Film Analysis:Losers

By Tia-Reisa Apaloo-Clarke

Losers (2011) • This short film is a drama and shows the harm

that can be caused through bullying. Losers shows bullying through many different people perspectives.

• The beginning of the short film shows someone writing a status on a social networking site such as Facebook, to explain the one of the main inspiration for the film. Often known as cyberbullying.

Mise – En – Scene • Location/Setting: The director has set this film in the

present(2011) there are many different locations within this short film such as a basketball court, outside houses, in a kitchen, a locker room etc. These all make the film more realistic as all age groups can relate to this setting. These are locations where every day people go to do a numerous amount of things such as exercising, dancing, playing video games etc. In the opening scene the characters are seen as young and innocent, the audience are unaware any of them are ‘losers’ or are vulnerable to being bullied. This highlights that bullying can happen to anyone.

Mise – En – Scene

Make-Up/Clothing: There are many characters shown within this short film. In this short film as there many different characters, they are all seen in different clothing. I particularly like this as it highlights that although every one dresses different, they are many similarities between the people. As they are all victims of bullying and being seen as ‘Losers’ There are many different costumes shown that represent each persons different identity. For example a young girl Is seen in her band uniform playing an instrument. There is also another girl in her bedroom painting, A girl texting; a boy in the corridor alone in the hallway and so on.

Lighting: Throughout the film the lighting is bright although in contrast the narrative is about an emotional topic, the bright lighting may connote hope, and that if recognised bullying can be should be stopped.

Cinematography

• The shots used in the short film are a variety but are mainly medium shots and close ups. Medium shots are used to show location of each ‘loser’ and what each of them are doing. For example a medium shot is used to show the effort the women used to perform her move but sadly fails. This gives a clear indication of who the ‘losers’ are in this film.

• An extreme close up is used to show the young girls facial expressions and emotions and highlight how cyber bullying has affected her.

• A mid shot shows the male next to his locker and highlights how vulnerable and powerless he is when a another young male comes and pushes his books on to the floor.

• Depth of field is often used to highlight the character and their emotions and blur out everything around them so the audience can truly focus and feel emotive.

Editing & Sound• The use of slow paced editing paired with diegetic sounds shows, a variety of

people that although labelled ‘losers’ look like any other normal people. • A fast edited montage then shows different victims of bullying and highlights

bullying is a common thing which thousands or more are affected by. All these people are perceived as losers which make the audience sympathise towards them, this is also heighten through the use of fast non-diegetic score music which sounds like tapping.

• Fast paced editing is also used in a variety of camera movements and angles to make the scene more captivating for the audience.

• This is then followed by non-diegetic score music which is melancholy and saddening, the beat then kicks in and it connotes a sense of hope that these losers can overcome bullying.

• The diegetic typing used in the last shot shows how easy it is to go online and write mean comments about someone, through social media, and alert the audience how this can greatly affect people, this is also shown when during an extreme close up of a young girl you can hear her diegetic crying.

• A non diegetic voice over shouts words of abuse over each ‘loser’ with words such as ‘pussy’ ‘freak’ and ‘retard’ these are paired with close up’s to show how emotionally upsetting verbal abuse can be.

Enigmas• Many enigmas are placed within the film, Why are these people seen as

losers? Why is there a focus on the young girl crying at the end? Why is there a montage of a variety of different people?, and why are they paired with a voice over?

• The first frame shows a social networking site, where someone types in ‘Losers’ a variety of different people are then showing doing different things, these actions such as being in drama club, playing video games and eating in a canteen alone can all be perceived as actions done by losers, hence them being bullied.

• One of the last frames shows a young girl crying, the non diegetic music stops playing and only her diegetic cries can be heard, a close up of her face is shown for the audience to empathise towards her, and show how affective bullying is.

• A montage is placed in order to show the audience although we are different, some of us share a similarity of being bullied, and if your being bullied its likely over another thousand people are too. The voice over highlights just calling someone a mean name can be a form of bullying and that its likely everyone has been affected by bullying at least once in their life.

Convections• During the opening sequence the audience can relate as the different

locations are realistic, this also hints the status quo will soon be disrupted as the audience are unaware that the short film is an emotional drama and that these people are seen as ‘losers’. The characters are believable as they are all doing realistic things such as playing a game, eating alone and taking part in a play. The film has many stereotypical drama convections, it deals with a lot of human emotions which can often be very serious, tense and a realistic portrayal of characters that viewers can emotionally engage with. In addition to this, basic dramas such as this one are tense and the soundtrack plays a very important part in the overall feel of the film.

• The purpose of dramatic story lines is to move the audience emotionally, having a subject such as bullying; does exactly this, especially as for many people this is a big issue. At the end of drama there is often a form of realisation and in this case, it is that bullying is cruel, un kind and malicious and it needs to be stopped. However most dramas usually have a happy realisation at the end but this drama breaks that convection as all does not end happily, when a young girl is seen crying.