Task 2: Short film analysis

Todorov's Theory of Narrative

Todorov's Theory of narrative has five stages of which the narrative is broken down into,  which include these simple ideas:

1- A state of equilibrium- When everything is normal as it should be

2- A disruption of that by an event- Something going wrong

3- A recognition that the disorder has occurred- Knowing it has happened

4- An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption- Trying to fix what is wrong

5- A return or restoration of a new equilibrium- Start of something new

The short film is called Sight and is based around futuristic technology and how it has become integrated into everyday life with a holographic display based within the eyes of the user allowing them to see all holographic displays and content around them.

 The film starts by with slow zoom In through a room with a plain black sofa in centre of the shot. Whilst this happens neon like blue credits appear, floating above the floor and create a reflection on the floor. The camera then does a horizontal tack of a man who’s lying on the carpet and the title “SIGHT” appears in the background which then disappears. This then cuts to a heads up display of what appears to be a game of the man sky diving. It then cuts back to show the man rolling around on the floor telling the audience that his body is the controller of the game. Again this quickly cuts back to the game in which only he can see with a diagetic narration of his game performance and sounds for is point scoring. The game graphics then fade away revealing that the game was within his eyes. He then heads towards the fridge and opens the fridge where another heads up display appears in his eyes telling him what’s in his fridge. However when we see this from another camera angle we don’t see any of these displays then cutting to the scene of him preparing his food in which it depicts cutting a cucumber as a game in which the display grades him on his skill.

The following scene then shows him on the sofa eating his meal and looking at his wall which is covered in holographic screens and a TV, this is then interrupted by a date reminder where it then gives him options of clothes to wear, again this cuts to angle from behind the man on the sofa where you can see he’s just looking at plain wall with none of the content seen in the display. This shows us where stage 2 has begun with the choosing of clothes for his date signifying the disruption by an event.

He then playing an astronomy  game on his display which he then closes to see the woman who’s turned up for the date which starts off stage 3 with a recognition of the event. As he talks to the woman he bring s up an app on his display called ‘wingman’ which is a dating app. Therefore throughout the chat with the woman it helps him on improving his relationship. It also shows that his actions correspond with what appears on his display and that when it cuts to a close up shot his eyes are still in line with what’s on his display. Nevertheless through this stage the display helps to give the audience a sense of its them looking through the display.

After this the stage continues and they woman goes home with the ma back to his flat seen earlier starting with an ELS of the plain room but then switching to a point of view shot through the woman’s display in which the wall Is covered I holographic displays however different from last time as it features Van Gogh’s Starry night painting and then on the far wall more displays which for now are out of focus. However they both then sit down on the sofa together and then the camera does a long shot with the man off to the right of the frame which allows the blurred icons into focus where she realises he’s used a dating app and signifying stage 4, fixing the problem.

The woman has now realised that he managed to use and app to help the date go smoothly. As she gets up and leaves the camera does a long shot of her getting up to exit until the man shout “I said wait “this stops the woman form walking any further in the long shot from behind, then cutting to a close up we see why because the artificial blue light off the display on the pupil has been replaced with a more broken red and black light within the woman’s eye as she is frozen still. Cutting back to what the man can see on his display shows a series of screens showing him hacking into the woman’s mind. As this scene ends its leaves us with the beginning of stage 5 where the man says from behind her “let’s try this again” whilst in appear over her shoulder and bought into focus telling us that a new eqlibrium has been form and that the problem of her walking out has been solved however in a controversial manner leaving stage 5 as a cliff hanger to lead the audience on.