Thursday 22 September 2016

Harry McHale - Analysis of "The Switch" directed by Rigan Ledwidge.

VIDEO HERE  
'The Switch' is an adventure short film directed by Rigan Ledwidge and backed by Nike. With features from various stars in footballing including Cristiano Ronaldo (the most popular footballer on social-media). Clocking in at 6min, making it nearly impossible to cut-down for TV, the promo is much more akin to a digital short film. Cribbing the well known sci-fi concept of “body-switching”, international superstar Cristiano Ronaldo collides with a young British fan in the stands and is startled to find himself waking up in a rundown flat. Equally surprised however is the 16 year old Charlie, who wakes to the impressive trappings of Ronaldo’s lifestyle: a mansion, beautiful assistants, and exotic sports-cars.

The short film starts with a very short extreme long-shot establishing the scene which appears to be Wembley stadium. From this establishing shot we can make out this is a football match between England and Portugal where a corner is being taken as the box is filled with attackers and defenders. A close up to an English player moving towards the goal and the diegetic voice-over of the commentator stating it's 'corner' but then we cut to a medium high angle shot where we can see a Portuguese player clearing the ball from there goal and the commentator saying 'Portugal clear'. We then see various shots of Portugal on the counter or more specifically Ronaldo (one of the main protagonists) running down the wing via fast paced cuts.

In terms of Tvetzan Todorov's narrative theory, this is the equilibrium as everything appears to be normal. Then there's a change in  mood as Ronaldo trips over the advert billboard and hits a england. A light non-diegetic ringing sound is played as both Ronaldo and the young England fan Charlie Lee are seen with there hands on there heads as if they have a concussion or another head injury. This is the disruption to the equilibrium in terms of Todorov's narrative theory.

A sound bridge into a alarm ringing brings us into the next scene as the the previous scene transitions via a fade to black. We see Ronaldo wake up via a close-up but through his facial expression the audience can make out that something is wrong. This helps emphasise the disruption to the equilibrium in the narrative. In contrast, we get a close up of Charlie also waking up, we cut to a POV shot to a poster of Ronaldo and back to Charlie's facial expression which also implies shock. We see both protagonists explore their setting; there body language and facial expression shows they are confused - The camera tracks Charlie as he runs to the bedroom window to see he is living in a terraced flat. Ronaldo looks through his window to see his more vibrant place compared to charlie. He turns around to the mirror in which his face is immediately shocked. We cut to a low angle extreme long-shot of Ronaldo's residence with the sound of him screaming. The screaming carries on via a sound bridge to a long-shot of Charlie's neighborhood as we also hear him scream. At this point the audience are aware that the two men have switch bodies. This is confirmed when we cut to a medium shot of Charlie when we hear diegetic dialogue from him saying "Im a kid?" in a questioning way. His accent suggests he is from London but he is speaking in Portuguese which also seems unusual. This helps explain why Ronaldo is confused as he hasn't said any dialogue yet.

After the title sequence plays, we hear non-diegetic music which makes the situation less comedic and more serious. We carry on to cross-cut between the men in there new bodies. We hear charlie's mum call for him as he rushes down the stairs and we hear a diegetic voice calling for Ronaldo. Ronaldo as Charlie asks Charlie's family what he is doing here and 'who are you' in Portuguese. Charlie's mum responds with diegetic dialouge 'oh dear me, looking who's being taking chinese.' When (supposively) Charlie responds with "I'm Cristiano Ronaldo." Much to this disappointment, Charlie is laughed at by his family who think he has lost the plot.

As we continue to cross-cut between the two protagonists, we immediately see a representation in the difference of social class of the two characters. Charlie is taken to school by his mum in a old Volkswagen Polo whereas Ronaldo is given his keys by his assistance to his McClaren P1. Charlie (In Ronaldo's body) is going to football training with professional footballers whereas Ronaldo (In Charlie's body) is going to the school playground to play amateur football.

Despite being in different bodies, there characteristics are still the same. The comedic value of this is the other characters are unaware of the body switch whereas we the audience are aware. This creates dramatic irony as we know more than the characters. The other Portuguese footballers are very confused as they see Ronaldo playing poorly when it's actually an amateur footballer trying to play like Ronaldo. The opposite is predictably happening as we cut to a playground as we Charlie's friends in complete awe as they see Charlie performing advance football skills including the 'Ronaldo Chop' ironically. The jokes continue as we see Charlie at a training ground, when he approaches a freekick the oppositions wall joke about his stance by saying "Who'd you think you are; Cristiano Ronaldo?" in a mocking way as they laugh; this is shortly followed up by near goal which the opposition stop laughing and there facial expressions suggest they are shocked and impressed.


Otherwise, We see Charlie struggling as Ronaldo. To mix with this the commentator states via a digetic voiceover 'Ronaldo gives it away cheaply' which further emphasises Charlie's new struggles as pretending to be one of the world's best footballers. We cut to the next scene where we see from Ronaldo's facial expression and body language that he is frustrated as he keeps training. This shows a change in attitude as he keeps wanting to thrive otherwise he will be founded out as an imposter if he doesn't. We can also see it from the Ronaldo's teammates facial expressions that they are puzzled by Ronaldo's drop in form and one of his teammate's body language connotes that as well as we see him pointing at Ronaldo constantly training hard.

We then cut to Charlie who is also training harder than usual as his freinds look at him in a strange way when he goes out on a run after football. This is when we cut to a timelapse of Charlie going up the ranks of football league from non-league to playing in the top flight for Manchester City. This represents the differences in social class of Charlie and Ronaldo as charlie has to go playing from the streets to reach his goal whereas Ronaldo wins awards despite not playing very well. In terms of Todorov's narrative theory, this is the start of trying to repair the damage caused from the disruption of the equilibrium as both Ronaldo and Charlie try and reach top level so they come in contact with each other.

  The non diegetic soundtrack becomes more lively and brings out a posstive feeling: this could foreshadow a new equilibrium in terms of Todorov's theory. We cut to similar looking scene, a football match between Portugal and England. We see evidence of Charlie Lee's metorotic rise in football as he is seen playing for england. In the tunnel as the player's wait to go onto the pitch, Ronaldo turns around and see's his originial self which instantly takes him by suprise as seen by his facial expression; Charlie doesn't seem too bothered but does give his original self eye contact.

The football match proceeds and Portgual are on the attack. Ronaldo performs lots of advanced skills which show how much training he has put in to regain his form. He crosses the ball and Andre Gomes scores the goal - the commentator then shouts 'scored by Gomes, made by Ronaldo.' We cut to an england attack where this time, Charlie sets up Harry Kane to score; this shows that despite being in different bodies, Charlie has made it to the top level with Ronaldo's football intelligence and Ronaldo has re-gained form via Charlie using his Ronaldo's physique to help him.

After various cuts of intense football action, we cut to the two protagonists run towards each other as they go for the ball. The non-diegetic soundtracks has a crescendo to it as the music builds-up and the cheerfulness of it is gone. The action is intense as the facial expressions of the spectators feel that there may be a horrible clash between the protagonists. The same diegetic beeping sound that was played when the protagonists clashed with each other is played again. The game is stopped as the two players regain conciousness. It's immediately obvious through there body language that the two have swtiched bodies. Ronaldo picks up Charlie and in terms of Tvetzan Todorov's theory; a new equilibrium is created. The characters never known the two have switched apart from the protagonists themselves. This creates dramatic irony for the spectator as we known what has happened this whole time.

Overall, want I have taken inspiration from this short film is the use of dramatic irony is done very well as the fact the spectator knows whats going to happen makes this film suprisingly more enjoyable and it's something I will consider using in the production stage of the advanced portfolio.










   

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