Matthew Leigh G324 Advanced Portfolio

'Wrong side of the bed' is a very short film by Daniel Lucchesi. It's running length is only about one minute, making it at the very extreme short end of the short film category. It, however, contains much appropriate to my own film, such as light physical comic elements, the theme of getting up and no dialogue.

The film contains no opening credits, much the same as 'The girl on the wall', and probably for the same reasons. The film is so short that opening credits would eat into much of the films running time, distracting viewer from the content of the film itself, and harm some of the simple aesthetic quality. Instead the title of the film is overlaid the opening shot of a man asleep in his bed. The title us in a very small, simple font in the lower third of the shot, and are in white to contrast with the dark background. This causes the title to be prominent, but not detract from the image below it.

The films twist is that it then splits into two almost identical mirrored shots of the same locations and characters, but with events playing out slightly different in each side of the screen. For example, the version main character on the left simply turns the alarm clock off when it starts ringing, while the version on the right manages to break it. This theme of good luck contrasting directly with bad luck is portrayed well by the separation of the screen to create alternate realities. This idea is played even more with later, when the two realities coinciding with one another, culminating in the two main characters switching sides, but with the 'lucky' character still remaining such.

Apart from this split screen display of the two identical worlds and characters the shots used are relatively simple, with a mix of medium shots and long shots taking up the majority of the film, showing the characters movement and expressions clearly. Close-ups are used to clearly display certain aspects of the characters luck, such as the alarm clock breaking and toast burning for the unlucky version of the main character. The shots are matched on either side of the picture, maintaining the impression that these are in fact the same people, areas and events, just under slightly different circumstances.

The use of natural lighting works well in the film, emphasising the normality of the characters and settings. Once again, the lighting is identical in either side of the picture, further showing that these are different versions of the same world and events.