Get off my land ANALYSIS

The short film titled “Get off my land” is a film about a presumed couple exploring the countryside but intruding on a man’s property, hence the title. We, the audience, gather the assumption that the man and the woman who are the main protagonists of the short film are a couple, judging from how comfortable they are together while arguing and how the man always tries to lighten the mood while she’s annoyed. I believe that the film is actually set in the countryside however one could also argue that the setting could be near or in someone’s farm due to the gate that they both try to get through. If it was a normal park or countryside then you would be able to easily unlock the gate due to the gate being intended for humans to use; the gate we see here resembles one that’s used to prevent animals from getting out the farm, therefore we can presume that the film is being shot in the antagonists’ farm.

The mise en scene in this film provides the audience with a lot of information as to who is acting what role and how what we see creates meaning and supplies us with knowledge on why it’s there such as the props or the costumes for example. From what we notice from the first clip of the short film, the woman is wearing boots and suitable trousers walking through the mud. Then we see the man behind her, who is wearing casual clothing (jeans and shoes), has a lot of trouble even just walking across the muddy ground. This supports my theory as evidence as to how the couple might have had an argument even before they might have reached the muddy plains, that is the major difference in clothing. This also broadens our view on who must have been the right one from the conflict between the two; assuming the woman is wearing the right clothing for the trip and the man is wearing the wrong unsuitable clothing. Just judging from what the characters are wearing, the audience can notice what type of personalities these characters have. From just the clip where the man dusts off the mud from his jeans, we immediately know that the character is impatient and believes he’s rough from what we can tell from his body language. The woman walks straight forward across the mud which indicates that she’s tired of him and suggests she knows what she’s doing, the positioning of the characters also creates meaning that they are currently unhappy with each other and shows us the conflict between the two.

The cinematography used in this short film is executed very well to present what’s happening in the film. The wide shot of the man trying to cross the gate is used to generate certain emotions such as making the audience feel awkward and confused that the man is struggling to cross this giant obstacle while the woman who we presume is his partner just looks and walks off in the distance. This shot makes the audience feel as how much he is trying to take an effort to initiate contact between the woman and makes us feel disgust as to how the woman is treating him. Without this wide shot we wouldn’t be able to understand what the director wants to convey to the audience and how the gate is used as a metaphor as to how big the next obstacle is going to become and is there as a warning  to how one shouldn’t trespass into someone else’s property.

I really liked how the director, Douglas Ray, employed the long shot camera technique right before the man and the woman engages communication with the antagonist in the jeep. The way Douglas had shot this scene; he places the camera onto the field and keeps the camera moving slightly unsteady. The reason why I admired this scene out of the whole short film was because of the effect that this shot gives off the audience. It made me feel as if someone is watching them from a far off distance, or how it reminds me of an animal disguised within the environment seeking its prey; the shot gives the effect of how they are being hunted.

What’s rather noticing is the jeep coming out from the trees in the big field. From this shot I realize that this type of vehicle is not one you would see in the city and if so, it would be a rare occurrence to see one. The vehicle is shown in the shot to show that they are not close to the city, and that the setting is far off from modern civilization.

The non-digetic sound in this film is used from the sound of the gun shots as they obviously couldn’t fire the gun on video. The second gun shot is edited into the film to foreshadow that the woman had been killed too, however the audience is left to theorize what actually happened so the death of the woman is not certain. As the gun shot is fired, we see an extreme long shot of birds flying out of the trees. This symbolizes death as animals are frightened of loud noises, with the addition of the birds being crows which is a symbolism for bad luck.