"Open Skies" By Lisa Walden

Open Skies by Rob Brown

This 4 minute film touches reality and what happens to some people. The story starts with a young lady and her son enjoying a lovely day at the beach, which is then shattered when a little nap turns into the disappearance of her son.

Representation

 

•        It is evident that the characters in this film are a middle-class family. Although it is not clarified to us, from their attire and the beautiful white beach that they visit we are able to identify a possible social class. Perhaps the father of the child and husband of the mother is out working, so they decided to take a relaxing trip to the beach. We can see that they have a strong relationship, because medium shots of them cuddling on the beach illustrates that they have a good mother-son relationship. 
• ·      Mise en scene, allows us to identify parts of their possible family background. For example, the beach looks beautiful and clean with little people, perhaps revealing that they are on a family holiday, portraying that they must have a high social class and fall into the bracket of middle-class.
•        One could argue that the child-goes-missing-on-the-beach is quite a stereotypical plot for any short film, however throughout this film we hear no speech from either of the characters, meaning that the only way we learn and connect to the characters is my their body language, emotion and mise en scene.
• This film deals with the issues that a lot of modern day families would deal with, for example news stories are always reporting the latest disappearance of a child, so this film is a perfect example of a real life dilemma.
• As the audience of the film could be those with families or even students, perhaps the producers of this short, wanted to create a piece that people can relate too. And therefore the shaping of this storyline and plot, could have been shaped by the audience themselves. 
• This short film additionally also represents social realism, thus the film reflects the reality that some people live. I think this is what makes the film so interesting, purely as it has such a simple story line, yet it is produced so wonderfully, taking snippets from real life dramas. 

Narrative

 

•        The plot in ‘Open skies’ is everything that we see on screen. So from the start to the end of the film is the plot. On the other hand, the story is all behind the camera, for example why they came to the beach, where the husband is, and where they live is the entire story behind the plot. Even though we only see the plot, from various shots and mise en scene we are capable of identifying parts of the story. Such as, there is no speech illuminating that the two characters are mother and son, thus when we see their close relationship, and her angst reactions when he vanishes, it is clear that he is her son.
•        The narrative in this film is linear, as all the scenes follow on chronologically from one another. This works effectively, as with no character speech, the spectators need to somehow recognise the story visibly.
•       Even at (00.50), after the opening shot, the mother is worriedly looking around the beach for her son, showing that this links in with the traumatic ending.
• David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson's Narrative Theory could be applied here as the story is including the events that we do not see. For example, once the mother and her son have fallen asleep the viewers never know where the son ran too or when he left, and we are only left with the plot, thus we see the mother waking up searching for her son. Like this theory states, the plot includes only the events of the story that are seen in the film. This ties in perfectly with the narrative in this film. 

Audience

•       I came across this film on BBC short film website whilst in search of ideas for our own short film. ‘Open Skies’ was categorised under ‘drama’, showing that it could be viewed by anyone of an interested in the drama genre. The demographic of this film is unidentified, as it could a very broad audience. Whether it is males, females, children or those after a little entertainment this film could be watched by almost anyone.
•       This film is somewhat different from any other one that I have come across, and I believe that I, along with many others, have found this film a breath of fresh air. There is no speech, just actions, and we are left on-edge at the end wondering if she ever found her runaway son or was just left thinking he died at sea.
•        The opening sequence has great impact on the audience; no visible images just the sound of ocean waves finding themselves on the shore. From this it is apparent that the film will relate to the ocean, and it is not until (00.22) that we are greeted with a medium shot of the female character sitting on the sand looking out to sea.
• 'Open Skies' is an award winning film produced by Rob Brown. Open Skies' premiered at Edinburgh Film Festival and was selected by BBC Film Critic Mark Kermode as 'Best Drama' at BBC Big Screen Awards.

 

• Above, is a comment I found left as a response to this short film on Vimeo.com. It is evident from audience response, that although this film is beautifully made there is some possible fault with the storyline- it hasn't seem to interest everyone. 

Media Language

 

•        The surroundings are particularly interesting throughout the film. There are never any shots showing other people, there are also no shops in sight, as a matter of fact at (00.45) a long shot shows us that their small beach towel and parasol is the only one sitting on the beach. From the start it all seemed slightly dubious; no sound (expect that of birds, see and the odd laugh), no people and the constant worry of losing her son.
• In 'Open Skies' there are various medium-long shots, enabling the viewers to see the close bond between the mother and son. For example the medium shot above not only shows the toys around, which resemebles fun, but also shows the close relationship that they encounter. 
• One of my favourite shots is a long shot of an isolated umbrella perched on a dusty beach. This illustrates isolation, and the mise en scene used here shows the emptyness of the beach, creating slight panic from the start. This creates meaning, as towards the end the mother is left alone on the beach, just like the umbrella, as her son is lost. From the very start of the film isolation has been presented in silent ways, quitely telling the audience what might come about.
• Take the silence throughout the entire film, for example, this resembles just how the mother feels towards the end: alone and empty. Just like the beach and the silence. 

 

Genre

 

•        This film is in some way quite chilling- no sound, no people and the disappearance of her son. It could almost be classified as a thriller. You never know what’s going to pop round the corner, and I think that’s what keeps the audience on-edge about this whole story.
•        This film was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, 2008 showing that it’s enticing and somewhat gripping storyline seems to attract many. 
• Short films typically use genre in different ways, whereas in a feature film the genre is much more apparant that in something lasting a mere 10 minutes. Partically in this film it's quite a challenge to be able to cateogrise the genre under a specific heading, as thriller, drama and social reality are all touched on in some way.