Analysis, on a short campaigning film:

Introduction:In this following PowerPoint, I'm going to do a couple of slides, where I'm explaining a number of point. In class, we analysed a video called “A second a day”. We picked out a few points, however, I'm going to analyse it in more detail, and write up an essay, to explain what's happening, and why its happening.

Mise - en – scene:In this area of “mise – en – scene”, for this video, they use a lot of settings, props, costumes, makeup, movements and also visual effects. When you watch the video, the first thing you can see is a little girl, who looks healthy and clean. She's wearing a party dress and holding a cake, with a few bright candles on it, she's surrounded by her family, and behind them, is a few balloons, hanged up on the wall. From this, we can see that its her birthday, and she’s extremely happy to be around everyone. In the next scene, she’s in the kitchen; biting into an indulgent, chocolate biscuit. She's wearing her school uniform, and behind her is her mum, who’s making something. This infers that, the little girl is hungry, as she came back from school. We can tell that she looks content biting into the biscuit, as she gives a smile whilst her mother is preparing lunch. Like any little girl, she’s also into makeup and dressing up, as we notice; she's in her mums room, in a white hat that’s made out of net. She’s pressing her lips together whilst holding lipstick in her hand. This scene reveals that just like any other girl, she also has her desires of dressing up and looking good. At that age, little girls are into makeup and they love playing pretend games. So she fulfils that, by dressing up in her mums clothing, and we can tell its her mothers, as the beach hat is big for her and the khaki/grey coloured jacket, and lipstick looks expensive. She presses her lips together trying to get the colour to mix, and she looks down at the lipstick, admiring the colour. In the next second, she’s in a room with a yellow frame in the corner and in the back, there's furry teddies. She’s holding onto a white fluffy teddy, which looks like a rabbit, and on her right side, there’s this blue material, which looks like a blanket. From this scene, we can see that she's in her school uniform and she looks tired, as she has probably had a long day. Nevertheless, she looks comfortable, as she holds onto her teddy and cuddles it. When the next second comes, we can see that she‘s in the living room and she’s blowing into the flute. She has piggy tails, and her hair is neatly combed. This scene represents that she's spending some time with an instrument and learning to play it, we can tell she's practising, because when she blew into the instrument, it was out of tune. However, she looks amused, as she hears the noise. We also notice, that she's wearing her school uniform a lot, so this shows that she's had school on them days. The following second, we can see that she’s in a room where there's lots of books, it can either be a room in her house, or her grannies. She's wearing an open hoodie, and looks very happy, as her granny pinches her cheek. From this, we can see that she’s loved dearly, by her grandmother. From watching a few seconds that go by, we can see that she's loved very much by her family, as she's getting attention from her dad, who plays with her in the park, as well as her mum, who combs her hair and asks about homework. She’s also very happy at school, as she gets kissed on the cheek by “Adam”. Things then begin to change. She's playing with a rubix cube in the living room, whilst her mum is watching TV. This presents that she’s unaware, with what's about to happen, she's a child and she doesn’t understand much, so she's fiddling with the rubix cube, figuring out how to match it, as her mum is intently watching the news, the headline says “HUNDEREDS DEAD, UNITED NATION”. Concern is written on her mums face. You can tell she's unaware, as she's sleeping peacefully. In another second, her dad watches over her as he anxiously listens to the radio, from this you can tell he's worried with what's about to happen. There are many scenes where she’s oblivious to what’s about to happen, one is where she’s at home, in a blue top, and is sitting down with a yellow felt tip, as her mother is reading a newspaper which has “Government declares Martial Law”, another one where a plane flies above their house, she's in her school uniform, and is in the garden, many children get fascinates by planes and helicopters, with this you can tell she's clearly amused, and also, in another scene her family are rushing to the car, and putting their belongings inside the boot. Her dad is holding a big water bottle and her mum is holding a multi-coloured blanket, from this we can see that they’re getting ready to evacuate. However, as for her, she's oblivious just like the other points I made, even with her parents panicking and packing, and the police sirens in the back, she looks happy. She begins to notice a change in her parents behaviour, as they don’t pay much attention to her, for example: when she shows her mum/dad a drawing she did, she expected praise, but instead they decided to ignore her and turn the paper away, as they’re too busy watching the news. We notice that she's unhappy, as she goes to bed sad, and listens to her parents argue about staying in the country. Fear and confusion is written on her face, as she watches the lights flicker above her, and when she runs down the stairs panicking and dust falls all over her.

Mise - en – scene:We notice a dramatic change in her mood, as things take a turn rather quickly. She sneezed is one second, and in the other, she’s having medicine. With this scene, it connotes that due to everything going on, she’s not feeling well at all, and there’s no medicine left either, as her mum tips the bottle and tries her best to get as much as possible onto the spoon, she’s also in her uniform, and that shows that it is a school day; the lighting is also awful in the area they’re in, that shows that it is “Low-key lighting”. In one scene, she's in a school setting, we can see this as she’s wearing her uniform, and a bomb is thrown just behind her, she squeals and ducks down. Whilst she was at school, it was day time and there was “high-key lighting” used. This scene shows that she’s not in a safe position and the area is very dangerous. In another second, she’s walking with her family, she's got black marks all over her face and so has her father who’s behind her. She’s walking hand in hand with her mother, she’s holding onto her teddy, and wearing her school uniform and body warmer. Behind them is a sign which says “DANGER WRONG WAY TURN BACK” and right next to that, is a sign of what area they’re in and it says “Hackney Wick, Leyton, Leytonstone”. This reveals that makeup has been put on all their faces to show how dirty they’ve become, and the danger signs also represent that they’re not safe, as their area is being targeted. A few scenes later, we see that she pulls a clump of hair out and is still in the same uniform clothing. This scene shows how dirty and scruffy she's become, as she doesn’t have the neat hair anymore, its filthy. Right at the end of the short campaign film, we can see that she’s in hospital clothing, with a thin cream blanket over her shoulders. A solitary tear rolls down her cheek, and she looks pale and fragile, we can see its her birthday, as her mum sings “happy birthday”, to her and holds an aluminium plate, with one dull candle lit up. This scene connotes that she is tired and mentally unfit, she isn’t happy at all, however she appreciates her mothers efforts as she tries her best to smile.

Camera:In this area, I’m going to be focusing, on the camera techniques they used, to create the “Second a day video”. When we first watch the video, immediately, we can notice that they’ve used a shallow, depth of field. This is to show her emotions clearly, and as an audience, we can connect with her, and feel her pain. Another technique that is used is, focus. They’re just focusing on her, as the whole video is based on saving children. So by focusing on that one child, we can understand what children have to go through, around the world. They have done this, so we can observe her reaction. Whilst filming, a hand held camera has been used. We can see this in many clips, for example: when she runs down the stairs, when the bomb hits the school behind her and also when she gets inside the car. This is so it makes the video more dramatic, as it should make us viewers, feel as if were in the moment, with her. In a few shots, a close up has been used many times. This is for the viewers, to feel sympathetic towards her. An eye line match has been used too, so we can see from her point of view. Towards the end of the video, we see that a slogan, logo and hashtag has been used. This is to create awareness, of the problems going on around the world, and what little children have to go through, on a day to day basis.

Sound:In this area, I’m going to be focusing on the sounds that I hear, through this video. When we first watch the video, the first thing we can hear is diegetic noises. For example, when the family are singing happy birthday to her, and also when the war is starting up. In another second, we can hear the swing noises, and her saying “wee” This illustrates, that she's having fun on the swing, as her dads pushing her higher. Later on, we can hear the noise, of an aeroplane going past. This exemplifies, that the enemies, are targeting the area, and they’re going to start taking action. After that scene, we then hear police sirens, this indicates that, because the enemies are targeting the area, the police are trying to make a difference, and protect everyone, hence why we hear the sirens. In another second, we can hear the dust falling from the ceiling. This portrays, that that the house has become weak, and is falling apart, as her area has been bombed. A few seconds later, we can hear that she sneezed. This just shows that she’s becoming ill, due to everything going on. It could also mean that she's allergic to dust, as she sneezed just after the dust fell everywhere. While she’s at school, we can hear the bomb that just exploded behind her. This connotes how their country is getting attacked, and the little girl is extremely frightened. When we hear the gun noises, from this we can tell that people are getting shot, and because it’s so loud, it makes the audience assume that she could’ve possible been targeted. We can hear coughing, and that implies that; due to everything, there’s no electricity, heating, medicine or water, so she’s falling ill, as the time goes by. Also because the air is so thick and hazardous around them, she's struggling to breath, as the grey smoke is intoxicating her lungs. In another second a bit towards the end, we can hear gates closing and her screaming “daddy”, this immediately gets the viewers attention, as they all know, her father got caught in the gates, and he’s trapped. There’s no way out for him.

Editing:In this slide, I'm going to be talking about editing, and what techniques they’ve used. The one thing everyone first notices is, the seconds of each scene. It doesn’t last long at all, and it is roughly for a second or two. This is to illustrate, how each day goes by, and what events take place, it also matches the title “second a day”. A jump cut is used in one of the seconds, and that’s to make it more dramatic and interesting. A match cut has also been used, and that’s to match the similar types of shots, for example, when they’re playing hide and seek, the father says “ready or not”, and a few shots later, they’re in a park and they’re playing football, the father then says “here it comes”. That made things seem a lot more realistic and interesting. The fade technique has also been used, and that’s after the last scene, when they show the slogan. This gets the viewers thinking,