Evaluative analysis

The genre of my film is a dramatic boxing film. A boy named Antony aspires to be a boxer and his dream quickly turns into a reality when he meets Mickie Walker, a boxing trainer. He begins to train him and before he knows it, Antony is 7-0 in the ring, knocking out everyone in his path. Eventually, the nerves kick in and Antony meets his match and gets knocked out. From there, it is Antony's path to redemption where he vows to win the welterweight championship of the world. I focused on the use of camera angles in this movie to illustrate certain impressions for different shots. For example, I use close ups in scenes which are emotional. I use a fair amount of dialogue (specifically in three out of ten scenes) but only when necessary because I believe that the mis en scene is more important for telling the story.

I took inspiration from 'connect'. The film utilises camera angles well and does not rely on dialogue to tell the story. The mis en scene is very well thought of and the scenes feel very personal because of the close ups of the two people's hands and also their faces. I used this in my scene where Antony is jogging at the start of the film to show that he is focused and determined on accomplishing his ultimate goal. I also took inspiration from this film in the sense that the lighting can affect the mood. In 'connect', the movie is set at night so the whole movie has a mysterious type mood in it. In my movie, Antony takes a big punch and gets knocked down in his title fight and the lighting gets darker to emphasise the fact that he is close to losing and he is in trouble.

I also took inspiration from La Jetee. The weirdness and dystopian factors of the movie, such as the removal of eyes in one scene, and the odd time travel sub genre fit my style of film making, even though I moved away from this for this film. In La Jetee, the lack of sound makes a lot of the scenes feel more intense. For example, when they are underground and the interrogation happens, the lack of music makes the film feel very eerie. I use the same concept in my scenes where Antony is depressed in his room. No music is more powerful than having music in this scene and it makes the viewer feel more connected with the protagonist.


Image result for the gunfighterAnother film that I took inspiration from was The Gunfighter. This short film features a lot of narration throughout the film. I use this in the start and end of the film when Antony is jogging in the park. I believe that it makes the viewer feel like the character is talking directly to them. However, I changed it slightly as I added music to create an overlaying mood of the scene. I used 'Cant Stop' by Red Hot Chilli Peppers to build tension and set the theme as a sports movie. Also, in The Gunfighter, there are binary oppositions in the film, or at least we are made to believe there are. The guy who walks into the bar, and the people who plan to shoot him are opponents to each other. It is almost a case of good against evil. However, much like in the Gunfighter, my film subverts this to an extent by making the opponents more similar than originally thought. Although they are against each other, they still have the same goal and are more similar than binary opposites. The boxer and all of his opponents in my film share this factor.


The Wrong Trousers was another film that I used for inspiration. I enjoyed the fast paced editing of the film. It made me realise that my film needed to be fast paced in order to fit my story into the five minute time limit. The rhythm of The Wrong Trousers was basic and made sense. It was in chronological order and it had a clear start and end, which I too, aimed to accomplish with my film. I believe that I did this by mirroring the opening and closing scene. The opening scene being a job without the belt and the closing scene being a jog with the belt.


There are other films that I have watched that have influenced me for this film. One of which is 'Remember Me'. There is a period in my film in which the main character is depressed. There is specifically a scene in which I used some conventions from Remember Me. The scene in which protagonist, Tyler Hawkins is staring out of his window and seems very depressed. They use close ups to make the emotion of the character clearer. Also, the main character is smoking a cigarette, which symbolises his lack of ambition and sadness. I use this in my film in a similar manner to have the same character development effect. The film also uses dark lighting in this scene to create a negative mood. I took inspiration from this and made my scene dark.


Image result for creedAnother film that inspired me was Creed. I liked the fact that it subverts typical conventions of a boxing film. In creed, the main character loses his fight at the end of the movie. Although my film does not copy this, it does subvert some stereotypes such as the main character going through depression and challenging scenarios in order to accomplish his goal. For example, in the final fight, the protagonist in my short film gets knocked down by his opponent as the fight comes to a close. I use effects such as a high pitched sound to resemble the ringing in his ears and a fade to black to resemble his consciousness leaving his body. I took inspiration from Creed for this as I liked the fact that the main character in that film actually lost his final fight.


Image result for bleach movie 1The animated movie based on the manga books by Tite Kubo (Bleach), 'Memories of Nobody', also had an influence on my short film, Razor. Around the time that I started to film Razor, I had seen this film and really enjoyed the action scenes from it. The intensity of the fight scenes is accomplished with the editing and music placed in the right times. I tried to recreate that intensity with my own music. For example, I used the song 'Breathe Today' by Flyleaf because it is a very fast paced and intense song for the final fight scene. In addition to that, many other anime series or films that I had watched such as the Naruto films or the Boku no hero academia films share the same intensity as this. So, they also had an effect on Razor.

Image result for under the skinLastly, I took inspiration from Under the Skin. That film taught me that dialect is not very important in terms of making a good film. In fact, most of Under the Skin had no dialect at all. I used this in my film as the main character barely spoke. I found this to be more effective than having him say a lot of lines as that would have taken the focus off of the background and (especially considering I had little time to work with), wouldn't have given me enough space to develop aspects of the film. Another aspect of Under the Skin that I liked was the altering of genre conventions. There were many times in Under the Skin that you could consider it experimental and irregular, and although I did not try this with my film, I did try to make some of my film different to a typical boxing film.



In evaluation, my film was successful. The visions and aims I had when envisioning this film mostly turned into realities. I wanted to create a specific meaning and a certain effect on the audience. I did this through following a very linear narrative plot with a clear start and end. In the start of the film, the main character is curious and has a lot of ambition. I use a lot of establishing shots to show the audience that we are in a very working class area. My audience is targeted at more of an everyman type category. As the film develops, I begin to change the mood. The protagonist becomes depressed and the challenges that he goes through become relatable for the character. In order to overcome his depression he needs to win his boxing fight in his return. Even in the fight, it looks as though he may lose, but he rises above and accomplishes his dream. I use camera angles effectively to create effect. In the height of his depression, there is a close up of Antony's face in a cracked mirror. Also, the editing becomes quicker in the more intense moments. In the final fight, the editing matches the music and becomes very fast. I also used a heartbeat sound effect when Antony gets knocked down in order to make the audience feel tense and nervous for the outcome of the fight. I chose not to use a lot of dialogue throughout the film. The visuals on the screen have a better way of making effect on the audience than making the characters speak in every scene.

In conclusion, I believe that I considered each side of film form carefully when making this film and utilised my knowledge of different shot types in their correct places to their potential. I believe that the biggest way that I created meaning for the audience however, was to use a voiceover throughout the entire short film. I believe that this makes the person watching feel more comfortable with the protagonist and makes them relate to them more. It is almost like they are in the main character's head. As a whole, Razor is a simple but effective film with a clear linear plot and a range of paces in editing.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Analysis of opening scene and Junky Limbo scene from Trainspotting

Similarities and differences between Casablanca and Do the Right Thing

Analysis of females in Timbuktu