(Task 2.1) Short film comparative analysis: "Wasp" and "Gasman"

Comparative analysis of Andrea Arnold’s “Wasp” and Lynne Ramsay’s “Gasman”

Short films.

There is no solid definition of what makes a short film, however the Academy of motion picture Arts and sciences defines it as “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits”. Having a time restriction like this limits to the amount of flow and continuity a director can effectively deliver through narration. This means they need to create a narrative that is reasonably easy to follow.

Conventions with a short film often include trying the express a message or moral, but sometimes also personal and or political views.

I had similar reactions to both short films. However I must say that wasp felt like it delivered a clearer message, whereas gasman felt like it was very vague and open to interpretation. Inversely “wasp” conveyed its narrative very clearly leaving little room for interpretation or thought for the audience. I felt that there was a shared theme of neglect against children, the struggles of lower poorer class citizens and a heavy focus on the lives of children within what was denoted to be United Kingdom. Judging by the denotation of mise en scene and mannerisms of characters, “wasp” seems to be set somewhere in the midlands of England in a low income built up city, whereas “gasman” is to be set further up north in Dublin as it’s in a much more rural/sub urban setting.

Both directors utilise their talent and knowledge of camera angles and editing to give their short films more meaning. For instance Andrea Arnold uses a handheld shot for the majority of wasp. This technique creates the feeling that we as an audience are directly placed in the scene witnessing it in real time. This helps further deliver the message that wasp tries to express as we associate more with the media text. Furthermore Andrea Arnold mixes her hand held photography with a mixture of close and long distance shots.

Media journalist Jason Sondhi furthers this point on his online blog where he says ”Arnold expertly mixes extreme close-ups and extreme long-shots to set the scene and to create visual coherence”.

Both short films represent the UK in similar ways. Gasman and wasp share the theme of the neglect against children. In “wasp” this is shown throughout as the mother uses strong language against her children and leaves them outside in the dark alone and vulnerable.
 Gasman shows neglect towards children in scenes such as one showing where the two young girls start fighting and squabbling. The neglect is shown in the fathers disinterest and detachment as at first he ignores them and can be seen laughing about it with what is denoted to be his other adult friends. Another example of neglect in gasman can be seen in the final scene which is set late at night in the dark. In this scene the man's daughter stops on the train tracks, the father however carries on walking and shows no interest or care in the girl at a time where she could become lost or vulnerable.

Lastly the UK is also represented to be a very poor and uneducated country. This is done through mise en scene and character types used in the short films. Both short films show the families to be living in small and bland living conditions. The clothes, or lack of, that the characters walking barefoot on the streets and her children in dirty unhygienic clothing. In gasman the father for instance can be seen wearing an old low quality suit. The uneducated theme is shown through the language and accents used by the characters. Both use very slang English with a very simple vocabulary.

Childhood is a topic and theme that is expressed with having the traits of being chaotic and confusing. This is evident in scenes throughout wasp and gasman. What stood out to me in gasman was the scene where the little girl is standing in the pub, editing is used to cancel out the digetic sound of chatter in the pub scene, making it sound distant and inaudible. The camera starts to do a 360 pan to show the audience the chaos of the scene as kids run around manically.

Wasp creates a similar effect from the get go. Andrea Arnold's short film throws the audience straight into the narrative. Confusion is instilled into the audience which helps us relate to the children. The mother in the opening scene is shown marching her children down a set of stairs, the use of shaky hand held shots and close ups further disorientates the audience. The editing further reinforces this by quickly jumping from frame to frame. The scene then shows the family outside where the baby is crying as the mother argues with another woman in her neighbourhood. Our lack of context and lack of build up to the situation helps us to sympathise with the children's perspective as children often don't understand the situations they are in or why they happen.

Mise en scene is an essential tool used by both directors to deliver their intended message. Andrea Arnold uses mise en scene to foreshadow what will happen later on in the film. This is evident in the scene where a close up shot is used to focus on the wasp in the mother's apartment. The amount of focus given to this wasp clearly shows that it holds some importance and that we as an audience should start to think why. Why has the director gone out of her way to show a wasp trying desperately to escape. The wasp could be a metaphor for the mother's desperation to escape her below average difficult life. This idea is made likely due to the way the mother completely neglects her children to have a night out with her crush from years back. The way she gossips to her friends on the phone about him shows how she still wishes to be in her teenage years without the responsibility of children. Furthermore the wasp can also be a connotation to death, insects are associated with the plague and are a pest, so seeing and focusing on the wasp creates tension as it foreshadows that something bad is to come, which we find out later is true in the form of her baby choking on a wasp due to her lack of care and neglect.

Links used

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_film

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2011/09/08/wasp/

(Task 2.1) Lady Gaga: Textual analysis

Lady gaga paparazzi analysis

Lady gaga is a controversial icon and artist and is also an interesting media text to talk about. She utilises provocative imagery, sensitive subjects and elusive metaphors/connotations to achieve virality on social and mainstream media.

Her broad talent as an artist is evident in her creative dance choreography, narrative music videos and celebrity persona. All these combine to help propel her into mainstream media.

Her main piece of work I will be referencing will be her song “Paparazzi”.
First and foremost the type of channel this song would be played on 

Overall her music video is a short narrative where she portrays herself as a character in her work being betrayed by her lover as he throws her off a                                                                                

balcony, which leaves her paralysed and disabled, and being swarmed by the paparazzi. Her becoming paralysed could be a connotation to how she feels in real life. This is because the character in the music video is actually explicitly depicted to be lady gaga, therefore this display of being immobilised and unable to move could be a projection of her real life feelings on she feels trapped into doing things she doesn't want.  This is evident in a talk she had with a live audience on why she wanted to leave the music industry 

Furthermore she could also be projecting her views on domestic abuse. This is evident as throughout the music video short snippets of graphic imagery depicting mangled deceased looking woman are used in quick succession. Which could be a connotation to how women are the victims in our modern day society.

A lot of the editing used in the music video is very hectic and manic, this is seen as scenes transition rapidly into each other. This could connote to how lady gaga feels in her real life, as in everything is going too fast and is hard to handle.

I must add that although Lady gaga seems to try to manipulate the media by using outrageous and provoking imagery she still, however, conforms to the common norm/convention of female driven music videos. This convention would be the fact that she dresses in over sexualized revealing clothing, which is also accompanied by sexualized dance moves and actions. This is evident in many of her other music videos where she can be seen doing things such as showing females making out with each other.

Her manipulation of media through using controversial imagery and topics can also be seen in some of her other music videos. Such as her music video “Judas” where she can be seen sexually involving herself with a character who is depicted to be Jesus due to said character seen wearing a crown of thorns. This controversial use of biblical imagery shocked and causes uproar in the Catholic community, as can be seen in an article by the daily mail:         Daily Mail: Blasphemy! Catholic leaders in uproar over Lady Gaga 'shock tactics' in new song Judas.



She also uses techniques such as over the top wacky and questionable costumes that can not only be seen in her music videos but also in her real life as a celebrity pop star. Her over the top original costume manipulates the media as it generates interest and conversation which increases her public notoriety which sends her viral at times. Her real life examples which shock the press and send her viral would be the time she wore a meat dress. This led to her being seen on highly viewed media outlets such as "The Ellen Degeneres show".

Another convention/trait that lady gaga also shares with other music artists is in her use of product placement in some of her videos. Some argue that using product placements in her almost 'short film' like music videos actually takes away the integrity and message she is trying to convey in her work. Her relaxation with showing her capitalist values can be seen in music videos such as “Telephone” where product placement for “Beats by Dre” can be seen.

All of the techniques that I have previously mentioned that lady gaga has used has helped her develop her brand in the digital age.
A more recent example of this was her co staring in "The late night show with James Corden" which consists of James Corden singing karaoke with a guest celeb star. Celebs such as Adele, Sia , The red hot chilli peppers and many many more.
More often than not the celeb with either be singing a newly released song so that it increases in popularity and spreads to become viral in our online age.
This is exactly the case for Lady gaga as she sings her newest song "Perfect Illusion".
The video, has of now, received over 20 million views

Catch up on all work missed - at least 4 textual analysis - read A2 coursework booklet from student read