Camera critique-- Never again

The short film that I watched and decided to watch and critique was Never Again directed, written, and edited by François Bordez. I found this short film on youtube. The run time is about 4 minutes and 11 seconds.

This short film is about a man who gets into an argument with his wife. He ends up walking out on his wife and son. As the husband walks down a street thinking about the fight, he decides to cross the street without looking and gets hit by a car. When he gets hit, he knocks out. As flashbacks hit him, he reawakens and decides that he made a mistake and needs to go back home to his family. In the end the reunite. His life was almost taken away but he got a second chance.

 In the first minute we see the man walking on the street with distress on his face. We can see this through the camera. The shot is a medium close up. Because of this camera height we can see his full facial expressions. In the very first shot of the short film, we have a long shot of the man walking which is our establishing shot. That shot establishes  our main character and our location which happens to be in a city/suburban. Then as we see the man

walking flash backs occur which reveal the distress in this man. The shots used in the flashbacks are medium close ups and close ups which lets us in to the family's problem to see where his distress is coming from and why he walking the streets alone. These shots connect. In most of the shots all we see is foreground and background. We don't get much of the mid-ground because the characters have so much emotion that in order to attain a connection with them, we need to be up close. These two shots and all the other shots are used with a normal lens' because it helps us capture the moments like we are there in real person. These shots are seen like we humans would see something with our own naked eye. In the first screen shot, the actor is walking towards the camera as the camera is traveling backwards. We call this a traveling shot because we are moving with the actor. This helps us show his direction and where his next location will be. Both of the shots above are a soft focus. Our main attention is the actors which is why they are sharper compared to the background. The angle of both shots are eye level.

 After the flashback, the camera brings us back to the man walking. As he is walking, the camera cuts to a long shot of a car driving. The lighting of this shot is from the natural light from outside. The camera then cuts to a shot of the man turning a corner and walking in the street. When the camera cuts back to a long shot of the car we see the man with his head down and the car even closer then it was before. At this moment we can anticipate what happens next.
The camera angle is a long shot that is

looking directly at the man and the car that is about to hit him. This shot has a deep focus because everything in the shot is sharp. But having the car and the man in the center of the shot helps the audience know where they should be looking. In this shot, the camera lens is normal again. For this shot, the camera is still. The next couple of shots are cut fast to show the intense impact that hit him, not only emotionally but physically.

The next shot that the camera brings us to is an extreme close up. As we can see, the impact of the hit starts to knock him out that almost leads him to death. As the mans starts to fade into unconsciousness, the camera starts to zoom out. As the shot fades to the next, we notice that the length of the camera to the actor is the same. This is called continuity editing. They are both close ups.

The second shot is in black and
white. In this shot, we see the reaction to his
"death". In the above shot, the camera angle is looking down on him (high angle), but the second shot the camera is at eye level. The second shot is more of a "flash forward" if he were to die. But after the flash forward he reawakens.

 The shot were he reawakens, the camera is at a high angle looking down at him, but as he rises to his feet it meets with his eyes again. He then realizes that life is too short and gets right back up on his feet and heads back home. The lighting of these shots are once again the natural lighting from outside. In the top shot, as the man gets up, the camera rises as well. The next shot of him is him running down the street limping. The shot of him

 getting up to him running can also be a continuity edit. The shot of him running is a waist shot. Also this shot is at an angle with directional lines. The directional lines help us determine where he is going. The focus of this shot is a deep focus because the man and the cars in front of him are in focus and sharp. The angle is eye level even though his back is turned to us. The movement of this shot is a traveling shot because as he runs back home the camera follows him.

 In these last two shots of the short film, it establishes the reuniting of him and his family after their argument. Through the medium close up we see their eye contact and how they connect again. The lighting of the two shots are from a three point lighting. I think this because there is no shadows on the objects and people. I  believe that the reuniting of the family is more than just a symbol of family.
It shows that no matter what, life can hit you harder

then you expect it to. But in the end family will always be there for you. And in this last scene thats what I see the camera captures. A normal lens is used again in this last scene. The camera angle is at eye level. The camera doesn't move a whole lot, but it does pan down a tad when the son comes into the shot.


To me, the cinematographer's stylistic elements consisted of close ups and some hand held shots for dramatic effect. The cinematographers stylistic elements help with the pace of the film and the effect on the audience. When the man was getting hit by the car, the editing was fast to imply the hard impact of the car. Also in the emotional scenes, the shots were held longer.