Short Analysis Two

7/30/2019 Short Analysis Two

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Chloe Wakeling

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Short Analysis Two: ‘Bitch’

Plot Overview

A man is shopping for a tin of tuna, when he goes to pay for his tin of tuna he has an

interesting conversation with a woman who has an unfortunate outcome for the man.

Mise-en-Scene

Setting/Location

The short film is set in a supermarket, which is a setting that is seen and used every day by

people, and can typically connect to this. The director has used this type of setting to add tothe normality and reality of the situation. The setting is a common setting with any type of

audience being able to associate with, from very young viewers to the more mature

watches. The location is a typical symbol of shopping and purchasing things, and this is used

in the film to start off the storyline of the man looking to buy some tuna. The checkout is

used as well in the film, the most important sub-location in the film, where the story

actually pans out in the film. The setting also allows the audience to identify what era the

film is set in as well, this being modern day, as it is a modern day supermarket with modern

day food shown in the film.

The setting is a believable location for views as people of all age groups can relate to the

location, as well as the location allowing the storyline to progress. With the added use and

support of the props this makes a realistic and almost normal location.



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Clothing/Make-up

There are three characters that are presented in the film. The

first clothing is shown of the man who is wearing every day

casual clothes, such as a laid back black jacket and jeans, thisadds to the normality of the situation as these type of clothes

are what most people are seen wearing in supermarkets. These

clothes are show the time period of the film, and as the clothes

are modern day clothes, it shows the audience that the film is

set in the present day of twenty twelve. It also shows the age of

the man in this film, and his age group of around twenty – thirty,

his clothes stereotypically fit to the man, again all being modern

day clothes, so the audience knows what era it is. The director has used modern clothes to

let an audience identify and understand that the film is set in the modern day era.

The next character that is shown in the film is the old lady; she is wearing a pastel pink

coloured coat, with a brown a hat. This is stereotypically what old women would wear, as

the clothes looked old fashioned, and this adds to stereotypical age group of the old women

that is shown in the film. The old woman is wearing glasses, this also adds to stereotypical

image of old women. The way the director has dressed and presented the old women, it

shows the age of the old women, with the clothes being slightly older fashioned and with

the added use of props, it shows the audience that she is presented as old women.

The third character that is shown in the short film is the checkout girl at the cashier. She is

shown in a typical supermarket uniform, which is a black and white striped overall. The way

the director has positioned her and used this icon of a supermarket worker, it is apparent to

an audience what role she plays in the film.



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Colour

The colour of the film is bright, and represents the mood of the film. That this film is a light

hearted comedy with a light hearted plot. The usage of light colouring also allows the

audience to identify to the time of day of the film, which is day (this also ties in withlighting). The director has used light colouring to identify to the audience the time of day

and the mood of the film, and even the typical conventions of a comedy.

Character Positioning

The man is one of two main focuses in the short film, the man at the beginning of the film

starts off with very relaxed body language, when he is picking up his tin of tuna and walking

away. While the man is waiting to pay for his tin of tuna, the older women comes up to him.

The man face and body language completely change, his face goes all confused and tensewith him slighting backing away from the women, this shows the audience that this is an

uncomfortable situation for him, and this is presented to the audience through his body

language. This state of confusion gets worse for the character, as when the old women tells

him that he looks a ‘spitting image’ of her son (who is Chinese) he looks at her in utter

confusion, and also looks at her as if she mad. The older women is very comfortable around

the man character with the touching of the cheek and the arm, or even very familiar

behaviour which ties in with the fact she thinks this man looks like her son. The man shows

a slight uncomfortable smile to the women, trying to show her that he understands and not

to upset her, as this is happening the older women is getting closer to the man’s face.

When the older women leaves, and leaving the task to the man to say goodbye mum, he

shows a smile, but when he finds out that he has to pay for her bill, his face completely

changes to anger.

In conclusion, the women’s behaviour was very familiar (trying to act as if she knew him) to

the man, trying to create a bond to the man, of trustfulness and sympathy, while the man is

mostly confused in the film.



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Lighting

The lighting that is used in this film is bright and happy; to help create a mood of normality

and this helps to make a believable location to an audience. The director has used light

lighting in the film, as this helps to create the ideal mood for the film. The lighting of the film

also helps to create a sense of time in the film as well; from the lighting an audience can

understand that it is day time in the film.

Props/Iconography

Props that are used in film help to create the location of the film, with the shelves of

different foods stuffs, and the baskets and trolleys, this all helps to create and help build the

location of the film. The director has used these typical conventions to help an audience

understand where the film is being set. The older women also uses a purse, that shows a

picture of her Chinese son, and this show the audience that she carries it around with her,

so we know that she has done the scam on more than one occasion. The props also show

the era, or help support the era of the film, when it was set in. As all the food stuffs are

modern day, (what we would see in today’s supermarkets) an audience can ascertain what

era the film is set in too. The director uses props for many reasons, sense of time/era,

believable location and use for the storyline.

EditingThe editor uses shot reverse shot a lot in the short film to demonstrate to the audience the

interaction between the old women and the man. One of the first times the editor uses this

editing technique is when the man arrives at the checkout, he looks at the women, (looks at

her and all the shopping that has be paid for), the next shot that is shown is the older

women looking at the man, with an expression that she might know him, the last shot

shows the man looking bewildered, because the women keeps looking at him. The editoruses shot-reverse-shot lots of times in the clip to show the interaction between to the two

characters. Anther technique that the editor uses is eye line match. It shows the man

looking at the women’s purse of the picture of the son, that the women claims that look like

him. This is to show the audience that the man is listening to what the women is saying and

also to whether he really does look like the women’s son.

An example from the film of shot reverse shot is shown below:



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Cinematography

The first shot that is used to show the main character is a medium shot. This shows theaudience the main character of the film, and what he is wear (time and era placement), it

also shows the audience his face expression, which is slightly annoyed by having to wait a

long time to pay for his one object, (in front of him is the old women with lots of food stuffs

waiting to be paid for). It also shows the man trying to avoid eye contact with the women in

front of him, as she keeps looking at home, and this shows that he uncomtable by the

women keep looking at him. This shot is also used on the old women, with showing her

dress sense, and her fascination with the man behind her. A two shot is used in the film to

show that the women has is very close to the man, when showing the picture of her ‘son’ in

her purse. This shows the audience that the women’s behaviour is very familiar with theman, but at the same time shows the man being unhappy with the situation, with the

START



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unhappy confused face expression. Another shot that is used is a close up, and this is used

when the women is comparing her ‘son’ picture and the man before her, again the shot

shows the man being uncomtable by the situation and this is conveyed to the audience

through a close up. Similarly a close up is used in the old women, when she is talking about

her son, it shows her talking about her son with passion, and enthusiastically, and thismakes the man believe her situation, and this is shown to the audience.

Another close up is shown to displays the man being embrassed by the situation and to

make sure that no one is looking at him when this is happening, and this show in his eyes as

his looking around the supermarket, and is conveyed to the audience through a close up.

The director uses a lot of these shots to show to show the audience the interaction between

both of the characters, and what they are feeling (by looking at their face expressions and

body language).

SoundThere is not much variety of sound used in this short film, one main usage of sound that is

used however is diegetic dialogue. This is used a lot to convey to the audience the

interaction between to the two characters. The dialogue, that the old women uses a

passionate and sombre tone when talking about her so called son, this also let the man

believe that this was a realistic situation, and to the audience as well, to make a believable,

and makes the twist of the film so much more of a twist. A piece of non-diegetic music that

is played, this type of music with a slow tempo that speeds up to the end, which implies that

something is being built up to as the music ends when the man gets to the checkout, so the

audience can get an impression that something will happen to the man when he gets to the

checkout.

In the short film there is ambient music that is supports the location of the film, the ambient

music that is played is typical background noise of a supermarket, such as lots of peopletalking, announcements over speakerphone and the beeping sound of the checkout. This

tells or helps supports the idea of the location, so audience understands this as well as

adding to the verisimilitude of the short film. The man use of dialogue is short, throughout

the film his highlights his confusion throughout the film.

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Short Analysis Two