A review on a short film

1. LO1: Unit 16
Short Film: ‘Noticed’

2. A:Purposeand
Audience
 Director: Ek Bayon
 Year: 2014
 Country: Unknown, but possibly America as they are wearing their own clothes.
 Purpose: to give a message to the audience/to build more portfolio/ entertain/ not for profit but the film got
2.3million views. Not award winning.
 Message: Don’t always go for the good looking, ‘nice’ person, as they are not always perfect and sometimes
may be hiding something or don’t always turn out as you might expect.
 Audience: Age: 12-18-year-olds
 Gender: Boys/Girls
 NRS Scale: I could be appropriate for anyone from lower class to upper class, it aims to reach audience with
the relatability to schools, college or possibly universities. You may find that upper class citizens are taught
privately and don’t experience this topic. Demographics are anyone who experience public/private school
education.
 4C’s: in terms of the categories, I would have to say that relating to the characters, The Succeeder, The
Aspirer, The Struggler and The Explore tie in well. This is because these 4 are what the characters in the
film are like. We have the main role, a shy, unnoticed boy who doesn’t want to get up in the morning
because of lack of recognition, (The Struggler). However The Explorer is discovered through his change
confident in giving the girl back her work and sitting down to talk with her. Some thing that he probably
had never done before. Her, however, to start off we see her a The Succeeder, she seems popular as she sits
down next to someone she knows and we find out later that she also has a boyfriend. This is when we
realise she’s The Aspirer. Although we don’t know much about both boys whether her boyfriend was wealthy
or popular or cool but either way she doesn't pay any attention to the main boy anymore, so maybe their
boyfriend/girlfriend relationship was quite recent, so no longer hung out with main boy.
 How does it appeal to the audience? Examples:
 It’s an iconic love story between a boy and girl, set in a high school.
 For ages 12-18, who are students, they can relate to this type of topic.
 The characters in the film look about 16/17 years old, which people could typically decide are the years of
their first ‘love’.
 A message/portfolio/entertainment?
 The way that the credits, are formatted it may have been just for the
entertainment/build portfolio, as only 2 people films and 2 different people
editor, with 1 director. If it was a market piece in group, then everyone would
have to participate in each elements, excluding, acting as it isn’t mandatory or
even suggested.
 However, it may have just been a market piece because Ek or someone else’s
piece of work that the chose to upload to YouTube, therefore putting the
appropriate credits.

3. B:Form,Style
andGenre
Form
 Can you tell what film technology was used in production? Handheld digital
cameras?
 I can see that the cinematography is quite basic, however it uses a range of different
shots from low, high, central, whilst character is walking and from the side.
 They had 2 cinematographers, one of which had a brief role right at the end of the
film.
 They also had 2 editors, on was Ek and the other not in the film.
 Ek was the main character, as well as the director and editor.
 Technology: Tripod:
 These are the clips that possibly uses a tripod for the shots they filmed.
 When the boy wakes and rises, the camera is set in a position where you see him rise
and sit on his bed, facing the camera.
 Another is when he goes to pick a flower and the camera is in the bushes, so you see
him walking towards it and pick it.
 How has the director exhibited their film? As in what website, studio or competition
did the director enter? What website are you watching it on?
 I’m watching it on YouTube, where Ek Bayon has upload it with 2.3m views. He has
his own YouTube channel with around 7.8k subscribers. He seemed to be last active
about 6 months ago. There wasn’t much written in the comments section, however
his channel is populated with lots of other short films. So I it’s unsure if he was in a
competition.

4. B:Form,Style
andGenre
Style
 Is there a particular style to the film?
 The film has no dialog, the narrative needs to be conveyed through what's happening in the scenes. I can
tell what's going on.
 The scenes go from the boy waking up and getting dressed in basic, last clothes, joggers and a hoodie and
goes to school. This shows us that this is his routine and we know that he doesn’t like going to school. He
also looks at his calendar which reads ‘First Day’ with a sad face drawing. Possibly he’s going into a new
school or new year, or class. This suggests he’s not very confident or likes being in new situations. We
also know that he isn’t very wealthy as he lives in basic bedroom with pretty standard clothes.
 At school, we see his with his hood up trying to be invisible, he sits at the back of the class. He watches
people walk in, maybe they are new class mates. We then see the girl. She sits down at the front of the
class and looks back and smiles at the boy.
 The class ends and she leaves a piece of paper or her table, which he picks and goes and gives it to her.
They stating talking.
 We then see him getting up for school. This time it’s different. It’s a good and creative way for showing
the audience not only how he feels about the girl but how the situation has changed him and what he’s
doing about it, especially in small amount of time. So he gets up quick and get into smarter clothes.
 He then sits at the front of the class where he thinks she might see near. Which she does. This also
shows his new-founded confidence.
 We see them walking/talking again on the bench and then a montage of them talking/walking down the
corridor, but in different clothing each time to show that its on different occasions. . (check film)
 Who is the director trying to reach by filming in this style?
 People who feel unnoticed or unwanted or unrecognised. Although the story doesn’t end up how he
wanted, at the end we have a sliver lining/happy ending. This twist possibly puts a moral realistic set on
tings. ‘You may not always get what you want, but more often or not it happened for the best. Everything
happen for reason’.

5. B:Form,Style
andGenre
Genre
 What genre is the short film?
 The genre is romance. It’s a typical love story between a boy and a girl, the boy of which is unpopular and the girl cool
and potentially wealthy. He falls in love, but she has moved on (possibly) or was seeing somebody else, her boyfriend
whilst seeing the boy. He is distraught and goes back to being shy and invisible, however a new girl comes and sits by
him. He still seems very concealed but as an audience we may think that they will start a new relationship.
 What codes and conventions can you identify?
 Codes:
 During the plot twist, when the boy is about to ask the girl out, with a flower, Cameras are used to show the flower
falling from the boys hand. It’s edited in section, see we see the girl and boyfriend walk away from the flowers point of
view so that the fall is emphasise. The fall is suggesting that the boy is shocked and upset.
 Conventions:
 High school
 Boy and Girl relationship
 Boy is unpopular.
 Girl is attractive, cool, and possibly new. (also new school year)
 There’s a plot twist whereby there is a boyfriend of the girl that is introduced into the film.
 Happy Ending
 We see the two hanging out a lot, idealist start.
 Flower is picked, a new change about to happen, plot twist stop it from happening.
 Are there any key scenes that show off the genre codes and conventions?
 The second scene when he is sat at the back of the class watching people enter the room, it’s a new school year, so a
different class is suggested. A girl walks in that the boy takes great interest in.
 We didn’t see her right away first we see his face start to change as she walked into the class and stand by the door to
check that it was right class. It’s a tilted shot from her feet to her face.

6. C:Contentand
Meaning
Mise en scene (what's going on in the scene)
 How have the following been manipulated to create an emotional response in the audience?
 We first se him in last, old clothes and then once he’s met the girl, he dresses smarter. This has an emotional response
because as an audience we know that he likes the girl and wants to impress her, so we are seeing this through his change
in clothing.
 We also see him becoming more confident, being able to talk to the girl and hanging out with her. This has an emotional
response because we see him changing as person.
 We then see him wanting to make the relationship official by picking a flower and practicing a speech in the mirror, and
running into school to find her. This suggests that his feelings are really strong and this girl is important to him. The
emotional response is in him trying to make it work and taking that next step.
 We then are in suspension when we see him trying to find her to then be disappointed.
 There is a huge emotional response when we see him heart-broken, crying on his bed. It makes the audience feel
empathy.
 Are they used to make the audience raise questions or challenge established ideas?
 The questions that I have are related to the relationship between the characters:
 The boyfriend of the girl;
 how long have they been together? why are they together?
 why did she chose him?
 Were they together the whole time and really it wasn’t personal?
 Did she lead him on?
 Did she just want to be friends?
 Is it to do with money, popularity or looks?
 The audience may have basic question due to there being no dialog to explain the situation:
 Is he in a new school/class?
 Why is he unpopular? Doesn’t have many friends?
 Is he at school/college/university?

7. C:Contentand
Meaning
Cinematography – camera work.
 How have the following been manipulated to create an emotional response in the
audience?
 The first time we are introduced to this character we see a pan of him lying in his bed and
then a close up of his face getting up. And again the same shot when we see him the day
after. Although the scenes are the same, it is easy to therefore identify what different
about the, in this case his mood and attitude after meeting the girl.
 The camera is behind his shoulder where we see his head looking over to the calendar to
seeing the calendar up close to read ‘First Day’, the camera zooms in from there as if it’s
from his point view.
 We also have several tilt shots all of which showed the boy dressed for school 3 times, this
was the process of him wearing him smarter clothes each time. The first tilt shot was him
wearing joggers and a hoodie, not looking very impressive and then of him with jeans and
nice top, and lastly of him in his shirt and trouser, about to ask the girl out. The first we
are introduce to the girl it’s a tilted shot from her feet to her face.
 This is effective because it builds anticipation of what we are about to witness.
 He also have a high angle shot, when we see him first sat at his desk, at the back of the
class.
 Are they used to make the audience raise questions or challenge established ideas?
 The cinematography is very clear and it uses the appropriate shots to fit well with the
scene as well as creating some new shot ideas, that make the scene much more effective.

8. C:Contentand
Meaning
Sound
 How have the following been manipulated to create an emotional response in the audience?
 It’s a silent film but we do see there mouth moving for simple phrases. Also some class mates,
school background noise.
 He has used music that is repeated for some other scenes.
 In terms of music and sound effects;
 We start with very simple, slow chords played on the piano, it’s unsure if it’s the Happy Ending
song, but I think it’s royalty free music just to introduce the film.. It then goes into the song that
is listen, Happy Ending by Danny Elfman. That song is play for the majority of the film but we
do find that its be arrange different to suit the scene at the right time. There are different part
of the piece of music that allow both positive and negative situations to be appropriate.
 The song starts with chords that is followed by some vocals and then progresses into something
more upbeat.
 There are also a series of school bells and alarm sounds.
 We have background noise of classmates talking when he is sat in class and running down the
hall way.
 We also have a heavy heart beat sound that we hear when we see the girl is with her boyfriend.
We also have brief moments o f silence, for example just after the flower falls.
 Are they used to make the audience raise questions or challenge established ideas?
 It may be unclear how the music is suppose to make the audience feel.

9. C:Contentand
Meaning
Editing
 How have the following been manipulated to create an emotional response in the audience?
 With the flower scene, it was edited so that the scenes would switch back forth with another scene.
(check film)
 Also I found there was a lot of use of montage shots.
 The first montage was him choosing clothes from the wardrobe. Then talking to the girl on the bench
so their conversation would seem like it went for a while. We then saw him practicing asking her out in
front of the mirror.
 We also had a montage of them walking and talking together down the corridor but in stead of
speeding it up, they change outfits to show the change of day. Again progressing their relationship.
 This was effective because as a montage it would cut quickly into the next clip of him/them doing a
similar position several times, and painting a picture of time moving on. This meant they had more
film time during other scenes as well as being able to edit scenes into montage rather than having one
long clip connected to the next.
 Another key part of their editing was when he goes to pick up the flower from the bush, it switch from
them talking in the corridor to him walking over to the bush.
 Additionally, we have the follower of the flower. When we see the girl and her boyfriend walking away
there is a montage of clip so that we see them going into the distance faster. It’s almost from the point
of view, from behind the flower. When they are both completely out of sight, the flower drops.
 We also have 2 or 3 moments whereby the editing shows the girl smiling at the boy for the first time
and he’s been ‘noticed’, through very slighting zooming in and blurring the scene for a moment.
 It could be trying to ‘believe his eyes’, as if we are in his eyes and representing him trying to ‘adjust’ to
what just happened.
 It amplifies not only that being a key moment in that boys life but it my be an emphasis for the
audience to understand that it means something, morally.
 We also se the type of editing when the new girls comes and sits net to him, and she smiles at him.
Maybe it represents ‘love’ or a ‘new relationship’.
 Are they used to make the audience raise questions or challenge established ideas?
 It may be unsure the exact reason for the zoom in effect on the girls faces.

10. C:Contentand
Meaning
Structure/Narrative/SFX
 How have the following been manipulated to create an emotional response in the audience?
 Structure:
 The structure can be determined, they have inputted creative elements such as, establishing
his mood/attitude/feelings through the way he wakes up/gets dressed in comparison to the
other time he got up and got dressed.
 In terms of clarity of their relationship, as it’s a short film, a lot needed to be established I a
short amount of time, for the film to make sense. The structure is easily identified through
the use of editing, so we know that they’ve been getting to know each other for a while.
 Narrative: The narrative is very clear and easily understandable. We have two teenage, who
we think haven’t met each other and they get to know each other over time. The boy wants to
ask the girl to be his girlfriend, but there is an unfortunate twist to the plot that make the
film more interesting. It ‘s very open-ended , with a new girl sitting down next to the heart
broken-boy and they share a brief glance, which makes the audience assume that they have a
new relationship.
 SFX: In terms of the use of special effects, there isn’t a lot included in this film. However as
an audience watching a high school-love story, I wouldn’t expect any. The film doesn’t have a
distinct story line whereby a special effect is needed.
 One of the most prominent effects was the falling of the flower. Also the effect the slightly
zooms into both the girl and new girl when they smile at the boy.
 Are they used to make the audience raise questions or challenge established ideas?
 Because there is no talking, there are some ideas that are hard to follow, for example some
background information about him and why he doesn’t have many friends? Or even, has he
always liked this girl? Hench the ‘familiar’ glance and smile.
 Has he always liked this girl?
 Is she new?

11. D:TheFrequency
andProduction
Process
Frequency
 Is this short part of a series or is it a stand alone one off?
 It’s a stand alone one off, however the Director has a YouTube Channel where he
has made and uploaded lots of other films that may or no be related to this one.
Due to the way that it ends, suggest there could be a prequel.
 If part of a series briefly explain the series
Production Process
 What key production processes do you think the director would have gone
through to get this short film made and exhibited?
 1. Developing ideas, characters and story lines.
 2. Establishing the purpose of the film.
 4. Creating a timetable of events; auditions, briefing, filming editing.
 4. Possibly auditioning the cast, if not making sure everyone was available.
 5. Ensuring the right equipment, resources are available.
 6. Rehearsing, or briefing the team before filming.
 7. Filming
 8. Editing the film
 9. Publishing/editing/setting up YouTube channel.