Joe Pettit

Analysing/Reviewing a short film in preparation for my own

My chosen short film was called Screen Kiss. It was an interesting film which leads its viewers to
originally believe it would be a different genre than first turned out. The film language in mise-en-
scene, editing, sound and camera-work made this clear, as I will be analysing. Originally I thought
this an attempt at being anti-genre, though the film came in to its own and it became clear that it
was a Ricky Gervais style mockumentary. It started with a professionally styled shot from a low
angle, which shown two characters,
running towards each other romantically
in a field. The choice of non-diegetic sound
in romantic music, as well as the cross-
fade transition to them cuddling leads the
viewer to believe that the film is a
romance or drama. Cross-fades are a
transition commonly used in romance
films (shown right) and are a classic
convention of the genre. While you do get the feeling that something isnt quite right (the first two
shots are so stereotypical youd know this wouldnt have won any awards), you arent quite sure
what is coming next. All non-diegetic romance music cuts suddenly when we hear the diegetic sound
of a man saying Cut it. We learn that this man is the
director of the footage we have just seen when the
camera is suddenly non-steady, creating a purposely
unprofessional effect, as well as a lower quality to
what seemed to be in the romance footage. This is
the point that we learn that Screen Kiss is a film
about a film, and is when it is clear that it is
documentary-styled, as costumes are less fancy, and
the originally beautiful woodland set has purposely become obvious that its just a film set in a near-
by forest. From then on, the film cross-cuts between documentary-styled footage and the film
footage that the crew are supposed to be filming. As the film progresses, we get audience pleasures
out of the documentary styled footage as the cast and crew talk about each other behind their
backs, which makes the cross-cutting with the actual footage all the more effective as it emphasises
the characters they are playing are fake people. This perhaps hints at an ideology that people take
films too seriously and that the characters arent in
love in real life. The impressive thing about Screen
Kiss is that the romance footage is so identifiable
from the documentary-styled footage, as the casts
facial expressions and body language when they are
supposed to be acting is so much more extreme
and dramatic than when they are supposed to be
behind the scenes. In the behind the scenes footage,
the cast and crew will look at the camera and have such clearly different personalities than those
characters they are playing. The use of text in the editing studio has foregrounded the documentary-
style effects, Catriona Newington actress appearing as she bitches (as they call it in the film)
about her on screen lovers kissing. Comments like this is what makes the cross-cutting so effective,
Joe Pettit
Analysing/Reviewing a short film in preparation for my own

as the audience of Screen Kiss finds comedy in the fact that the cast are talking about each other
behind their backs, but then when reshooting, having to
passionately kiss. The film ends with a final documentary
styled shot from behind the scenes, in which the unnamed
actor asks the actress on a date. The choice of shot chosen
is effective in that its from behind them. The shot has a
restricted view of the cast and is not done brilliantly on
purpose to sum up the documentary-styled shooting. It finishes with him asking the girl on a date,
and her shooting him down. The non-diegetic sound over this shot is a final high pitched ding. This
is done to reflect that the audience should be satisfied that his happens as we have grown to dislike
the actor throughout the film as he touched her inappropriately while shooting (we found out in the
documentary styled footage).
Screen Kiss is very cleverly made, and has elements that I would like to include in my own short film
in terms of the film language. I think its one that comes under the post-modern genre, due to its mix
of genres or anti-genre.