'Silent Moments' Andyalderslade - Candice Tyson

link to short film: http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/film/5265/silent-moments

Synopsis: a son visits his dying father
Genre: drama

Summary- This film is about a son that visits his father in hospital as he's ill and dying. The son finds some cine film of his father's and presents them to him in hospital to remind his father of his good childhood memories.

Representation

• The son and his father are the two characters being represented in this short film. The son is presented as being young, healthy and loving towards his father as he finds tapes of his Father's childhood to show him while he lives his final moments in hospital.

In this part of 'Silent Moments' the camera shows what the son is wearing through a medium long shot that tilts down over his costume. The son appears well looked after- the costume he is presented in is clean and tidy. He is wearing a smart buttoned up shirt which suggests he is middle class and takes pride in what he looks like and how he dresses.

 

This close-up shot of the son shows that he takes care of his appearance- his face looks fresh and his hair appears clean and well kept, this confirms that he is most probably from a middle class family.

• The producer uses the representation of age in this short film. The old man is presented as being ill and bed ridden- this is quite a stereotypical view of old people, once they get old they are no longer able to do things for themselves and there for rely on other people to look after them and in this case his son and the people working at the hospital.

Narrative

•  'Silent Moments' is in a linear structure as the producer wants you to watch the last moments of the fathers life in order so that the audience can see that he dies happy.
• The film uses Levi Strauss' theory of binary oppositions. The father is weak and the son is strong, this emphasises the love and attention the boy gives to his dad as the difference between the sons and dads character is made clear. There is also the binary opposition of life and death. It also puts the son at almost a higher ranking because he is strong and able however the dad is weak and unable. .  
• I feel that Todorov's narrative theory could work in a sense for this film.

• 1.Equilibrium- the son finding the cine films.

• 2. Disruption- the son visits the dad in hospital and he is dying.

• 3. Recognition- the son sees that his dad is unwell.

• 4. Resolution- the son brings joy to his dad by showing him the cine films.

• 5. New Equilibrium- the dad passes away in peace.

Genre

• The creator of this film categorised it as a drama. However, there is no such genre in the academic study of this topic. I feel that this short film doesn't really have a genre as there aren't enough conventions of a particular genre to categorise it with. This film highlights a real life tragedy of someone getting old, getting ill and passing away.#
• By the film producer giving this film the genre drama it makes the audience aware before watching it that something dramatic or sad is expected before even watching the film- this is the whole point in the use of genre.  
• Rick Altman uses the semantic and syntactic approach. The semantic approach being what is typically expected in a certain genre of film and the syntactic approach being the elements in the narrative or the ideology of the genre. For example in this particular film views may take the semantic approach and from the genre being a drama the viewer will then have a typical expectation of the film. This is different from the syntactic approach as these are the elements in the narrative or ideology of the genre and this can vary for different films of the same genre.

Audience

• I feel the audience for this particular short film is fairly wide as the topic of death and losing someone close to you is something a lot of people can relate too.
• The age I would say is targeted by this film would be both male and female 16+. My reason for this is that I feel only people over this age will really be able to connect and understand what they are watching, especially as there is no dialogue so you need to be at the right level of maturity to be able to connect to what you are seeing through the music- people under the age of 16 could find this boring and not truly understand what is going on.

Media Language

The five shots to the left are one of my favourite parts of 'Silent Moments'. There is a scene when there is a smooth transition from the basement to the hospital. The camera tracks from left to right. I felt this was a really good way of switching scenes as the one just flows into the other showing fluidity. It also shows that it was a short period of time after he found the cine films that he went to the hospital. We can also see this through his costume as it doesn't change in-between scenes. If they wanted to use this transition but show that a few days had passed in-between they could change his costume to make it obvious that it isn't the same day.

This close-up shot on the right is of the Father's reaction when he sees the cine film. He looks as if he's had a stroke as his face looks drained but you can see through his reaction that he looks surprised and almost like he's going to cry, not out of sadness but happiness that his son has found the films for him.




This is another close-up shot on the left of the Father as he watches the tapes, he looks as if he's trying to smile and his eyes are lit up from what he is seeing. I feel that this was edited really nicely in-between the shots of the cine film as we can see the reaction of the father and us as the audience can try and relate to the happiness he is feeling.


This close-up of the Father's hand shown on the right I thought was quite an interesting shot. From the beginning when we first see the Father, my first thought is that he looks like he's had a stroke and possibly paralysed. When we see this close-up of his hand we see him slightly move his finger, almost like the joy he is getting from the films is giving him strength in his weak body. I think the director may have chosen to use this shot to emphasise the weakness in the Father's body as he appears to find it hard to even move his hand.

Lastly this medium tracking in shot I felt worked really nicely as it gives variety from the close-ups. Also, the way the camera tracks in almost flows with the music. The director also chooses to use this shot after a the previous shot that shows what looks like him and his girlfriend or wife in their younger days. The shot from the cine film and the following shot that I've presented on the left work really nicely together. The smile on his face gives off the message to us viewers that this is one of his happiest and most treasured memory.


What I liked about 'Silent Moments'-

• The aspects I really liked about this short film was how the director chose not to use any dialogue and instead portray the messages and feelings through what we see on screen in addition to the diegetic and non-diegetic sound. I found the film overall quite touching and have taken into account that a film doesn't always need dialogue to portray a message or to make it touching and music is a very clever way of doing this.