Hide and Seek

In this blog post I will completing a textual analysis of an existing A2 media short film called Hide and Seek, a film about a young girl who gets in a box, and to her surprise, goes back in time. Watch the film below:

Mise-en-scene 


This film is set in a very life-like and normal everyday setting, someones back garden. For decades the garden has always been apart of most houses and it works as the perfect location in this film as one minute its a garden behind a modern day house that is the setting for a family get together on a sunny day and then the next, the garden plays host to a family from the time period of 1939 to 1945 (WW2 references are rife in this film). The garden setting works because it makes the film so much more realistic, simple and easy to make. If the director had chosen the house as the setting, the decor and maybe even the layout of the house would have been changed in between the two time periods, making it easier for continuity errors and small mistakes like seeing a 50" flatscreen TV in the sitting room of house from the 1940s. 

Editing

The editing in this film works well. Slow-paced editing has been put to use and it makes the film flow and it makes it feel relaxed, and this certainly helps the film to fit in with the adventurous yet relaxing genre that this film falls in to. 

Camera work

Looking at the camera shots and angles, there is an extensive use of close up shots of the girl as she goes on her adventure back in time. This use of close up shots helps us the get a sense of joy and excitement that the girl is experiencing as she goes back in time and discovers new sights, sounds and people.

Sound

When the film is set in the modern day at the beginning and at the end of the film, modern-music in the form of Robbie Williams is played in the background; this is non-diegetic music. This music helps create a feeling of happiness and excitement, as the girl explores the garden and finds the woven crate that she climbs into. However, when the girl steps out into the 1940s, you can hear old jazz-swing music playing in the background, the kind of music you would hear off an old gramophone record from that time period. This music is also uplifting and creates a sense of enjoyment and happiness once again, but it also, most importantly, sets the time period.