Short Film: Signs

Genre:
The is genre of this short film is romance. This can be seen as there are two people, who appear to like each other, flirting through messages on pieces of paper. I think the elements of this film are typical of the genre as it is sweet and romantic (and a bit corny).

Narrative:
The story develops quite slowly in a linear and cyclical way, as the story progresses in chronological order however certain events are repeated - but they occur on different days (for example the scene were the man was waking up and getting out of bed in the morning is repeated many times). Ellipsis is also used to show time moving forward quicker (which would be key for a short film). The film is open ended as they do finally meet in the flesh at the end, but there is no real indication as to what happens next - it is left to the audiences imagination.

Characters:
There are two main characters, a man and a woman. I would describe the man as lonely, nervous and not very confident and the woman as happy, smiley and confident. I would say the man, in particular, was stereotypical of the genre as he is a lonely man looking for love - which is common in romance films.

Technical:
The mise en scene of the office and home of the male character would convey meaning to the viewer as these are locations that would feature in their everyday lives, and so would be familiar to them. The sound, such as the dialogue and background noise, would convey meaning as the only dialogue heard is other peoples conversations in the background, a man giving a talk at a meeting and an answer phone message - all commonly heard sounds in the viewers everyday lives. The score played over the film is typical of the genre. It is mainly piano based and changes depending on the males characters state of mind, when he is sad the music is, when happy the music is much more uplifting.