Research Tasks - "Slap" - Gareth Allen

Slap

In this short film, I beleive that the genre for this is a drama peice along with a social realistic short film. The reason that I think that the genre for this social realism is because, the film is about how a husband treats his wife badly and hits her. You can tell this from the film because, at the start of the film, you hear the sounds of a slapping noise on someone. You then see a woman who is holding her face and looks in pain and also in thought. At one point in the film, you see her standing over the sink with blood coming from her mouth. The audience are led to believe that this was done to her by her husband. It is also a drama piece I think because, you sometimes see her reaction after getting hit in the face by her husband. The two genres that there are in this film are in here because, this is an issue that happens to some people in the world today, and this film shows the truth about what it is like, which is giving the audience the knowledge of what it is like for this wide.

I think that it uses the social realism genre along with the drama genre well during this short film. I think this because, you see what the wife has to put up with from her husband and it shows you the truth about what might happen behind closed doors. The two genres work well together as they show the reality of what is happening in this short film, and the audience find that they are on the side of the wife, as we see what she has been through in the past.

This film uses the short film format by seeing what the wife is thinking about during the film. You see what her thoughts are while she is holding her face, to other horrors that have happened to her because of her husband. You see her also walking away from her husband while he is having a coughing fit on the floor. You also see her walking around, as a free woman, enjoying the countryside. Then you hear coughing again and she is back in the room with her husband. This is good for the short format of the film as you follow the wife during the film, and see what she is thinking about at the times, which shows us her prospective of the marriage.

The sounds during this short film I think are done very well. The main sounds during the film are diegetic sounds. You can hear the slapping noise at the start of the film, and later in the film you hear the wife crying in her bed. You also hear the coughing fit that her husband has at one point in the film. This is the changing point of the film as she then feels as there has been a power shift in this relationship. You hear him coughing for a while during the rest of the film untill you hear another slapping noise. But this time, you see the wife walking over to the husband who is on the floor, and see her figure slapping him. This I think is good as it starts the film with the same sound that you hear at the end of the film, espeically a sound that is as commonly known as a slap.

The themes of the film seem to be about a bad relationship that is occuring with this wife and husband. It is also about how some men hit their wives, and it shows you how the woman actually feels during this film. Even though you don't hear her say anything, you see her facial expression which tell you how she feels about everything. You don't see her husbands face through this film. The reason for this could be because, the director wants you to be on the side of the woman during this relationship and see things from her side.

I think that this short film is targeted to females and possibly males between the ages of 20 and 40. I think this because, the couple in the relationship are married so this will feel more relevant to the audience if they are in the same position as they are. I think it would appeal more to females because, you see the film from her point of view, which will make the females possibly feel as though they are in her shoes so they can relate to her a lot more than the male in this marriage. This will also appeal to males because, it shows them the truth of how this sort of thing affects women and they will respond to this.

Gareth Allen