Wasp, the short film by Andrea Arnold lasts around 5 minutes long. I have chosen to analyse this film to give me an understanding of the conventions taking place within the film and the typical features the appear in representation to mise-en-scene, cinematography, edit and sound. 
From the first few seconds of the film the shot shows a set of dirty stairs with children and a woman walking down in their bare-feet. The woman is still in her nightdress and doesn't seem to care much for the children's orb her own appearance. Carrying the baby carelessly with only a vest on and the three children wearing dirty and washed out old clothes suggests they are from a lower class background and are poor. At the beginning of the film the mother starts a fight with another woman, this would suggest she doesn't really care and isn't exactly a great role model allowing her children to watch in the street. in comparison to other children, the main characters daughters are definetly represented as worse off. 
Throughout the film we don't ever see the children's father and the main character never hears from him, it is clearly the single mam is struggling with the upbringing of her children and cannot afford to pay for the basic essentials. When the children complain to be hungry the mother substitutes a meal for a bag of sugar, this reveals a greater understanding of the mothers financial struggles showing she cannot even afford a basic meal for her family. In the house all the benches are covered in empty bottles or wrappers which haven't been put in the bin, this again shows the mother in a negative view being too lazy to tidy up her own house and instead living in a mess. 
As the mother couldn't get a babysitter she chose to take her children to the pub with her, this isn't exactly an ideal place for a baby. The mother abandons her children outside the pub to go meet a boy. This suggests she isn't actually fit to be a mother and doesn't  have her priorities right. When going to the pub she is dressed in an extremely short skirt and a red top, the clothing she has chosen is quite revealing and her top has connotations of love due to it being red. 
The short film uses a handheld camera all of the time. Firstly, it is used when they are coming down the stairs almost as if that is how they're moving. The shot starts with a close up on her thighs which lets the audience see she is dressed in her nightwear and  the clothes the children appear to be wearing, this shows they have no shoes on and are walking on a really dirty floor without a care showing its a common experience. Starting at the feet it allows the audience to see the dirty floor and shows the type of place these children are being brought up. The use of the handheld camera shows a sense of realism and could have been used to show the carelessness in the way these people live. The shots when in the house generally seem dull compared to being out in the day light, this could have been used to represent their lifestyle, emotions and feelings of the characters. 
In the short film Wasp there is a lot of colloquial language used, this reflects the type of people she wants the audience to see them as. They are presented as very common and rough. The mother has a very strong accent and swears throughout the whole of the film. We also see the children repeating the foul language again representing the mother as a bad role model. The language used give a good representative of the bad upbringing the children have experienced. 
Due to the film having a very realistic situation as its focus the edits are kept very simple with just using basic cuts. The subject matter is very serious and therefore keeping the edits simple reflects the everyday life the children are growing up in, however the difficult life the children are experiencing contrasts with the very simple but effective editing of the film.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Working in a group with www.katiemurdo.blogspot.com these are the roles we intend to persue throughout our A2 project:

Mise-en-scène - Kelsey Wink/ Katie Murdoch

Scriptwriting -Kelsey Wink

 

Sound - Katie Murdoch

 

Cinematography -Katie Murdoch

 

Acting - Kelsey Wink

Editing - Katie Murdoch

CHOSEN CONCEPT!

My chosen concept is to focus my short film around the deterioration of a girls life. This will work by her thoughts and feelings being presented as actual people haunting her life. The girl doesn't realise the people are actually just in her head.

A2 PROJECT IDEAS on Prezi

Analysis Of Previous Years Work

 

trailer 2

From the start of the paranormal activity trailer the genre is immediately identified. As the trailer is said to be 'based on a real story' and 'the scariest film ever seen' the mise-en-scene doesn't just focus on showing clips of the film but also chooses to show reactions and quotes of the public. As they take their seats the colour changes to black and white. The dull colours connote danger, typical horror conventions. The first image from the actual film tells the story they 'think someone is in the house' revealing its a horror genre. The long shot in the bedroom shows it's night time and as the image gets dark the couple hear a noise within the house, the camera is then handheld to make it seem more realistic and shows a shot of a lightshade moving we hear breathing which connotes fear and then diegetic sound of a door slamming. The immediate cut to the audience to reveal their reaction suggests to any viewers that the film is terrifying. The next shot reveals footsteps 'coming into the room but not back out', this creates tension as it suggests the demon is in the same room as them. As it goes back to the dark bedroom shot the sheet moves and diegetic sound of a door slamming shut. The trailer then uses the same technique to cutting back to the audience reaction. The sequence then uses really fast cuts with loud noises to show other things which the demon is causing building up further tension and persuading the audience to go see the film.