Thursday 15 September 2016

"Arrival" analysis

The Arrival

-Narrative
-Media Language
-Audience
-Representation
-Genre



I found Arrival on the website Short Of The Week. Arrival is a drama shot in one take lasting 4 minutes and directed by Daniel Montanarini. This short film was produced in the UK. This film captures a moment of a woman's internal struggle as she decides whether of not to keep a pregnancy that has resulted from a brief sexual fling. Anna who is played by Emily Barber arrives at a Café to meet with her lover to reveal the news. However, she arrives too early therefore allows her mind to wonder giving her the chance to revisit her decision of keeping the baby or not? We become involved within her deep thoughts and emotions, generating a compelling story.

The opening of this film begins with a simple, yet effective titling sequence. The text is shown on a black background, allowing the font to stand out.



Long-shot

As Anna sits herself down and takes off her coat and scarf, she begins to stare out of the window, becoming parallel to the diegetic dialogue as she thinks to herself "I should have ordered a Decafe, or a tea...no its fine!" This piece of diegetic dialogue connotes her indesisivness, generating an enigmatic response from spectators, as we would question why she is being anxious and indecisive. This short film would target 15-25 years olds, however looking more at a female demographic. This is because of the issues and problems Anna is faced with and the constant thoughts running through her mind, which many women today would also experience and question.



The non-diegetic voice over through out this short film positions spectators into her mind and thoughts. The way in which we are spositioned is reinforced by the small setting in a café and the low-key lighting circled around her, engaging spectators to focus on Anna. The shallow depth of field acts as a barrier to the real world, she is lost in her worries. The camera gradually zooms towards her through out the film, however, the speed of the zoom becomes a higher frequency when there is a heavy amount of voice over, for example when we are informed that her one night fling transformed into a pregnancy.



When we see the long-shot of the waiter come along and delivers her coffee, her facial expression becomes blank as if she has no emotion. The atmosphere becomes cold and her body language freezes for a few seconds as we notice the condensated door swing open as a young teenage couple enter the café hand in hand. Anna's head slowly turns left to focus on their hands gripping. This becomes parallel to her thoughts as she states 'I don't have enough money, a house or a partner.' This can be compared to her body language as she longs for love. 

As Anna continues to wait for her one night lover, she begins to question herself even more. She confesses to herself that she does not really know him and worries if he wants to keep the baby. The gradual forward zoom towards Anna represents the way in which we go deeper into her thoughts, this is also shown by decrescendo within the diegetic sound effects of people muttering. Below is a clip showing Anna remembering his blue eyes, her dreamy facial expression along with her head movements indicates to us that she is attracted to him.



As this short film is in one take it can be challenging to pinpoint the structure of the narrative. However, using Todorov's 5 stage narrative theory we can notice certain stages through out that enables us to analyse structure to the story. This film does begin with an equilibrium, this is represented through the use of micro and macro elements. For example: The calm setting can be reinforced to show normality of the situation that we first see.

Although the moment that Anna meets her lover is not actually revealed, a disruption is visual in this film. This takes place when Anna pours her milk into her coffee, however it begins to over flow, this can be symbolising her mind and how over powering her thoughts are. This then becomes parallel when she notices her accident and transforms into a panic or a trance. Anna becomes more centre of the frame, whilst the camera zooms at a higher frequency as the setting shifts to a very low-key lighted train carriage, representing a hole of darkness she is falling into. Sounds of a car alarm, thunder and rain begin to crescendo also symbolising the disruption, not so much of the action codes that we see but the disruption we notice in her mind. The immediate crescendo of the non-diegetic sound effects from a chugging train which would have been inputted during post-production.


After we see the gradual zoom towards Anna when we are transported deeper into her mind, the diegetic sound effects decrescendo and whilst this takes place, high-key lighting begins to arise from the bottom of the frame upwards as she questions if it will be "a girl or a boy", this is representing the change in her thought pattern. The high-key lighting symbolises her true excitement for the baby. A close-up of her facial expressions are parallel with her next thought, "what will her laugh sound like?" This puts her into a dream-like state as she continues to think about her unborn child. However, the narrative does not reveal whether or not she is going to keep the baby. According to Todorov's theory this short film is not truly signifying his 5 stage narrative, this is due to the lack of resolution which is the reveal of whether or not she is keeping the baby. 



This film encourages to be more creative and take risks. For example: as this is a one take film, I feel as though I should experiment with this idea and to concentrate more of a certain moment rather than having so many shots that are fulfilled with action making it harder for the spectators to intake. Having a one take film is difficult to analyse however explores more into the present moment of a situation, generating a extremely engaging narrative. 




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