Two & Two
- Dec 9, 2017
- 2 min read
This is a short movie I found on you tube that I really like. The film portrays a powerful meaning through the use of media language. Here is my analysis of the film. Hope you will enjoy this short film as much as I did.
Director: Babak Anvari
Produced by: Babak Anvari
Year: 2011
Genre
Drama, as it shows real life situations with realistic characters and settings. Moreover, it moves the audience emotionally.
Narrative
The story follows a parallel narrative, however it ends with a circular narrative, where the class resumes and teacher reinforce his lessons despite the death of a student
Audience
The film target audience ranges from children in primary school and above. The director chose to use a school class as the place for the story to be built around because everyone who has experienced primary school can correlate to the film. Therefore the film will have a more powerful impact on the audience.
Representation
The teacher represents the government
teacher positioned at the centre of the class represents his power over the class
Students are all wearing a white shirt, which symbolises innocence and purity, while the teacher is wearing a black coat over a white shirt, representing the oppression of the government over his population.
The teacher and the ‘top students’ surround the student during the climax moment (when he has to write the answer to 2+2). This signifies the pressure of authorities on its citizens
when the rebellious student says to the teacher “You know it’s four, why don’t you say so?” it represents that the authorities (like teachers) are aware of the government (in this case, the principle) not saying true facts, however they don’t don’t do anything about it
Invisible guns emphasise on the ridiculousness of how a student is shot only by disagreeing with the lesson, and make the event even more shocking
Media language
The meaning behind this short film is about populations getting oppressed by their government and authority, even when the government is wrong. and as the population fights for his rights they get oppressed. The government doesn’t want his population to think, as the teacher said “Don’t think. You don’t need to think” The government wants to be trusted even though it’s not right.
Mise en shot
Continuous editing from the title into the scene – the title already establishes the setting (blackboard)
Most shots on the teacher are slightly low angled – shows the teacher (representing the government) is high authority. On the other hand, most shots on the students are slightly high angled – which shows they have low/no authorities and makes them look vulnerable
The depth of focus changes towards the students before the announcement representing the target of the authorities
Sound
Sharp stop in chatting when the teacher enters – freedom of speech is taken away from the students due to person with high authorities
Foley sound to emphasise synchronous sounds
no background music but dialogue and foley-presents a solemn and serious atmosphere
Lighting
Low-key lighting, suggesting a dark and depressing atmosphere.
Personally I really liked this short film because it has a good meaning behind it and the way they represented it is simple yet very powerful. I also like how it is a easily shootable film, yet it came out being a success.
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