TH
TALEN HAMILTON
MEDIA STUDIES A LEVEL
8098
The Act of Contrition
In the opening scene we’re shown a close up of an elderly woman in confession, the dialogue is the only reason in which I could tell she was in confession. The lack of background in the extreme close up doesn’t give much detail of her surroundings. There are quite a variety of shots used, mainly extreme close ups of the women in confession, these shots are ideal for this part of the film because they convey a lot of meaning and put you in the priests position. There is also a panning shot of other women waiting to go into confession; the shot stays on the main character for the longest amount of time telling us that she is of greater importance.
Camera movements throughout this film are quite slow and steady, I thought that this could be a reflection upon their opinions of their lives when they believe that they have done something wrong and feel that they need to go to confession. There is obviously a strong sense of guilt. Throughout the film there is a wide depth of field, which signifies that every detail is of importance as all details are important when you go into confession.
I generally thought that the main character was centre of the frame, with the comedic values in the outside thirds of the screen.
This final shot of the woman and her dead husband confirmed this theory in my mind.
Editing wise I thought the film was quite simple and to the point, once again I think that this reflects upon the main character (pictured above) and her confession with the priest, it was straight to the point. Numerous editing techniques were successfully used, for example at the end of the film match on action was used whilst she was walking out of the door to create a shock factor of what was casually in her bin. Throughout the film music is only used at the beginning and end, during the rest of the film there is strictly on diegetic sound. The dialogue is what makes the short film quite funny and ironic.
The music creates a lot of the atmosphere; at the beginning it builds and creates a sense of un-ease for the viewer because you don’t know what is going to happen. The lighting also creates quite an atmosphere within the film, the dark lighting makes you feel nervous because you don’t really understand what is going on or where they are, especially at the beginning when the elderly woman is in the confession booth.
The titles like the rest of the film are quite straightforward, they aren’t done in a fancy manor instead they are quite straight to the point. Much like the way the woman is dressed, for practicality, and the way in which the film is meant to be perceived e.g. easy to read = easy to watch.
