'Break Free' by Ruby Rose- Short Film Research Imogen

'Break Free' by Ruby Rose- Short Film Research- Imogen Evans

About the Film (Director, Release date, Overall plot and Issues):

The short film is  5 minute long and was created by Ruby Rose and directed by Phillip Lopez. It was released 14th of July, 2014. I found this film on Facebook previously but rediscovered it on YouTube again. The short film explores gender roles and transgender but focuses on what it is like to have an identity that deviates from the status quo. It is especially powerful because it represents the actor Ruby Rose who stars in it, her real life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFjsSSDLl8w

Concepts:

I will be applying 3 media concepts to this short film. I will apply

• Media Language
• Narrative
• Representative

Each concept will be colour coded to make it easier to see where I have applied each concept to the short film.

Analysis:

The short film starts with a close up of the girl's feet and shoes, her nails are painted a coral pink to represent her feminity and the transition to an extreme close up of her putting on her sparkly high heels in slow motion emphasises her slipping into a different life which mirrors her slipping into the shoes.

There are fast cuts of her preparation of getting ready from in her bag, to painting nails and then

to brushing her hair, these are all iconic girly


ways of getting ready to go on a night out.

An OTS shot is used to show the girl in the mirror slowly brushing her hair, this is the first full portrait image of the girl in the short film but it is still blurred hiding her characteristics of her face which adds mystery of what she looks like.

This is why a close up follows to show a full image of her face applying mascara which is followed  by an extreme close up slow motion shot of her putting mascara on one eyelash.

By using the cut from close up to extreme close up it allows the audience to see what her facial image looks like and to establish what type of person she is.

The scene continues with the girl continuously pouting and preening herself with lipstick and lip-gloss, she is shown to be happy with her appearance.

This is contradicted when the shot moves in to make a pair of scissors the centre of the film and so you can see the girl leaning forward over the basin with a canted angle.

A slow motion OTS is used to hover over her which makes the next cut more intense as it is begins to be fast paced.
By lingering with an OTS it is used to represent her emotions about the scissors, it puts the audience with suspense as they are unsure what the girl will do.

It is followed with another low angled from the ground close up of the girl so that she is looking over the camera as she taps the scissors on her forehead.
Her facial expressions represent that she is contemplating a  situation as she is closing her eyes and her head is slightly bowed down. A fast cut goes to an OTS shot so that you can see the girls reflection in the mirror and shows her taking a deep breathe which hints that she is about to do something serious.

The OTS shot is continuous and as she closes her eyes she chops her waist length hair down to her shoulders, this represents her cutting away her feminity as her hair has been emphasised with her good looks.

A mid shot is then followed using slow motion to show her hair tumbling down onto the floor, this is shown as a positive choice as the girl is grinning and shaking her hair with delight. She then continues to chop it off remaining with the OTS shot to show facial expressions but as the hair falls onto the ground a close up is used to track it falling.

The cutting motions of the hair becomes more rough and ragged showing that she doesn't care what it looks like, this represents her need to cut it off as if she doesn't feel comfortable with long hair. Mid Shots are used through out the process of the cutting of air to show her facial expressions. She starts with a concentrated look by focusing into the mirror and squinting her eyes to show that she cares what it looks like but as it processes she looks more relaxed by grinning and shaking her head and hair out of joy from her delight of her new hair.

A quick transition cuts to a low angle of a mid shot of the girl washing her hands and the hair she cut off is lying there all wet and there is a bottle of hair dye positioned in the corner which emphasises the change she has made to herself.

As we haven't seen the new hair it creates suspense on what her hair will look like because the camera lingers on the basin for 5 seconds. She washes her hands over the hair representing the lack of the emotion towards her hair and her cutting the ties off it. 

The girl comes into shot by dipping her head so you immediately notice the difference of her hair, it is cut extremely short like a boys hair and the sides are shaved to emphasise the difference from her long blonde hair to short dark hair.

The shot changes to an OTS so you can see her reflection in the mirror, her facial expressions are

grinning to represent her happiness about the   changed look.                                                

Slow motion is used when she runs her hands through her hair, you can see the water droplets fall down which makes the time stand still so that the transformation is emphasised.

Continuing with the OTS shot it shows the girl looking in the mirror still preening over her new

look showing a pleased look about her new appearance with various shots of slow

motion.

A Mid Shot is used to show her walking off towards a bucket, she sits down and repeats her action from the beginning of the short film by taking off her shoes, slow motion varies from her taking off her shoes and when it is off it plays back to normal.

In transition to the beginning of the scene she is putting on the shoes in slow motion which represents that she is putting on her new life, one which she doesn't like and in this scene she is taking them off so this is the beginning of her new life, also represented by her throwing them to the side showing she doesn't need them.

The girl takes the bucket and fills it with water whilst a Mid Shot is used to follow her to the bath, she is still remaining in her original bodycon dress. Before she pours the water over herself she directly stares at the camera so that it can be acknowledged and makes the scene more intimate as she is about to wash away her old self.

When she pours the water on herself her tattoos are revealed by her scrubbing her skin, it is representing her coming into her new skin and escaping her old life.

A variety of Close Up's, Mid Shots and Long Shots are used to get different angles of her washing her skin off and revealing her tattoos, this makes the scene more fast paced and shows the difference in her mood. A close up is used to show her face laughing and looking happy which represents how she is feeling and looking more like herself which is what the short film is used to represent.










Throughout the short film her true identity is finally revealed. It is shown through scenes of her transforming her hair, revealing the tattoos, taking off her glammed up appearances such as fake eyelashes and nail varnish and finishing the look with figure hiding clothes to mask her identity.
This is all shown through a variety of mid shots and close ups because this helps show facial expressions of happiness, grinning and smiling and showing how well the clothes fit on her by showing the top of her body. It represents her true identity and how she is confident being gender fluid.

Narrative is represented in the actor's voice by revealing her true identity as gender fluid because she shows her transition between a girly girl to looking like a boy.