart cut and end of the short film, it leaves us wanting more. They did this so well and it intrigued in me so much that I might also use this same effect.
Colour correction:
There is just a subtle colour correction in this short film, not actually making the scenes look incredibly more dark and depressing like other short films within this genre. However just making the scenes look more orange and making the over all feel quite bland. This goes with the general feel of the video, along side the music played in the background. 
Time lapse:
At the end of the short film there is a time lapse of him gathering resources in a warehouse. They decided to use a time lapse which I think is a exciting and great technique as it turned out really well and is more entertaining to watch than normal scenes. 

Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene is good, and seems overall very professional. Firstly, the lighting is done  extremely well and feels like natural light when watching making it that more surreal. The scenes are shot clearly and the lighting is very even and correct. The locations are great, there is a large variety of locations which make it that more interesting towards the audience. At the beginning we see a shot in an office, next we see him in his house, then in an abandoned house searching for food and lastly in a warehouse. It is more entertaining with more locations as it maintains our interest of him adventuring in new places. Moreover, his gesture seems very professional and normal which makes the representation of being in a post-apocalyptic world seem real.