I have decided to analyse the short film Awake. Awake is about a Teen, aged around 18, who wakes up one morning and everyone on earth has disappeared, and the rest of film bases itself around his turmoil as he lives out his life on earth completely alone.
I decided to use this film as i thought it could be related to ours very well, as the is a very clever twist at the end which makes every that happens within the film to make sense, and that is something we want to try and do in our film.
This is a very simple layout for a title sequence; or rather a title, as there are no other title sequence parts in the story.
The title 'Awake' gives a clue into the film and already makes audiences interested.
The first shot seen is one of a boy, probably about 18/19, or more specific the eye of a boy. This tells me straight away that this boy will be the main character of the film.
After watching just the first few minutes of this film, it is clear that it based around one person, and the whole thing is voice-overed, which is a good techinque as it helps the audience focus on the expression of the main character.
There is then an establishing shot that expresses what the voice over is saying, as it shows an empty street, clearly showing that this character will be the the ONLY character in the film.
There is then a medium shot showing the boy in full this time, peeking through the blinds of his bedroom. This can sometimes have connotations that there is something hidden, or the character is being veiled by something or there is something being hidden from the character that he is trying to find.
There is then an insert shot of the floor, covered in what look to be mucky clothes. This would be typical of a teenage boys room, so this does not seem unusual except that 'Everyone has disappeared', so the clothes have piled up as there is no one to clean up after him.
The main character then picks up one of the items of clothing, and smells it, clearly making sure that the shirt is clean for him to wear.
The boy then pulls a face what i can only describe as approval. I feel like this was put in for comedic effect, but as he could be the only person left on earth it seems a little out of place.
After getting changed, it goes through the boys daily routine, still with the voice-over of i assume is the boys voice. This shot is of chocolate on spread, which also seems strange as it is quite a childish breakfast to have, for a boy that could be the last person on earth.
There is then an over the shoulder shot of the character looking at a sink full of dirty dishes, which again adds up to the fact that there is no one there to clean them up.
The boy's voice over then speaks about his grandpa, and how he was really ill and he never knew what happened to him, and this is when the mystery starts to increasingly build up.
The next shot then shows the boys expression on the subject, which is sullen and sad.
There is then another establishing shot, showing the house that the boy lives in on his own at the moment, which used to house his whole family. The plain front of the house also adds to the fact that he is alone and lonely.
This is another longer has to that shows the area the boy lives in, which seems full with the cars surrounding the road. However, when you listen to the boys voice over as well, it makes the street seem empty and sad.
This shot is fairly close up, showing the feet of the boy, who seems to be walking slowly, as he obviously doesn't have anything to walk faster for.
This shot shows a small garden gnome, giving the impression that the boy is now no longer alone, and this object makes this boy a little less lonely.
This is a close up shot of the boys expression when he finds the gnome, which I think adds to the idea of this boy being content that he has a found a friend to keep him company in this empty world.
This next shot shows the boy walking along a very empty beach with the new friend, and seems to be walking quicker which shows the change of mood since finding his new small friend.
The voice over is important for this shot, as he is explaining that he attempted to drive a car, just to see if they worked. This shows he is trying to get on with his life even though he is the only one left.
This is an insert shot of what happens when the boy opens the car door. Water rushes from the car, which is really strange and will seem very odd to the audience.
This is an establishing shot of a wasteland, showing what the earth is coming to now that there isn't any people here.
This shot shows the boy with his only friend in the world, giving the impression to the audience of his emptiness inside now that he takes comfort from a garden gnome.
This next shot shows the boy sleeping in the wasteland shown before, obviously portraying that he has absolutely no fear anymore now that he knows he is alone.
This is a comedic shot of the gnome doing the same thing, adding to the impression of them now being friends.
This shows the boy now fed up of exploring and trying to find something to cure the boredom he has now that he has no human contact.
Another instance of the boy trying to cure his boredom. I've noticed that the boys name is never mentions, obviously meaning that the even though he is the only character he isn't the most important issue of the short film.
This is a very significant shot in the film, because the boy is playing with a toy car, and he puts this car into a fish bowl. It doesn't make sense to start with, but once you have watched the whole film, there are lots of little significant shots like this that all build up to the ultimate twist in the story at the end.
This is when the story starts to turn. This is where the dialogue is the important part, as he explains he keeps thinking that someone is following him. Again, this is one of the significant things that will make sense at the end.
From an audiences point of view, it looks as though paranoia is setting in with this boy and that he is starting to go crazy from being alone for so long.
This shot is nice, as it shows a shadow, which gives the audience the impression that someone is definitely with him on this empty planet.
This is the final scene. The boy gets home and he hears noises, and the whole film seems to be coming to a conclusion at this point.
The expression of his face gives the impression tot he audience that something has shocked him. A lot. And after being alone for so long it would be something big.
This is the most significant shot of the film, showing his granddad has turned up in this world of his, the same granddad that was ill before and he didn't know what had happened. This cuts straight to...
...This. This is the shot that is the explanation of the whole film, and is my favorite part of this film. There are no dialogue, just an image of a newspaper article, and this shows that the boy that had been wondering alone for months was actually the one that died, meaning that this world he had created on his own was his death.
This kind of ending means that it is open to the audiences interpretation, but i took from it was that there were these small clues that all linked together that brought the film to a heavy conclusion; that the boy had been sent into this 'world' when he had died in the car accident, and the only reason his granddad had joined him was because his illness had took his life also.
I like this film because i love the twist fo the story that turns the feel of the film on its head completely, and i would like to create that kind of feeling in our short film.
