Pre-Production Research-Film1: 'Gone Goodbye' by Keith Rivers, 2009 Vimeo

'Gone Goodbye' explores relationships and privacy in unusual and surprising ways.

It's a well told extended metaphor for the inner conflict faced by anyone who has chosen to leave a long term relationship

The short film begins by fading into a tracking shot behind a car as it drives along the road, this is accompanied by sad and tragic non-diegetic music that sounds heart-breaking which indicates the Social Realism genre. This sets up the Equilibrium stage in terms of Todorov's model as everything seems normal and undisturbed. Neale's theory of Repetition and Altman's theory of Semantic and Syntactic codes, causes us to expect to see a clear repetition of syntactic codes, such as realistic events that can be somewhat relatable in a Social Realism film.

A male voice over also accompanies this first shot slightly after the entrance of the sad non-diegetic music. The tone of this unknown narrator sounds sincere and meaningful and the first words being "Dear Catherine" suggests that he's reading out a letter. The voice over progresses on to talk about not wanting to be with this 'Catherine' character anymore as the man states blunty: "I'm leaving you". This reflects the Social Realism genre as it's something that happens regularly in life; breaking up with your loved one is a relatable issue and acts as a syntactic code in terms of Altman's theory as it reinforces the genre. The voice over also confirms that it was a long term relationship as he says: "I should of left you years ago Catherine", this makes the sadness of the short film more meaningful.

This shot becomes a long take as the camera progresses to a high angle as it eventually breaks into a birds eye view of the car driving along the road, this is sustained for the majority of the opening. The birds eye view puts the audience in a superior and spying position as it's still not made obvious who's driving the car. The lighting is fairly low-key which reflects the gloom within the voice over and it also creates a dull atmosphere. The setting so far hasn't changed from the road that seems to be surrounded by quite a few trees which suggests that this character is heading towards a fairly secluded area, perhaps to reflect on their troubles.

  

The car eventually indicates right into a car park which is when the camera slowly pans out to form an extreme long shot which allows the viewer to see the car park and to eventually view a male character, (most likely the character behind the voice over), exiting the vehicle and walking away. His costume consists of an untucked grey checked shirt. Grey has connotations of dullness and being drained, which could be reflecting his current emotional state. He's also wearing jeans and a pair of trainers which are very informal. As he walks away with his hands in his pockets, the camera gradually swoops down to ground level, still maintaining the long take that's been sustained since the beginning of the sequence. But it then slowly drifts back to the birds eye view as he says "I'm drifting Catherine", the camera appears to sometimes reflect the voice over and his mood.

The camera makes the FIRST cut to an extreme long shot, only 1:40 minutes into the sequence, which emphasises the sincerity and tragedy of the situation. The camera cuts to a secluded and remote lake setting surrounded by rocks, which confirms this idea of him wanting to reflect on his thoughts due to the peaceful and tranquil associations connected with a quiet and isolated setting such as this one. The setting is made clear by the extreme long shot as it establishes the change in setting and allows the audience to observe that the man is completely alone. The camera continues to track him as he gets further towards the lake edge and it eventually swoops back into a birds eye view shot and over takes him. As the camera reaches the lake edge, a graphic match is used as it fades from the icy pale lake, to the pale cloudy sky. The camera then pans down to a low angle shot to display the man proceeding forward with a thoughtful and serious facial expression that's mirrored by his stern body language, as his head is bowed and his hands are glued to his pockets.

Focus pull is used to emphasise the crooked stick, this suggests that he's going to pick it up as the focus has been drawn away from the man directly to the stick. This is confirmed when he grasps hold of it as he walks past, which is followed by a cut to a low angle tracking shot of the man's feet as he walks along dragging the stick along the ground in deep thought. Shallow depth of field is used to again highlight the stick.

The camera makes another cut to an extreme long shot of the lake looking gloomy and dark, accompanied by the diegetic sound of rain drops hitting water. As rain begins to fall, it acts as pathetic fallacy in order to amplify the sadness and miserable atmosphere, which mirrors the emotions of the man. The man steps in the frame as the camera pans around the lake, and focus pull is used to bring him into focus. The camera cuts to the first use of a close up, which allows the audience to properly observe his face and facial expression that remains stern and miserable. It also allows the audience to determine his age, which could be from 40-50 years old. The camera then cuts to a long shot side on view of the man, passively standing by the edge of the lake, still clutching his stick. This long shot allows the audience to observe that a bright yellow balloon suddenly enters the frame, which sets up the Disruption phase in terms of Todorov's model which creates enigma and in terms of Barthes theory of Engima Codes because it generates eagerness amongst the viewers, as the randomness of the balloon doesn't have an immediate purpose that's obvious. As it's the brightest prop in the frame, it conveys that it does have a meaningful symbolic purpose due to the emphasis that's caused by the yellow colour. Yellow also has connotations of warmth, spirituality and happiness, however there are negative connotations such as irritation and illness, so it could be either.

The man's facial expression becomes confused and curious as he looks around to see if there was anyone around that could have possibly lost it and this emphasises the confusion of the sudden entrance of it as the isolation of the setting conveys that no one else would be there, so why would there be a balloon floating around? This applies to Buckingham's theory of genre Evolvement, as a balloon prop wouldn't usually be found in this tragic Social Realism sequence because balloons usually represent fun and happiness, therefore it seems wrongly placed due to the sadness of the situation. It shows how the genre has slightly changed to allow the balloon to become a symbolic prop used different to represent his own emotional ties.

His curiosity is captured by the medium close up of the side of his face as he frowns at the sight of it. The camera then cuts back to the previous long shot which allows the audience to see that he attempts to grab it and as he does so, a swooping non-diegetic sound erupts and the balloon floats away from the man slightly as if teasing him. The teasing notion is reinforced when he makes a second attempt at grabbing it and it repeats the same teasing action as before. The balloon's symbolic purpose begins to become apparent as the camera cuts to a close up of the man's face that turns slightly yellow as the balloon sits directly next to his face. His facial expression becomes ever so slightly amused and the camera cuts to a two mid shot of the man and balloon side by side. The voice over returns and the letter continues to be read: "Goodbye Catherine", as this is said, the balloon begins to drift away again and the man's facial expression becomes frustrated and confused. An extreme close up with shallow depth of field is used to display a folded piece of paper attached to the string of the balloon, in terms of Barthes theory of enigma codes, this again generates eagerness and confusion at what this paper contains. A small series of cuts are used to show the man attempting to retrieve it with the stick which sets up the Confrontation phase in terms of Todorov's model. His facial expression becomes also eager and the non-digetic swooping sound returns as it approaches the end of the stick, creating slight tension and also allows the audience to predict the action code of the balloon popping, which applies to Barthes theory of Action codes. The tension is then broken by a sudden diegetic popping sound as the balloon pops, which creates the Resolution phase in terms of Todorov's model as the balloon is no longer causing disruption. This causes the man to jump slightly and seem afraid which then turns back into a sincere facial expression as the camera displays him retrieving the note and reading it which is accompanied by a close up of the note and then an extreme close up of his face to demonstrate the confusion as he reads it. The note repeats the voice over that ran throughout the first part of the film, it then becomes obvious that the balloon is meant to represent part of his own thoughts or conscious. In order to leave this woman he had to separate himself from part of his feelings of attachment, this is why the narrator's voice changes when he begins to read the note again. His words seem unfamiliar and strange because he does in fact love her but some part of him won't allow himself to be with her. This means that, in terms of Todorov's model, the New Equilibrium is established as the realisation becomes apparent.

The sequence ends with a mid shot of the camera sitting behind him and displaying him dropping the letter on the floor, which again reinforces the New Equilibrium. The screen then fades to black and the credits begin. The structure is chronologically Linear as we gain closure on how he finally lets go of his feelings which created a sense of freedom.

I thought the use of the extended metaphor was clever as it emphasised his emotions and physically displayed them to capture the tragic situation, this proved to be very engaging and interesting and it's perhaps something I'd like to try in the short film we will eventually make.