The Ellington Kid

 The Ellington Kid

Narrative: This film is in chronological order, as the use of flashbacks all occur when the man is telling the story, so can it seen more as a visual representation of the story, rather than a flashback of what actually happened. 

Lighting and colour: A lot of this film is shot with low key lighting which creates a tense atmosphere and fits with the mood of the story being told. Colour is also key in creating this atmosphere, as even the shots taken in the day time appear gloomy, with washed out colours, even bright ones like red and yellow in the shot above look like they've had some of the colour drained out of them.

Setting: The tunnel is important in building tension, as it creates a sense of confinement, and that the Ellington kid is unable to escape. It also creates a sense of depth, which makes the tunnel appear quite daunting, as it feels as if he has a long way to go before he reaches safety, again building tension.

Cinematography: A key moment in the cinematography of this film is a low angle shot, showing the stabber. This makes the spectator feel inferior and threatened, especially since he appears to be directing his knife at the camera. This builds tension and helps the spectator empathise with the Ellington kid. Another key moment is at the end of the film, when the camera pans to a grinning shop owner, looking at the two boys. This leaves the spectator with the impression that the story is actually true, ending the film on a high tension, but also slightly comedic note, which fits with its genre as a black comedy.

Costume: Costume is used cleverly in the final scene to show opposition. The kebab workers are all dressed in red, whilst the stabbers are all dressed in black- this visually separates them into two different groups, and enhances the feeling of opposition, and that hints at the idea that the two groups are going to clash.

Slap

 Slap

Setting: The film is set in a Northern industrial setting, and has a gloomy, dingy feel, which is often supported by the lighting. The setting is important as it's not a very accepting neighborhood, which we understand from the start when we see people beating up his friend, and when everyone was laughing at him during the party. This is effective in adding a greater sense of risk to what he's doing and we understand the stakes.

The set is also greatly detailed, especially in the way Connor's house is decorated. In his room we see magazines and posters of women,  in his kitchen there's a calendar with firefighters on it, and on the condom machine in the bathroom, the word stud is written on it. These are all very archetypal male things, with the firefighters connoting the idea of heroes, providers, and saviours. These contrast with Connor's identity and show how he hides his true self, and therefore the audience sympathises more with his situation

Performance: One of the moments that sticks out in this film is the argument scene between Connor and Lola. The scene is incredibly well written, and well performed because they focus on the little things, like when Lola realsies that it's her make up that he's been using. We see the entire argument and the big picture all come down to this one token of feminine identity, which well represents the overall meaning of the film.

Lighting and colour:

The green lighting during the bathroom scene connotes a feeling of uneasiness, and sickness. And the general grey colour over the whole film feels almost suffocating. Connor's makeup stands out against the grey colour palette of the rest of the film, because he's visually coded as trying to escape from the drabness.

Operator

 Operator

Cinematography: Most of this film is shot in close up, with a shallow depth of field. The camera increasingly gets closer as the phone call progresses, closing in on the operator. This builds tension without actually being where the action is and reflects the idea of the fire closing in on the people, and the pressure of running out of time. This helps the spectator empathise with the stress that both the operator, and the woman in the fire are feeling. Then, when the phone call ends the camera cuts back out of close up to show that the situation is over and we get a brief moment of rest before going back into action

Lighting: The film is shot with quite soft, low key lighting. This provides an interesting contrast to the mood being set by the phone call, and the intensity of the situation over there. This represents that the operator isn't actually in any danger and this is just her job, so isn't shaken by it.

Sound: Sound is a very important factor in this film as we don't see any of the action, instead we hear it all. This is similar to the use of sound in The Fly, where we couldn't see the bank robbery, but we could infer it. The intensity of the sound over the phone call makes the spectator imagine what's going on and this is effective in creating action and tension, without having to actually show the action. The intensity increasingly builds, until the end of the phone call when everything goes from loud and panicked to silent and calm. The use of silence combined with the cut out of close up is successful in putting the events into perspective, as we understand that this is just another day in the life for her, which is again shown when the phone starts ringing again straight away. The use of silence and then the cut to the phone ringing again also creates empathy for the operator, as we see how hard her line of work is, and how she has less than a minute to get herself together between each traumatic phonecall.

Echo

 Echo

Narrative: This film doesn't really adhere to the three act structure as there's no clear beginning, middle and end. This flexibility makes the film more interesting, as if you put it in chronological order: it would be her receiving the original phone call, then repeating the phone call, then arguing with her family in the garage, however this arrangement isn't as interesting, and the film would have no reason to be called Echo, as there's no sense of echoing.

Ending: This film has an open ending, as we aren't sure of she continues faking these phone calls, or if she stops. This is satisfactory in some senses, because it's sort of what we expected to happen, but unsatisfactory in other senses, because the ending raises more questions than it answers. 

Main Character: The spectator's response to the main character changes throughout the film, as at first we feel sympathetic towards her, and then more angry when we find out she was faking the phone call, and then at the end we regain a bit of this sympathy, as we understand that this is her way of processing her trauma after the actual phone call she must've received

Micro-elements: In the final scene, the micro-elements are different in a way that makes the spectator feel as if they are witnessing the actual phone call. For example, she's no longer wearing a school uniform like she did in the previous fake phone calls, which makes it seem more real as she's not trying to gain sympathy from appearing like a young school girl. Her performance also changes, in the call at the end, she reacts more slowly, as if she's processing the news for the first time, whereas in the first call, she reacts quickly, like she knows what to say and has done this before. This difference in the micro elements are important in suggesting that the final phone call as the real one.