The film The Plan follows a man who packs his life into a bag and sets off on an adventure to Las Vegas to gamble his money away. The film uses techniques like a non-static camera, fast pacing, and jump cuts to portray the man's quick decision and confusing journey. Although his plan initially goes well as he meets a friendly woman, it ultimately goes wrong when he loses all his money at the casino, leaving him lost and without direction.
2. Information Made in 2008 Directed by Matthew Kalish Genre- Adventure
3. Camera angles, movement and position Close ups showing his possessions. Medium shots showing what he is doing and where he is going. Long shot of road. Long shot of the girl on the bench because she is being introduced as the man does not know her, therefore the audience don’t know her. Point of View shots. Wide depth of field when he is on the road.
4. Framing When he is talking to the women there is a shot where he is in the left third of the frame showing space and distance from her. His bag fills the shot because it is his only possession. In the casino only the roulette table is shown, none of the room or people in it because that does not matter to him it is only the money he is losing is important.
5. Editing The whole film is in black and white. During the chase scene the camera circles him. The shots are fast paced and short. They use jump cuts to show confusing and how quick the decision is to him. The structure of the film goes from fast exciting to slow and lost.
6. Mise en scene His costume is plain and simple. His camera is an important prop as he runs after iforgetting about his money clothes etc. This lighting is very bright because he is outside for the majority of the film which represents his mood. This is why it is dark when he is at the casino because everything goes wrong there.
7. Sound His voice over is telling the audience his plan which makes the audience understand the narrative and what he wants to achieve. This is non-diegetic. There is also non-diegetic soundtrack. The conversation between the man and women is diegetic. The ringing of his phone is a constant reminder of the life he left behind but he refuses to go back to it.
8. Script & Titles The voice over at the beginning is very important. There is not very much dialogue only when he meets the women. The font type is very simple which is black writing set on a white background which fits in with the colours of the film. The white background and black writing also represent writing on paper as if he wrote his plan down.
9. Genre Elements & Narrative The conventions of a non-static camera are used because it makes the audience feel they are going on the journey too. A road is often shown in an adventure because he is going somewhere new. The narrative is linear because he follows his plan even though it does go wrong at the end.
10. Representations The man seems to be unfulfilled by wanting to go somewhere new. He easily packs his life in his bag. He clothes are plain in style and colour. The woman is shown to be very relaxed on the bench. She speaks to him first which shows she is friendly and comfortable talking to new people. When she steals his camera it shows she is very childish. Her clothes have a style of comfort. Her piecing show her as an outgoing person.
11. Audience & Themes The target audience is young adults because of the language and also the themes. At that age they are able to relate to his wish to go to Vegas and be adventurous. That means the audience understand what impact these decisions make on his life. I think the film makes the audience think about their outlook on life, about taking risks and not thinking too much about material possessions because they are not important.
