Much Better Now - Short Film Analysis using Media Language

A Summary of Much Better Now

This short film is about an small bookmark which comes to life and finds a magical world inside of a book of which it has been stuck in place. The film is set inside an old abandoned office or workspace, with a book that has been stood upright on a desk until the wind forces a window open and blows it over exposing the inside of the book and prompting the bookmark to be given human characteristics. It is an animation, however; the scene may possibly use real life objects and feautures as the film seems especially realistic. Nearing the end, the book closes, shutting out the bookmark from the wonderful contents but then becomes aware of it's surroundings with plenty more books to explore.

Media Language

Camera

Editing

Sound

Mise en Scene

The office where the film is set

The picture foreshadows what might happen

Much Better Now starts off with slow paced, non-diegetic music which seems to be classical accomanying the word 'now', written in a formal font, on a black screen. The camera seems to track slowly to the right, exposing the office/workspace. The audience can tell that this is an office/workspace based on the desk and the filing cabinet in the room. During the first minute or so, the pace of the film is extremely slow, however; this contrasts with shadows moving rapidly across the desk suggesting that time is in fact passing by quickly. During the first minute of the short film, the camera shows close-ups of the contents of the desk, focusing more on the book standing upright and the bookmark in place, but also shows a change in focus from once object to another.

The bookmark that has come to life

The music stops when the camera shows a big close-up of the bottom half of the window as the wind is blowing upon it. At this point the pace of the film has normalised and the time is set in the present. More non-diegetic music starts to play as the audience can see the bookmark come to life but this time it is happy and uplifting.
The dullness of the film during the beginning has been eradicated completely as the audience can see the film become vibrant with colour and more engaging.

The bookmark surfing

The pace of the film slows for a few seconds and the music softens, but the audience can still hear the diegetic sounds of seagulls and waves, as the bookmark is taking in the beauty of it's surroundings. Here the film seems to be in slow-motion as we can see the bookmark balancing upon a card surfboard but the action starts up again, with the same non-diegetic music playing.
There is a creative shot where the camera shows a long-shot of the fish underneath the waves and the music becomes muffled.

Under the sea

Somehow, the book closes, shutting off the wonderful world of surfing and brings the bookmark back into the dullness of the reality that it's in and the audience can feel sympathy for the character. A new equilibreum occurs here. A high-angled shot that ends up tracking behind of the bookmark and zooms out behind the character to show that the room is full of books that it can explore.

The end of Much Better Now

The short film ends on a white title screen featuring the words 'Much Better Now' used in the same font as the title on the black screen from the beginning.