Genre Specific Analysis: Youth

Institutional Information:
Youth is a short film, directed by Tommy Petroni. The film is just over four minutes long and is made up of a collection of real life moments he filmed with his friends as a teenager over the span of four months. It was made in the USA with the help and support of filmmaker Eliot Rausch who won shortoftheweek.com's video of the year award with his film 'Last Minutes with Oden'. This film was released in 2011 and I discovered this film on the website shortoftheweek.com. This film comes under the genres: documentary, coming of age and teenage drama.


Shots:

The shot that opens the short film is a close up of a briefcase as one of the people in the film unlatch it and put music on through a record player. This shot is handheld and starts off as a close up which gradually pans out to become a mid shot. This shot could be signifying the character unlocking their memories of their youth, and the close up tells the audience that these are important memories which is reinforced by the fact that this is a documentary of real moments from his time being a teenager.

Most of the shots used during the short film are mid/long shots filmed on a handheld camera. This is a common convention of the documentary genre as it captures the moments in real time and gives us the perspective of someone who actually lived it. As the camera moves it also gives us a sense that the camera man is walking, this allows the audience to see things through this persons perspective and fall into the film as if the audience is actually present in all these memories. It is a very successful convention for the documentary as it was created as a memoir, the handheld perspective shots create a sense of realism as if they can live this memory again, this gives it a very nostalgic tone.

There isn't a wide range of different types of camera shots used for this short film as it was filmed in the moment with no planning or storyboarding created. Shots and scenes were not planned out therefore they are filmed on the spot in real time. As the scenes are real life, the filmmaker wouldn't have the luxury of re-acting out scenes a number of times, therefore by using a mid/long shot the director captures the moment as a whole instead of piecing together scenes/memories through a series of shots.

This short film also uses a series of close ups of the people featured in the film. The theme of youth in this film is presented as being free and careless and these close ups showing teenagers messing around and laughing reinforces this idea.

The shots in this short film also frequently go out of focus, this is again due to it being filmed on a handheld lower quality camera than normal for a short film. 

Editing: 

One example of an editing technique this short film uses is a graphic match. There are a few examples of this during the short film, one of them being at 0:42 when a girl in one of the shots puts her hand up to the camera, this then cuts to another clip of a girl with her hand up at the camera while dancing. Using the visual of the hand up at the camera links the two scenes together and creates a smoother transition between the scenes. 

Another technique that the filmmaker has used is match on action, this is where two different shots are cut together during a movement from a character, they are edited together to make the movement seem fluid. One example of this is at 1:26 when one character jumps onto their skateboard, mid jump the scene cuts to another shot of a different character on their skateboard performing the same trick. Although its clear to the audience that this isn't the same movement from the same character, the use of the same motion links the two scenes together and creates a smooth transition. It also gets the message across to the audience that skateboarding was something this group of friends bonded over during their teenage years as many shots and scenes are dedicated to it. As this is a memoir, we get the idea that this was an significant part of the filmmakers teenage years. 

Another example of a match on action this short film uses is at 1:13, this match on action follows the movement of an object from the right hand screen to the left, and in doing so links two scenes together. In this case it follows a red balloon which has been thrown towards the camera which then cuts to a boy on his skateboard skating past the camera. Although it is subtle, it makes the editing of two completely different scenes seamless. Perhaps the simple but creative editing techniques used in this short film, linking different scenes together with no awkward or abrupt transitions implies that being a teenager was effortless and easy which adds the nostalgic tone and the idea that 'everything was simpler back then' to the short film which fits perfectly with the purpose of it being a memoir. 

Another example of a graphic match is the close up shot of the girl sticking her tongue out which then cuts to the close up of a dog also sticking its tongue out. This adds to the funny carefree idea that the filmmaker is relating with being young. 

Another editing technique used in this short film is the length of different shots and scenes correlating with the timing of the music. The music used in this short film is by the music producer Keith Kenniff who creates different pieces of music for short films. During the beginning of the short film, the clips are very short and the scenes change quite rapidly, however when the music starts to slow down the scenes tend to get longer is length. The pace of the editing syncs with the music which gets the emotion of the piece across. 

Mis En Scene: 

The mis en scene of this short film wasn't something that was planned out in advance for the filmmaker as this film was shot in the moment across four months. Therefore the different lighting in the film isn't something that was controllable, therefore this film includes many different variations of lighting in its shots. The setting of different scenes also isn't something that would have been previously planned. However the lack of scenes involving school, which the audience would assume they attend due to their age, the audience could assume that this documentary was filmed during the summer holidays. With the implication of it being the summer holidays this adds to the theme of youth being freeing and having no responsibilities which makes the short film nostalgic. Having the mix of both males and females in the film also make it appeal to both genders and almost anyone watching can participate in the remembrance of their youth. The film also appeals to the younger generation who are still living them teenage years as the message at the end of the video reminding them not to waste it, this inspires the younger generation to create great memories that they can look back on like the ones in this video. The people in this video also seem to be quite well off as they live in nice houses and drive their own cars, this would make them middle to upper class which would be similar to the audience that will watch the short film. 

Sound:

The main component of this short film in terms of sound is the non-diegetic music used. For each of the clips that have been used the diegetic sound has been turned down so it is barely audible, the most you can hear are laughs and shouts. This makes the scenes seem more dreamlike which adds to the nostalgic feel of the film as audio is generally distorted in memories. At the end of the short film music ends and theres a shot of elderly man delivering the message of the film 'Don't waste your youth growing up' due to the music fading out it makes the message stand out and resonate more with the audience.  

Conclusion:

I believe I will refer back to this short film when creating and planning for my short film, for example this short film would be good when it comes to storyboarding.