Pre-Production Research-Film3: 'A Favour' by a_favour, 2013 Virgin Media

A Favour is an Action and Adventure film which consists of an encounter in a car park which questions the assumptions of characters and audience alike.

The first shot consists of shallow depth of field and the diegetic sound of birds tweeting and someone mumbling in a different language. The reason for the use of shallow depth of field becomes apparent when a Jewish man raises his head into the frame and the camera pans up slightly to fit his stern facial expression into the close up. Part of his costume consists of a pair of glasses and a traditional Jewish cap which shows his religion. The camera then cuts to a long shot of him kneeling down on the floor which conveys that he was making a prayer and this again represents his religion which is an accurate representation of Jewish people.

The lighting is low key and this with the diegetic sound of tweeting birds, suggests that it's morning. This shot sets up the Equilibrium in reference to Todorov's model theory as everything is normal and undisturbed.

Extreme Long Shot

Close Up

The camera cuts to a mid shot of a little girl sitting down with a man in the background out of focus. The little girls costume consists of a school uniform which obviously means that she's going to school. The man in the background, which is most likely to be her father, has a fairly formal costume consisting of a shirt and eventually a tie once he's put it on, this conveys that he's a business man. His facial expression is stressed which conveys that he's in a rush. This scene juxtaposes with the previous scene with the Jewish man praying, due to the loudness of the diegetic sound of talking and clattering which contrasts with the tranquil prayer filled with light diegetic sound of tweeting of birds. Another cut is made back to the Jewish family that appear to be doing the same thing as the other family, which is eating breakfast and getting ready to start the day. Again, the diegetic sound of clattering and talking emphasises the business of the morning. The camera then cuts back to the other family as they attempt to start the day. These constant quick cuts from family to family emphasise the hectic and chaotic family bustle as they prepare their children for school. The camera cuts from child to child and from adult to adult, listening in on their conversations and petty arguments. A mid shot is used to display the father asking his daughter to look after his phone for a minute, which becomes a crucial thing to remember. The camera then cuts to a mid shot of the father leaving for work dressed in his work costume which is a formal grey suit.

Mid Shot, Father giving phone
to Daughter

Mid Shot, Father leaving

Another cut is made to a long shot which tracks the Jewish man also on his way to work as he walks along the street, concentrating on his phone. His costume consists of a formal suit, which also suggests that he's a business man. The only difference is his Jewish cap which traditionally represents his religion. The camera cuts to a mid shot of two cars positioned on each side of the frame. On the left hand side, a pair of legs appear to be dangling out of the car door, conveying that this person is searching for something in a fluster, this is the Disruption phase in terms of Todorov's model, due to the disturbance of normality. The Jewish man acknowledges this with a sympathetic smile as he hears the diegetic sound of someone grunting, the smile suggests he's relating himself to his chaos. The camera cuts back to the mid shot of the cars positioned on each side of the frame as some dialogue begins: "excuse me". The mid shot reveals the man now sat upright and talking to the Jewish man who is waiting to see what he wants. The camera cuts to a medium close up of the other man stating that he's lost his phone and needs a favour. Another cut is made back to the Jewish man as he confirms that he has a phone he can borrow, which acts as the Confrontation phase in terms of Todorov's model theory. because of how he's trying to help in finding the phone which is the disruption. This short shot reverse shot suggests they don't know each other. The mid shot returns again after the camera cuts to the Jewish man fumbling around for his phone in his pockets and finally finding it. As he punches in the man's number, the camera cuts to a close up of him typing it in with part of the car door out of focus, demonstrating shallow depth of field, which conveys that the other man is watching closely. It cuts back to the mid shot as the listen out for the phone, but nothing is heard and it's clear that the man is in a rush so the camera cuts to a close up of him saying thank you and then uses the mid shot again to show him shutting the car door. Diegetic sound of an engine starting is closely followed by a cut to a close up of the man through the car window driving away.

               

After the Jewish man gets into his car, a cut is made to a high angle long shot of a mass of traffic which is accompanied by the diegetic sound of lots of police sirens which conveys that there has been an accident which explains the traffic jam. The camera then cuts to a long shot of the Jewish man joining the traffic with an irritated facial expression. Another cut is made to an extreme close up of his face which ever so slightly pans in. The camera cuts away from the extreme close up to a normal close up which displays his annoyed facial expression more clearly. It then cuts to a close up of the man turning on the radio which starts the diegetic sound of a news update, closely followed by the camera cutting to a close up of the man's concentrated facial expression as he intensely listens to the update.

A cut is made to a long shot of a police helicopter flying in the sky which reinforces this idea of there being an accident which must be very serious.

A point of view shot is used to display the non-moving traffic which emphasises the seriousness of the accident due to the traffic still remaining still with no sign of movement. This part of the sequence captures the genre; in terms of Altman's theory of Semantic and Syntactic codes, this part shows fixed characteristics of an Action and Adventure film. Semantic codes such as cars, police, sirens and chaos and syntactic codes such as explosions/blasts are all associated with this genre and are all found in this short film.

The camera cuts to an extreme close up of the Jewish man's face and the camera slowly pans in to create a sinister and dramatic effect. A shadow is also cast across half of his face which creates a disturbing atmosphere along with the diegetic sound of the radio talking about the horrific accident that lies ahead of the traffic. This close up also allows the audience to see the seriousness in his eyes as he listens to the severe report on the accident. The shot then fades dramatically to black revealing the credits, it's conveyed that this accident may have some relation to the Jewish man as we are led to think that he's realised something as a look of realisation comes across his eyes towards the end. This creates a Linear structure but without closure as we aren't given any closure on whether or not the accident is related to the Jewish man in any way as we are given clues that it could be. we also don't get to know who was involved in the accident, it gives the sequence a slight cliff hanger as it abandons the audience right in the middle of action which also means that in terms of Todorov's model, there's no Resolution or New Equilibrium phase.

I liked the way that this short film included a lot of business and rush at the beginning which was conveyed by the quick paced cuts and the loud diegetic sounds and I thought it delivered that sense of chaos of family life very well and is something I could use in our short film; quick paced cuts that imply tension and/or rush.