Key Concepts discussed:
Media Language (Camera/Sound/Editing/MES)
Representation
Genre
This short film is about how we all can make judgements
about people before learning more about their situation, the film is a reminder
of the phrase ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’.
The short film begins with a long shot of a young girl
sitting on a bench drawing in the woods, the background music accompanied by this plays at
a slow, soft pace; this music continues to play at this tempo throughout the
film. As the girl is drawing this is presented with a variety of different shot
sizes such as a side angle and then close up of the girls hand as she is
drawing the picture. Whilst still set in the same location a long shot is used
to show a young male jogger putting his backpack down to get his phone and
headphones out of it. The jogger then starts stretching to prepare for his run
as shown in this side angle shot. A long shot then shows the jogger running
down the pathway opposite the bench the girl is sitting on; this shot then
fades out gradually expressing through editing that time has passed between
this shot and the different shot type replacing it. 
The shot that comes after is a medium shot of the girl
sitting on the bench still drawing, the jogger later runs up to the bench after
having a jog and sits down next to the girl looking at the drawing. The young
jogger then comments on her drawing as shown in a side angle two shot; “That’s a
really pretty drawing you’ve got there”. In response to his comment the camera
then changes to a close up of the girl, who does not respond to his comment and
continues drawing. The boy is then seen drinking some water in another shot
from the other side of the screen and repeats his statement but still the girl
does not notice or make a response. During this sequence I noticed that as well
as the background music we as the audience can also here the ambient noises going on in the
setting which surrounds them such as the trees rustling in the wind. 
As the sequence continues the guy sighs and stands up as
shown in this long medium shot and starts ranting to her about the fact that he
finds it rude that he was only trying to compliment her work. As he is saying
this his body language suggests that he is annoyed and as a result the girl
looks up and looks confused to why he is annoyed. The guy then continues
running once again whilst the girl looks at him run away in a muddled state of
mind as shown in this over the shoulder shot. This altercation between the two
characters is an example of Altman's theory of genre; a syntactic code; a typical narrative disruption
as the sequence of the story has been altered by this disruption between the
two characters. 
As a result to her confused state of mind the girl is then
seen in a high angle shot that is looking down from her shoulder, writing
something on the drawing. A medium shot then shows her putting the drawing
underneath his backpack and walking away, the shot then fades out; again
expressing that a period of time has passed. 
After a while the runner comes back over to the bench after
finishing his run and the camera pans across as he sees the paper below his
bag. As the runner starts to sit down we can see him holding the paper through
a high angle over the shoulder shot. The camera then positions to a close up of
the writing which says “Sorry if I offended you, I’m deaf.” As a response to
realising this the runner puts his hand to his forehead in guilt, his body
language suggests that he feels embarrassed and ashamed for making such an
assumption. He looks around him to see if the girls still their but she’s gone.
The sequence then fades to black with the statement; “Don’t be too quick to
judge”. Having this statement at the ending makes viewers go away thinking
about what they have just watched. The type of genre attached to this film
would be Social Realism as the film focuses on a real situation that can happen
to anyone in everyday life; it’s a realistic approach of conveying social
issues. 
Overall, I believe that the representation of social groups
in this context refers to people with disabilities such as the girl who is
deaf. In this context the girl is represented through the man’s point of view
as the structure of the film is centred on just these two characters and how
they communicate and interact with each other. So in terms of the male’s
perspective he perceives the girl as rude and arrogant when she doesn’t respond
to his compliment. This is a common assumption made from the man as some
disabilities such as being deaf aren’t visually noticeable so it is quite
common for people not to realise if someone is deaf. However, even though
through the male characters eyes the girl seems rude; the way the film is
constructed leaves this issue up for interpretation for the audience. For
example, the film is not constructed from a biased point of view as it doesn’t
use elements such as point of view shot and a change of music to position the
viewer as disliking a particular character. The film is actually a lesson about
how you shouldn’t make judgments so quickly about people, this is shown through
the male characters body language as he’s presented as feeling embarrassed and
guilty for making this judgment of the girl. The events that happen in this
storyline are an example of what David Buckingham has said about genre; that
genres are moulded by society and therefore we as spectators get to see the bad
side of the world. 
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