Bruce Lee Played Badminton Too - Textual Analysis

Short Film textual Analysis: Bruce Lee played badminton too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUk6H3SMyqQ

I found this short film from a website that specialises in hosting short films. The film was partially funded by a small grant provided by the Australian Government. The budget was small because most of the relatively small time it took to film the shots and that most of the crew working on the film offered to volunteer their time. The genre of the short is a Drama/comedy which focuses on the struggles of a teenage boy trying to play badminton when the odds are obviously against him.

The audience are introduced immediately to the premise of the short. The main protagonist in the story is shown walking out into a badminton court. This is shown by the use of a wide shot. The character is highlighted by their white clothes which makes a contrast to the dark lighting of the scene. The combination of: Dirty shoes, old equipment and non-stereotypical body makes him look amateurish. This amateurish style links the character to the short film itself (being low budget) and the sporting abilities of the average person. So from the first scene the audience starts to make connections with the protagonist.

The next scene is him waking up in the morning and getting ready for the day. The short film uses a montage of quickly cut clips to shorten the time (Temporal Ellipsis) taken for him to get ready. This convention is common in shorter films and some TV programmes because they don’t have the time to show all of the clips individually. During this montage there is one shot that is longer than the others and this shot is an over the shoulder shot of a calendar building up to an event. This shot then thickens the narrative and foreshadows that the next scenes will be of him training for this event. It also tells us that the narrative will be linear. A linear narrative is conventional in short films because they cannot afford to waste time in developing more complex narratives like in feature films. So by having a linear narrative they can have a narrative which keeps the audience entertained for the full 15-20 minutes. The scene then finishes off with him training in his back garden which continues with the amateur theme of the film.  During this his training an upbeat song plays which creates a sense of euphoria among the audience. This can be imitating the feelings that the protagonist is going through and helps the audience to understand the passion he has for badminton.  

In the next scene the protagonist is having breakfast with his family. During this scene the family is conversing normally until they get onto the subject of the boys Badminton training. At this point the film breaks into disequilibrium. The father says to the boy ‘Stop wearing my old tennis gear… that uniform should be for a champion’. These strong words are exacerbated by the lack of any background noise and an extended period of time where nothing visually happens on screen.  This scene is one of the shortest scenes, but is one of the most pivotal scenes in the short.

 

The next clip is off the boy practicing badminton in his garden. The scene is different from other scenes because this time a subtle background music track is added. This changes the usual mood of a scene from a euphoric mood to a relaxed/calm mood. This connotes subconsciously to the audience that the narrative is thicker than just having a boy playing badminton. By introducing a romance side into this short the narrative become multi-layered. This allows the audience to reconcile with the boy and become more attached to him (Draws the audience’s attention). A Point Of View shot then confirms this as the boy is peaking over his fence and is looking at a girl next door to him. This shot allows the audience to be put into the boy’s perspective. The importance of this scene is that the boy has stopped doing something he is passionate about, to look at a girl. It can also mean that the boy is possibly insecure about playing badminton and that maybe he should prioritise other things like getting a girlfriend higher than Badminton.

The film finishes with the Badminton tournament. This is the only part of the film where binary opposites is apparent (The various opponents and the protagonist). Because of the connection the audience has with the protagonist (from the multi-layered narrative). The close ups on the protagonists show his anxiousness towards the first match. This creates tension in a scene and keeps the audience on their seat. A montage then begins showing the protagonist beating his opponents till he gets to the final, it also shows the boy’s father looking proud by cheering on him on. His last opponent is the girl that he saw while looking over his fence earlier. The same background music starts to play and the boy then loses the final match. But even though the boy loses the disequilibrium is settled as the audience subconsciously knows that the boy didn’t mean to lose he was just in a trance – because the same thing happened in an earlier scene.

The short film follows various conventions of short films such as Todorovs theory. It also contains theories from Dramas and Romance films such as: something bad happening in the narrative then the problem being resolved by the end. From this short film I have learned that for my short film we need to have a strong script and good actors to pull off a strong narrative. Also during the editing stage adding parallel sound to certain scenes can add emphasis. Sound can also be used to bridge two scenes from different parts of a film in order to connect them – for example when the boy was peaking over the fence and in the last scene when he was playing against the same girl.