DepicT! Analysis

Attack of The Alien Emmets

Genre:

In this depicT! video 'Attack of The Alien Emmets' you can tell straight away that this short video is going to either include a variety of horror or humour from the words "attack" and "alien". Once watching this film you can see that the genre is comedy from the sound track used.

Mise en scene:

From the very first scene the producer has used a meteor as a prop to allow the audience to be familiar with the setting which in this case is a nebula. The producer has used special effects to create a unrealistic atmosphere which also flows with the theme of 'Aliens' which is also unrealistic. This scene lacks realism by the yellow/green color used around the nebula which brightens the whole scene and prop, this focuses the audience on this specific part of the screen. The producer also uses a set of different locations during the course of this short film which is repeated several times throughout. The locations which were used was space, and different areas of Cornwall. 

Camera:

This video uses a small amount of camera shots as many of the shots were repeated. The camera shots that were uses was extreme wide shots to capture the whole viewing of each setting, which allowed the audience to become familiar with these locations so that the audience would remember them when they were repeated. The shots were also regularly zoomed in and out, for example; the windmill across the ocean was zoomed in which could give the audience an idea of how far away that this image was. The camera work is also hand held, you can see this as this shots are very shaky.

Editing and Continuity: 

The first recognizable edit excluding the title is a dissolve from the nebula to the earth. This edit morphs into the earth while the nebula is still faintly on the screen which shows that these two props are used in the same location, which is space. The next shot after the earth is a typical cut, this shot has used no other type of edit which I think this scene could of worked better with a fade or wipe. This is because the shot is a different setting therefore an edit which shows time passing by such as a fade, could create a better understanding to the audience. This typical cut is used in almost every shot which in some parts it works, such as for the different parts of Cornwall, but in other scenes a fade would have been more suitable for this video.

For the continuity system, this video has used no type of continuity editing due to the fact there are no characters which takes part in this film. To for fill the continuity system, this video could have used 'aliens' as the characters which would then include some parts of continuity editing.

Sound:

The first type of sound technique used is in the first scene where "The near future..." is faded into the screen which is known as incidental music as the sound is very mysterious which fits in with the on screen narration. The next sound used is also very mysterious, this is also incidental music which is used to create an uneasy feel as the audience will not know what to expect next. This incidental music carries on to the scene of Cornwall which could then be described as contrapuntal music as the location has changed and the audience could feel confusion by the mysterious music which is used to oversee the beautiful county of Cornwall. Once the title is cut onto the screen, the music then speeds up which allows the audience to know that something dramatic is going to happen, and so it does. At this point the music speeds up dramatically which is used to make the audience feel extremely anxious which then follows by the dramatic scene which consists of sound effects to enhance the explosion and bring realism to the film.

Narrative structure:

In terms of narrative structure, this film begins on normality as the first shot is a nebula and this is considered normal as a nebula is a realistic prop. The enigma in this movie is when the audience see's shots of Cornwall. This is seen as the enigma because the mystery is the significance of this place and the audience wondering what is going to happen next. The pathway to resolution in my opinion is not apparent as many of the scenes are repeated but in terms of closure, the film uses this part of the narrative structure as it ends in Cornwall being bombed by the 'aliens' therefore nothing else can happen in the film.

Identification:

This short film has used a point of view shot in the first two shots. This is the scene which starts as a shot from the nebula which is then dissolved to the earth. This shot is usually shot by characters, but the fact that the scene is shot with props/objects makes it much more effective.