Task 2: Research - Homeless

Case Study 1



Title: Homeless - Short Film
Director: Haider Zafar
Date: 12 September 2010

Genre: Slice of life
Summary: This short film follows a homeless man throughout his day. The film shows a story of how the homeless man wants to be a part of society, but is often looked down upon and neglected by others no matter what he tries to do.
The narrative structure of this film is linear. They have shot the film in Chinatown, London in live action.

The main character is a man who from the beginning of the clip you could tell was homeless as he sleeps on a step. They have represented the step as his home, he has used cardboard as a make-shift bed, he has stuffed a plastic bag to use as his pillow and he also keeps his money in his shoes. This shows the struggle the character is facing as he can not even afford necessities such as a wallet to put his money in or even a pillow to sleep on.
Throughout the film, the man tries to approach many different people to interact with them. However every time he does, they seem to neglect him and the tone of their facial expression change showing they are finding his presence unpleasant.
Towards the end however the man is seen as a very caring guy as he gives his suit jacket he recently bought to another homeless person. This shows the moral of the story that sometimes the people with little to give, tend to be the most generous as it showed no one else helping him throughout the film. This narrative links with the narrative theory of Todorov in which there is a clear beginning and clear ending to the film whereas all the complications are developed midway in the film.

The following images shows how a woman that was reading on a bench in the park reacts to the homeless man sitting near her.

                                                   


The reaction of this woman empathizes on the fact that people were neglecting the homeless man and finding his presence unpleasant. On the first screenshot the woman was simply reading with both hands, not protecting her bag, however as she spots the homeless man she quickly reaches for her bag and starts guarding it, as if she thought the homeless man would steal from her. She eventually decides to put her bag on the other side, which shows she has no trust in the man and is also finding his presence unpleasant.

Camera Techniques:
Close up

                                                                             

In the film they have used a close up at the beginning to show the features of the homeless man. The close up shows his features such as wrinkles, his facial hair and hair. His hair looks scruffy which shows he has not been able to take care of himself well enough.

Long Shot

                                                             

A long shot has been used to show the way that the homeless man dresses. His clothes look like they have been worn for a long time due to the dirtiness look of them (his white shirt no longer looks white) and they also have holes in them,

Behind Shot

                                                   


A behind shot has been used here to show the homeless man looking for clothes at a shop.

Medium Shot

                                                                             
                                                   

A medium shot has been used here to show the man having bought the clothes and wearing it. His expression now seems happier and the story also expresses this. The fact that the man has now bought formal clothes here - the rest of the story shows he has an easier time interacting with people.

They have also used panning to follow the man as he walks around.

Editing Techniques:
In this film a variety of editing techniques have been used that I will list.
Eyeline match - The film has used eyeline match to see things through the perspective of the homeless mans' eye for example when the homeless man was looking at another homeless woman sitting on some boxes.
Cuts - The film has used cuts to change the scene. The cutting rate is usually slow.
Jump Cuts - The jump cuts show the man at one place - then another for example when he was sitting at his step however jump cutted to a different place.
Shot reverse shot - Showing him and a little conversation when he's talking to the 2 people having tea at the cafe.

Mis-En-Scene:
Location - The location they have used is Chinatown, London. They have filmed in different places in this location.
Lighting - Lighting has been used to make the places where the homeless man are look more dull and dark. For example when he was on his step the whole world looked grey however when they changed it to the woman that was reading a book on the bench the scenery looked more bright, cheerful and happy.
Costume - The costume used for the homeless man is typical; dirty ripped up clothing and for others it is casual everyday clothes.
Props - Props they have used to empathize the man is homeless are a make-shift cardboard bed, a stuffed plastic bag as a pillow and dirty ripped up clothing.
Make-up - Make up has probably been used to make the homeless man appear homeless.
Sound - A slow sound track is used in the background to represent the pacing of the film. The homeless man often walks slowly which shows his weakness compared to other people on the street that walk fast, so the music matches. Also throughout this film there is no dialogue - everything is expressed through the emotions of the man and the people around the man reacting to him. Music is used instead to express these emotions.

Target Audience: 13+

Ideas: From this short film I can use the idea of having old ripped up clothing to represent my character as homeless. Also I have learned of props I could use such as cardboard to make make-shift essentials to living on the streets such as his stuffed plastic bag as a pillow. Another idea I could use is the way the guy acts such as the way he walks etc. Also as we plan to have no dialogue in our film, we can use music to express certain feelings e.g. slow pace music for sad moments, and fast paced music for high action scenes.