Monday 1 November 2010

Doodle Bug - Textual Analysis

Immediately the audience can see the title screen as it fades in stating the words "doodle bug", eyes appear to replace the two o's as they quickly shift around in a somewhat paranoid fashion, instantly making the audience wonder if these eyes belong to the main protagonist in the film, and whether the movement of the eyes relate to the man's feeling within the film. The darkness around the title begins to disappear as the camera slowly zooms out to show a man sitting in a room with extremely low key lighting crouched down looking extremely on edge. The close up on the man's face is apparent and in some ways suggests the idea of the enclosed setting that this man is in, giving a claustrophobic feel to the film. The sound track begins to grown in volume in an extremely dark and eerie fashion, giving away the genre of the film and suggesting that it is in fact a horror. Continuity editing is then used to show the man diving from the first long take onto the floor as he hears some diegetic scurrying across the floor, hit hits his shoe on the floor with a loud bang suggestion he is trying to attack something. This entire sequence gives the audience the assumption that he is trying to catch a bug of some sorts, relating the images on screen directly back to the title. The camera then proceeds to slowly pan around the room as he looks somewhat exacted as his facial expression suggest, until he reveals there is nothing underneath the shoe and he begins to looks worried.

The man then jumps up as the camera shows the man in a close up as it slowly pans around the worried man revealing a clock in the background. An extreme close up is then used on the clock as the diegtic sounds of it ticking appear much louder than the non-diegetic music within the film. Perhaps suggesting that the man is running out of time as the tension slowly begins to increase. The sound of a phone ringing breaks up the tension and relates directly back to the horror genre as it causes a scare for the viewer, a close up is then used to reveal the phone as he picks it up and places it back onto the table. As he faintly begins to hear a voice on the other end he begins to look afraid, so he proceeds to place the phone into a glass of water, almost as if he is trying to drown out the sound. The low key lighting is constant as the man begins to slouch over in a somewhat animalistic way, making his movement very primitive and violent. The camera then cuts back over the another clock ticking, once more relating back to the previous clock and suggesting time is running out.

The mise en scene of the man's clothing is extremely dirty, linking to his environment that appears to be just as unclean. His clothing doesn't seem to properly fit him suggesting he doesn't care about how he looks as he wastes away within this dark room. An extreme close up is used onto the phone once more, showing it within the water, as the camera suddenly cross cuts back to the man as he jumps over a dingy chair onto the floor, he proceeds to slam his shoe on the floor in a very violent fashion, linking him back to the point made previous   about his primitive movement. The man then proceeds to turn and face the camera as a long take is used showing him hugging his shoe in a way, suggesting he is becoming more and more emotional and is alone and has been for some time. An extreme close up is used of something which is shown rather unclear as it runs into frame and out of frame extremely quickly, the camera then cuts back tot he man with a shot from behind a chair, suggesting its from the thing that was running's point of view. The man runs over to it and violently slams his shoe against the floor as the unknown thing scurries through his legs covered by a towel, creating the tension more as well as enigmas, making the audience wonder what is under it. The position of the camera doesn't change as the man looks under his legs at thing thing running, this shot alone sums the character up as an extremely odd person, showing him upside down.

A high angle shot is shown onto the main protagonist as his lifts up the cloth suggesting the man is in danger. He then reveals a small man, the camera then cuts to a low angle shot of the main protagonist as he shows his power onto the smaller man and begins to attempt stomping on it, with the use of match on action. As the smaller man dives on the floor the main protagonist copies him, he then sees the small man crush something on the floor through an over the shoulder, a close up is used on the man's face as he pulls his arm back and crushes the smaller man from the over the shoulder perspective. As the camera shows the man smiling at his success a man's face appears into frame smiling until he finally proceeds to crush the main protagonist with a shoe, revealed by an extreme close up of the shoe itself, the non diegtic music begins to settle in an eerie fashion as the credits role.



The short film doodle bug has a controlling idea of a never ending cycle, the fact that the ending loops and that this man is trapped within this dark place as the kill is constantly looped is something that as a group we are influenced by, and look to achieve something alone these lines.

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