Shocking second a day - TASK ANALYSIS

Textual Analysis for ‘Most Shocking Second a Day Video’

Setting

• London, skyline
• Accents
• Park

Costume

• Uniform
• Hair shedding
• Makeup distressed
• Lipstick

Props

• Cake > number of candles
• Metal plate
• Gas mask

Camerawork

• Handheld
• Close-ups show her emotions
• Eye level shows us from a child perspective

Lighting

• Natural lighting to show a sense of realism
    
  
  

  Synopsis:

  
  

  I will be creating a task analysis using the mise-en-scene technique for the video ‘Most shocking second a day’.

  
  

  Setting:

  
  

  The beginning of the video in a family home with a little girl celebrating her birthday with her family enjoying herself. It then flips through different scenes; including her going to school in her uniform and from her accent and skyline in the background we can tell she’s from London. It then goes into a scene where she’s sleeping and it cuts to the next day when she’s at the park enjoying her time.

  
  

  The setting then changes to her walking in the street, either coming home from school or going to school and then an explosion goes off and the scene cuts into a car traveling through an unknown place from her words “where are we going” and then it cuts to a setting where she’s wearing a gas mask, walking through smoke. Then, the next scene is her sleeping; not in her bed, on the street which would now suggest that she’s becoming homeless or poor, and then to a hospital, before we are shown the very last scene of her having her birthday with one family member.  

  
  

  To perform each of these settings they use a few main transitions to edit each scene in effectively; they use transitions such as a Cut, Matched cut and a cut away. They uses these transitions when they try to show continuity within the film, and cuts like ‘matched cut’ are cuts which where the girl is in one scene with an medium close up to her face and then it cuts to her with the same position of her face but, with a different background/setting.

  
  

   

  
  

  Costume:

  
  

  The costumes worn in this video vary from her school uniform, to her normal daily clothes, and nightwear. She wears white polo shirt, red cardigan and a coat as part of her school uniform, and her uniform could have a bigger meaning behind it; the white might represent purity, innocence or heaven, and the red could suggest hell or blood or also war but as a sign of remembrance, referring to red poppies.  It cuts to a scene where she’s in her room wearing her mother’s lipstick and make-up, which suggests how her life is comfortable and good because many children intend to do the same thing.

  
  

  In one scene, she’s with her mother combing and plaiting the hair which is nice, straight and clean but her mother asks if she washed her hair today. However, although it’s very clean and comfortable at the start, it then cuts to her clothes beginning to get dirty. She wears the same clothes for days, her hair starts looking ragged and dirty, her hair starts falling out (hair shedding), her makeup becomes distressed and her face and uniform become very dirty.

  
  

  To show each change of costume effectively they use specific editing at certain times to jump cut from clean to dirty. Using the transitions such as Matched cuts and Cut, they produce an effective piece of visual for the actors costume change; whether it’s changed from school uniform to bed time clothes or to show a cut between clean clothes and then dirty clothes.

  
  

  Props:

  
  

  The props used in this short film start from her blowing out the ‘6’ candles on her cake in the first scene and then it blowing her flute enjoying herself, then skips through multiple scenes of her enjoying her free time by playing with her Rubik cube, wearing a frog mask etc. It then skips to many close up shots of her holding her white teddy bear; which could represent purity because of the colour white but also suggests that she’s innocent and is only a small girl. Another scene is when she goes to sleep, when she goes to school and on car journeys. It then cuts to her with her school bag on her back and her going to school, then cuts to her coming back from school where the bomb explodes and then she flees the scene.

  
  

   The next scene shows her holding her now dirtied white teddy bear - which seems to be her favourite toy – as she walks through smoke and rubble, while her mother holds a gas mask against her face; showing the audience that the air they’re walking through is not safe to breathe in and is polluted. It then finally skips to the ending scene, where she’s in a hospital, and the doctor is using a stethoscope to check her breathing through her chest,

  
  

  The last scene of the video ends with a link back to the beginning with it being her birthday again. However, this time there are less people and there is no cake, instead there is a small rice crispy cake in an old, metal bowl. The ‘cake’ has only 1 candle on it and from her expression, she doesn’t seem to care for her birthday and the ‘white teddy bear’ is no longer there. In the last scenes you can see that everything has changed, and her family members and friends are no longer there, which could represent that she was the strongest one out the family or has been looked after to survive because she’s only a child and she’s innocent. However, due to all the change, this would mean the family would most likely end up homeless and may find it difficult to find food, whereas before they had everything easy at hand.

  
  

   

  
  

  Camerawork:

  
  

  In the Second a Day video, most of the shots are handheld because each scene is focused on the girl and everywhere she goes as the shots seem to follow her through different scenes. A few shots have been filmed using a tripod; when her mother is doing her hair and when she is sleeping in her bed. Although, all shots are handheld with each scene using close ups, this is evident because in each scene we (as the audience) are shown her face, throughout the whole video.  I believe this is used to show the characters emotions throughout the whole video effectively and also, the eye level of the camera work shows us a child’s perspective but it’s in third person view format. In some of the scenes, like the beginning, the camera looks hand held but also canted which may represent that the camera isn’t strong nor steady because it has a slight tilt too it and shots when she’s walking the camera moves towards the way she walks too. Therefore, proving the type and style of the camerawork is actually used throughout the video.  They also use these close-ups in every shot, so they can focus on the little girls face and actions  throughout the video. They use this too see her emotions from start to beginning change, they also keep the camera frame focuses on her face and only in her facial position. Also throughout the video we can see that the colour doesn't vary often but it's shown as bright and colourful in the beginning with light colours such as red, green etc. Whereas, near the end scenes, the scene changes to dull and dark colours such as black and grey; which could represent fear or negativity.
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  Lighting:

  
  

  Throughout the video the lighting changes quite a lot; from the beginning they use the candles as lighting, which gives a nice effect but normally throughout the video its natural day light lighting. In some parts of the scenes, artificial lights are used, including lamp lights, representing the time is changing and the next scene will either be waking up or going to sleep. However, the natural lighting throughout the video has a very important meaning because the natural lighting being used is a sign of realism.

  
  

  Sound:

  
  

  The sound used throughout this video is diegetic and non-diegetic. This is shown from the beginning scene we can hear people singing happy birthday and we can see it too, therefore it being diegetic sound. However, when the bomb explodes, this looks like an effect edited on but the sound cannot be real and you can tell it must be recorded in a studio, making it non-diegetic sound. In the beginning scenes we can hear the little girl laughing, meaning she is enjoying her time and is happy but after you hear bombs explodes and the scenes change, you no longer hear her laughing or giggling; she’s a lot more quiet now and less open (more quiet).
• Through the different scenes; from beginning to end, the emotions and actions create conflict, causing sound to change throughout the play. In the beginning after they all sing happy birthday, you can clearly hear the blowing of her blowing out the candles, for this to be presented clearly like shown in the video, it must be recorded from a good quality mic or added from the studio. After this scene you can also hear non-diegetic screams of joy; "yaay!" and you can tell this is added on, as the sound doesn't sound very human or clear, also from the video; no one actually moves their mouths. Also, from the scene where we (as the audience) can see that, she's on the roundabout at the park, you can hear her father talking to her loudly but in the background you can also hear children and other people talking; this is partial non - diegetic sound.
• As the video goes on you can hear many sound, from eating & talking to loud bombs exploding and screams in horror. In the first few scene she tries lipstick and after you normally try lipstick, you rub your lips together and creates a 'pluck' noise, this is shown and heard in the video. There's also a scene when you can hear the girl biting and eating a Nutella toast.  A few scenes down, she's in the car sleeping but in the background you can hear the radio in car playing; talking about some news (most likely the issues in their area). There's also another scene similar to this, but she's in her home and she's playing, while the T.V in the background is switched on the news channel, with the subtitle of; "United Nations... Dead" and you can hear the movement of the Rubik cube she's playing with, but also in the background the TV. After this scene, she's in the park again and she's on the swing and as her dad swings her, you can hear the creaking of the swing. However, the scene straight after this is the same to the scene before but this time her dad is watching the TV on the channel of the News, but we can't see the TV this time, only hear it; as it talks about "guns and ammunition", whereas before it was with her mother and we could see the TV in the background and see the news; both scenes performing different media techniques; non diegetic and diegetic sounds.
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