Media Studies – Essay Danielle Rippengill

Key Concepts – Video Analysis

Looking at the short comical video “funny student in exam hall” we can clearly see the divide between social groups and how they are being represented, firstly we see the teacher sitting very sternly at the desk by his posture as it is very up right and straight which tells the audience he is an important character.

By his costume design we can see he is a teacher as this is what a typical teacher would be wearing; a smart blazer, matching tie and a white shirt. All teachers when wearing this outfit look very authoritative to create a threatening feel about them to the audience. I felt by having this character wear glasses this helps creating the feel of the character as the glasses on the end of his nose lets him look down on the students in the exam hall which shows the difference in importance. As this teacher looks very smart in his costume I also feel the way his hair is contributes to the whole feel of the character, it looks very smart and combed over as a teacher would usually have it. The way the teacher has a set tone in his voice which is quite low; I felt this worked really well as this adds to the very stern, strict feel about this character and the sentences he says also adds to his character for example;

“Time thank you can you all please put down you pen and bring your papers to the front of the hall”

I felt how he said “time thank you” he was quite sarcastic and this communicates his character in more depth as the tone he chooses represents a stereo typical teacher which is really strict. When he was talking to the students saying “thank you” and “well done” I felt he said these words because he had to congratulate the students of finishing there exam on time which continued this feel of a strict teacher.

What really expressed the teachers arrogance and authority was when the young lad handed in his paper later and the teacher said “oh, I’m sorry, to late, you failed” the young lad was only a couple seconds later than the rest of the students and I felt the teachers personality came out really well here as the word “failed” is a strong word and he said it very sternly and with passion as if he didn’t care about the student. I felt the camera angles here really helped create the tension between the characters and the silences worked really well as we didn’t know what was going to happen next.

We see in this second clip here the young students which are attending the exam we can tell by there costume that don’t have as much authority as the teacher as they do not look as smart as the teacher sitting at the front of the room, we can see the centre focus here is the young boy with the black sleeveless top on and jeans this tells us he is teenage and as he is wearing un-sophisticated clothes this represents his age very well as most teenage boys do not dress smartly they just sling on a top and jeans as casual wear. We see around the boy the other students in the exam hall which I feel do look smarter than him, the girl on the right is dressed in a v neck top which I felt looked smarter than the boy also her hear is very neat and tidily up out of her face and she is concentrating on he exam paper within great depth.

Media Studies – Essay Danielle Rippengill

Having the young lad as a centre focus I felt worked extremely well, he stands out from the rest of the students for his costume but also he is the only student we can see that isn’t working on there exam paper his head is up right he doesn’t seem to be concentrating on his school work like the other students.

When he gets distracted by a piece of card I felt this really showed his characteristics, he clearly isn’t bothered by his exam paper which shows he is easily distracted. I felt the way he acted towards the teacher was very cocky and thinking he new best, when he said “Excuse me, do you know who I am” I felt this was climax of his character and had built up very well with the story, he only says this one line in the whole short film and I felt it is the most effective. The way he said “excuse” me was very cocky and he was retaliating to the teacher’s comments. I felt having the young lad walk out with the teachers apple was representing his particular character very well as he seems to be a naughty student and doesn’t do as he is told and it is stereo typically the teachers pet which gives the teacher an apple and having the young lad who doesn’t do as he told and is very cocky towards the teacher as he doesn’t respect him taking the apple made it extremely comical and the last clip we see is the young lad biting into the apple with a big grin on his face.

I feel we have a set of three different social groups being represented here, the young boy here who doesn’t do as he is told and has no respect for teacher doesn’t do the exam and gets distracted is the odd one out of the film as the rest of students we see working hard and here scribbling and the camera shits show they are interested in there exam whilst the young boy here looks around to make sure no one is watching and starts scribbling, so he knows he shouldn’t be doing it but continues to disobey and not attempt the exam paper. The teacher is in a league of his here as he is clearly being represented as an important figure by his costume and his tone of voice which is clearly communicated to the audience. I feel the obvious way of seeing the divide between all these characters is their costumes as the teacher looks very smart and authoritative and the young lad’s clothes seem baggy and his hair untidy which compared to other students is different, they look smart and presentable for the exam and want to work hard.

I feel that the audience for this short film would well be a teenager as this is who I think it would appeal to, the narrative I feel helps appeal to this audience as it is based at school and with teens of there age but also I think the end would be a hit with teenagers as it is very comical and they will think the young lad is funny and what he did was right and they will look at the teacher in a more negative way than the young lad.

Thesis

The first characters being introduced are the students and the teacher, they are sitting down at there desks turning over the exam paper and writing working really hard, the teacher is sitting at the front of the room at his own desk on a stand he then confronts them shouting “one minute please” which means the exam is nearly over. We see a young lad looking around making sure the teacher isn’t watching him and then pulling out a bit of card and scribbling all over it showing he isn’t interested in the exam and doesn’t want to do it. The teacher then looks down at the students through his glasses and says “time please” and the students rise from there sits and walk to the teachers desk to hand in there exam paper whilst the young lad is still scribbling on the car and not taking any notice.

Antithesis

A conflict then arises between the teacher and the young boy as the teacher claims he hasn’t handed the paper in on time although he is only seconds behind the other students. There is a silence between the characters as the young lad looks confused at the teacher, the teacher says “oh, I’m sorry, too late, you failed” there are a lot of pauses and facial expressions from both characters and the young lad says “excuse me, do you know who I am?”, the teacher looks up and

Media Studies – Essay Danielle Rippengill

replies with “I have absolutely no idea” and looks away from the student and again we have pauses and facial expressions between both characters.

Synthesis

The student then replies with “good” the teacher looks very surprised with the students’ actions and this shows through his facial expressions. The young lad then takes the apple from the desk and walks off grinning and on the way out of the exam hall we see him taking a bite into the apple and smirking at the teacher. The teacher is then left alone in the exam hall shocked by the young lad’s actions.

The style that was created throughout was very serious until there was conflict between the two characters then the punch line I felt was well worth waiting for. The genre for this short film was comedy even though we don’t get the comical action till the end; I feel that this short film has been very well structured throughout because it is as if every part of action is one step up the ladder and when we get the punch line we have reached the top, the only bit of dialogue the young lad speaks is the comical part which represents him a negative way as he is being rude and not respecting the teacher but as the audience would be aimed at the teens I feel this will work as they will think the young lad is more positive and what he did was right.

In most of the shots there are little bits of evidence and proof I felt that is representing the characters, one of those is how the glass of the water and apple is sitting on the teachers desk I felt they done this for a specific reason to show the teacher is very traditional and out fashioned the way he teachers also I feel the colour of his suit also adds this feel about him he may look very smart but teachers usually wear a black suit and don’t very often where brown ones anymore.

Also I feel the setting of the short film was brilliant and it worked really well it was just set in one room and as you can see from the picture there is a certain a mount of light shining through onto the students which I think shows that they

are very talented and will exceed in this exam but as we look at the young lad the light shining on him is on his back and only a bit of his face which I felt shows how he isn’t interested in the exam paper but also I felt as if he could exceed as the light shining on him is like the teachers still have hope he will.

The clock behind the teacher I felt worked really well as I felt as if it was specifically placed there as there students have to look up to the clock and in the same eye line would be teacher so this showed they have to look up to him with respect.

Lastly I felt this shot on the right also linked with looking up to the teacher as I felt the light is facing and looking down on the teacher which again represents his authority within the school and in this exam hall as the students should look up to him.