Short Film Analysis 1:

The Return is a short film carrying a message about driving and using a mobile hone. The main character is the person who is using the mobile while driving and crashes into a mother while her child watches. It goes on to the main character saying sorry and asking for forgiveness but the child refuses. This however is during a flashback which you can see by the editing of the film that they have blurred the edges to have it a flashback/dream like effect and later in the film the male goes back to the house to once again say sorry, for the boy this time to forgive him.

I find the edit the most important code during this film as this is what carries the story along. As I said before, flashbacks are shown by the blurred edges, but also the flashbacks are in almost full colour whereas the present time is depicted in black and white. You would tend to find back and white as a convention for a flashback but in this case it is used in reverse to hold connotations of grief and despair as the male is in turmoil over what he has done, when before the colour is presented to show that he was happy then before the accident.

The sound also adds great affect to the storyline. It starts with an airy sound with piano which can create a suspicious unsettling sound, coinciding with the male character walking on the road. At this point there is no knowledge of what he has done but we automatically know that there is something wrong. There is dialogue and diegetic sound throughout but mainly in the flashbacks to give a bit more narrative depth. The mood music is continuous throughout the short continuing the unsettling feeling.

Mise-en-scene and cinematography was for me the least effective codes. I do believe however that the cinematography was good for capturing specific close ups to add effect such as using close ups to show emotion on the characters faces. The mise-en-scene is simple by using the same areas: car, road and house. It is limited to what you see in the car but the road is very long and wide so it can imply how he is isolated when walking along and very along which adds to the turmoil he is feeling.