Research and Planning

Existing short films: Mud Boy

Genre

Denotation Connotation

When we viewed this film we believed that the genres of the film were drama, crime and thriller.

We thought this as there was arguing from the mother and the boyfriend which represented drama, police cars which conveyed crime and the body of the young boy linked to the theme of thriller.

Representation

Denotation Connotation A young girl. This young girl seems scared

when she sees her mum and her partner arguing. This shows her innocence within the film. She also mimics the arguing with her teddies. Suggesting to the audience that she understands what is happening, for example when she says “he smells of beer”, showing the audience her understanding of his alcohol problem.

Representation

Denotation Connotation The mother. The mother seems to be

naive and over shadowed by love, however some of the audience may sympathise with her as she is wrapped up in love. Some may also disagree and dislike her as she is neglecting her children, for example she didn’t know what happened to her son. It seemed like she was with him for the security of being with someone.

Audience

Denotation Connotation The atmosphere that

is presented in this film is negative. This is shown at the start of the short film as there is arguing taking place between the mother and her boyfriend.

As this is presented in the film we believe that the main audience is adults interested in crime. The reason of this is because the short film is based on the story of Fred and Rosemary West.

Narrative

Denotation ConnotationThe main narrative thought this short film is constant conflict and how the children are caught in cross fire with the man, Eddie and their mother. Another big part in the narrative for this film is the young girl and how she believes that she has seen her brother although he is dead.

With the theme of conflict present throughout this short film we get the idea that Eddie killed the young boy and then hid him in the back garden although it was not declared in the film. From this we see the young girls innocence and how she is unaware of the horrific event that she has helped solve.

Institutions

Denotation Connotation Perception Pictures

with an eye shaped logo.

From this we get the understanding that Perception Pictures will show the film from the characters perception and due to it being an independent company it shows that it may hit a very niche market.

Technologies

Denotation Connotation Handheld camera,

we can see it as the camera tracks the characters movements.

Due to us believing that it is a handheld camera suggests that he has edited the footage him self on software such as final cut pro. As it is an independent film we believe that it has a low budget and with a handheld camera distribution is cheap, as the footage can be sent via the internet.

Evidence – Camera Shots

Denotation Connotation 0:31 seconds – a

wide shot with the shovel in focus.

We felt that the viewers may believe that the shovel is the key aspect of the short film, as it based on the story of Fred and Rosemary West who also buried victims in their garden. Furthermore, the shovel is plastic and colourful which suggests that it’s a children’s toy which links to the death of the young boy and also the innocence of the children.

Evidence – Camera Shots

Denotation Connotation 3:20 – Close of young girl

cleaning the brothers hand. The connotation that we made

from this shot is the young girl takes care of her brother as the mother is preoccupied within her relationship. We also thought that this represented families within society and the increasing number of young carers and how some insecure young single mothers may disregard their children and the attention they require because she also wants the attention from her partner.

Evidence – Sound

Denotation Connotation 0:58 – Diegetic

sound of Eddie, the boyfriend and mother arguing.

Whilst analysing this film we welt this scene in particular showed the unstable relationship between these characters and how it affects the children as the young girl later mimics this as she is sitting there whilst they were arguing.

Evidence - Sound

Denotation Connotation 7:46 – Diegetic

sound of police sirens.

This represents danger and crime due to automatically linking police to criminal activity. This could give the audience hope that justice will be done for the killing of the young boy and also for the neglect of the children. Also before the sirens were visible to us but we could still hear it the young girl looked towards the sound of the sirens seeking help and also understanding of what is happening. Furthermore, when she is talking to the police officer she didn’t seem shocked to see her as if she was used to talking to officers for example they may get called to the house following on domestic issues.

Evidence - Editing

Denotation Connotation Throughout the short

film there was a lot of short cuts from shot to shot this is known as ‘Hollywood editing’ suggesting it is invisible to the person watching in order for flow and continuous rhythm.

The connotations of having short editing is that Nicholas Penrake wanted us to feel the fast pace movement within the film. He also needed to compress the film as he must have been filming this for a while so he needed to make it quite short to follow the codes and conventions of existing short films and to make a statement for the audience.

Evidence – Editing

Denotation Connotation 3:54 – The shot

shows the young boy buried to which it zooms out.

This part of the short film shows the most important part and makes it seem very dramatic. Furthermore, as the camera zooms out it represents silence, like when people do a minute silence in a matter of respect of those of have passed. It also shows the surrounding garden which again links to the case of Fred and Rosemary West as it shows the garden which is where bodies were buried. This also shows that the boy was in danger and links to the other points we made about the mother neglecting her children and unaware of the fact her son was buried in her back garden.