Short-Film Analysis | Amber Smales

Jet by Jordan Chesney (2013)

Cinematography
The sequence starts of with an establishing shot/ behind the shoulder shot, which introduces the setting as well as the main character to the audience. The camera quickly moves to a close up of the male’s face and then back to the behind the shoulder shot that started the sequence. By moving between these two shot types tension is built and the audience become intrigued by the character and how he came to be sat in his car looking down the street at nothing in particular. A gun is introduced to the shot, the same two shots (behind the shoulder and a close up) continue to switch between each other. The next shot is a handheld track shot, this shot is used to follow the character as well as show the action that is building up.  
The shot starts behind the character but as he moves towards his target the camera angle moves so that the male is walking beside the camera (pan). There is a slight zoom into the man as he looks at a van that is parked outside of a house. it also shows the character in correlation to the scene. A reaction shot is then used to show the nerves and desperation of the character. It also shows that he is trying to be kept out of sight so he doesn't blow his cover. The new scene is then established through an establishing shot, the shot isn't in focus which makes the house seem mysterious as well as showing two other characters leaving the van and walking into the house. Another pan is used to show the main character running toward the house. The camera pans quite fast to show how desperate the man is to get to the house.

Editing
Throughout the sequence the editing is quite slow and simple, this is because only a few different shots are used (close-ups and medium shots). Using simple and slow edits reflects the state of the main character as he seems to be distracted by something. Towards the end of the sequence, the editing begins to speed up as action is taking place. The main character is getting involved in someone else's business and the speed of the editing in this scene shows how tense the male must be feeling.

Sound

The sound is this film also reflects the main characters feelings. Whilst the male is sat in his car, diegetic sound can be heard. A car races down the street. Sound effects like this one are the only pieces of diegetic sound that can be heard throughout the short-film as dialogue isn't used. Trees swaying in the wind, dogs barking and a gun can all be heard during the first scene of the short-film. It shows that whilst the man is having suicidal thoughts, life is continuing to go on around him. This makes the audience feel sympathetic towards the man whilst also making them wonder what happened in order for him to get to this point in his life. Furthermore, non diegetic sound and incidental music are used. The music used has drums dominating it, this sounds like a heart beat which relates to what is happening in the scene. Violins and trumpets further build up the music into a crescendo. Once the music reaches the crescendo the screen goes black.

Mise-en-scene
The sequence begins on a street somewhere in a neighbourhood, the audience don't exactly know why the the character is there which leads the audience to wonder what led the man to that street in particular. Further into the sequence the man pulls a gun towards his head but later removes it after seeing a girl taken by two men. The two men pull the young girl into their van and speed off. The main character looks shocked and unsure of what to do. After a few seconds of debating what he should do, he starts the car and the scene ends with a black screen. The next scene begins with the main character running towards a house which the audience will assume this is where the van took the young girl. At the end of the sequence the main characters enters the house after shooting another male and a servant. When he enters the house he sees a little girl looking shocked. This shows the main character may have misunderstood or followed the wrong van. The props used in this sequence were vehicles and a gun.