Case Study 2: Gift

Case Study 2

Director:  Daniel Yam

Title: Gift

Genre: Drama

Narrative Structure: Linear

Date: 6 March 2014

Number of Characters: 2 (Main Characters)

Target Audience: People of all ages

Synopsis:

The film gift is a live action drama about a boy who had lived his life resenting his dad. They had both lived their lives in poverty and there was never a time where they both had extra money to spend on their selves. Unlike every other kid, the boy never did get much pocket money. Any extra money the boy were to receive from his dad would go towards what his dad called 'tax'. A few years later when the boy had had grown up, and he decided to move out of his house. He promised himself that he would live a better life than his dad. However, his attitude towards his dad soon changed when his dad died and he found out his true intentions.  - He had found out that what his dad had called 'tax' when he was a child, simply meant donations to charity. He came to a realisation that his dad had in fact been helping out charities throughout his entire life, giving every bit of extra money he earned to people who needed it. After finding out that his dad weren't purposely keeping his family in poverty, the boy decides to live every day of his life how his dad would have wanted to.

Camera Techniques:

Examples: 

Example 1: Wide shot of Father and Son

The use of a wide shot allowed us to see the boy and his fathers entire body. This not only allows us to see their clothing and props, but it also allowed us to see their body language. In this particular shot, we can see that the father is very hardworking and we can also see that the son doesn't take too much interest in his fathers work. This shot was used to show us the contrast in the personalities and attitudes of the two characters.

This shot also used many other techniques such as shadow depth of field, and it also has good composition.

Example 2: XCU of a note

An XCU was used as this particular prop was significant to the scene and it plays a big part in the film overall.

Example 3: Close Up of son's face

A close up was used in this shot as it allowed us to see the emotion given off by the boy's facial expression.


Example 4: Over the shoulder shot of dad as he talks to his son.

This shot (along with the use of a shot reverse shot) was used to show an interaction/conversation between the son and his dad, from the son's point of view.

Editing:

Many editing techniques were used throughout the film. At the start of the film we see a montage being used showing many short clips of the boy's father as he completes work for his many jobs. This was done to show and emphasise how hard working he is. As well as that, since this film featured a lot of dialogue, many shot reverse shots were used to show interaction between characters. In addition, cuts were used to switch between scenes and cutaways were used to change the focus of scenes.

Sound:

The film uses a lot of non-diegetic sound in the form of a backing track. This was done to make the audience feel more sympathetic towards the characters. One of the most noticeable form of non-diegetic sound that we hear at the very start of the film is a narrators commentary made by the main character himself. As well as that, diegetic sound is used in the form of dialogue. This all was used as it was relevant to the scene and it gives the audience a better understanding of what is going on in the film.

Mise-en-scene:

Lighting:
- The lighting throughout the film was very good. At the start of the film, during the scenes showing the boy as he grew up, the lighting was quite dark which added to the mood and complimented the shots showing how miserable the boy felt.
- The lighting was much brighter towards the end of the film as we see the older version of the boy go out more and find out about the good deeds his dad had done.

Location:
- The film was shot in Singapore, however the main locations used were, an apartment, an office and a charity building.

Costume/Clothing:
- During the boy's childhood we se both him and his dad wearing the same clothes. This suggests that they are poor and give us the impression that they do not have the money to buy new clothes. We also, see the father dressed in many different costumes at some point during the film. This suggests that he is a very hard worker as we see him wearing many different work uniforms.

What I like about the film/ What ideas would I take into consideration when producing my own film?

- I like how different editing techniques such as montages and jump cuts to show different actions. Similarly I will also be using editing techniques such as jump cuts to switch between scenes featuring different characters.