The film
starts in an alleyway which is off a busy road; the audience knows this as they
can hear and see cars passing all the time.
This makes the audience feel that the film will be completely set in the
busy town because it was introduced before any characters.
When the male protagonist falls to the floor, the audience isn’t sure where he’s come from; they may assume he's jumped from a ledge of one of the buildings to escape something. An electric guitar plays when he lands, which could imply that he’s a bad character. Also, being followed to the floor by two suitcases suggests that he’s robbed somewhere and is trying to escape with the goods. However, when he and the cases fall, the audience can see a circle of white light shining over where they fell, as if they were from Heaven, which contrasts to the negative feeling evoked by the electric guitar. Could he be a fallen angel? The loud drum beats heard as he gets up and walks away create tension, as they make the audience feel that something bad is going to happen. The drum beats continue as he begins to approach a large group of people, which makes the audience wonder whether he’s there to do a deal with them.
The audience is then surprised to see the male protagonist stop and open his suitcases away from the group; this is something they weren’t expecting. The tension then builds for the viewer as they are anxious to know what is in the cases and what he’s going to do with the contents. The sight of a turntable would have confused the audience, as it doesn’t connect with their opinion of the character. The music remains intense as he sets up his equipment, which tells the audience that there’s still something big to happen. When his equipment is turned on, the sight of the people in front of him flickers; this may be the view from a CCTV camera nearby which has been affected, and implies his equipment is really powerful.
Eventually, the audience realises that the crowd is standing around someone who has been hit by a car; this confuses the audience further as they try to work out why he’s there and why he’s not rushing to help the person who’s unconscious on the ground. Also, everyone seems oblivious to his arrival and the audience can’t be sure whether it’s because they’re all distracted or for some other reason.
As soon as he places his hand on the record to stop it playing, the background music gradually gets quieter. This highlights the fact that his action has stopped everyone mid-action, and the shots change much more slowly to emphasise the sudden realisation for the audience that this DJ can control real-life with his turntable. Then he’s seen rewinding real-life and watching the incident in reverse, enabling the audience to watch the accident happen and each person’s reaction to it. After the viewer sees the accident a few times, they realise that the DJ is analysing what happened in the situation. This gives the audience hope that he’s there to prevent it and that he either isn’t bad or he’s trying to repent by doing good deeds.
When the camera focuses on a ball it is clear that this is what caused the accident, and the viewer is aware that they have realised this at the same time as the DJ. As he watches the path of the ball back, the audience is introduced to a child and her mother, as they are the ones in possession of the ball which caused the accident. After the DJ’s redirected the ball, the audience relaxes and the music sounds resolved. This leads the audience to wonder what other things the DJ is going to do with his turntable. But, as the music starts up again and the camera zooms towards the DJ’s face, the audience realises that this situation isn’t over.
The ball rolls towards an elderly couple, one of whom is in a wheelchair, and a business man on his phone slips on the ball which knocks the old man over and the old woman’s wheelchair starts going into the road. This emphasises the idea of a domino effect, which the ball caused in the first place but now the DJ’s interference has caused a different outcome to the effect. The film becomes comic when the old woman does an over-the-top scream as she quite slowly rolls into the road and then the film cuts to the wheels of her chair flying through the air as the DJ ducks out the way. After the situation has been rewound, the audience sees from the DJ’s point of view and notices that he’s analysing everyone else surrounding the situation; this is also the moment the rest of the characters involved in the domino effect are introduced. The sign, belonging to the dancer, has the words ‘God Bless’ on it, which reinforces the idea of the DJ coming from Heaven. Also, when the DJ has finished analysing everyone in the situation, the audience sees him look up to the sky, as if looking to God.
The sound of the old man bouncing the ball is diegetic, but it introduces a non-diegetic beat to the non-diegetic music that plays. The music builds as the domino effect spreads to more people.
The comedic element of the film is reinforced by the idea of the film reaching equilibrium, until the little girl breaks her doll and the DJ is frustrated and decides to leave it until he feels as if the girl can see him. As he walks away he stops and looks at the camera, as if to evoke to the audience his frustration and his feeling of obligation. When he does help the little girl, this tells the audience that he is a nice guy. After he has restored equilibrium, he runs away to avoid having to fix any other knock-on effects his actions may have caused. This again creates a humourous feel to the film.
The fact that this film contains no dialogue, yet the audience knows exactly what's going on, shows how well the film is acted and edited. Also, the music was composed by Jamin Winans (the director/writer/editor) himself, so he was able to produce the sound he wanted to convey to the audience the emotions he had envisioned for them. He also used the technique of non-diegetic music instead of dialogue in the final scene to his second feature length film Ink, which I feel was more successful than if he had used the diegetic sounds, especially as a fight scene erupts and the music contains a soft piano which matches the emotion rather than the action.
When the male protagonist falls to the floor, the audience isn’t sure where he’s come from; they may assume he's jumped from a ledge of one of the buildings to escape something. An electric guitar plays when he lands, which could imply that he’s a bad character. Also, being followed to the floor by two suitcases suggests that he’s robbed somewhere and is trying to escape with the goods. However, when he and the cases fall, the audience can see a circle of white light shining over where they fell, as if they were from Heaven, which contrasts to the negative feeling evoked by the electric guitar. Could he be a fallen angel? The loud drum beats heard as he gets up and walks away create tension, as they make the audience feel that something bad is going to happen. The drum beats continue as he begins to approach a large group of people, which makes the audience wonder whether he’s there to do a deal with them.
The audience is then surprised to see the male protagonist stop and open his suitcases away from the group; this is something they weren’t expecting. The tension then builds for the viewer as they are anxious to know what is in the cases and what he’s going to do with the contents. The sight of a turntable would have confused the audience, as it doesn’t connect with their opinion of the character. The music remains intense as he sets up his equipment, which tells the audience that there’s still something big to happen. When his equipment is turned on, the sight of the people in front of him flickers; this may be the view from a CCTV camera nearby which has been affected, and implies his equipment is really powerful.
Eventually, the audience realises that the crowd is standing around someone who has been hit by a car; this confuses the audience further as they try to work out why he’s there and why he’s not rushing to help the person who’s unconscious on the ground. Also, everyone seems oblivious to his arrival and the audience can’t be sure whether it’s because they’re all distracted or for some other reason.
As soon as he places his hand on the record to stop it playing, the background music gradually gets quieter. This highlights the fact that his action has stopped everyone mid-action, and the shots change much more slowly to emphasise the sudden realisation for the audience that this DJ can control real-life with his turntable. Then he’s seen rewinding real-life and watching the incident in reverse, enabling the audience to watch the accident happen and each person’s reaction to it. After the viewer sees the accident a few times, they realise that the DJ is analysing what happened in the situation. This gives the audience hope that he’s there to prevent it and that he either isn’t bad or he’s trying to repent by doing good deeds.
When the camera focuses on a ball it is clear that this is what caused the accident, and the viewer is aware that they have realised this at the same time as the DJ. As he watches the path of the ball back, the audience is introduced to a child and her mother, as they are the ones in possession of the ball which caused the accident. After the DJ’s redirected the ball, the audience relaxes and the music sounds resolved. This leads the audience to wonder what other things the DJ is going to do with his turntable. But, as the music starts up again and the camera zooms towards the DJ’s face, the audience realises that this situation isn’t over.
The ball rolls towards an elderly couple, one of whom is in a wheelchair, and a business man on his phone slips on the ball which knocks the old man over and the old woman’s wheelchair starts going into the road. This emphasises the idea of a domino effect, which the ball caused in the first place but now the DJ’s interference has caused a different outcome to the effect. The film becomes comic when the old woman does an over-the-top scream as she quite slowly rolls into the road and then the film cuts to the wheels of her chair flying through the air as the DJ ducks out the way. After the situation has been rewound, the audience sees from the DJ’s point of view and notices that he’s analysing everyone else surrounding the situation; this is also the moment the rest of the characters involved in the domino effect are introduced. The sign, belonging to the dancer, has the words ‘God Bless’ on it, which reinforces the idea of the DJ coming from Heaven. Also, when the DJ has finished analysing everyone in the situation, the audience sees him look up to the sky, as if looking to God.
The sound of the old man bouncing the ball is diegetic, but it introduces a non-diegetic beat to the non-diegetic music that plays. The music builds as the domino effect spreads to more people.
The comedic element of the film is reinforced by the idea of the film reaching equilibrium, until the little girl breaks her doll and the DJ is frustrated and decides to leave it until he feels as if the girl can see him. As he walks away he stops and looks at the camera, as if to evoke to the audience his frustration and his feeling of obligation. When he does help the little girl, this tells the audience that he is a nice guy. After he has restored equilibrium, he runs away to avoid having to fix any other knock-on effects his actions may have caused. This again creates a humourous feel to the film.
The fact that this film contains no dialogue, yet the audience knows exactly what's going on, shows how well the film is acted and edited. Also, the music was composed by Jamin Winans (the director/writer/editor) himself, so he was able to produce the sound he wanted to convey to the audience the emotions he had envisioned for them. He also used the technique of non-diegetic music instead of dialogue in the final scene to his second feature length film Ink, which I feel was more successful than if he had used the diegetic sounds, especially as a fight scene erupts and the music contains a soft piano which matches the emotion rather than the action.
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