Cherries Short Film Presentation Analysis

1. CherriesCharacteristics of British Social Realism
By Chay, Shannon and Aaminah

2. What’s the storyline?
There is a class of teenage boys who are oblivious to Mr O’Brien’s attempt of
questioning them about the wider world. Their teacher then distributes letters
to all of the pupils, whilst the boys are all joking around with each other. When
Mr O’Brien is finally able to grab their attention they open the letters which
gives each of the boys details about their compulsory military training that they
are required complete om support of the nation’s war effort.
From this point forward there is heated discussions followed by a video that
has to be played to the boys. The boys are then instructed to file down the
stairway to the school hall where they are having their identity cards swiped.
Whilst this is happening Clint is running across the park enjoying his temporary
freedom.

3. Subject Matter
In the short film we very quickly learn that they are students aged 16-17 and
they are all being forced to go the war. Eventually, after some arguments they all
go down to the hall.
The image on the left shows the title ‘Cherries’ being surrounded
by blood, it looks like blood on the floor of a crime scene. This
leads to the negative connatation of death and the thourght of
something bad happening. Previous shots also showed the school
and it looks more like a army base than a school which also gets
you thinking about the scenery.
The pictures below are consecutive scenes, they show a very poweruful story. It starts of with a Union Jack
flying high in the sky, then it shows a boy running to school, the background is of a dark brick wall and
barbed wire on top. The next sequance is off the school and has a big sign saying ‘CCTV’. These pictures
show us that Brittain are trapped in the big brother society and that means everyone is being watched.

4. Tone
The tone of this short film is quite serious and this is shown through the fact
that the storyline is realistic and is something that could occur. The teenage
boys within the classroom are not keeping up to date with current affairs which
leads them to being clueless about what the letters are about.
Something that should be taken into consideration is the fact that the film is set
in the near future when Britain has become increasing embroiled in ‘the war’
and the number of casualties are rising.
Mr O’Brien is holding the stack of letters that he knows he has to
hand out to the individuals of the class although he is dreading it.

5. Change Agency
The film is trying to show that people don’t have a choice anymore, everything
has to be done a certain way.
This is trying to prove the point that people do not choose what they do
anymore. This is trying to change that rule. The boy running away from the
school emphisies how hard people are willing to try and do what they want to
do. Rather than what the goverment want him to do.
The picture on the left shows Nick after he had found
out that he was going to be forced to complete basic
military training. You can also see the emotion on the
actors behind him and how they feel about the
situation.

6. Social Class
You see the boys very smartly dressed apart from clint who was dressed a bit
scruffy and was having to run to school because he was going to be late.
The fact that everyone was dressed very smartly suggests to the viewers that these
are working class people. On the other hand Clint is very scruffy and gives us the
impression that he is off a lower status than the rest of the boys in his class.

7. Representations
Within this classroom the actors/charcaters are predominately male and this is
because all males sixteen or over are to be military trained as requested by the
government. The focus of this film is around an average class of teenagers who
are oblivious to the worlds events as they are more fixed on petty rivalries. This
could suggest to the views that they need to consider the ages of the suffrage in
the United Kingdom.
The classroom contains a variety of different races and cultures (Greek, Asian,
Africian/Carribean and Jewish communities). This shows the viewers that
there is a lot of physical confrontation between the boys and this is because
they all have different opinions on the war.
When the boys are in the school hall they are presenting their national identity
cards ready to be scanned. This relates back to the previous point about this
‘Big Brother Society’ and this is because they are being tracked and they are
known by their cards.

8. Casting
This short film uses actors that are unknown or are amateur actors and this
could suggest that the film had a very low budgets and not a lot of companies
that were involved with the production and this is because they wouldn’t have
had enough money to pay the well-known actors and this is because there are
not a lot of institutions that would have supported the film.
Moustafa Chousein-Oglou
There was one actor who was featured in the short film –
although he didn’t have a main part. Moustafa was very
popular on the BBC’s M.I.High show. This would have
allowed the film to be able to attract a variety of people to
watch the short film and this is because the film links to
teenage boys and at this time they would have been
watching M.I.High.

9. Budget
When carrying out research it was difficult to obtain the actual budget for this
short film and this can suggest that it wasn’t evident because it was low budget.
This is typical of a British Social Realism film and this is because the director
wants to ensure that it is realistic and so they don’t need to spend a lot of
money on everything.
One of the main conventions that is seen in this short film is the Kinetic
handheld camera work and this is because it is very similar to that of a
documentary and so this feature is able to contribute to the realism of the short
film.

10. Audience
The demographic of this short film Cherries is teenage boys and this is because
of the realism of this film. Although it is set in the near future it is able to put
everything into perspective for them and this is because it will become evident
to them that themselves, just like the teenage boys are oblivious to watch is
occurring in the real world.
This short film can almost been seen as a ‘wake-up-call’ because it will scare
the teenagers that watch it now as it is such a realtable situation – they all go to
high school, they are rebellious, they focus on petty rivalries and they could in
fact be forced into military training and eventually war.

11. Director
The director of this short film was Tom Harper and
throughout the film he is able to portray the way in which
teenage boys stereotypically act and how this has an
effect on them – they are not involved with current news
affairs yet it is something that is going to have a massive
impact on their lives.
He is now a BAFTA nominated British film and television
director and producer who was born and brought up in
North London. His career began by making short films
such as Cubs (2006) and Cherries (2007) and then moved
on to direct film and television work including The Scouting Book for Boys
(2009), Misfits (2010), This is England ‘86 (2011), Peaky Blinders (2013), The
Women in Black: Angel of Death (2015) and the BBC TV mini-series War &
Peace (2016).

12. Institutions
The institutions that were involved in helping to make this short film are: Free
Range Films for Film London and UK Film Council. As it is a small
independent film there was no need for a lot of institutions.
The fact that there are only two companies involved in the making of this film, it
could suggest that this film will not strive as much and they won’t be able to
make it as far as other films and this is because they have the low budget.
Another connotation is that this film is likely to be shown in the UK and this is
because the two companies that contributed are both based in the UK.

13. Cinematography
 Mise-en-scene – the clothing that is worn by each of the characters fits the situation. For
example, the boys are in uniform, the teachers in smart wear and the officers in their
work wear. Some boys don’t wear ties and have sunglasses which have been selected to
show them as rebellious. Props such as scrap paper for students to ‘doodle’ on fit the
scene.
 Lighting effect - when the boys are in the playground the lighting is bright but when the
scene switches to the classroom the lighting is noticeably dimmer and this is because the
director wants to mirror the mood.
 Film Quality – the quality of this film is quite low and this is because only two companies
have contributed. However it does have all the aspects of a films such as music, actors
and a short storyline to show its potential.
 Realistic location – the location of the film is realistic and this is because they are high
school boys and they have the stereotypical behaviour of them and so the film has been
shot in a high school.

14. Cinematography (2)
From the variety of different types of cinematography that has been used the audience is able to
infer that the director wants them to be able to put themselves in the situation of the young
boys and this is done with the changing of the lighting and the music. Moreover, the location fits
perfectly and this is because the actors are all dressed to their role which allows the audience to
be able to see that the boys are attending a school and this is shown from the first shot. Another
reason for this being a realistic location is because of the age range of the boys. Furthermore,
the audience is able to infer that that the film is realistic and this is because of the quality and
the storyline. This will help the film to become popular and get noticed by a variety of different
audiences. Another aspects that the director has included is that the boys are rebellious and
this is shown with their language and lack of interest when the adults are talking. The audience
would not be surprised by this but it will create a negative impact as the audience might think
that this is how all teenage boys behave.

15. Sound Quality
Cherries uses empathetic sound frequently which continues to help mirror the
mood of the short film during particular scenes. Moreover, the short film uses
non-diegetic sound as well as diegetic sound throughout.
Audience members will infer from this that there are frequent mood changes
and the director wants the audience to be aware of the empathetic sound.
Furthermore, using non-diegetic sound, which comes from outside the story,
also creates a mood and fits the picture of specific scenes. On the other hand,
diegetic sound is the actual voice of the sound coming from the film which can
be from the characters or the noise that is made within the scene. This allows
the audience to be able to get a first-hand account to what is actually happening
within the short film.