This short film by Jim Field Smith studies the event nearly every parent goes through - when thier child threatens to run away. This film is a comedy and it is the brilliant acing by Alfie field which asserts the genre throughout. The film is, like Conversation Piece (Tumner, 2009), based on a song.The film was commissioned by Robbie Williams to help promote his new album at the time, Rudebox and uses the song "Burslem Normals" to soundtrack this one is paticular (he used this promotion technique on several other shorts).
As soon as the film began I thought it was a sci-fi feature because of the odd title and also the song playing had that vibe to it. The non diegetic sound ends as the dialouge begins and ends as Magnus says his goodbyes and leaves. Apart from this the whole film is dialouge giving the film a realistic feel. Magnus is very amusing while not trying to be giving the film a very funny twist to what otherwise could have been quite boring.
The film has a beginning middle and an end but because of it's legnth it can be quite difficult to work out where one starts and the other begins. The beginning of the film is Mangus and his father asserting the fact that he's running away to America, which merges into the middle where the father tries to talk him out of it. The ending of the film is hilarious and gives it a great finish, although doesn't really resolve itself as a soloution. You can only assume that the parents ended up going off to get him back home.
I love the camera angles in this film as they capture the Parent/child relationship but doesn't match what's going on in the film. While Mangus and his father are chatting it is filmed from thier Point of View looking at each other. When we see the dad's Point of View it is filmed from a Low angle to show him looking down at his son. When we see Mangus' point of view we see him looking up (high angle shot) at his father showing the typical parent/child relationship and who is in charge. However Mangus is in charge of this situation and basically leaves his parents not kowing what the hell to do with the circumstances. I find this really intresting and shows that Mangus has no fear of what he's planning to do.
The themes of the film are not ones to be taken to seriously as the film was used to promote Robbie Williams and his album. However the use of camera work hints at the Parent/child relationship I discussed earlier and is very effective when watched with the dialouge.
BY Adam Rutherford
No comments:
Post a Comment