NO MAN’S LAND TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

By Dion Johnson

http://www.filminute.com/listing.php?type=2&terms=&film=159

Genre What does Genre mean?This term refers to the way films are catergorised depending on the media text according to

their shared. Genres are also composed of themes, settings, iconography, character types and mise-en-scene.

Types of Film Genres include: Action Adventure Comedy Crime and Gangster Historical Horror Musical/Dance Science Fiction War Western http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html. The genre was decided to be selected for No Man’s Land is a psychological drama as it

reflects a brutal and heartless storyline of a man speaking about life in general using a close up shot on his face throughout the whole one minute until the end when you think he will just continue speaking right to the end but the he unsurprisingly gets hanged.

Steve Neale suggest that ‘genres are instances of repetition and difference’ (Neale 1980, 48). This means each genre product must use elements familiar to the audience, but also adds something unique.

Narrative No man’s land is a short film that lasts for a minute which is simplistic but has a big impact on the audience as the main focus in the film is a middle aged who is talking about life in general by evaluating and reflecting his life.

RepresentationWhat does representation mean?Representation is defined as the selection and construction of a film. It also means the way in which a producer

selects footage to give audience a representation of someone. The media also constructs meanings about the world. Representations always provides a certain view of places, people and issues.

Gender –As the film concentrates on a middle aged man evaluating

life but in a more cold hearted perspective it shows that the man may feel a sense of loneliness, isolation and distress . This represents men in a counter stereotype as it is unlikely to have a male showing their emotions and feelings so this creates a different view of men that they have a sensitive side to them as well as females stereotypically.

Audience This film was made to be showcased at the

film minute festival so their target audience was people that are interested in short films and more specifically one minute films. Due to the story of the film I think that the target audience is of an older age as the man is talking about life which relates to the older generation.

Media LanguageMise-En-Scene – In the film there is not much props used that gives away

parts of the story line. In the film you will see a shadow walking pass in the background as it comes towards then end, by this is it makes the audience more alert and determined to keep their eyes on the film.

Sound -In the film the sound uses non-digetic throughout, this

creates a more realistic aspect of the film as the man is talking about life, so enforces more awareness of surrounding of where the man is.

Camera work – The camera was a close up shot all the way throughout the short film.

Funding and Distribution The budget for this film was 600 Australian

dollars (approximately 400 pounds) No man’s land was entered into the

international one-minute film festival that show cases independent filmmakers, writers, animators, artists , designer, and producers.

Success This Film didn’t win any rewards but got a lot of positive comments and ratings