Initial Research into Short Films - The Dinner Party

The opening titles of 'The Dinner Party' uses a very common typeface that is very clean which sets a formal/professional background to the film.
The size of the font and the central positioning makes is appear small and own its own, which could show what is to come with the man being left by himself.



Media Language:
As the titles fade out, a slow pan movement is used to show the edge of the table and the props on top of it; tumbler and wine glasses with fine detail are shown which conveys class and wealth. The blue and white china plates demonstrate high class as they are normally used for occasions, and are not simply plain white plates. 

This is accompanied by the diegetic sound of a (grandfather) clock ticking. This is the only sound present which emphasises the silence and therefore a still yet curious atmosphere. 

The medium close up of the male character allows us to see his facial expression which looks saddened as his eye flutter looking down on the empty table. A cut transition to a long shot then shows his body language; he sits there as if he expects them still to arrive, even though really he knows they wont as we see him turning himself and looking around.
Enigma is created as the audience are unaware yet as to why the man is alone. 

The room in which the character waits connotes a senses of wealth as many of the props are very elite:

• The candle stand placed in the middle of the table is very extravagant and appears to be made from silver which implies his upper class status.  
• The layout of the cutlery alongside the plates suggests a formality to the occasion as the have been placed according to the different courses which further implies the lavish event.
• The painting on the wall above the piano is framed by with gold - this immediately connotes wealth to the audience.   

Part 1 of eye-line match

An eye-line match is then used to show the character looking at the clock.The clock is a large grandfather clock which is very imposing which contributes to suggesting his well off lifestyle.

Part 2 of eye-line match

 This is followed by the diegetic sound of him sighing
The audience can denote from this that the man has been stood up by his guests. This makes us empathise with him as we can see the effort he has put into the event and we see him raise his glass and begin to drink by himself. 

Very few transitions have been used up to this point in 'The Dinner Party'. I think this is because it slows it down. It sets a more slow pace by having the action within one long shot. The next transition used other than a simple cut, is a fade to black. The shot has changed from an extreme long shot showing him awaiting his guests, to a medium close up of him being awoken by the diegetic chiming sound of the clock. The fade shows a passing of time and the chime supports this as it implies that the next hour has been reached. His facial expression appears tired as we can see that he has just been woken from sleep, connoting to the audience that his guests will not be attending. 

Shots showing the fade transition

Audience:
I think the targeted audience for 'The Dinner Party' would be:

• men and women - I have chosen both as I feel that this situation could apply to women aswell. The guests he were waiting for were probably of both gender too. Although i would suggest that there would be a split of roughly 65/35 of men to women seeing as the main character is a male, making it more relatable to them and also being able to empathise.
• aged between 30-50 - I think this would be an appropriate aged demographic because of the plot used. The character is wealthy and in a nice home which wouldn't commonly come to somebody of a younger age. Again I believe the character would sit in that age category meaning that people that age would be more interested in viewing it.
• of upper class - I think this is because the character denoted belongs to this category, hence viewers would understand the situation and plot better and therefore be more engaging.