The short film "Smashed" analyzes the night out of four friends who drink to forget their problems, but end up facing worse consequences. The film is set in a run-down urban city, shown through shots of flats, sidewalks, and stores selling alcohol. The characters are portrayed as immature young adults who use alcohol to cope. Important props like an egg, a paper bag, and alcohol itself are used to signify problems the characters face. Camera shots and lighting are used to convey emotion, while music changes match the rising and falling tension. The film's overall message is that alcohol does not actually solve problems and often makes them worse.

1. Media A2 essay
10Analyse the short film, “smashed” applying technical terms
The following film that I will be looking at is called “Smashed” 2009 written and directed by Peter
Snelling. The film involves four friends on a night out, drinking and getting drunk to forget their
problems, but leads to bigger and worse problems that they all had originally. The main setting of
the film consists of an urban city setting. Over the next few paragraphs I will be looking at the the
main factors that makes this film what it is and also what the meaning of the film is, and hpw the
director has got his point across to portray the meaning of the film.
When watching the film, we get many messages and ideas about the film, from this, we can see that
characters are based in an urban community, maybe from an estate; we get this message from
opening scene when the camera is using shots with cut transitions to show the variety of the
community. We mainly get the image of flats, sidewalks and newsagents selling alcohol and tobacco,
this signifies to the audience that it could be a rundown area that is rough and intimidating, allowing
the audience to connect with the characters and get a feeling for the life they lead before meeting
them. We also see other parts throughout the film that signifies the run down city, we got these
impressions from some of the scenery, including cleanliness and the well being of the area, we could
see, dead trees, and also rubbish on the floor, giving the whole setting a rundown look. The director
has decided to use all of the these factors to further set the scene for the audience, and really signify
the type of area that we are viewing.
The characters in this short film play a very important role in sending the message to the audience of
alcohol. We start off by seeing all of the characters as individuals before seeing them together,
letting us see what each character is like personally and some of the problems that may confront
them later on in the film. The two male characters that we see, are portrayed as very modern male
citizens, we can see that they are mid twenties, but very immature for their age. This signified the
way they dress and their mannerisms. During the scene where they are walking down the back ally,
they are talking about the oncoming night, and what they want planned from it, we hear them
talking about a one night stand and getting very drunk. The director has done this so that it relates
to the audience, the audience will be able to see themselves in the characters, also the director has
captured the age of the characters well, in the clothes and mannerisms. Also they way that the
characters are dressed has the effect of the immatureness, this is because they are talking about a
night out and what lies ahead, but they are dressed very casual and very underdressed for males of
their age on a night out, signifying once again that they might come from a more run down area or
that they are not ones to act their age. The two female characters are both very different from each
other, we have one character that is very talkative, and arrogant, we can see this from the first scene
we see her, she is very well dressed in bright colours and done up for the night, talking away about
her life, whereas the other is more played down, dressed very dark sad colours, implying that she
looks more serious than her friend, but from this beginning scene of the two, we start to feel
concerned about this female character because she doesn’t seem interested, and the camera shows
very little reaction shots when she is talking to her friend, implying lack of interest, possibly because
she doesn’t care or that there is something else playing on her mind. This makes us feel for the
character because we saw her in her room looking very uncomfortable and nervous about a brown
Tomas Noad

2. Media A2 essay
paper bag with something in, signifying that something to do with that prop was bothering her in
some way.
There are many props used within this short film that have very strong meanings and value to the
film, first of all we have the egg at the beginning of the film, firstly shown on its own, then being
“smashed” when stepped on by one of the characters. This can have many meanings towards the
film, one being that the idea of the egg getting smashed signifies that bad news or luck is ahead of
the characters, or smashed dreams, meaning the characters will be having problems throughout the
film. One meaning that can also be taken from the egg is the view that it could signify pregnancy,
and that the story will have an event about pregnancy and the egg getting smashed could be the
idea that the pregnant character will be dealing with problems. Another important prop used was
the brown paper bag, causing many thoughts and idea throughout the film, because the main
female character has it on her at all times, and it does cause nerves to her. From the opening scene
when we first see this bag, we can see that it is creased and crumbled, showing that the bag may be
a couple of days or weeks old. Because we can see her grasping the bag, implies discomfort about
the object in the bag is there, and is also supported when we see her emotion on her face, then see
her drink her wine, the idea of drinking solves problems. At the end of the film, we finally get to see
what appears to be in the bag, and the solution to what had been playing on her mind throughout
the film, it being a pregnancy test, again having strong meanings and ideas about the character, she
was aware there was a chance she could be pregnant, but still used the alcohol as a way to forget
about it. Most of the props used by characters are shown as problems to them, we see the one male
character looking at letters and pictures of his ex girlfriend, causing him to go out drinking to solve
problems. From this comes another very important prop, this one being the most used....alcohol.
We see this being used and portrayed throughout the film, being advertised in windows or signs, but
mainly because throughout the film, all four characters have some sort of alcohol on them, and use
it as a way to solve their problems. We see alcohol being given as a gift to say sorry, this is in fact
the most important prop because the story and meaning behind it, is based around it. The idea that
alcohol is big part of young life, and it is the best way to solve problems, making yourself happy
when down.
The camera shots used are a big part of signifies what’s important in the scene, and is the main thing
that makes props important in the scene. A good example of this is the opening scene, we see many
quick cut shots used to show the setting but then a still shot of the egg, showing that the egg is most
important prop in that scene and that it means something, so the audience should pay attention to
it. We see a shot that is very clever, we are looking at the two female characters through a window
and can see reflections, but can still hear them, and this is done by using the camera and
microphones in different places in the scene, being able to give us this effect. We also see on more
than one occasion, a shot reverse shot used when two of the characters are in conversation, this
allows the audience to see both characters during the dialogue, and in some cases show how deep
the conversation is because we can see both of the characters being locked in attention with each
other. We see the transition when the characters are buying drinks, we can see the motion of buying
them, the money on the table followed by them taking the drinks, this can have many meanings, one
signifying the importance of alcohol in the film, but also the process of how quickly and easy it is to
get hold of lots of alcohol on a night out. There are many other effects used, like the shaky cam, to
signify what the characters are seeing, implying how drunk they are, and signifying that they are
struggling to stand up on the own two feet.
Tomas Noad

3. Media A2 essay
The lighting during this film is very strong, as they don’t just use it to signify time of day, and where
about the sun is coming from, but also as a way to communicate across emotion. We see this when
the two main characters are having a conversation in the club and the lights in the club are flashing
on them, they showed the colours on the faces during conversation to imply how they were feeling.
The director used blues, reds and other colours as signifier’s of emotions, red as sad, blues and
greens as happy, when the conversation was going in the characters favour. We also saw lighting
being used to show the transition throughout the day, we had the effects being used to the lighting
on characters changed depending on what the time of the day was, so we could keep track of the
timings and what events the characters were doing at the time.
The sound in the film was very clever, using non diegetic music throughout, but changing depending
on the event happening, starting off by having very calming instrumental music at the beginning, but
changing to more upbeat and base style music as the tension built throughout the film, changing the
mood of the audience and the characters. Another effect that is used, is to signify the change in
action of the characters, coming to the end of the film, using very fast up beat music to imply the
drunkenness of the characters, but then the slowing the music down as the problems arise, this
gives the impression that the characters are sobering up, and having a sense of realization, and
suddenly being aware of the problems that had happened because of them drinking.
In conclusion the use of all of these elements when used together creates an overall meaning from
the film, it allows the director to decide his meaning but then show it and portray in many different
ways throughout the film, making it easier for the director to get his point across towards the
audience. But also makes the final meaning behind the story easy for them to follow and understand
the story and characters involved. The final meaning of the film “smashed” is based around alcohol,
signifying that alcohol is a part of every young person’s life, for better and for worse, and implies
that more than often, alcohol is not a way to solve problems, because at the director implied,
alcohol only makes your problems worse or causes more.
Tomas Noad