I Expect Joan Feels The Same

To further understand the short film conventions I have decided to analyse some of my favourite examples. This particular short film is called 'I Expect Joan Feels The Same', and is about two women reminiscing about their husbands who they lost in the war.

I Expect Joan Feels The Same
(Unfortunately, the video cannot be uploaded to my blog, but this is the link)

CAMERA WORK: In documentaries, a variety of camera shots can be used to portray people in a number of different ways. In this short film, the camera is positioned next to the women, not directly infront of them, which somehow makes it feel a lot less informal, and more like a 'chat with friends'. It also defies convention in that it doesn't use a close up shot of the women, even once. The maintenance of the mid shot makes this short film seem a lot more dignified and less intrusive. It's like they're not just playing on the audience's emotions, they are genuinely just trying to inform you of the two women's stories. Also, for the most part, the women are kept in a two shot, making it clear to the audience that this a shared reminiscence, and also helps to convey the fact that this is not just one person's experience - this situation actually happened to a large amount of people at the time.  


MISE EN SCENE: Just as the camera is often deliberately positioned to convey a certain idea or mood, the actual elements in the shot are often deliberately chosen. The location of the interviews is a typical 'home', making the situation instantly relatable to the audience. One of the women is also wearing red, which connotes love, one of the major themes of the film. The other main theme is war, which is also connoted through the use of red, with it being the colour of poppies. 


EDITING:  Montage sequences are often used in documentary film making, most of the time to help tell the story, or show something that has happened in the past. In this short films, the inserts of photographs of the husbands work poignantly in contrast to the present day interview. The clear age of the photographs (they are in sepia) reiterate to the audience how much time has passed since they were even alive. Being a still image, it also represents the fact that all they are to their wives now is a photograph and a memory. This helps to convey the emotion to the audience. Between the photographs and the interview there is also a dissolve edit, which symbolises time passing. 


SOUND: The first sound you hear in the short film is the interviewer asking a question, with no music at all. This is rather unconventional and implies straight away the importance of the women's conversation, over any other sound. We also hear their voices, before we actually see their faces, which again suggests the importance of what they are actually saying. This is reiterated by the fact there is no music used in the entirety of the short film.