STORY-TELLING UNIT: Research - Short Film - Removed by Nathanael Matanick (2013)

The last short film I decided to review was Removed by Nathanael Matanick.

Synopsis:
"A 10-year-old girl navigates her way through the foster care system, after being removed from her home and separated from her younger brother."

Review:
- The use of the diegetic dialogue / argument between the mother and her boyfriend, combined with the solemn piano based non diegetic background music helps to set the scene as an unhappy / abusive household where the children are having to take care of each other.

- The non diegetic voice over by the girl helps to reinforce the action that we are seeing on screen. "Sometimes someone hurts you so bad, it stops hurting at all" - she speaks these words as her mum's boyfriend shouts at her mum.

- The voiceover also helps to reinforce to emotion in the short film. You can hear a sad / sorrowful tone in the girl's voice which helps to set the mood of the drama.

- The slow motion shots help to add to the dramatic nature of the piece.

- The acting is strong and believable which adds to the realistic nature of this drama.

- The use of diegetic sound in the school scenes helps to set the scene, showing she is still a school child but has to deal with a lot at home. The addition of the non diegetic background music helps to convey that although she is a school child, she is enduring a lot of stress / pain at home.

- "I am unseen, unheard, unwanted". This dialogue occurs whilst her picture is being taken for a school photo - she is visibly upset yet no one is stopping to take care of her, reinforcing her dialogue. 

- The diegetic sound of sirens / dialogue "police, get on the ground" again helps to depict the disruptive  unsettled, abusive nature of her life.

- The ambient outside sounds (e.g. crickets and the wind blowing) used shortly after the girl is separated from her mother and brother helps to convey the feelings of loneliness that she is feeling. I really liked the effect of this as it enhances that feeling of isolation created in the piece.

How it influenced my short film:

- I really liked the combination of voiceover and dialogue. I liked the way the voiceover reinforced the action occurring on screen and enhanced the emotion. In my piece I want to use a section of voiceover as a sort of 'reveal' about my character's mental disorder (schizophrenia). 
e.g. when my character John is preparing to jump off of the pier, a voice in his head could be persuading him to jump. 

- The minimal dialogue in this piece also reinforced my desire to create a drama with little dialogue. It helped to show that a powerful story can be told mainly by the action occurring on the screen. (The voiceover of this piece was not even necessary to show the emotion and drama this piece contained. - however, it did help to enhance certain aspects of the story.