The mise en scene and sound reveal a beach and the colouring of which is bleak and dull, setting a somewhat eerie atmosphere and a possible negative stereotype towards disability (how it can affect people etc). The camera cuts to a long shot of two characters, a man and a woman, flying a kite.
The man is standing in a very laid back posture and it isn't instantly obvious he has a disability. The woman, however, stands with her hands close to her face, a possible sign of anxiety and nervousness. Her hands are fidgety and it's apparent she finds it difficult to focus on things; her facial expression is very vacant. This could indicate her disability and causes the audience to question why she's acting like this.
As the camera cuts, the lighting dims to low key, demonstrating time passing. The man and the woman are seen dismantling the kite. The man holds the pieces close to his face, his expression shows he's entirely focused on what he's doing, suggesting an intense interest.
The film continues and it cuts back to the man flying the kite alone. The lighting has gone from low key to high key, suggesting a change in mood and atmosphere. At this point, because the audience has seen the man's obvious interest with the kite, the audience questions his suggested disability. The fact that he has what appears to be an intense interest, suggests he has a type of autism called Asperger syndrome (AS); one of the characteristics of the syndrome is having some kind of fascination of something.
When the girl starts talking to him, he tells her he has Asperger syndrome, confirming the audience's queries. The film continues and the man and the girl are packing the kite away, the woman returns. She is obviously jealous as he has made a new friend; she may fear that the girl will replace her. Again, her lack of empathy is another characteristic of AS (whether she actually has it remains unclear, but the audience can assume so). When she tries to speak to him, it looks like he doesn't want to talk to her as his speech is mumbled and quiet and he turns away from her. At this point, the woman's status is low as she is being intentionally ignored.
The man and the girl sit on the beach and talk and the ferry goes by and he begins to talk about them. This indicates another one of his intense interests as he talks about how he knows how a ferry works. The music used is very atmospheric and almost warped, which can be seen as contrapuntal to the image being shown; a calm, bright day at the beach. This could represent the man's senses and his feelings, as his are different to the girl's. However, this type of music could also be suggesting a negative stereotype about his disability, that his view on things are 'warped'.
The camera cuts to a MCU of the woman watching the man and the girl, her facial expression and the audience's knowledge of her showing obvious jealousy. This links back to the fact that she has a lack of empathy for the man making new friends, which could also be a negative stereotype.
When the camera cuts to the man and the girl on the ferry, the hand-held camera movement instantly suggests something is wrong. The ambient noise slowly dies down, and as the man seems to be struggling to focus with an expression of discomfort, a dull ringing sound gradually builds up. It's unclear whether this certain sound is diegetic or non-diegetic, but it is possible it could be both. This clearly represents his disability having an effect on him and the audience as a whole.
As the sequence continues, the girl explains what's going on, and the audience can quickly see that she is lying. This therefore positions the audience to dislike the girl, as she was nice to the man before and is now framing him (linking back to the conversation about a 'white lie'). Here, she is showing she has more power over the man as he is unable to communicate what's actually going on.
The camera cuts and reveals the woman sitting on bench and the audience can only assume she is waiting for the man. The policeman is trying to talk to him but the audience can only hear slight muffled sounds, representing the man's current state. He lashes out a few times and the music/sound effect booms, creating a shocking effect. This represents how his disability affects him and reinforces that it can change him as a person.
All of this positions the audience to feel sorry for the man as he is badly misunderstood. The girl is seen being led from the ferry and she stops when she sees the woman, her facial expression clearly showing that she feels guilty for what she's done.
The shot fades to black and the last few shots show the man and the woman together without the girl. The audience can be positioned depending on how they feel, if they liked the girl or not (the majority probably being against her). The two together represent what the woman was saying before, as the girl may not have 'been the right friend', and the audience can feel sympathetic towards the woman. This could be seen as a positive stereotype of the woman's disability, as she thinks of the possible consequences of making new friends (this isn't seen as a characteristic in the autism spectrum, but it does show that it doesn't affect her greatly).
Key
- Blue = mise en scene
- Red = sound
- Orange = editing
- Green = camerawork
- Purple = representation
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