The Elevator - Greg Glienna (2010)

this short film is more or less intended for light-hearted comedy, about a man that judges people by their weight, which leads to unresolved repercussions at the end of the short. The short displays all of Todorov's five part structure for a film including an equilibrium, disruption, resolution, restored order and a new equilibrium. The protagonist enters the elevator at the start of the clip with a simple block title that fades out as he enters the elevator. as he ascends the only people the seem to be taking the elevator are people overweight. this begins to worry the protagonist who begins to check the weight of the elevators capacity, which he works out is almost equal to the possible weight of people in the elevator. when he sees another overweight man about to enter he rushes out of the elevator to wait for the next one which at first glance seems perfectly normal, until all of the occupants begin to having coughing fits. the twist here is that the people of this lift are going to a swine flu treatment centre, which turns into a sort of comeuppance for the characters judgement of people in the first elevator, which ends with intention for light hearted humour.

obviously the themes within this short are of comedy and karma. the use of the sound in the elevator and the significant lack of dialogue allows the audience to rely on the mise en scene of the characters performance to gain the humour for which there is great. this reaches its peak when the character nods at the "swine flu treatment centre" sign as if to say, "well that was deserved". this lack of dialogue to create a comedy atmosphere is a useful tool and one our group will have to consider when planning for our short film. furthermore, in terms of sound the use of the elevator music also plays on humour as it contrast the general mood of the situation, elevator music is generally designed to be relaxing, but is contrasted here by the stressful situation the protagonist makes for himself by worrying about the weight capacity of the elevator.

unlike Tick Tock, I feel that the titles in this short film were used effectively in the way of "less is more". titles at both ends were quite short which allowed for more time in the narrative which makes for a better short film in my opinion, which could intern affect the planning of our groups short films in the future.