Short films

Offside

The fact that their listening to the radio instead of watching the football match suggests the characters are possibly in a third well country/away from home. The commentary from the radio was extremely clever because it was commenting on the football match and the tension and actions between the four soldiers. The commentary explained the chemistry between the soldiers very well and it even gave us a summary at the end of what happened by saying “no one can win in a situation like this”. The camera kept on cutting from the two soldiers with the radio to the other 2 soldiers (extreme close-up) to build up the tension the commentary was making already. I think it’s particularly smart that they used a football commentator’s voice because a football commentator builds up tension because their voice changes based on the mood of a match. You can feel what the commentators feeling and the atmosphere of the current situation when you listen to them. I was hanging off the edge of my seat to find out what happens next. Due to the commentators voice my actions resembled that of a football match. I felt disappointment and shock when the soldiers were killed. The commentary strengthened the connection between the audience and the film. The location looked like a desert, which suited the world of the film due to the fact that the characters were from the army. All the soldiers had guns, which also resembled the world of the film. The audience were able to make assumptions about the characters based on their costumes. The football match brought all the characters together and the moment it paused they were enemies again. Their friendship was symbolised by the extreme close-up’s and the close-ups of the characters faces. Their facial expressions were of them smiling and relaxing their guns. We could see the relationship of the characters developed due to those movements and those movements alone. The camera also kept on circling the soldiers in a circular motion, which is also the same camera movement used during fight scenes, which gave away the next scene.