Thursday, 1 October 2015

Main Task Deconstruction 1 - Dedication Short Film






I have chosen to deconstruct the short film "Dedication" by Tony Nova. I have picked this short film because most of the camera shots, angles and movements used would fit perfectly in the short film I intend to produce as the theme is kind of the same. I also intend  to use the same type of transitions and effects in my main task and therefore I thought that this short film would be a good one to deconstruct.


Editing, Camera Shots/Movements/Angles (and their representation)








This short film starts with a quote of Theodore Roosevelt saying "It is hard to fail, but it is even worse never to have tried to succeed" which immediately puts the audience in context as the title and the quote both let you know that the short film is about hard work to achieve your goals in life. The first shot is a close-up of the character’s alarm showing 7 o’clock. By showing this, the director used a code to reflect the character’s dedication as most young people wouldn’t wake up at that time if it’s not for school. The second shot shows when the character wakes up, with a basketball in the background which is to let the audience know that the short-film is about basketball as well, the audience therefore can put the three elements that were given together (the title, the quote and the basketball) to exactly know what the short film is about; Hard work to be a successful basketball player. The following scenes include close-up shots of the character's feet and shoes while he is getting ready. We clearly notice the brands on his socks, shoes and basketball, Nike and Spalding, which are two of the biggest basketball brands in the world. This emphasises the basketball theme/topic. As soon as the character is ready, a tracking shot is used to follow him downstairs where a match-on-action is also used by the directors when he opens the door. When he walks out, a mid-shot is used to introduce the character as this is the first scene where we actually see his full face. He walks then to his back yard where a close-up, tracking shot of his feet is used.  An over-shoulder-shot is used when he stops walking with the basketball rim in the background. The director made then use of a montage which includes several camera shots and movements such as long shots, tracking shots, match-on-action shots when the ball goes in the hoop, tilt shots and over shoulder shots.


Sound

In this short-film, the directors used both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. It starts with a narrative saying a quote, he then continues by explaining what the quote means. Meanwhile he is talking , diegetic sound was used at the same time which is the alarm of the main character when he wakes up. While the character gets ready, we only hear non-diegetic sounds; the voice-over and a ambient sound in the background which puts the audience into the movie. The part where we hear diegetic sounds is when the character starts training, we can hear when he dribbles with the ball and when the ball touches the rim. The directors also made use of an ambient sound in the background but a different one, which is more dynamic to emphasise the intensity of his training.





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