Video Analysis – Signs

This is a short film based on the idea of two people falling in love. The first character, (Jason) works at an office, and his daily routine appears to be quite boring and he takes the same routine everyday. Occasionally seeing attractive women and looking at them with a desired expression, this suggests that he is unhappy and lonely. The music also suggests this, as it is quite sombre and very monotonous. It helps set the mood and helps to portray the idea quickly. As well as this I would say that the lighting is fairly dull, even when he is outside it is never really bright, again this suggests that Jason’s life is boring. He is wearing a grey suit, which again points out how he feels about his life.Then he glances out of his office window and see’s a pretty woman (Stacey) sitting in an office across the way. She catches him staring at him and holds up a hand-written sign saying, “take a photo!” This sign is the first of many; they slowly build up their friendship by writing to one another at the windows. After a while, she shows him a sign saying that she had a secret, “I was watching you first.” We then see Jason’s attitude to his routine improve and the music also expresses this, as it becomes more lively and varied. The lighting is automatically brighter, suggesting that Stacey has brought light into his life. However, they are mid-conversation when Stacey gets moved from her office and a man is put in her seat. The original mood sets back in as Jason is aware that he never got the chance to actually meet Stacey.He is seen sitting at his desk again, when there is a light being shone in his eyes, he looks up and see’s that on the floor above reflecting the sun in a mirror at him is Stacey. He quickly finds the sign he had written before saying, “Want to meet?”. She replies, with “Thought you’d never ask!” The two then rush down the stairs and see each other either side of the road, the cross and meet in the middle, Stacey brings out the final sign, which indicates that their love will definitely flourish.

Points of interest in this film: The use of signs instead of speech makes the words stronger, because the way

it is written with exclamation marks or with little images shows the emotion better and is more romantic.

The use of music (non-diegetic sound) to help set the mood, in the beginning it showed that Jason’s daily routine was very monotonous and he hated it, the music picked up when he had met Stacey.

The use of diegetic sound for printers, Jason’s alarm clock and the microwave, as examples, help to bring you into the story. It also makes the story feel more real, as they are fitting sounds as opposed to just music.