Task 2.1: Research Into Existing Products - Short Film

Lynne Ramsay

Lynne Ramsay is a Scottish female director, however she does not like to be considered a 'female' director as she believes she is a director in her own right and her work shouldn't be affected by her sexuality. She has a very definitive style, using poetic framing, not graphic representation. 

Gasman

The film starts by showing a family getting dressed. From these shots you can tell that the film was set a long time ago due to the old fashioned outfits and decor. There are close ups on a boy shining his shoes and also a medium close up on a little girl's shoes and tights. These are old fashioned as shoe shining is more commonly associated with the olden days and the shoes the girl was wearing are old fashioned along with the fact that her tights are a mustard colour which is less common in today's society. There is then a mid shot of the girl in a yellow puffy dress. This further connotes that the film is set in the olden days.  The mid shot of the room indicates it was set in the past as the features of the kitchen look very old for example the stove. The wallpaper also has a funky pattern with shades of green and orange in which you don't see around in society today as it is no longer considered fashionable. The shots of them getting ready give the film an intimate feel as if you are really looking into their family life and are there in the scene.

The first few shots don't really reveal the characters faces, only their body parts which creates a sense of mystery for the audience about the personalities of the characters. 

Throughout this series of close-ups the diegetic music of the Christmas songs ‘Let It Snow’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’ are also heard, hinting towards the time of year in which the film is set. These cheerful Christmas songs and the joyous time of year juxtapose with the sound of the family arguing and shouting at one another in the background.

There is a wide shot of the father, daughter and son walking up a hill. The sky is very gloomy and bleak which connotes the stereotype of it being grim up north. There is no surroundings in the shot apart from some grass and lampposts which gives a feeling of isolation and creates an eerie, uncomfortable atmosphere. As they get closer to the top of the hill the Father picks his daughter up and is spinning her round. At the same time the sun starts to come out as the sky gets a bit bluer and the road gets lighter which could reflect the happiness from the father and daughter. The fact that the boy is trailing behind the Father and Daughter gives us the impression that the boy, being older than the girl, may have an idea to his dad’s other family and so resents him for that. The fact the boy also runs in the other direction from his sister and dad suggests that he wants to break free.

You next see the family walking along an abandoned railway line. The slow tracking shot of the family walking along the neglected tracks stretching into the distance may indicate a sense of hopelessness, which may show that the family have no hope and will be in this situation forever. However the high key lighting used gives the scene a positive element.

The family continue to walk with the girl being picked up by her dad, when all of a sudden he puts the girl down and walks out of the frame. Then we meet the other family who we assume to be the man’s mistress and their two children. The children from this family's clothing is dirty and simple unlike the girl’s pretty yellow party dress. The simple, dirty clothing the children are wearing suggests deprivation and how the father is unable to provide for both sets of children. The two boys are also of a similar age, as are the two girls, suggesting that the father was building both families at the same time. 

There is then a conversation taking place between the father and this other woman, shown through close-ups. These shots give a sense of intimacy and show how close the man and woman are to each other. Also it shows the emotions the characters are feeling, for example we can see from the man’s eyes that he is stressed and under pressure but we can also see how much he loves this woman and wants to be with her. However it is clear the woman feels nothing for him with the extreme close-up of the man touching her hair and her ignoring him  shows her rejection towards him. 

The family then arrive at a run-down pub where the camera pans to follow the father to a table full of men drinking, taking us into a drinking culture where kids are forgotten about, which raises the issue of neglect and a toxic childhood with the audience. The issue of neglect is also presented through the following shot of the boy sitting in a chair that swamps him in the corner of the frame, with this portraying him as lonely and isolated. The brown haired girl is later seen dancing with Father Christmas while the blonde haired girl is isolated and alone, this is representative of the two girl’s relationship with their father with the brown haired girl being close to her father and the other girl rarely seeing him. A wide shot of the blonde girl on her own is then shown, highlighting her isolation from everyone else in the room. This shot pans around the room and is handheld, conveying a sense of intoxication while showing the chaos that is going on in the room, also brings a sense of realism for the audience. The blonde girl then goes over to sit on her father’s lap with the brown haired girl immediately noticing this and attempting to pull the girl off her dad’s lap saying “That’s my daddy” over and over again. The girls begin to fight with the quick cuts and editorial pace showing aggression and loss of control. 

The family then leave the pub, meeting the woman at the train tracks. The man and the woman don’t speak; instead they walk in opposite directions, the man with the brown haired girl and her brother and the woman with her two children. All of a sudden the brown haired girl runs back to the other family, picking up a stone as if to throw it at them which symbolises hatred, however for some reason she throws it on the floor which could show that she knows the other children are part of their family. The lighting of the scene is now darker and bleaker with the train-tracks lit up by the moon, perhaps showing the two families hopeless fates.