What's Virgin Mean? analysis

Information about the short film

A young girl asks her mother an awkward question. Will this middle-class mum display her impeccable liberal credentials by explaining honestly, or will she try and squirm her way out of it?

Crew

Director Michael Davies

Producer Sandra Gorel

Director Of Photography Ian Salvage

Editor Dave Thrasher

Music Mark Russell

Cast

DaughterRebecca Duffy

MotherKate Isitt

Funded By Post-production was provided for free by Films@59 in Bristol

Genre: Comedy

Camera angle, movement and position 

The establishing shot is an extreme close up shot of kitchen recipes books, a radio and a woman stirring a pot, this help the audience have a vague idea of where the film is going to be based, as this are items you would find in a modern day kitchen. It is then followed by another close up of a character using colouring, this instantly hints to the that it’s a child using colouring a book in the kitchen with her mother. The characters relationship of mother and child is shown to the audience by the use of a two shot. Throughout the film a sequences of medium shots are used in order to show the characters reactions and emotions to the audience, for example when the character that plays the role of the mother is asked the question (What's Virgin Mean?) the use of a medium shot shows the audience how shocked and uncomfortable she feels.

Shot reverse shot are used to show that the character are having a conversation, as they are shown facing in opposite directions, thus having the viewer assuming that they are looking at each other, this camera shot shows the characters emotion in more depth.

Low angles are used when camera is facing the character of the mother to show the audience that she is the authority figure within the relationship, high angles are also used to show even further the role of the child by making her look weak and powerless.

Framing   

The woman is in the middle of the frame throughout most of the film as she is answering the question (What's Virgin Mean?), again showing that she is the power figure within the relationship to the audience.

Editing and special effects/lightning

When the mother character is explaining how to make fast paced editing is used to show how excited she is.

Sound 

Non-diegetic sound is used, it sounds very mischievous, to show the audience that they are discussing a adult orientated topic, thus giving it that naughty sense.

Audience

This film conforms to the stereo type that women should do all the household chores like cooking and looking after the children, the film suggests that there is a father figure present but the audience don’t see him, they just get to hear the characters talking about him , so they then assume that he is at work, meaning that the mother character is a housewife who is finically dependent on the husband, thus making this film have outdated values, as studies show that in this modern more women are at work than men.

This film is aimed at adults and teenagers, both male and female, as it addressing a topic which a parent may have faced or a teenager may have asked to talk about.

These are countries that this film is most popular in shows that this westernised humor.

The referrals also show that the audience is very up to date as most of the views come from face book, also the stats state majority of the view were ‘first view from a mobile device, indicating that they have to the latest mobile phone in order to play this clip on YouTube.