The Boss(2013-YouTube)-Directed by Greg Glienna-Jess Smith

I found this short film (4:12) on YouTube and enjoyed it very much. It is based on a difficult relationship between an employee and his boss. The worker then discovers he has won the lottery, leading to him doing things he's been wanting to do for a long time. I liked the simplicity of the narrative being based on these two characters and I also liked the use of comedy, which is something I could incorporate into my film.

Concepts:
-Media Language
-Representation
-Audience
-Narrative
-Genre

The film begins with the title of 'The Boss' edited on a white walled background. The title stands out well as it is outlined in black, therefore it works well with the lighter backdrop. The title indicates that this short film is based on a narrative in a place of work setting and the background looks like a stereotypical office space. However the genre is still unknown to the audience. 

A male character then runs out of the lift at a very fast pace, as the title fade's away with the on screen sound of his shoes and off screen non diegetic sound of a deep trumpet and a triangle playing. The backing sound track is implying that this could be a comedy because it is very light hearted and isn't serious.  The characters flustered body language and worried facial expression represents him as though he's unreliable and unreasonable, as he appears to be late for an important meeting. In addition, the man standing in the doorway watching him has an annoyed and frustrated expression, therefore implying he is 'the boss' and is of a higher power and status.

The assumption of this being in an office setting is further developed in this shot reverse shot sequence when the two characters have on screen dialogue. In addition, there are also in a typical, plain, office space during the meeting and are both smartly dressed in shirts and tie's. The pair's dialogue consist of the flustered male apologizing for being late, but the boss quickly interrupts with "this is the third time this year that you have not been here when you're supposed to", overall this immediately creates a tense atmosphere (not conforming to the suspected comedy genre) and making it clear to the audience that these two co-workers aren't friends. 

 The male then looks behind with a confused facial expression and reserved body language, to the picture his boss pointed to. The boss asks the man "do you know what that means", with a clear "yes" response, however the boss then doubts his employee, representing him as rude and angry.In addition, there is also no sound added to during this shot reverse shot scene, allowing the audience to fully focus on the irritated dialogue between the two men, creating a strange atmosphere. 

In addition, the boss then appears to be a very busy man, as he answers his phone, in this over the shoulder shot. 

And during this, there is a fast parallel cut to a point of view shot, with the faded backing non diegetic dialogue, of a newspaper on the desk with information about an unclaimed winning lottery ticket. At this point the audience are unaware that this has any relevance to the story line. The camera then cuts back to the protagonists in close up shot, with him placed to the right side of the frame, showing his very concentrated facial expression, creating a sense of enigma for the audience. 

He then has a flashback, edited onto the left of the screen with a on screen quote of "yeah get me a lottery ticket" and with his expression, it is implying he believes he may have the unclaimed ticket, putting a twist to the storyline, making it very tense for viewers. 

Following on from this, there is fast paced overlapping editing of extreme close ups of his lottery ticket he reached for in his pocket and comparing it to the newspaper recordings. There is also no sound during these shots (aside from the continue of background dialogue), therefore it's keeping viewers very focused on the action and it is also portraying the quiet, tense atmosphere in the office. These images clarify to the audience that all numbers match, giving the plot a very interesting turn, as the audience are unsure of how the rest of this meeting will go. 

The male is then shot in this medium close up, with a very shocked facial expression, reiterating to the audience he has won the lottery. His boss then begins to have diegetic and non diegetic dialogue as the shot reverse shot continues and goes onto say "give me one reason why I shouldn't fire you". He then lists the issue's he has at work, representing him as a bad employee, however during this, an off screen soundtrack of a deep trumpet tune starts, with the soft triangle sound from the beginning of the film, giving off a less serious vibe to scene, matching his wondering eyes.

As the off screen soundtrack and the boss' dialogue continues, the protagonists takes a pare of scissors and decides to cut a piece of decoration on his boss' desk, shown in the low angled medium shot below, shocking the audience and adds in foley sounds of each ball falling into the shot. Immediately after his does this, the man then has diegetic dialogue of "god, you're wife is ugly", which enforces the audiences shock. The atmosphere sugnificantly rises in intensity as the boss stands up in this low angled medium shot, representing his frustration and anger and quotes "you're fired".
 




 Which is quickly followed by a fast  cut to a point of view shot of him quoting "I quit", representing the competitive relationship of the two characters.

 As the boss orders him in an annoyed tone to get out of his office, the employee is shown in this behind the shoulder cutting the mans tie. This scene reinforces the awkwardness and of this meeting, which is strongly translated to the audience.
 The boss then rings for security on his phone in this low angled close up, however the man cuts the phone cord, giving the boss less power, causing major concern for the audience as to what will happen to this man.

 








The ex-emplyee is then shown having on screen diegetic dialogue quoting "I hate you", summarizing all of the shocking past events and giving that closure to this unhappy time in his life. It is also strongly suggesting that this is something he has wanted to do for a long time, however the audience were unaware of this at the beginning, as the plot only showed this one day. The man then takes down the framed wall hanging and smashes it on the desk, symbolizing his end to this chapter. 

 However the screen suddenly becomes very brightly lit and a beeping, off screen sound begins, causing confusion for the characters and the audience.
But the audiences confusion doesn't last long, as the camera quickly cuts to a high angled, long shot of the man laying in bed, with the continuation of the beeping sound, soon becoming clear to be his alarm going off to wake up. Overall it becomes clear to the audience that this scene and regularly lit setting is reality and the previous scene's were him dreaming. This creates sympathy for the character because he feels trapped in this job he doesn't enjoy and wants an amazing thing to happen (like winning the lottery), in order for him to be able to leave.
 

Overall I enjoyed watching this short film because it had a lot of clever dialogue and simple actions that really conveyed a specific atmosphere to the audience, making them feel as though they were also in the room. I also liked the way they represented a comedy genre, using typical conventions such as the soundtrack used and the actions taken by the protagonist. Rick Altman's syntactic codes apply to this short film as they have used typical character relations and typical narrative disruptions.

This non linear film does conform to Ronald Barthes action code theory, as the audience could predict that he was going to majorly disrupt his boss' office, after he had cut the hanging ball decoration statue. In addition, it also relates to Strauss' binary oppositions theory, with the protagonist always against the antagonist, the boss having power, in comparison to little power that the employee had. The two men could also be seen as good and bad and responsible to irresponsible.