Textual Analysis: Blind Luck

Narrative Context

The Narrative begins with a young man (Matthew) sitting at a till in a small shop. he looks noticeably bored with his job. the Shop door bell than rings and an older man (David) with a walking stick walks in- showing the audience he is blind. The Man walks to the till and both characters greet the other by just saying the others first name. David puts a one pound copin on the till and pushes it towards Matthew. in silence Matthew than sells david a scratch card.  David than scratches the card and gives it to matthew to check for him. matthew looks at the card and see's that it is a winning card- of fifty thousand pounds. Matthew looks at david and says 'better luck next time', as Matthew leans in to take the card, David, thinking it is worth nothing grabs it and leaves the shop. Leaving matthew in the shop, behind the till.

Characters
Matthew- Matthew is the character who works in the shop. Instantly at the start of thew film it is obvious he is bored with his job. He looks quite scruffy, and he is showing that he does not want to be there. When David walks in, he doesn't greet him in a very customer friendly way, he just goes about the motions of doing his job. When Matthew realizes that David has won on the scratch card the audience see that he is faced with a dilemma. This dilemma is ultimately the point where Matthew proves to the audience if he is a good character or a bad character. When Matthew lies to David, we than see his shock when David destroys the card. This is a sort of karma for Matthews character after lying to David. Matthew represents an average young person living in the UK at the moment, and I feel that this film shows that a lot of people in his position would do the same as him.

David- Davids character is the vulnerable character in the film. Like Matthew, he seems to have a very routines life, shown when he does even need to ask for a scratch card at the till. Davids character is oblivious to what Matthew and the audience know in the film, but when he rips up his winning scratch card I found i felt more remorseful for Matthew than David, as David never knew what he could of won.

Location

The location is very simple, in a shop. The shop looks like an average newsagents or corner shop. I found that nothing in the shop stood out more than anything else, it was very neutral. If you did try and pay attention ti the background, you would see normal things such as batteries and magazines. There is also an england flag, messily hanging up on the ceiling, perhaps showing the audience about the class of the characters, and the area the film is set. The lighting in the shop is all very artificially bright, giving a very mundane feeling to the shop. linking with the attitudes of the characters.

Editing

I found in this short, that the camera work is a lot more effective than the editing. When the two characters are at the till shot reverse shot is use, and over the shoulder shorts to show continuity, i found the slow continuity of the film, how everything is very long, adds to the 'everyday, normal' theme of the film. Showing the slow pace of the characters, The editing when both character are reaching for the lottery ticket is also effective. You see two hand reaching, but it is not un till the cut to next shot that you realize which man got the ticket. The slow pace of the shots, draw this out, and it is very sudden when you realize David tore the ticket up. the editing of the ticket, is effective when the camera goes from £50,000 to the next £50,000, the movement of the camera gives the section quite a novel feeling, similar to when you see casino's in comedy films.

Camera techniques

At the start of the film, the camera is out of focus on the wall behind the till. Than Matthew comes in view of the camera, himself on focus. The way that the camera keeps still is an effective way to reveal the character, it gives the start quite an awkward feeling. When David enters the shop, the shot is a low shot, just showing his feel and his walking stick, this is effective as it shows the audience straight away that David is blind, and it gives the film a slow pace. When David puts the coin on the counter, the camera is strongly focused on coin, and the background is blurry. The coin is on its side and the audience can see the Latin word decus on the side of the coin. Translated, this word means dignity and honor in English. This clearly links with the themes of the film, so the close up of the coin there is very effective. When Matthew realizes it is a winning card there is few straight close ups of the characters faces, firstly Matthews showing his reaction than Davids. the close up of Davids face is effective because it shows Matthews point of view, and the audience can see Matthew's decision making, deciding weather he can trick this old man. The medium shot of the tow hands reaching for the card is also effective, as it adds suspense to the film.

Sound

At the start and throughout there is ambient noise in the background. This Background noise, gives the shop a more realistic setting, as you can hear the sounds of the street outside. It also teams with the lighting to give an artificial feeling. The door bell at the start and at the end of the short, is effective for framing the story. You hear it at the start when David enters, and also at the end when David leaves. This is effective as at the end when you hear it again, it emphasizes how Matthews life is not going to change and it link's to theme of repetition. The lack of dialogue in the scene adds to the slow pace of the film. both characters only having two lines, gives the film an awkward feeling. some small sounds in the film are emphasised. Such as the coin, and the scratching of the card, and the card being ripped up. Emphasizing small sounds like that makes the silence in the shop more prominent. There are some non diegetic sounds in the film- all from Matthews point of view. When Matthew realizes that the card is worth a lot, there is a till sound (used a lot in media when there is money involved), there is also a whooshing sound when Matthew counts the £50,000 marks on the card. Than at the end when David rips the cards and shrugs there is a low trumpet sound, showing how badly things have gone for Matthew. All these sounds are quite obvious sounds to use, and they give the film a comic, parody feeling.

I feel that because of Matthew's appearance the target audience id young males. The colors, and awkward feeling, suits a younger audience, and the comical sounds at the end, also suit a younger audience.