Textual Analysis of ‘Identity’ (KJ Adames)

Enigma Codes

This short film raises many enigma codes, however, the first question that comes up is “why is the girl putting a broken mask on?” which is important to the audience as they will need to figure out what the reason behind that was; the audience is given an answer as we find out that the film was just reversed, and therefore the beginning was actually the end of the short film.

Another interesting moment in the film is when a girl walks and changes the colour of her mask; it shows that she is changing her personality according to what groups of people she is interacting with, which makes the audience question her character.

we can see that the protagonist is unhappy as she sits alone in the canteen avoiding eye contact.

Character Presentation

The protagonist gives us an impression that she is trapped; the girl’s eyes give us an idea that she is not happy, which is also complimented by her mask, which is different to all the other masks, which suggests that she is different from everybody else in the school as every one is wearing plain masks that are similar to everybody else’s masks. This is important as majority of the characters are represented in a similar way, apart from the main character and the teacher, who is the only

The teacher is represented as an inspirational figure, he is not wearing a mask however the camera is never focused on him; this isolated him from the students.

character that does not wear a mask, but every time the camera shows him in the background, he is blurred out and the camera does not focus on him; this is important as his character comes across as the most realistic in this short film, until the girl takes her mask off, as the things he is saying and the fact he isn’t wearing a mask could mean that he is quite an important character in the film, although he does not get any screen time by himself.

Setting the scene in a schools allows the director to empathise the loneliness of the character.

Locations

The fact that this short film is set in a school, allows the director to create a sense of loneliness and isolation from everybody else as the school is very crowded; being alone and different at school singles students out, which is important as everyone is the audience will know how to feel left behind or singled out of the majority groups.

The bathroom/toilet can be shown as a place of escape for the girl.

The bathroom can portray a place where the girl can isolate herself from everybody else in the school; the bathroom is also the place the girl gains courage to take her mask off, which is an important moment in the film as at the beginning we do not understand the reason behind the girls actions in the bathroom, however, they are quickly resolved towards the end of the short film.

The girl’s loneliness and isolation is portrayed through a number of wide and medium shots.

Camera Techniques and Their Effects

There is many medium shots as well as wide shots used in this short film; the medium shots allow the audience to see the ‘faces’ of the characters , this is important as this puts importance onto the fact that all the characters are wearing masks, which could be the reason behind the camera never actually focusing on the teacher, who is not wearing a mask, which makes the audience interested in his character as he is mysterious to them because of the camera techniques that avoid him on purpose. The use of wide shots allow the audience to see how isolated the protagonist is from the rest of the characters that appear in the film, for example the girl is shown to sit alone in the canteen through a mix of medium and wide shots, which give the audience a sense of how the girl is feeling due to the fact that she is sitting alone.

The eye-line match allows us to see the school corridors through the protagonist’s eyes.

Editing Techniques and Their Effects

A lot of the story is told through the eye-line match technique, which allows the audience to figure out what is going on through the eyes of the protagonist; through this technique we can see the stereotypical group of ‘popular’ girls who are mimicking the poster, which is important because we see this through the girl’s eyes, which makes us feel like we are there experiencing this with her.

Also, the footage is reversed to go back in time which tells the story in a non linear narrative; this makes the audience focus more on the story line as they have to figure out what is going on and then towards the end they realise that the beginning was actually the end of the short film.

Use Of Sound 

At the beginning the voice over, which we can assume comes from the protagonist on screen “today I found the truth” can confuse the audience as the girls starts to put her mask on, the audience does not understand what is going on at this point and therefore an enigma code is brought up.

The distorted sounds before the scene results in confusion; the sound actually replicates the reversed film and that is the reason that we, as an audience, can not understand what is going on. The sound, however, turns to normal diegetic sound when the girl sits down in the canteen, which allows us to make sense out of the story and get answers to our enigma codes.

The mask is a very important prop in this short film. It separates individualism from the majority culture.

Iconography

The masks are very important in this short film as they signify the importance of individualism and open the audience’s eyes to the every day life, in which we all try to conform to set norms and values of the society. The protagonist’s mask differs from all the other masks as although it’s white, it has colourful decorations on it, as well as butterflies stuck to each side of the mask; this is important as we can see each character’s personality through their masks, and the audience immediately notices that the protagonist differs from the rest of the crowd. The masks also show how people act in every day life, the group of girls standing by the poster that tells them “this is what beauty looks like” all have the same mask as the female character on the poster; the film simplifies and exaggerates real-life issues that affect students in schools every day.

The girl changing her mask is important as it shows how people can change their identity around different people.

We can also see tracking medium shot of a girl who is first wearing a purple mask and then takes it off before she comes up to a group of friends with a red mask, which is a very important metaphor in this short film as it reflects our every day lives as everybody acts differently around different people to fit in.

I think that this short film could be linked to a sociological study conducted by Johal and Bains, which states that students/young people wear a metaphorical mask in order to fit in with the majority culture.

Intended Target Audience and Signifiers 

I assume that the target audience for this short film would be teenagers who experience similar situations at school and can associate their lives with what is happening in this short film.

Narrative Structure and Its Effect On The Audience

The narrative in this short film is unusual as it is not organised chronologically, instead the film’s beginning is pretty much the ending of the film, which engages the audience as they want to figure out why the girl is wearing the mask in the first place, as well as why is the mask broken.

We see this scene twice, and therefore the second time it makes much more sense to us; the reversed footage raises and then answers enigma codes.

The fact that the actual footage is being reversed and we can see the girl moving backwards at the beginning, which makes it clear to the audience that the story is going back in time, however, after that point the narrative is chronological, which is also important in this film, as the audience needs to be able to understand what is going on.

However, there isn’t a lot of action in this short film; during the chronological part of the narrative, we just find out what the girl feels like at school (lonely, singled out and different) which allows the audience to understand the character and her choices. Also, the audience views the story from the protagonist’s point of view, which means that the audience will feel empathy towards the character, and they will be able to put themselves into the shoes of the main character.