Over (2015, Jorn Threfall)
Over (2015, Jorn Threllfall) was a shocking, real-life crime short film based around a refugee who fled Angola by hiding in the landing gear of a British Airways flight. The whole film is constructed to appear as an 'every-day' crime; a burglary, a car crash, a murder etc. This is by the placing of flowers by the side of the road - one of the many extreme close-up shots used throughout Over. Speaking of extreme close-ups, the film makes really good use of repeating this shot to emphasise the audience expectation that is this centred around an 'everyday' crime. The shots in particular which position audiences to this expectation are the blood being pressure-washed off of the road, the flowers placed on the pavement, accompanied by the long-shot of a black car being towed away and an over-the-hedge establishing shot of a middle-class neighbourhood. There is very minimal dialogue in this film, and the dialogue we do get to hear is inaudible. This is conventional of a short film, and in this case works really well in terms of audience positioning and shocking the viewer. Any and all explanation is left right up to the text at the end explaining about the refugee, how his body was near-frozen when he fell to his death as the plane made its final approach to Heathrow.
This explanation comes straight after the long-stretch of silence, broken by the crash of his body on the black car we previously saw being towed away, accompanied by the sound of the car alarm. As a result of the audience being positioned solely as spectators, aside from the shots we get of the evidence bags, witnessing the actual 'crime' happen is equally as shocking as it is sad once we are told why it has happened.
What I really liked about Over was, surprisingly, how conventional it was. I think the use of silence and positioning the audience as outsiders, as well as the very minimal plot, was so effective in focusing viewer attention solely on what is on screen, trying to decode the mise-en-scene and understand the crime that is being portrayed. Although I personally thought it was effective, I understand why people would think otherwise. The film does begin to get a bit tired of the silence, lack of dialogue and similar shot types observing a neighbourhood where there isn't a whole lot going on. There is sense to the film that most of the shots, particularly the shots of the evidence bags, are 'filler', just padding the film out so that the impact of the body hitting the car is the bit more shocking however I think this repetition and simplicity just added to the overall message at the end, forcing the audience to empathise that bit more.
This explanation comes straight after the long-stretch of silence, broken by the crash of his body on the black car we previously saw being towed away, accompanied by the sound of the car alarm. As a result of the audience being positioned solely as spectators, aside from the shots we get of the evidence bags, witnessing the actual 'crime' happen is equally as shocking as it is sad once we are told why it has happened.
What I really liked about Over was, surprisingly, how conventional it was. I think the use of silence and positioning the audience as outsiders, as well as the very minimal plot, was so effective in focusing viewer attention solely on what is on screen, trying to decode the mise-en-scene and understand the crime that is being portrayed. Although I personally thought it was effective, I understand why people would think otherwise. The film does begin to get a bit tired of the silence, lack of dialogue and similar shot types observing a neighbourhood where there isn't a whole lot going on. There is sense to the film that most of the shots, particularly the shots of the evidence bags, are 'filler', just padding the film out so that the impact of the body hitting the car is the bit more shocking however I think this repetition and simplicity just added to the overall message at the end, forcing the audience to empathise that bit more.
Comments
Post a Comment