After Phil is punched his baby starts crying and it shows him realising that he has failed at protecting his family and that it is falling apart. The baby crying intensifies this.
The dialogue used is very powerful. For example when Phil has been paid and she asks him what he does she seems surprised when he says a miner. He sees this and says “Dinosaurs, Dodos, Miners” this is very powerful as he is putting his job down with other things that are extinct and believes he is heading that way. When Phil is being the clown his tone of voice is trying to be funny and appealing to children. Also when Sandra gets charity from the cashier her tone of voice is very loving and appreciating. She realizes that she has put her job on the line to give her a bit of cash. The bailiff realizes that Phil is going to take the redundancy money and betray his fellow workers and knows that Phil is feeling bad about this so to make him feel even worse he calls him “co-co the Scab” which is the nickname given to the people that took the money. He could have said something such as “so your taking the money” but its there nature to be nasty and to twist the knife. So instead he says this informally which is more realistic and you can see that it gets to Phil. The bailiff realizes that it is his only option and so takes advantage of the situation.
I looked at the camera angles used and picked up on some key bits. They are important as they can also represent inner feelings and emotions, as I saw when Sandra was given the money in the receipt there was a close up on both hands exchanging the money. We only see the hands not the faces and cannot see any expressions. But the way they hold hands and give each other a comforting squeeze it is more descriptive than a face could be.
When the Bailiff is walking away Phil turns him around and we are side on to both of them and he is having to look up at him. This makes Phil look small and insignificant, no match for the bailiff. We end up looking from behind Phil and we can see the Bailiffs head clearly above his and that’s when he gets punched.
When Sandra is in the shop the camera is actually moving around it is just not panning there is first an extreme close up of her purse and this zooms out to Sandra. Then the camera moves along its tracks until the cashier is in view as well.
The last shot that we see in this small scene we studied was of the whole family together. Phil is still in his clown gear, the baby is crying and then for some reason you focus your attention onto Sandra who looks depressed and saddened as if she has had enough of this lifestyle and is worried for her family.
The film we watched used natural light and as it was a normal film there was no need for any lighting. Even if they did use any lighting we were not supposed to notice it.
The 5 minute exert that we watched was separated into three scenes. They were when Phil was at the party, Sandra at the shop and when the bailiffs come to there house. These are cleverly changed from one to the other. They are called pivot points and we see an example of this at the start. The end of scene one is when Phil is getting paid the £10 and this cuts and the next thing we see is Sandra emptying out her purse onto the counter. This is clever as it follows your chain of thought money to money. It also shows to me and highlights the problem early on that money is short. From having to do a small children’s party for a few ponds to then being short for groceries. They have wanted to show that money is a big problem and this method they have used has worked.
We also see use of inter cutting this is when we hear something before we see it. I found this when Phil was playing his trombone. We saw people walking down the street, we heard the trombone but couldn’t see the source, then the camera panned around and it showed Phil trying to entertain passers by. There is some pace editing when the lady gives Sandra the money between there faces. Then when she puts the money into her hand there is a pause. This shows this is a significant moment when she has put her job on the line to help a friend. There is also a long pause on Sandra’s face just after this. This has been done so you can see the gratitude on her face and see what this £5 means to her.
In this short exert I picked up many media techniques that were used. After watching this film and studying it I have seen the following that I will try to integrate into my own film. I thought that the pivot points that were used were very effective and now reflecting on this I can remember these in other films and programs that I have watched and in all of these they worked really well. They are quite successful because they follow the chain of thought threw e.g. money to money.
I would also try to use some powerful dialogue that really means something and adds to the film that I am trying to produce. If the dialogue is powerful and meaningful it will make the film much more interesting.
