Initial Research into Short Films - Touch - Ettie Greenwood

Touch - Nimer Rashed

Synopsis: 
This short film entitles an old lady remembering all her memories of her and her husband. It is a very emotional film as the audience are carried through her life story and her memories. The film ends with a painter/ director interrupting her by denoting that "(he's) finished" and then the man meets the ladies. The film starts and ends with a handshake, which gives the film its name: 'Touch'.

Genre:
I think that the genre of this short film is 'Romance'. This is because the short film displays love aspects. However the film also has a realist approach to it as it captures everyday life as well, making it possibly have a hybrid genre of 'Drama' attached to it.

There are some theories that accompany the identity of the genre:

Altman - Semantic and Syntatic Codes

As Rick Altman suggests, a 'semantic code' is a visual code that communicates meaning for the spectator, and sees them as 'building blocks' for any genre.

Semantic codes in 'Touch'- 

• The couple getting ready for a date: Dates are commonly shown in romance films, so by including this, the film fits the romance genre well. The girl is also show to by 'twirling' her hair which is stereotyped as an activity that girls do when the like/fancy a boy; this is denoted a lot in blockbuster movies therefore this would be a visual clue to the audience.

The girl 'twirling' her hai

• The non-diegetic soundtrack: This soundtrack only includes a piano within it, and the music denoted is soft feeling and calm. The type of music heard is usually associated with romance so it matches the romantic semantic field throughout the film.  

• The couple holding hands: The couple are denoted to be holding hand which is a visual fact to the audience that they're in a relationship and therefore adds to to the suitability of the romance genre.

• The painter/decorator: This interruption in the film adds a sense of realism to the piece, therefore possibly adding Drama as a genre; this makes the film a hybrid.

These are other semantic codes that help to display the genre of romance:

Kissing clearly denotes the genre 

Marriage is commonly shown in this genre

A child is a sign that their love was strong

- Most of these semantic codes are examples of zeitgeists as they are 'cultural trends', and are what individuals aspire towards in order to get a 'perfect marriage' -

Rick Altmann also said that specific 'syntatic codes' helped to reveal genre in a piece: Syntatic codes are typical conventions that fit into a certain genre. Therefore syntatic codes for any genre include:

• typical themes
• typical character relations
• typical binary oppositions
• typical narrative endings
• typical narrative narrative disruptions

Therefore, I believe that the syntatic codes in 'Touch' would include: Love, the couple, a binary opposition between the past and present, a circular narrative, and the interruption from the painter/decorater. These all help to create the romantic genre.

Neale - Repetition and Variation

Neale explains how all films in a genre will have similar characteristics that are repeated (hence why they are the same genre), but they will also offer variations in order to offer something different for the consumers. This is essential for short films as their a a large majority available, and with a low budget for marketing and advertising, they rely on consumers to watch and share their videos.

Therefore Neale suggests that only the films with variations will succeed the most so all films should try to so this whilst staying within a genre; this may sometimes create new hybrids.

I feel that the repetition in 'touch' are the semantic codes to suggest Romance, whilst the variation may be the filming techniques - shallow depth of field- and the narrative structure - circular-.

Media Language (Camerawork and editing only):

The camerawork in this short film really stood out for me: I noticed that in most shots, a shallow depth of field was denoted along side a frequency of close up/extreme close up shots. This allows the audience to really focus on individual parts of the couples bodies (or what is happening in the film); it may also give a more personal/ intimate feel to the film which suits its romantic genre. 

Slit framing is also used here to add imply more attention to the area in focus. But also it would be common to happen, with a frame that it so close to the object being filmed.

During the film, the camera seem to focus a lot of the couples hands. When they are holding hands, holding each other or touching objects. This mirrors the title of the film 'Touch' but may also connote the closeness in the relationship. Most of the shots of the hands are close-ups which again infers their significance in the film.

 Some of the shots of hands during the film

There are several cuts in 'Touch' back to the shot of the old lady frequently to remind the audience of the occurring flashback. This connotes that she is obviously thinking about all the memories. The lady is still though which may imply that she is thinking heavily and helps to keep the calm present tone continuous.

The editing frequency in the flashback section is quite high: 1.55seconds is the average length of a shot in the film. This therefore helps to imply that the lady's memories were rich as there were a large number of them. However, as there were so many cuts, and therefore different settings, this short film would have taken a long time to make especially with all the different  costumes and settings. But to make this work, match on action is used to give a smooth transition between scenes.

 This is a good example where match on action is used between shots

Narrative: 

The narrative structure in 'Touch' is mostly circular, as it starts of in the present, a flashback occurs then ends again in the present. However this film could also be multi-strand, due to the comeback to the present occasionally whilst the lady is thinking about her past.

Levi-Strauss - Binary Oppositions

A binary opposition is where two opposites are present in the film eg. Good vs Evil. Levi-Strauss denoted in his work that: "all narratives are organised around the conflict between binary oppositions" and that "all humans make sense of the world by dividing it into binary oppositions". Examples of binary oppositions in this film include:

•  Past vs. present
• Young vs. old
• Life v. death
• Happiness vs. sadness

My Thoughts:

The reason why I chose to study this short film was because of two reasons:

The first was that I really liked the way that this film was shot: Most of the shots have a shallow depth of fields (low aperture) which I especially liked as it was a good way of focusing the audience to a specific detail. But I also feel that it made the film seem more professional as this type of filming is common in the blockbuster films (especially in the Romance genre). The use of slit framing also helped to focus the audience.

Secondly I liked how the narrative structure was different to all the other short films I have studied so far: the structure was circular and included flashbacks which immediatley made it stand out for me. Therefore I may consider using this type of narrative structure (or something difference from the conventional linear type) to make our short film stand out to audiences.

However, I feel that a film of this type would have taken a long time to produce due to all the different settings and costumes. Therefore this could be hard for us to do due to our lack of time of filming. But we could do something similar but will less setting and costumes - like the short film 'Just Say Hi' which only uses costume change and not setting change to make filming more manageable.