Short Film: This Is Me

Applying Genre to the short film 'This Is Me'.

Beryl sitting alongside Bertie in the hospital bed.

This short film has a several different themes present in a couple of genres which makes it hard to brand it too only one specific genre. It has several different syntatic codes from different genres which makes the film very interesting to watch but makes it hard when labelling the genre. The short film has an element of romance as the narrator, the protagonist 'Bertie', is wedded to 'Beryl', however, he goes on to say how 'she hasn't come down for a nice little chit chat.' when he's in the hospital bed and makes a point of her not being normal, going against the common syntatic codes present in romance films. This, alongside several other reasons, points the film in the direction of romantic comedy. Bertie is heard narrating the film with a relaxed tone of voice and a comical view on his situation making it seem not as bad as it would if he did not have these characteristics, which suggests that the main character is meant to have a positive outlook on bad situations and

Bertie in the shade of an over-head plane.

therefore appear comical or with a sense of humour. As well as this, there are several parts of the film that are presented to be comical when they are negative or awkward, for example, when Bertie explains why his garden is special because it is on the Heathrow flight path. Most people wouldn't view this in a positive way and be proud of the fact thats where he lives. However, it is hard to brand the film a romance entirely as the plot is not based around the relationship of Bertie and Beryl. Instead i would label this short film a black comedy if anything as overall, the events in the plot are not conventionally funny, but the narration by Bertie makes it seem less important and almost comical.