Props

The prop of the mobile phone is used to mock Mark in the first bus scene. Two teenage boys perform a rude gesture in front of the camera phone for amusement. The characters who do this are unknown in the plot and the shot is short so it highlights the common, ignorant attitude of mindless teenagers. It is a crowd that Simon wants to identify with but one where bully culture - especially towards the week and vulnerable - is endemic. The enigma code can be applied to this as the audience questions whether Simon will join the crowd or look after his brother. The camera phone and its association with ‘happy slapping’ is key to the way teenagers view disabled people; it is a device for humiliating others. Mark having his back to the phone, unaware, shows his child-like innocence and separation from this social group.

The letter in ‘Bagdad Express’ represents Maya’s hopes and dreams; a chance to escape from a lifestyle that centres on the family restaurant. It is a gateway into the fashion school she has always aspired to get into. Both she and the audience do not know the outcome of the letter and when it is burned by her it is symbolic of those dreams and ambitions fading away. This is one of many symbolic codes, that audiences draw meaning from as explained by the theorist Roland Barthes. The prop is significant as it shows teenagers have to make mature decisions; the pathway she chooses will probably effect the rest of her life and this is why the film-maker lingers on this particular shot.

In ‘Smashed’, the pregnancy test encapsulates one of the film’s themes of ‘screwing up’. This is the result of irresponsible behaviour and shows how teenagers make stupid mistakes that turn out to be life-changing.

Costume

The hoodie is associated with teenage delinquency and in the above shot, a gang appear dressed in black from the dark streets. It immediately connotes danger, violence and crime because they look so threatening especially in the colour black to show they are ‘villains’.

Maya’s costume when she is at the interview is in contrast to when she works at the restaurant. She wears a fitted beige jacket and has glossy lipstick on to accentuate her style, sophistication and classiness to impress the unseen interviewer at the fashion college. This links to the teenage audience’s expectations of modern dress and knowledge of fashion and the Uses and Gratifications theory can be applied to this because the viewer is seeking personal identity from the text. It is indicated this is a big opportunity, one that she is both nervous and excited for and this is shown when she becomes un-balanced in her high-heeled shoes.

Generally, the costumes throughout the film reflect relatively normal working class youth; unbranded clothing; jeans, caps and hooded tops. Simon’s fairly dark toned, drab coloured and simple wardrobe echoes how he feels trapped and unhappy; he would rather stay indoors than go out with his brother. In the scene where the two brothers show a bonding (above), Mark appears semi-naked and then in a dressing gown to show his innocence and dependence on his brother. Gemma’s costumes are bright and colourful to show her extrovert, exuberant and outgoing personality. Even when she works in the shop, the uniform is bright green so she stands out; a burst of energy and enthusiasm in a life Simon considers fairly dull and boring.

Setting

This long shot shows Simon and Gemma walking through an empty car park; a grubby inner-city space you might stereotypically expect teenagers to socialise in. There are always stories (usually related to crime) where teenagers have nothing to do and this deserted, unexciting concrete patch is perhaps suggestive of that. Surrounding walls are, however, consumed by vibrant graffiti patterns that gives a more interesting urban vibe to the shot reflecting that Gemma’s character is showing Simon there is fun to be had in this area. The shot shows an exterior setting that gives a sense of reality; heightening the entire social-realist drama of the film that captures modern teenage life. Short films will most likely use sets that not built but rather exist in real-life. The shots inside the house expressed the working class ideology; they are quite claustrophobic to suggest the financial hardship of the family but also the way Simon feels; trapped by his situation because he can’t ignore his brother’s disability. The domestic environment is a feature of social realism as all audience’s can identiify with the location.

The shot in Mia’s bedroom shows colour, passion and femininity spilling from the walls. Fashion-related drawings and magazine cut-outs are stuck above her bed amongst photographs of family and friends which visually show Mia’s passion in conflict with herresponsibility to kinship. Pinks, reds and purples dominate the colour-scheme which also relate to Mia’s fashion obsessed world and femininity; her bedroom is her own world separated from the business downstairs. The restaurant’s kitchen is equally cluttered but with ingredients and utensils; certainly not a passion of Mia’s. Similar to the domestic sets in ‘Bro’, this also encloses Mia to reflect the restriction she feels and the metallic bar shelving gives the impression of a prison-like location; Mia is not unhappy here but she has expectations to fulfil a role. Levi Strauss’s notion of binary opposites creating a narrative is relevant here as both settings are in contrast and show the dichotomy between choice and duty.

Stock Events

Short Films do not particularly have ’stock’ events as each one centres on different themes and genres. I have looked at particular events the film-maker uses to represent teenagers. In ‘Bro’ one of the first shots we see is a group of girls drinking outdoors in the evening. Later in the film, Gemmaoffers Simon drugs; drug-taking is casual, something that brings the two closer together and a way of bonding. It shows the hedonistic lifestyles of teenagers and the casualness presents no consequence of drugs, smoking and drinking. It is a typical image of teenagers but one that is alarmingly realistic. Gemma also brings Simon on a high building to experience the adrenaline rush of looking down onto the city streets. It represents teenagers as needing to fill this rush, to find excitement in dull and uninteresting areas. Barthes symbolic codes in texts can be used to analyse the link between the building and ‘getting high’ on drugs. Likewise, ‘Smashed’ is full of sequences that show random youths drinking, laughing on town streets at night; it also shows anti-social behaviour such as stealing the cone above. The hypodermic needle theory can be applied to this as passive teenage audiences repeat behaviour seen in media texts which can worsen social problems

Teenagers are represented negatively in fights that express the aggressiveness and anti-social behavior of youth, influenced by alcohol and especially taking place in public spaces. This is gritty social realism, exposing what is wrong with society.

The central characters in ‘Bro’ and ‘Bagdad Express’ are both relied on by others with illness/disability. The shot above is cleverly constructed with use of a mirror reflection as Simon checks his brother’s medication list. The viewer sees both of their expressions; Simon is fed up but it is clear this a regular routine. His brother Mark’s head is above the list; instantly linking him to the dependency he has on his sibling. In ‘Bagdad Express’, Maya has to give her father a regular injection which is shown mid-way through the film to enhance our understanding of the reasons why she rejects her aspirations in favour of family at the end of the film. Media theorist David Gauntlett explains that ‘identity is complicated’ and is ‘today seen as more fluid and transformable than ever before.’ This can be applied to the short films that shine a light on the conflicting social roles teenagers play which means the characters are more than one dimensional.

Stock Characters

Whilst the above attributes present a more positive view of youth as helpful and responsible, the films also play to stereotypical portrayals of teenage drunkenness, delinquency and hedonism. These media stereotypes, according to theorist Tessa Perkins, are not always false and can be based on social truth. Stock characters sometimes have to be stereotypical to give a sense of verisimilitude and make the audience identify with the characters and the story. The Implicit Personality theory of representation can be applied here where these stereotypes enhance audience understanding.

A stock character I was interested in was the disabled teenager in ‘Bro’. Often clichéd and archetypal, the representation of disability here is much more realistic and sensitive due to the part being played by an actual sufferer of the condition. From a postmodern approach, this blurs the line between reality and fiction; it is so well observed. The character is a contrast to others his age, the ‘norm’, and his child-like, innocent behavior evokes sympathy.