Textual Analysis of A Day in the Life of Henry

Camera Work

In my short film I used a series of different shots to narrate the story of Henry's day as if through his owners eyes. For example, my film opens with a close up of Henry's face as he is excited to see me. The next shot is a tracking shot as he is running with the ball and the camera is following him.  At the next point, when he is chewing his bottle I used a high angle mid-close up. When he is chewing a shoe in the next shot it starts with a high angle mid-close up but it then zooms in as the camera moves closer to Henry to retrieve the shoe. The penultimate shot is a mid-long shot of Henry looking innocent. This adds an element of humour as the shots before were of him being naughty. Finally the film closes with a mid-shot of Henry in his owner's arms before it zooms to a close up of his face to finish.

Sound

I decided not to use a voice over in my film as I thought it would make it seem more real without one. Instead I used music to give my film a background that was more interesting than silence. In the opening scenes when Henry is excited, playing and being naughty I used a fast paced piece of music. This not only portrays the fact that he is happy and excited, but also the fact that he is a puppy. When the film gets to the shot of Henry looking innocent I decided to make the music stop completely. I think this adds an element of innocence because it takes away any distractions so that the viewer only focuses on the shot. I also think it adds humour because the music ends so abruptly and the shot changes so quickly. Finally in the scene where Henry is being spun around I used a piece of music called 'Puppy Love.' I chose this music because of it's lyrics and because it's opening was a perfect fit with Henry's spin.

Editing Techniques

In terms of editing techniques I kept things quite simple. For example, throughout the film I used simple transitions. The first transition I use is a page turn to go from the title 'It's a dogs life' to the opening shot of Henry wagging his tail. From here, most of the rest of the video uses cuts to switch between footage and text. I intersperse text on a black background between each shot to break the video down a bit however, I also use text on the footage to clearly illustrate what's going on. Another transition I use is a jump cut. I use this when it goes from the photograph of what Henry had done to the window sill to him looking innocent. I used a jump cut here because I wanted the transition to be sudden to add an element of humour. The final transition I use is from here to the final shot where Henry is twirled around by his owner. Here I use a circular transition. Ideally I would have used a love heart but there wasn't one available so I used the circle instead. I was trying to convey the sense that the viewer is looking through a window into Henry's life and I believe this is the effect it gives.

However, transitions weren't the only editing techniques I used in my short film. During the shot where Henry is chasing the ball I have sped the footage up. I did this to portray more clearly to the viewer the sense that Henry is being chased with the ball. Similarly, in the last shot where Henry is being twirled around I slowed the footage down. I decided to use slow motion here because I wanted to give a sense of it being a love scene and this technique is a convention of love scenes. To truly convey this idea of a love scene I also altered the saturation of the final shot to give it a pink tinge as if the viewer is looking at the scene through 'rose tinted glasses.'

Mise En Scene

In my film I wanted to give the viewer the sense that Henry is a happy dog in a happy home. For this reason I made sure that all of the footage I filmed was filmed in a house. This meant that any props etc. were conventional of a home environment. In terms of getting Henry to use certain things for the film I mainly had to rely on chance. For example, he isn't always interested in a ball so I had to make sure I was on standby with the camera for any opportunity for me to film him playing with his toys or chewing my shoe!

In conclusion I believe the camera work, sound, editing techniques and mise en scene I used all contributed well to the overall effect I was trying to convey which was the idea of a happy dog in a happy home.

Evaluation

Whilst creating my one minute short film I have learnt many things about filming a piece from scratch. One of the main things I have learnt, that I will take on to my final coursework piece, is that you need to film a lot more footage than you will actually use. Due to this I now know to do as much filming as possible in preparation for my final piece to ensure I get all of the shots I want.

Creativity

To begin with I found it hard to decide on a topic for my one minute short film. I had a lot of ideas but wanted to do all of them. My initial ideas included, A day in the life of...

• a dog
• a girl
• a geek
• a superhero
• a computer
• a disney princess

Some of my ideas were easier to film than others and in the end I chose which idea to do based on this. I knew I didn't have vast amounts of time and so instead of filming something I would have had to use someone else in, I decided I would do 'A day in the life of a dog' because I can film my dog at any time of the day. Next time I will probably make my decision based on similar criteria.

Research and Planning

Before I could start my film I looked at existing short films to gain ideas. I looked at many short films on Youtube and identified the conventions. I found that short films tend to,

• Have a simple story line - follow one thing (no complicated sub-plots or similar)
• Have a simple structure  - clearly defined beginning middle and end 
• Little dialogue - tend to use little or no dialogue or a voice over
• Use simple background music in place of dialogue (tends to be classical/piano music with no contradicting melodies) 
• Due to little dialogue, editing techniques, camera work and mise en scene are key to showing the passage of time etc. 

When making my short film I tried to comply with these conventions. For example, my story line and structure were simple, and the background music I used was mainly instrumental. I didn't use a voice over because I didn't use a point of view shot and there was no other dialogue because dog's can't talk. 

Digital Technology and Post Production

I used imovie to create my final video as I have previous experience of using the programme from when I did BTEC Media at GCSE but before I began making my final film I experimented with Final Cut Pro.

We filmed this in front of a green screen then keyed out the background and replaced it with the Britain's Got Talent logo. I then added some sound affects and music and sped up the footage so that it fitted with the music. Finally I added some text to get the final product below.

Final Cut Pro Test

On my final video I put together the footage from different shoots I had done. I then added some text to commentate because I didn't have a voice over. Next I chose my music. I knew I wanted to use Puppy Love for the ending but I spent ages trying to find the right piece of music for the opening. Finally I edited the colours on the final piece of footage to give it a pink tinge as though the viewer was looking through rose tinted glasses. 

A day in the life of Henry Final!

This is my final one minute short film called 'A day in the life of Henry.' I hope you enjoy.