NEA Research

Echo follows a teenage girl as she contemplates the loss of her father, wasting away her time running simple scams on the street. The central performance led by Lauren Carse is the strongest here, she leads a totally convincing and compelling performance, utterly let down with the story problem of having nothing to contemplate about. However, Carse still displays a deep sadness through her performance, shown especially by the cinematography emphasis close-ups in order to build an intimate connection with the character. Narratively the film follows a cyclical structure, beginning in mostly the same scenario as it began, with the protagonist following what at first appears to be the same scam, however the previous scene of her brother riding off on his bike and her truly shocked and pained expression at the end of the film tell a different story. Overall a surprisingly strong film hampered by a lack of strong themes or narrative.

Slap tells the story of a cross-dressing teenage boxer as he comes to term with his identity and still prevalent heteronormativity. Rowland utilises cinematography most and is the most effective tool that he uses, the most poignant example of this is a tracking shot of the protagonist as he walks towards his friend's party, this tracking shot emphasises the temporary confidence of the protagonist as he is then immediately crushed by his peers, dismissed using transphobic slurs and asked to parade as they cheer. The intimate shot types used during this sequence emphasises the central performances, bringing the audience more attached. Narratively Slap uses a traditional three-act structure over its 25-minute runtime. Exploring heteronormativity and identity especially, the first act deals with the protagonist as he attempts to deal with his own identity and the final act dealing with the heteronormativity of others, especially his girlfriend, however this point is underutilised a

The Ellington Kid is a comedy-drama, that follows a retelling of an unsuccessful murder in a kebab shop. In order to create both a sense of drama and comedy, The Ellington Kid utilises sound especially through masterful use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound, at the beginning of the film diegetic sounds can be loudly heard, the sharpening of a knife, traffic. As the story contines, a haunting non-diegetic sound becomes more and more pronounced, this haunting drone score only seeks to accelerate the tension, ending with a standoff between the three kebab shop workers and the three stabbers, at this point the score being more pronounced than the diegetic sounds, however then cutting back to the present to create comedy, cutting off the non-diegetic sound, and forcing the audience to question the validity of the story they just saw. The Ellington Kid uses two separate narratives that cross-cut between one another. The narrative set in the present is comedic, whereas the story itself i

The Arrival details an internal argument a woman surrounding her unborn child while she waits for the child's father to meet her for coffee. As she tries to decide between keeping or losing it Montanari expertly uses mise-en-scene and cinematography to bring the audience in closer and closer. The film opens with a contemplative yet short title screen of simply "The Arrival", in white text on a black background, the film then cuts to the cafe from behind the door, the protagonist opening it thereby letting the spectator in, as the camera follows her in, from there her inner monologue begins. As the camera becomes closer and closer the defining colours of the film become more pronounced as the aspect ratio shrinks in, confining the protagonist and trapping her within the confines of herself, the white of her jumper mixing with the white of the table, pronounced by the blinding white light from the window, then as she questions her decision a train hurries past darkening t

The Fly is a dark comedy that follows a getaway driver, whilst he waits for his fellow criminals to rob a bank. While he is waiting he notices a small fly, from there the film loses all sense of normalcy and delves further and further into chaos. The most poignant element of The Fly is its usage of pacing, specifically a fast editing pace, utilising small shot duration in order to create a sense of tension and comedy, juxtaposing the audiences expectations with the reality, as the audience expects such techniques to be used in order to convey actual danger whereas in The Fly it is merely used to convey a sense of annoyance from the protagonist, thereby creating a sense of comedy, this is further established through mise-en-scene, namely at two moments, firstly when the protagonist has a toothpick lodged in his lower lip and the masks worn at the end of the film, both moments utilise grotesque elements in order to create dark comedy, firstly the pain experienced by the protagonist, an

Over follows a linear yet reverse chronological structure, exploring the true story of a man who attempted to emigrate to the UK by hiding within the wheel-well, he was thrown from the aircraft as it made its final descent towards Heathrow. The emphasis placed on background sound emphasis the slow-pace and tension of the film, no dialogue can be actually heard only faint muttering as an ice cream van strolls by behind the camera. This diegetic sound gives a sense of removal, only heightened by the cinematography, keeping a distance from its subjects, generally from the other side of the road, giving the audience a sense of formality, always focusing on objects and never on people, while close-ups are seen of leaves, a pressure washer and a body bag people are never the central focus of the film. The narrative is told in an unorthodox manner, showing snippets of the day. the time of which is shown by a small white text shown in the lower left of the frame, heightening the sense of f

Directed by Destiny Ekaragha and released in 2012, Tight Jeans follows a group of young black men in London while they wait for their friend. While they comment on the appearances of passersby, one of which is wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, setting the boys off on a comedic yet frank discussion of race, cultural appropriation and slavery. The cinematography within Tight Jeans only seeks to amplify the boomerang style of dialogue between the main characters, as the camera engages through a slow track between the characters. The opening montage of the film establishes the diverse and lower class location the characters inhabit. This dialogue forming the basis for the entire film, it seeks to subvert the long-standing idea of "show, don't tell", much like Operator, however, its usage here is distinct in it does not attempt to appeal to emotion or use its short length effectively, instead it uses it lazily with no music bar during the introductory montage, a lack of