Short film 3: Accident

The extract begins with a selection of panning shots of London buildings, in order to establish the location and setting of the text. The slow paced editing shows the distance of each building and the suspense within the narrative. Upon audience members seeing the opening scene, a white font is used on a black background. As this is something generically seen in thriller films, it entices audience members to become engaged with a hybrid of genres that will be presented in the text; thus showing that the text may obtain‘thrillerness’ to it.


The director uses mid shots to emphasise the differences between the two white males and the Indian male. This is also reinforced through the positioning of either character in which they are facing one another (two whites opposite the Indian male). Thus, helping to show that the theme of race is going to become a predominant focus throughout the text.






Upon the discovery of the victim in the middle of the road a handheld camera is used to emphasise the panic in the situation. This panic is again reinforced when close up shots of strangers/ witnesses are used in order to make audience members informed of the surroundings within the scene. Ambient sound is used to highlight the realism behind the event and the effect of no soundtrack or non-diegetic sound stresses this realism so that audience members can engage to the text.

After the accident takes place the director uses a selection of close up shots in order to show the reaction and facial expressions of the witnesses within the text. This makes audience members build suspense as they are unable to determine who maybe guilty of the accident that has just taken place. The effect of suspense would not be so explicit if a long shot were used because it would mean that the audience members can see all/ the majority of the shot. Therefore using a close up is appropriate for building a particular effect on the audience members; thus helping to further engage them into the narrative as they are made to evoke concern and sympathy for the duration of the scene. This ambiguity and suspense is also built upon the use of the handheld camera because it reinforces the ‘strangers’ within the scene and how they do not really know what they should be doing in order to save the endangered victim.


An over-the-shoulder shot looking at the police men is used in order to show how the whole accident is perceived by the general public. Thus, helping to make it seem as if the audience members are also apart of the general public in the scene. Consequently, engaging the audience to build a compassion for the situation that has occurred. As well as this, the audience members also get the opportunity to build a reaction from the police men questioning the witnesses. This helps to keep audience members informed and apart of the investigation.



After the ambulance arrives the editing of the text becomes sharper and the shots are cut at a faster rate. This helps to reinforce the investigation that has occurred as facial expressions, witnesses, weapons and personal belongings are identified. Thus, helping to keep the audience members well informed of the situation that has just occurred and the reasons for it occurring in the first place.