How to cope with rejection - Abi Black

How to cope with rejection is a short film set in Scotland written and directed by Chris Waitt. The film immediately fulfills all conventions of a comedy just from the dialogue used in the phonecall at the beginning, the characterisation of Adam playing the guy who has just been dumped is very comical and I think the sound used of the slow almost boring sounding music helps to convey his mood.

I think this film uses genre uniquely as although the idea of hiring a ninja seems very extreme, in some ways it seems very realistic due to his setting and the way his character and his ex girlfriends character is being represented. I think that the idea behind it is genius, because everyone at some point will go through a phase of wanting to get back at an ex in some way and this just happens to be a very comical one. I think that the use of the camera works very well in the shots where we see him staring blankly at the television screen, shot from just above it.

The film uses the short film format by having a problem at the beginning and then the problem seems to be solved in the middle only to then have a comical twist at the end. Even though the twist at the end was predictable it was still very funny.

The sound used throughout I thought was very well done, the non diegetic music came in at the right places and the use of diegetic sounds made the production seem very realistic and it flowed very well. I think the music used also helped to convey Adams emotions at that point in time, however maintaining a certain amount of humour.

I believe that there wasn't really a clear theme in this film, other than that it was meant to be and achieved to be funny. The issue I think it represented is a common one, of a relationship ending and one half not being very happy about it and conducting the "win her/him" back scenario. This I think, helps the audience to connect to the character as we are all familiar with his circumstance and feel quite sympathetic at the same time as it being made quite light hearted. I really enjoyed watching this film as I found myself laughing the majority of the way through and it maintained my interest, one thing I would like to take forward into my own production of watching this was some of the interested shot types used at different angles which I felt worked really well.