The short film "Two Cars, One Night" directed by Taika Waititi in 2004 follows two young children, a boy and a girl, who meet outside a pub and begin to develop feelings for each other. The film uses conventions of the romance genre like the meet-cute trope to portray the blossoming relationship between the shy female character and more forward male character within the limited 12-minute runtime. Camera shots and dialogue are used to show the progression of the relationship from initial bitterness to smiling and laughing together by the end.

1. Two Cars One Night Film Analysis
Mollie Warne
'Two Cars, One Night' is an American short film directed and
written by Taika Waititi in 2004. It is a drama, romance and short
film and is 12 minutes long.
The short film is about two young children, male and female,
who 'fall in love' outside the Te Kaha pub.

2. Mollie Warne
The Characters
• The short film stars Rangi Ngamoki, Hutini Waikato and Te Ahiwaru Ngamoki-Richards within it.
• The three main characters are children.
• The audience see the main male character and female character 'fall in love' - young love. The main
male character is represented as being mature for his age and the one out of the two who is trying to
make something between them.
• This representation is constructed through the way that he speaks to the young female and his body
language to her.
• The main female character is represented as being shy at the beginning.
• This representation is constructed as she does not speak to the young male character at first and she
generally acts shy.
• The main male characters younger brother does not speak much and is just sitting next to the male
character in the car.

3. Mollie Warne
This film uses the stereotypical male and female
character element used throughout the romance genre
however due to the fact that the male and female
characters used in the film are children it is not
categorized as 'stereotypical'.
Stereotypes
It could also be said that this short film uses the stereotypical
‘boy meets girl’ scenario used in romance films. This is because
the male and female characters meet and it seems to be that
they fall in love with each other almost at first sight.

4. Mollie Warne
The films target audience would be females who are
interested or watch other romance films. I would say that
the age range for this short film is 15-25 as it does not
include any sexual scenes which would be
inappropriate for under 15 year old children. Females
stereo typically watch romance films more than males
however this film would also be enjoyable for men to
watch too.
Target Audience
Due to it being an English spoken film I believe that it
would be more suitable for English speaking people to
watch as it uses themes from the
English/American/Australian nature. They target this
audience through the use of the way that the characters
speak to each other.

5. Mollie Warne
Mise-En-Scene
The short film uses mise-en-scene to show to the audience the
characters love for one and other. There is the use of a ring between
the female and male character where the female character has a ring
and gives it to the male character to 'remember' her. Rings are a
convention of the romance genre and represent love and a promise
of eternal love for one and other.
The characters are dressed and made up in
child like clothes - the producer has not
made the children necessarily look like
adults, only made them act like adults. The
female character is not wearing make up
like females usually do in romance films
due to her being a child.
The audience can tell what the male and female
characters are feeling through their body language and
facial expressions. At the beginning of the short film the
characters body language and facial expressions are
quite sour and uninterested. These change throughout
the whole short film and by the end the characters are
smiling and laughing together - showing how the
relationship has escalated and improved.
The lighting is dark and the whole short film is in black
and white like the original films would have been.

6. Mollie Warne
Sound
The characters communicate what they feel and
want to say through dialogue. This is how the
audience gain an understanding on what the
characters are thinking and feeling unlike 'The
Most Beautiful Thing' where they use soundtracks
to create emotion and sign language. There is not
a constant soundtrack in this short film to create
any sort of emotion to the characters feelings
which makes it harder for the audience to
understand what the characters feel towards each
other. It is not obvious what the characters are
feeling towards each other until the end of the
short film as they are quite bitter towards one and
other throughout the film.

7. Mollie Warne
Editing
Due to this short film being black and white and
older than the other films that I have analysed
the editing techniques are less frequently used.
However the equal amount of screen or air time
that the male and female character have shows a
sense of equality between them and that
perhaps their feelings are on equal levels - there
is not a more dominant half of the relationship.

8. Mollie Warne
Camera Shots And Angles
Camera shots and angles are used to show the
relationship between the male and female
characters. Two shots are significant towards the
end of this film as it shows that the characters
have moved from singular shots in their cars to
conversing face to face with each other. This
shows a development in relationship and is a
successful way of showing it in a short film as
things need to move fast. The mid shots of the
male and female characters in their cars shows
the two characters conversing and getting to
know each other.
Two shot