Depict Analysis - 'Candy Crime'

The first depict video that I am going to analyse is 'Candy Crime'. I chose to analyse this because it is a very good and entertaining video with a good plot line, acting and continuity.

The first thing that i am going to talk about is the narrative structure, this is about how the video engages the audience through the story and the plot. In this particular video they do this very well. For example the main character or the protagonist is also the bad guy or antagonist in the sketch. other people could argue that the little girl is the protagonist in the video as it is pretty even. He is loitering with all his friends living a normal life (equilibrium) and then the little girl walks past who is the enigma. This triggers the characters to follow the girl and then the main scene starts. By the end of it (quest) the antagonist has acquired his prize (lolly pop). In the terms of the antagonists story there was closure but for the little girl there is the potential for a new narrative as she leaves the scene with a gun.

This triggers the main character to follow her, this is the 'quest'. As we find out the reason for the change is because he wanted the lolly pop that the girl was holding. Once the exchanges have happened, there life goes back to normal and the group walk away and leave the little girl. this is a great example of narrative structure and follows it extremely well.

The next thing is identification, this is where you are putting the audience into a relationship with the protagonist through different camera angles and distances. In this video they use a lot of close ups, reaction shots and POV's. These work especially well in the main scene because they are trying to show insignificance of the girl to the group. For example when the walk over to the girl there is a POV shot of the little girl looking up at the group, it is taken from a very low angle to show the overwhelming power of the guys in comparison the the inferiority of her.

Another method of identification that the makers use is close ups. These are used when looking at the lolly pop and when exchanging the item for it. these are good because they put the viewer in a place that they wouldn't normally be. Lastly the use of reaction shots are used when she pulls out the larger piece of candy and two of the guys turn and look at her to suggest that the want it. All in all there is very good use of identification in this video and makes the audience get involved in the scene.

Suspense is key in a video because else the audience wont get involved or be interested in it. In this video they make suspense through a variety of different ways. for example a cross cut is used in the video when the shot goes between a close up of the candy and a reaction shot of the people, this causes the audience to be intrigued because they know of a convergence but not of the outcome. The use of camera angles in the short is especially good because they have used low and high angles to show dominance and inferiority between the characters but also the composition of the shot shows that she is outnumbered (mise-on-scene). Another thing that has been used for suspense is the shot distance, throughout the video the shots are mostly close ups, extreme close ups and POV shots, these are good for suspense as they are putting the viewer into a place that they normally wouldn't be and get to see the story from a different perspective.

This video had followed the continuity sequence closely as the scene doesn't break the 180 degree rule and has an establishing shot, POV and eye line matches and match on action. For example the first shot in the sequence was an establishing shot, this allows the audience to get a perspective of what is happening within the scene, this includes mise-on-scene. In this video the establishing shot is a medium/long shot of a group of people, these are the antagonists in the film. Throughout the video the 180 degree rule is never broken, in the main scene in the video the center line of the bus shelter is the axis for this rule and therefore all the shots should be on that side of the bus shelter. Match of action is used a lot throughout the scene. for example when the guy reacts to the girl getting out the larger piece of candy there are 2 shots, one of him throwing it and the other of it
hitting the ground.

Finally the editing and audio within the video works extremely well, it has a mixture of different types of shots and distances. One thing that i like in the video is the lack of dialogue, there is only one line in the whole video which is the antagonist saying 'give it to me' to the little girl, throughout the video there has been no need for speech as it is acted extremely well and the use of different shots have explained the story to the audience without need of dialogue. Other audio is used in the video, for example SFX has been used to create suspense this happens on many occasions. other audio that is used is ambient sounds, for example the traffic in the background. The editing pace throughout the video varies, for example the first few shots are long takes with the establishing crane shot at the start but later on when the antagonist pulls out the gun there is about 3 different shots in a couple of seconds. this is because they are used to build suspense in the scene.