Analysing short films: Dipper

In this lesson, we examining and analysed a short film called 'Dipper'.
We dissected the film by looking at the 'Camera Shots', 'Edits', 'Mise-en-scene' and 'Sounds' 
By doing this it improves the way I look at a video and it gives me ideas on how to produce a really good piece. This is the video we looked at below, to help us improve on our knowledge of film conventions and it also helped me decided whether I wanted to create a short film or a teaser trailer for my A2 media piece.  
As homework, we were asked to answer the following question: 
Discuss the techniques used by P.J Harling to convey a sense of enigma in the short film 'Dipper'
My answer follows below this video. 

     Firstly, the short films starts with diagetic sound of footsteps and the sounds of bustling. This immediately creates a sense of enigma as the audience will be intrigued straight away as to where the film is taking place and the mise-en-scene used will create an atmosphere of mystery as to what significance the setting has on the narrative of the film. Diagetic sounds of car engines and an ambulance creates enigma because the audience feels a sense of unease and want to know what has happened.

     The film begins with a voice over. This automatically creates a sense of enigma within the first few seconds of the short film and the voice is that of a man so the audience straight away wants to know who this man is and what he is doing. The audience doesn’t know who this man is so they are made to listen intently to the words that he is saying and are creating their own image and their own ideas on what this man may look like and what he is about. P.J Harling uses this voiceover to create a sense of enigma as it creates an atmosphere of mystery and unease as the audience want to know who this man is that is speaking. The voiceovers throughout the short film signify the main character’s thoughts, feelings and observations without him saying it out loud and the audience get to see everything through the eyes of this person and from his point of view. The audience don’t know who the man is until the camera zooms in towards a man standing against the wall with a mysterious look on his face. At the point, the audience assumes that he is the man who is talking in the voice over. The camera is totally focussed on this new character and so this tells the audience that he is one of the main characters and again creates a sense of enigma as the audience want to know more about this character and where the narrative of the short film is going to lead, there is always a constant atmosphere of mystery created.

     In the beginning sequence of the film, there are lots of different camera shots that cut from one place to another very quickly. The use of this establishes where the film is being set straight away yet still creates enigma as the audience don’t really completely know where the setting is. There are shots that pan and follow people in the city going about their everyday life and the use of diagetic sound creates this verisimilitude of a bustling, lively and busy town where people are out and about. As the voiceover is on-going, the camera cuts to different areas of the town and to different people that coincide with what the man is saying in his voiceover. Close up’s are used of people’s belongings to emphasise that the main character is viewing what people have on offer and this possibly foreshadows at what might happen during the film and it can lead to assumptions on the main character. An example of this is when there is a close up shot of a man’s gold watch to emphasise what the main character’s state of mind is about as he describes the man’s watch as ‘fake’ so he moves on to the next person, as does the camera as if it is following this thoughts. Along with this is up beat non-diagetic music that builds up and creates tension and suspense that adds to the enigma.

     Additionally, the camera zooms in to a woman with a designer Dior bag, this automatically draws the audience in and emphasises the important of this bag, once again alluring them in to the enigma and the mystery of the situation. The use of a heart beating as non-diagetic sound builds up tension and suspense and all other sounds and action is suspended as the narrative focuses on this particular scene. The pace of the film dramatically slows down here as the importance of this shot is emphasised and it entices and lures the audience in as they want to know what the importance of the bag is and what’s inside the bag.

     A clever technique used by the director is when he uses a screen shot which splits the screen in two. One side has the main male character and other side has the supposed woman ‘victim’ whom he is following. The audience get to see what both characters are doing at the same time without any editing or cutting so the audience can get a sense of where they both are and what they’re both up to. This use of shot creates enigma as the audience want to know what’s going to happen and why he is following her.

     The use of flashbacks also create enigma as the audience has to keep up with what is going on and they have to piece together the different parts of the narrative which makes watching the short film a lot more enjoyable for them as the narrative may turn in a way in which they didn’t expect when it is revealed that the male character is looking to be the victim, not the female so the roles have been reversed towards the end of the film and this creates enigma because the audience may not have been expecting such an unstereotypical ending. When the narrative of the film switches to the flashbacks, the audience get the series of events through the woman’s point of view which creates enigma as this switch in narration may confuse the audience as they don’t know whether she is the one that set the whole thing up and the audience are left guessing and are left to put their own interpretation on things and are left on kind of a cliffhanger as the audience are not 100% as to what has happened so the enigma is carried on all the way to the end of the short film and even carries on with the audience as they try to figure out what happened.