Short Film Analysis

Short Film Analysis

I Am Butterfly

This 6 minute film is about a girl telling police that her mother has gone missing. As they ask her questions about her disappearance it is slowly revealed that she was abandoned and ran off with her boyfriend to become a model to make money. It is a narrative film and the video purely consists of a day out with the girl and her mother and metaphorically shows what happened.

Cinematography

The story opens with an extreme close-up on the little girl’s face, most likely to show she is the main protagonist of the film. The camera is mainly kept at a medium close up at the girl and her mother to show the bond they have together and their facial expressions, which are happy at the beginning and develop as the girl tells the story. As the mother’s boyfriend is introduced, he is shot at a low angle shot to illustrate his power over the mother and daughter. Just after the shot of the boyfriend, the camera zooms in on the mother’s bag at an eye line shot form the boyfriend, as if to show that the boyfriend is only interested in the mother’s money.  Through out the film, the mother and daughter have been filmed at the same level and at an eye line match. At the end of the film, the mother is shot more from a low angle shot and the daughter is portrayed lower than her. This shows the power the mother has which accentuates the helplessness and weakness of the daughter. This could also be to show that even though the mother walks away from her daughter, she still has the power to stay with her, but chooses not to. As she greets her boyfriend, the camera zooms into a close-up of their hands joining as they walk away into an establishing shot. The girl is finally shot alone in a medium long shot at a slightly high angle to show her weakness and helplessness, making the audience feel more sympathy and emotion towards her. The fact she is shot alone also creates emotion as children that young aren’t meant to be on their own.

Mis en sen

The mother and daughter are well dressed and healthy looking; however the mother seems more expensively dressed and covered in jewellery which could foreshadow that the mother at some point thinks slightly more about herself than her daughter (it also shows they’re not struggling financially). This is to fool the audience into thinking the film has a happy, positive storyline so the audience are shocked when they realise what the film is about. The boyfriend is dressed in black and has black sunglasses on. This is to portray him as a bad, even evil character and that he will be the antagonist in the story. The mother is dressed in a posh, red dress. Red is commonly known as a daring colour, not innocent, so it’s no surprise when it’s revealed at the end that she’ s abandoned her daughter to become a model. Additionally, when the camera zooms onto her bag, we can see her bag is modern and gold. This shows the mother could be very materialistic and accentuates the idea that she wants to become a model. At the very end, the mother and daughter are playing in a glass, hollow design feature within the retail park. While the daughter’s telling the police the part about her mother leaving her, the daughter is behind one sheet of glass with her mother on the other side, their palms on the glass “touching” each other. Her mother suddenly walks away and the daughter is left behind the glass banging and shouting after her. This is to show how the daughter is trapped and helpless and that the mother is free to do what she wants but chooses to leave her daughter anyway. In addition, the fact that they look well looked after shows that her mother wasn’t desperate for money; she just wanted what she’d call a better life.

Music

The film opens up with the song “I Am Butterfly” which is a calm, sentimental song in a major key which means it’s a happy song and is played while the mother and daughter are laughing and playing together.  The music continues in a major key as the daughter is telling the police positive things about her mother. As she starts talking about bad things that happened between them, the key changed to a minor key; this is a sad tone and creates an ambiance of negativity.  Next, the daughter starts talking about her mother’s boyfriend and the music changes again into a dissonance tone. This tone of music is harsh and is usually used to signal a dangerous or evil presence, which reflects the nature of the boyfriend. The change in minor key to dissonance key builds tension, and the tension hits the audience when the girl stops talking and the music simultaneously stops. The daughter continues to talk and starts talking about her mother leaving her. As she’s doing so, the music slowly increases in tempo and volume in a minor key to build emotion and, yet again, tension to pull on the audience’s heartstrings.

Editing

There isn’t much editing within the film, as is the same in most short films. However the only editing i noticed was the slow motion when the daughter was behind the glass trying to touch her mother’s palm. The camera also zoomed in at this point and the film was slowed down. This was to show the audience closely the bond between the mother and daughter. Even though the mother leaves her, she’s clearly not happy about her decision as she cares much for her daughter. The fact this shot is emphasised with slow motion effects and an extreme close up shot proves this to the audience.