FILM - Research & Planning: Deconstruction of 'Wasp'

'Wasp' by Andrea Arnold.

Although not a Spaghetti Western, this short, 'Wasp' from Andrea Arnold, will be good to analyse as the director cleverly makes the scenes very tense, which will be important in my film. Unfortunately I can't supply you with the full film, but here's a link to a short clip.


Wasp is a good example of a successful short film and I highly recommend trying to track it down. Everyone who has seen it, loves it.

This film cleverly sets up a scene in an extremely dangerous environment, so that the conclusion almost forces a sigh of relief. Firstly, the five female characters look very vulnerable, but close and in unity, emphasised by the shot of the five together sticking their fingers up. The 4 younger characters are likeable, because of the childish songs and voices, and the mum, although her actions are entirely innapropriate, she is shown to be trapped and with no other choice: the dialoge highlights that she had a difficult previous boyfriend who we can only assume left her with four children, and inadequacy as a mother highlights not her own bad choices but more that she is desperate for help, and company. So we want her to have success on her night out, and with the kind, likeable Dave.

One of the signs of a good short film is that the you connect to the characters quickly, as this is difficult to accomplish in such a short time. The harsh urban environment and convincing acting from these kids certainly help in 'Wasp'.

So we want her to have success, and none of the five to come to any harm. But danger seems to be everywhere. Every shot of the kids outside provoke an inevitable feeling of doom. Firstly, her plan is crazy and, as soon as you realise her intentions, you begin to feel helpless. But the danger is emphasised by many strange shots throughout. They feel strange because they are not shot shakily, unlike the rest of the film. It is almost like we see through the families eyes and we are on their level, empathising with them and feeling their feelings when the camera is shaky, but the 'danger' shots are different: they are solid and unmoving, and much longer. Its almost like a shot from the omniscient narrator, and because they are different to the rest of the film, the mothers blindness to the danger is emphasised.
Firstly, there is the wasp. The name already highlights that we may think it plays a bigger part in the story, so when it flies of out the window, we feel wary. Wasps have associations of danger because of their stings.

Next, when they are crossing the bridge, there is a prolonged close up of the cars shooting past, the noise of the engines drowning out everything else. This has sinister connotations, firstly with the close up of one of the younger childrens scared face, and then later when they are playing, unnatended, in a car park.
As she walks through the pub, the atmosphere is edgy. There is a panning close up of her frightened face as she squeezes through the crowd, the point of view shot showing her to feel lost and scared.

So with the aid of several shots that make us feel as though her plan will go horribly wrong, the situation is on a knifes edge. Even Dave looks slightly dodgy; when he asks her to buy the drinks, we see a reaction shot of her face where she looks unhappy and still very frightened. In the end, when her plan works and the situation is ok (symbolised by the close up of the kids eating chips), there is a strong feeling of surprise and relief.

FILM - Research & Planning: The Western Genre

WHAT IS A WESTERN?

I have decided to make my genre of film a Western, for a few basic reasons. Firstly, I love them. I can't get enough - no matter when the film is made, the cowboy will always be cool.

But 'Western' is a very broad term, and perhaps not even technically a genre. You wouldn't call a movie set in Japan about samurai's an 'Eastern', nor a movie set in the North pole about explorers an 'arctic'.
The term western then, is an umbrella genre, one that is always mixed with another genre. You can get light hearted musical westerns such as 'Oklahoma!', which is ultimately very different from much more
serious action westerns such as 'High Plains Drifter'.

It seems strange to say that 'High Plains Drifter' and 'Oklahoma!' are the same genre.
They are completely different types of films - Oklahoma! described as 'fun and romance
for all the family' whilst the other is a revenge film: concerned with rape, murder and revenge.

The western genre I am concerned with is the 'spaghetti western' - my favourite type of western films. one that can be narrowed down to the decade in which it was made. At the end of the 50s, westerns were starting to go out of fashion. However, they inspired, along with a Japanese samurai film called Yojimbo, an Italian director called Sergio Leone, who created a new type of western - which to the rest of the world became to be known as the 'Spaghetti Western'.

Leone in action: he was known as a very stylised director, wanting things to be perfect matches of his own vision.

There are a few main reasons why I and the rest of the world enjoy Spaghetti Westerns. They were gritty and real, which made them captivating and gripping. They were shot in stunning locations in Spain and Italy. There was also a match made in heaven between Sergio Leone, the director, and Ennio Morricone, men who seem to entirely share the same vision, as the soundtrack almost couldn't be more fitting. In terms of the narrative, the films always built up to one final, tense duel between the main characters, motivated by revenge, and intensified by Morricone's music. Leone also had an eye for creating good characters - he perhaps single handedly made Eastwood a star by casting him as a rugged, quiet stranger, pitting him against the sharp, eagle eyed 'angle eyes' or the mad-Mexican 'El Indio'.

The famous 'man with no name trilogy' begins with 'A Fisftul of Dollars'...

...Mad Mexican 'El Indio' is pictured in my favourite film of all time, 'For a Few Dollars More'...

...Eastwood infront of the mind-blowing backdrop for 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'.

Bearing this in mind, it will certainly be difficult to create a short spaghetti western (not least because, in terms of length, all of the spaghetti westerns were over 90 minutes). My main aim will be to create a short film that has a tense shoot out, use a convincing, captivating location and suggests motifs of revenge, added to a soundtrack that I will try and create myself.

FILM - Research & Planning: Short film deconstruction

WHAT IS A SHORT FILM? 
This question is a fairly good starting point for my project, seeings as my project is to create a short film.

Ken Dancyger and Pat Cooper wrote a book called 'Writing the short film'. They believed that :

"The story is dynamic, the character is moved in the course of experience of the story, there are few secondary characters or subplots".


"The story must be set up fast".


"Often the story will revolve around a choice that presents itself to the character, who never returns to his or her former state; closure is obtained by making or avoiding that choice".


"The freedom of short film relative to long lies in the possibility of using metaphor and other literary devices to tell the story".

These ideas are of course huge generalisations, and only give a small idea of what short films can be. To find out more, I will analyse some short films for myself.

Link to film: 'Stiffy'. 

'Stiffy' is a straight 8 film. A straight eight film is a type of film where there is only one, non-editable film cartridge. Because of this, part of the appreciation (as well as the entertainment itself) is its level of production - as it is extremely difficult to create a convincing film.

Stiffy from 'Stiffy' - as lighthearted but sinister take on a 

slightly unorthodox relationship.

The film 'Stiffy' is a creepy short story of a lonely man who finds love in a 'stiffy', (an unusual term for a dead person). We see this dead person in the opening long shot of the hospital. The lighting throughout is very dark, making the film much more creepy and sinister. The soundtrack emphasises this; its dreamy, childlike vocals cleverly simultaneously make the film all the more so, whilst highlighting the protagonists loneliness/madness.

The film also shows a sped up, simplified version of a relationship, with jumpcuts used to show a prolepsis of time. The scenes are repetitive to show the progression through the relationship between the two, to show the mans affection grow for the corpse as the relationship deepens. The lighting stays dark to remind us of the sinister undertones of the film.

The dance sequence at the end is well executed in a dark room. The camera pans around the room and follows the two, who are in a spotlight in a pitch black room. This could suggest the mans/couples seperation from the rest of the world, and the dark background reminds us that he is still very lonely.

The final scene plays on our prior knowledge of films, specifically romantic comedies. In this scene the camera lingers on him outside the room with a ring. The suspense and anticipation created by this foreshadows trouble he may find in the room.

The last scene is sad but humourous, finishing with a twist. This is a typical feature of short films: a twist at the end, for the better or for worse. This is a feature of short films I would be keen to use for my short film: it makes a short film feel more like a story, with a concluding ending: some sort of finishing emotion.