Evaluating “where have I been all your life”
Evaluating – Where have I been all your life?
‘Where have I been all your life’ is a comedy, drama short film. The narrative is the most important element of the short and keeps the audience engaged throughout, the narrative is mostly driven by dialogue. Liam’s character helps make the short comical this gives the film ebullient feel despite the sensitivity around the plot.
A linear narrative is established throughout, one which can conform to todorrovs narrative theory of equilibrium. Liam and Suzie begin in the car, from the diegetic dialogue the audience find out that Liam is searching for his father he has never met, this is the equilibrium. The uncertainty of the narrative continues throughout as you don’t expect what will happen. The disruption of the equilibrium is when Liam tells John and Angela that he is johns son which outlines that John has cheated on Angela. Next Liam comforts distraught Angela and both John and Angela try to work out the mother of Liam however shortly after suzie finds out that they got the wrong house therefore John is not Liam’s dad but it has now been exposed that John has cheated multiple times on Angela and Angela has cheated on John. The attempt to resolve is when all four main characters are sat in the living room and talking about the situation. Now that Angela has left and to be with Martin and Liam and suzie realised who really Liam’s dad is, there is a new equilibrium. To add, another narrative technique used is ‘restricted narrative viewpoint’. Restricted narrative viewpoint is when a character knows something that the audience does not, which is seen when Suzie realises that both her and Liam have got the wrong address and instead of going to 36A where his real dad lives he went to 36 which is where is what he thought was his father John lived. Through the use of character movement and expression we see the shock that Liam experiences when he finds out that he has made a mistake as there is a close up of Liam’s face with the background out of focus opening his mouth very widely.
I believe that Blumer and katz audience theory of personal identification can be applied to the film, some of the audience may be able to relate to characters such as Liam and his situation as there are often situations where people have unfortunately not met family members before; there are also families that experience a divide within their families due to issues such as affairs which can be seen in the film.
The micro element ‘mise-en-scene’ plays a very important part in the film. The character expression and movement are key as it conveys the characters feelings and emotions which help the audience to understand how the character is feeling. At the beginning of the film liam starts of very fidgety which portrays how nervous but excited he is to be potentially meeting his father for the first time. When he finally meets his father you can feel that he is overwhelmed with emotions and thoughts as he has so much he wants to ask his father. The man who Liam believes is his father appears to be both shocked and almost cautious when he sees Liam at his front door, proclaiming that he’s his son. Angela, johns wife is extremely distraught which is portrayed through the tightening of her face and has to leave to try and think so goes to wash up in the kitchen. An element of cinematography which conveys character expression and movement is the shot reverse shot which help the audience see how the characters are feeling through things such as conversations. The film is set in John and Angela’s house the majority of the time, it is rather old fashioned which we can see from the wallpaper and the way the house Is furnished. The hair, makeup and costume are mostly contemporary to the time however you can tell as a modern audience that it was set quite a few years ago. To add most parts of mise en scene suggests that the film is representing working class people. This idea is portrayed to the audience through the car Liam has, the setting such as the house of John and Angela as well as the location of the house and the costume of the characters. This suggests that you can find your parents no matter how much money you have which gives the audience hope if they are in the similar situation. The lighting is natural, and the props are minimal as the only main prop is the glasses.
Continuity editing is used throughout the film, we can see this through the use of match on action, shot reverse shot and cross cutting. Additionally throughout the film there are multiple fades used as an editing technique as a transition, they are used to suggest that time has passed, which reinforces continuity when characters are in different places, or different characters are in shot etc. An example of the effective use of a fade transition is when Angela leaves John and says goodbye “I will see you in hell” which is then cut to Liam and suzie swiftly leaving trying to avoid talking about the details of things as John is not Liam’s dad. If there was not a fade used the producer would have to show the audience the characters walking to the door and saying that they have to leave where as the fade allows the audience to assume that had all happened without using screen time.
Sound is another important element in the film, especially the dialogue as that is what drives the narrative. In scenes such as the one where Angela in the kitchen, when the camera is placed behind Angela, the intonation in the characters voice is what’s important as without seeing the expression of the character we can as an audience understand how the character is feeling. In this specific scene the audience learns that Angela is upset from her sudden and strong tone of voice.
‘Where have I been all your life’ is a comedy, drama short film. The narrative is the most important element of the short and keeps the audience engaged throughout, the narrative is mostly driven by dialogue. Liam’s character helps make the short comical this gives the film ebullient feel despite the sensitivity around the plot.
A linear narrative is established throughout, one which can conform to todorrovs narrative theory of equilibrium. Liam and Suzie begin in the car, from the diegetic dialogue the audience find out that Liam is searching for his father he has never met, this is the equilibrium. The uncertainty of the narrative continues throughout as you don’t expect what will happen. The disruption of the equilibrium is when Liam tells John and Angela that he is johns son which outlines that John has cheated on Angela. Next Liam comforts distraught Angela and both John and Angela try to work out the mother of Liam however shortly after suzie finds out that they got the wrong house therefore John is not Liam’s dad but it has now been exposed that John has cheated multiple times on Angela and Angela has cheated on John. The attempt to resolve is when all four main characters are sat in the living room and talking about the situation. Now that Angela has left and to be with Martin and Liam and suzie realised who really Liam’s dad is, there is a new equilibrium. To add, another narrative technique used is ‘restricted narrative viewpoint’. Restricted narrative viewpoint is when a character knows something that the audience does not, which is seen when Suzie realises that both her and Liam have got the wrong address and instead of going to 36A where his real dad lives he went to 36 which is where is what he thought was his father John lived. Through the use of character movement and expression we see the shock that Liam experiences when he finds out that he has made a mistake as there is a close up of Liam’s face with the background out of focus opening his mouth very widely.
I believe that Blumer and katz audience theory of personal identification can be applied to the film, some of the audience may be able to relate to characters such as Liam and his situation as there are often situations where people have unfortunately not met family members before; there are also families that experience a divide within their families due to issues such as affairs which can be seen in the film.
The micro element ‘mise-en-scene’ plays a very important part in the film. The character expression and movement are key as it conveys the characters feelings and emotions which help the audience to understand how the character is feeling. At the beginning of the film liam starts of very fidgety which portrays how nervous but excited he is to be potentially meeting his father for the first time. When he finally meets his father you can feel that he is overwhelmed with emotions and thoughts as he has so much he wants to ask his father. The man who Liam believes is his father appears to be both shocked and almost cautious when he sees Liam at his front door, proclaiming that he’s his son. Angela, johns wife is extremely distraught which is portrayed through the tightening of her face and has to leave to try and think so goes to wash up in the kitchen. An element of cinematography which conveys character expression and movement is the shot reverse shot which help the audience see how the characters are feeling through things such as conversations. The film is set in John and Angela’s house the majority of the time, it is rather old fashioned which we can see from the wallpaper and the way the house Is furnished. The hair, makeup and costume are mostly contemporary to the time however you can tell as a modern audience that it was set quite a few years ago. To add most parts of mise en scene suggests that the film is representing working class people. This idea is portrayed to the audience through the car Liam has, the setting such as the house of John and Angela as well as the location of the house and the costume of the characters. This suggests that you can find your parents no matter how much money you have which gives the audience hope if they are in the similar situation. The lighting is natural, and the props are minimal as the only main prop is the glasses.
Continuity editing is used throughout the film, we can see this through the use of match on action, shot reverse shot and cross cutting. Additionally throughout the film there are multiple fades used as an editing technique as a transition, they are used to suggest that time has passed, which reinforces continuity when characters are in different places, or different characters are in shot etc. An example of the effective use of a fade transition is when Angela leaves John and says goodbye “I will see you in hell” which is then cut to Liam and suzie swiftly leaving trying to avoid talking about the details of things as John is not Liam’s dad. If there was not a fade used the producer would have to show the audience the characters walking to the door and saying that they have to leave where as the fade allows the audience to assume that had all happened without using screen time.
Sound is another important element in the film, especially the dialogue as that is what drives the narrative. In scenes such as the one where Angela in the kitchen, when the camera is placed behind Angela, the intonation in the characters voice is what’s important as without seeing the expression of the character we can as an audience understand how the character is feeling. In this specific scene the audience learns that Angela is upset from her sudden and strong tone of voice.
Comments
Post a Comment