Sign Language Analysis
Sign Language, Stephen Fellows + Oscar Sharp, 2010
Sign Language is a short comedy film with romantic elements about a proud man showing his workplace, holding a sign up outside of shops. The film forces people to think differently about people's jobs and the world around them, since the main character, Ben, loves a job which most people would normally hate. The film also includes a female love interest which is shown from the beginning through Ben taking a flier from her which he has no need to take. The film shows Ben's last day on the job before becoming a skywriter and represents it in a very charming manner. Throughout the whole film, the main character is fully aware of the camera.
The title sequence in this film is very short, consisting of the title appearing on the screen and the rest of the image fading to black. We then see a cut to the next shot and the title fades away. The next shot we see has a shallow depth of field focused on the female character in the scene, this is the first introduction to the female character that we receive. Ben comes into the focus of the shot and takes a flier from the female character. We then see a close-up of the female character through the crowd as she is looking towards our main character, Ben.
Next, we see a shot of a sign which says 'Oxford Street', showing us the location that the film is both set and filmed in. As Ben is getting ready to hold his sign, there are several cuts in sync with the rhythm of the non-diegetic soundtrack. Through the use of the character Ben's dialogue, we are told about how the sign holding business runs in his family. When the character Ben is talking to the camera, a shaky handheld camera is being used. While retaining quality, in using a handheld camera a very personal effect is given, making it feel like he is talking directly to the audience.
When the character Ben is describing his employees, the focus pull technique is heavily used, bringing each of them into focus in turn, this emphasizes the personal handheld effect. There are also many cuts to zoomed shots in this short film when the main character is talking about his colleagues.
When Ben is talking about one of his colleagues, he mentions that they "held their sign upside down all day for a laugh" in a way that makes it sound like an exciting story. However, we can see that his work colleague isn't as excited and happy to work as Ben is. This is emphasized when he ignores Ben talking to him.
Another key use of Media Language in Sign Language is when Ben points out Anya. We see Ben looking in admiration over towards Anya, who was handing out fliers at the start of the film, an eye line match is then used to show her to the audience while Ben talks about her. Elements of Mise en Scene such as facial expression and body language are used to show Ben's admiration for this character.
In this film the main character, Ben, is also made to be completely aware of the camera and often looks into it when talking.
Media Language in Sign Language:
All of Sign Language is filmed with a handheld camera, consisting of mostly close-ups of the main character, Ben. The first shot we see is an ECU of Ben sat on a crowded bus, the shot has a focus pull from the street to Ben's face. We then cut to a medium shot of Ben standing up and getting off of the bus, during this time his body language is very cheery and kind. There is also a non-diegetic voiceover of Ben talking and explaining his job to the audience, which he describes as a 'Static Outdoor Information Technician' showing how proud he is of his job as holding a sign up outside of the shops on oxford street.The title sequence in this film is very short, consisting of the title appearing on the screen and the rest of the image fading to black. We then see a cut to the next shot and the title fades away. The next shot we see has a shallow depth of field focused on the female character in the scene, this is the first introduction to the female character that we receive. Ben comes into the focus of the shot and takes a flier from the female character. We then see a close-up of the female character through the crowd as she is looking towards our main character, Ben.
Next, we see a shot of a sign which says 'Oxford Street', showing us the location that the film is both set and filmed in. As Ben is getting ready to hold his sign, there are several cuts in sync with the rhythm of the non-diegetic soundtrack. Through the use of the character Ben's dialogue, we are told about how the sign holding business runs in his family. When the character Ben is talking to the camera, a shaky handheld camera is being used. While retaining quality, in using a handheld camera a very personal effect is given, making it feel like he is talking directly to the audience.
When the character Ben is describing his employees, the focus pull technique is heavily used, bringing each of them into focus in turn, this emphasizes the personal handheld effect. There are also many cuts to zoomed shots in this short film when the main character is talking about his colleagues.
When Ben is talking about one of his colleagues, he mentions that they "held their sign upside down all day for a laugh" in a way that makes it sound like an exciting story. However, we can see that his work colleague isn't as excited and happy to work as Ben is. This is emphasized when he ignores Ben talking to him.
Another key use of Media Language in Sign Language is when Ben points out Anya. We see Ben looking in admiration over towards Anya, who was handing out fliers at the start of the film, an eye line match is then used to show her to the audience while Ben talks about her. Elements of Mise en Scene such as facial expression and body language are used to show Ben's admiration for this character.
In this film the main character, Ben, is also made to be completely aware of the camera and often looks into it when talking.
Audience in Sign Language:
The audience that Sign Language is likely to target is of 18-35 year olds. The reason for this is that a lot of the key concepts in the film are easy to understand, and the film is very enjoyable without seeing some of the hidden messages within it and without being able to recognize the blossoming romance between Ben and Anya throughout.
The story in Sign Language requires the viewer to keep an open mind when trying to understand why the character Ben likes his job so much, this is why I believe the target audience is limited to people over the age of 18. The romantic elements of the film are also quite easy to relate to for this 18-35 age group as they happen to almost everyone. The media language and representation are also fairly easy to understand in this film and tell the audience a lot about what's happening all the time.
The film was also launched on Vimeo, it is more unlikely people outside of the 18-35 to view it on the Vimeo platform since it is quite a new and less well-known video platform. It is often that short films are posted on Vimeo since it is more of a platform for art than other websites such as youtube or in theaters, making it less accessible to a wider audience.
Genre in Sign Language:
Sign language uses both semantic and syntactic codes in order to show the audience that it's a comedy film with elements of romance. It is presented however like a documentary, so it has many of the codes that fit into that as well. One of the first semantic codes that represents romance as a genre shown in Sign Language is when the main character, Ben, walks past the female love interest in the film while shyly diverting his gaze towards something else. Despite doing this he still interacts with her by taking a leaflet, showing interest in her. The non-diegetic soundtrack in Sign Language is also indicative of it being a romance film, it is very relaxed and cheery and creates a romantic atmosphere in the film.
There are two main codes that make the film fit into the comedy genre. The first of these is how seriously the main character, Ben, is taking his job despite how people would normally look at it. He goes into depth talking about all of the ins and outs of the job, and how long it has been practiced in his family. He also expresses that he's not hugely excited to move to his new job, which is as a sky writer.
The second code that makes the film fit into the comedy genre is the dry humor used throughout. For instance when Ben calls out to his colleagues without them replying on multiple occasions, but ben doesn't lose enthusiasm despite this.
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