"Butterface" Caroline Robertson

The film Buttercace is another one of Virgin Media's short films.
It is set out as a social realism overall, but the dialogue gives it some comedic values. The scene is set with a point of view shot looking out of a train, which immediately sets the genre as a social realism because of the gum and scratches made prominant for the audience to see on the windows. The director was obviously not trying to make the train look spotless, but wanted it to look how we would see a train in every day life, making the grimey reality of public transport clear.

The film doesn't use any soundtrack, just a foly running through the whole piece of a train which makes it more realistic for people watching. It also uses no dialogue, but has a narrative of the main characters thoughts, which helps the audience to relate with him and sympathise as they know all of the things he is thinking as he is on his journey. I like the fact that there is no soundtrack as it really does set the scene for a social realism genre film, and the narration is a nice touch as well. I may look into using one of these in my final piece.

The film depicts the story of a girl , who sits next to a man on a train. The whole middle section of the film is the man trying to summon up the courage to speak to her, and then the end shows her waving at him as she gets off the train before he gets the courage to. It shows a story which is very "every day life" and which most people would be able to relate to. This is probably how the film entices the majority of its audience.

The film uses a point of view shot of the girl looking out of the window as the man next to her is thinking about speaking to her. This shows that she is completely oblivious to his thoughts, and this makes us feel a sympathy for him. The dull and natural colouring, again makes the film overall very realistic which has been doen on purpose I think to appeal to a broader audience, and the comedic values make sure that audiences who start watching keep wanting to watch to the end, to see if he speaks to her.

I think the general issue and idea of the film is that small things can connect people, illustrated by his quote " the only thing we have in common is that we are on the same train at the same time", and that you should go with your instincts and not be afraid or you may regret a missed opportunity. This is illustrated by the end when she waves at him, showing that they would probably have been able to have a good conversation but just because netiher of them started one they missed out on something.