Short film analysis - Send

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2015/08/12/send/

Send is a short that looks into the growing need for social media to communicate with those around you; as well as how this can have a detrimental effect on young peoples relationships and state of mind, through the sense of performance that it permits.

Send was directed and written by Peter Vack, a young actor; who has appeared in films such as the intern and 6 years. The short itself was not filmed using any studio but was instead funded by kickstarter.com where 93 backers pledged $20,748 to help and bring the project to life.

Throughout the short the sense of theme is consistent, the idea is that the use of social media has become a stage for individuals to perform an exaggerated perception of their lives and events that take part in through.

OVERVIEW OF THE SHORT

CULTURAL ZEIGEIST

This short would be seen to link to social issues that have been present through society. This is primarily due to the growing influence that social media is perceived to have on our lives; it has been found that when posting something on social media individuals do it for a level of reassurance from their peers.

The inspiration behind the creation of the film is based on the growing social issue with young people, of ‘nudes’, this is the sending of explicit pictures, exposing parts of their bodies to one another via the internet, to others around them. Send depicts that many young people now use these pictures as a way to receive attention to those around them.

STAR APPEAL

Director – Peter Vack – a actor and short film maker who lives and works in Brooklyn. Peter Vack has appeared in many films such as ‘the Intern’ as well as a regular on ‘Mozart in the Jungle’

Main female lead – Julia Garner – This is a young female actress, who has recently appeared in many films this includes ‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’, ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower’ and ‘Sin City: a dame to kill for’.

Main male lead – Jake Cannavale – is the son of actor Bobby Cannavale, who is beginning his acting career, has stared as a regular on ‘Nurse Jackie’.

AWARDS

Send had it’s world premiere at the 2014 SXSW film festival, under the category of Narrative Short Competition. Due to the great reception from the short throughout the Brooklyn Film Festival it lead to it being named the Best Short Narrative 2014, as a part of the Spirit Award Category. It addition to this shown below are other awards that the short received through the film festival season; in addition to screenings both nationally and several internationally around Europe.

This would be seen to have an impact on the SEND, as these awards and screenings have the ability to act as a springboard to ensure that the film has the ability to reach a larger audience, in addition to making it more known to other producers and directors that can give constructive advice and help to build on it.

NARRATIVE

ANALYSIS – Introduction to characters Jake and Julia

The first scene in the short aims to introduce the two characters that the short itself is based around; this would work with the conventions of a general short film due to its aim to keep as uncomplicated as possible in terms of main characters.

Initially the scene begins with a high-angled close up shot of Jake and Julia engaging in sexual activity; this would signify the closeness of the couple and how their relationship has become intimate. Although this is juxtaposed by the fact that Jake’s face is buried into the pillow; this could connote that Jake feels the relationship is coming to an end and therefore is merely engaging in this intimacy for her, this would therefore be preparing the audience for what is to come, in regards to their relationship.

After the sex scene at the beginning of the short, the scene is edited to fade to black this is a prolonged pause of a second where the audience can only see the black screen; this then goes into Jake and Julia cuddling together in bed, this would connote to the audience that this is an idealistic view of what the relationship has been and that this would likely be the last time the couple are this close.

ANALYSIS – Introduction to characters Jake and Julia

In the short the first piece of dialogue appears at 00:56 seconds, this is Julia (the girlfriend) saying ‘I’ll miss you’ this would signify that something big is changing that would disturb the equilibrium of the relationship. This would appear to the audience to be the fact that Jake is leaving as the speech is directed towards him and his reply of ‘you better miss me’ this presents to the audience that the relationship will not progress down the expected path and therefore a large twist should be expected.

The pair when lying next to each other they are placed relatively close together with their noses touching after being intimate; when Julia begins to to speak she moves away from Jakes face; this could connote to the audience that the couple will express a sense of distance from one enough. Due to the couple not moving in closer after they talk, this would depict that this distance will become detrimental to the relationship. This will have an effect on the entirety of the film, due to the audience being unlikely to realise the sense of distance that is being presented through their body language, but instead will come to the realisation through the dialogue in the scene.

Non-continuity editing is used at the beginning of the scene of Julia in bed asleep; this is juxtaposing the last scene when here and Jake can be seen sharing a bed. By using this shot it will illustrate to the audience that something has clearly changed, this would therefore mean that the editing technique has achieved its purpose as the continuity has been broken.

ANALYSIS – Julia’s ‘summer’

A med shot is used when Julia has woken up, to show her surroundings and how the space has changed from this first scene. After Julia has moved out of the camera shot, the shot remains onto the bed for one second; this is primarily due to the bed being the only location that the audience have actually encountered throughout the short, in which there is two people, Jake and Julia. It is usual of a short film to only have one or two locations due to the budget that is made accessible to them.

Julia has been blocked skipping in the centre of her room for a moment and then lying on the floor with her computer; these both present her in a child like manner due to the way she presents her body innocently. This would completely juxtapose the first scene it which she is engaging in sexual intercourse. This could depict to the audience that Julia’s and Jake’s relationship is not real and is merely a figment of her imagination.

ANALYSIS – The performance

A long shot is used at the beginning of this scene to show a difference in location; this presents a stage after Julia opens up her social media page through her laptop. This has an audience blocked facing the stage itself; this would connote the fact that social media can be used as a way to perform certain aspects of your life to your peers.The use of a stage throughout the film instead of any graphical overlays would be able to illustrate that society uses social media as a form of expression, this enables them to depict themselves in anyway. The director when asked why the stage was used to depict online activity replied “I feel like what we do online often does fall into the category of performance”.

Dialogue has also been used throughout with completed silence in the background this helps to draw emphasis on what is taking place on the stage and what the individual speaking is saying, this will help to signify how when in real life people feel when they use social media, it is merely them online.

Julia appears on stage through this scene with an array of photos made by herself of Julia and Jake, she then appears on the stage with these photos that would signify the photos that appear on the wall, and how much he means to her as he is the only thing that she wants to surround her.

ANALYSIS – The performance

An audience has been blocked facing away from the stage, the audience appear to be very disinterested in what is taking place on the stage itself and are paying attention to their phones; which could indicate a true depiction of what our society is actually concerned with today. Although Julia’s sole focus appears to be on Jake and what he’s doing, this would suggest to the audience her real feeling for him and he is her use of escape; whereas the rest of the audience is using it just merely to escape from their lives and therefore aren't really concerned with what’d going on.

Non-continuity editing is used in this scene where it cuts between the stage and reality for Julia that she is actually experiencing; this would help to imply to the audience that although she is watching and feeling some involvement in Jake’s performance through social media, in real life she does very little to occupy himself.

A sound motif has been used when they are transitioning from status to status, this helps to build up a form of familiarity to the audience, as they can see that it is continuing to be a sense of performance.

ANALYSIS – The party

At the beginning of the party scene it begins with a long shot and moves into a close-up on Jake and a female dancing together; through using these two camera shots it would be considered as a turning point in the short, as it shows to begin with using the long shot Jake still had some loyalties to Julia, although as it closes in on these two it would imply that all of Jake’s feelings have gone for Julia.

There is heightened sound waves are used throughout this party, this helps to build tension and show that something bad is going to take place which will have a devastating effect on Jake and Julia’s relationship.

It then begins to fade to black from Julia watching the computer screen to Jake in different compromising positions, this could be perceived in two different ways by the audience, as prior to this Julia saw videos of Jake at a party via social media and this could all be an assumption of what he is actually doing at the party; whereas the audience could think this is literally what he is doing and therefore its what Julia has to see through social media.

ANALYSIS – Ending

Towards the end when Julia comes to the conclusion that Jake is engaging in sexual activities with another women, the camera goes into a close up of Julia’s face, by using this form of camera work it allows the audience to focus in on her facial expressions and display the pain and hurt that she is feeling as a result of what is taking place. This would have a direct affect on the audience, as many would be able to emphasis with Julia as they have had similar experiences.

When Julia is seen to be taking the ‘nude’ picture, lies have been used to cover certain aspects of her body this ensures that it remains decent while also inferring to the audience what is taking place. In addition to this a graphical overlay is used to place the text message the she is sending to Jake over the picture, this reads ‘THINKING OF U… DO YOU MISS ME???’ by doing this is shows who the photo is for and the reason that she is sending the photo in the first place.

A video webcam is used towards the end of the short, this indicates the realistic aspect to the film and how this is actually very relatable to many young adults; in addition this has been made smaller in comparison to the rest of the film this expresses that this is no longer a performance and differentiates it from the rest of the film.