Short Film Analysis

When I began analysing my short film I decided that I wanted to compare a student film with a film directed and produced by professionals so I could see the difference with the cinematography and editing used etc.

This first film is the student film and it is called 'Too Shy'.


This second film was made a company called 'The Jubilee Project' and their film is called 'Love Language'.



Both of the films have two main characters and the basic storyline is about them expressing their feelings for one another. However, the way the story's are told and the cinematography, mise en scene, sound and editing that has been used differs in the films.

The director of ‘Too Shy’ uses an establishing shot to open the film which shows us the front of a building suggesting where the story is going to be told. This is then followed by another establishing shot of a blackboard which immediately tells us that the building is where an ‘open mic’ night is held which gives the audience a clue of the story also, the colours used for the writing on the blackboard are bright, this suggests that the story will have a happy ending giving the audience very slight hints of the ending of the story. The camera slowly zooms out showing more of the building and blackboard. This effect makes a simple shot look more effective. 

I really like the way the director has edited the sound so that a boy is saying his poem at the open mic night before cutting to see his face because it is an unusual way to introduce the main character instead of showing them in the establishing shot. The director uses mise en scene to give the audience an insight of the story because the blackboard says ‘High School’ which implies it will be a stereotypical love story between two people. The first establishing shot dissolves into the shot of the blackboard which then dissolves into the third shot showing the boy reading his poem. This makes the story flow from one shot to another slowly telling the story matching the shots with what the boy is saying. The is a medium shot of the main character who is looking away from the camera and towards the audience, this makes it look like he is telling us a story instead of reading a poem which is very effective because it adds to the flow of the cinematography and sound.

In 'Love Language' the director has opened with an establishing shot also, this is a common way to open a film because it gives the audience an insight to where the film is going to take place. The difference between this establishing shot to the one in Hutchins film is that the shot also introduces one of the main characters as she walks into the shot which I think is very effective because a simple shot showing where the film is going to take place also shows us the main character with out changing shots. The diagetic music in the film changes to non-diagetic music when the girl puts in her headphones, implying to the audience that she is listening to the music it changes to. This is effective because we find out at the end of the film that she is deaf but because she has her headphones in the audience will be unaware of this.

The second character is introduced in the same way. He sits down next to her and as you can see here, they are both on one level suggesting that they are equal. Whereas in 'Too Shy' the boy is looks up to the girl he is in love with in this low angled shot because he sees her as perfect and he believes he is below her standards. The directer in 'Love Language' may be trying to put a message across to the audience that even though she is deaf, she isn't below anyone. Also, you can see that the shot is over-exposed meaning that there is too much light in the shot making her look angelic. This is also used in 'Love Language' throughout the whole of the film. This may have been done to give the audience information about the characters. For example, the boy doesn't care that the girl is deaf and he still sees her as beautiful which demonstrates that both characters are kind-hearted.









This close up shot of the boy holding a notepad with his poem in 'Too Shy' is very effective because throughout the film he only looks down at the paper once which tells us that this isn’t a story that he has written and made up but part of his life. The camera tracks upwards to see his face. He never stop telling the story throughout the film until the shot cuts to the girls bedroom where soft music begins to play suggesting that this is the girl he is talking about and in love with. Moreover, the music could be reflecting the girls’personality implying that she is kind and loving or it could reflect her feelings toward the boy and that she loves him.

The camera pans around the room and cuts to another unusual shot where there is a picture of the girl face covering half of the shot and then behind we see her getting ready in her room. While she is getting ready her face is away from the camera however because there is a picture of her face it suggests that maybe she has two personalities. This is unusual because normally when a director wants to imply this message they would have half of the characters face in the dark and half in would be light. However, that normally suggests that the character has an evil side to them and so using this way of demonstrating two personalities could suggest that she isn’t an evil character but just has a secret. This works well with the ending of the film as we find out that she is in love with the main character which suggests that it was her secret or the other side to her.

Furthermore, in 'Love Language' the boy tries to communicate with her by asking her questions verbally however, she ignores him so he writes her a note. Therefore, the films that are similar in the way in which they are communicating through written words. In 'Too Shy' he writes a poem and in 'Love Language' they pass notes. I think that this works really well because it is an unusual way to tell a story because in a stereotypical film the story isn't told through a narrative like it is in 'Too Shy'. I really like the close up shot with the sticky notes because even though  it is a really simple shot it looks really effective because it doesn't just show the note with writing on it, it shows the blank ones too where she can reply. Having a close up of both of the sticky notes shows their importance because they are the only objects in the shot whereas the director could have put other things into the shot such as one of the characters but I don't think it would have worked as well as this image because it would have taken away their importance.

Moreover, as the film develops the notes become more important as they continue to talk through the sticky notes and this is how they build their friendship over the few days that they meet. The director uses the same shot that he used earlier which is a closeup of the notes however, now the story is unfolding there are more notes. The close up still signifies their importance. This is similar to 'Too Shy' because as we continue to watch the film this next shot only shows an outline of the boy writing his poem but it dissolves into the same shot but he is an old man. This demonstrates a development within the story using the poem he has written because when he begins telling the story as an old man we then see the twist in the storyline. The sound over the voice also changes as the man ages which is really effective because it is another way of showing that he has aged in case the audience missed the visual change. Moreover, I think Hutchins used a silhouette in this shot because you can hardly see the change suggesting that even though he has grown older his love for her hasn’t changed.

The directer of 'Too Shy' uses mise en scene in this shot to show that when the candle goes out it is to show that his love has passed away which I think works really effectively because its as if a part of his life or 'the fire inside him' has gone. Further suggesting this is that he is still writing his poem about her and once the candle goes out he stops writing. I think this shot looks good because the candle is in focus but you can still see him writing in the background implying that the candle has more significance.

This is the most significant shot/moment in the film because it is where we find out that she is deaf. I like the way that the director slowly fades out the music as he puts the headphones in as throughout the film we that the music is diagetic because she is listening to that song but we find out that it is non-diagetic because she isn't listening to anything. Moreover, the headphones are the basis of the story because he wants to know what her 'special song' is which is similar to 'Too Shy' because when he tells the girl that he loves her, he stops reading his poem and says it. The camera pans down to see that she is holding her journal which is where she has written about her feelings for him.