"Archie" - Directed by Daniel John Williams

Storyline

Archie is a story about a young boy who is desperately eager to purchase a bow and arrow. For the mass duration of the film, "Archie" is seen with his mother, throughout different parts of the year, observing the much-desired object through the shop window. In each scene a homeless man, seemingly living outside the shop, is shown going about his daily ways in clear view of the boy and his mother, Archie paying more and more attention to him as each season passes. Throughout the film Archie is presented completing a variety of manual tasks prior to placing his hard-earned "pocket" money into a piggy-bank, saving for the bow and arrow. However, when the day finally comes when he has enough money, he changes his mind, putting his savings into the hand of the sleeping homeless man. At the end, Archie is seen assembling a piece of wood from a tree, making his own bow and arrow.




Narrative

The film holds a linear narrative structure with the story taking place chronologically. However, for the story to develop in such a short space of time, the narrative is split into seven visible time sections.

                                       Between each scene (1-6), shots are presented to Archie doing a chore and recieving coins in payment, eventually leading up to the emptying of the piggy bank - his savings. 

Enigma Codes

There are a few possible questions/enigma codes throughout the sequence that allow for the audience question certain parts throughout, and even after the film:

• Why does the boy keep looking at his mother? 
• Why does the boy stare at the homeless man? 
• Why did the boy give the money to the homeless man?
• At what point did the boy start considering giving the money to the homeless man?
• What does he homeless man do on discovering the money, knowing fully well the boy was saving up for something in the shop window? 

Characters

Archie is the main character, a boy who surprises his audience when the money he has been saving up through hard-manual work at home is given to a homeless man, rather than used to buy the bow and arrow he has been lusting over for almost a year. Through his dedicated hard work, the audience sympathise with Archie and feel he deserves his beloved bow and arrow - many will be able to relate to saving up for long periods of time for a material object. When the boy gives his savings to the homeless man, the audience are given a small shock, although become happy and emotional that the boy has such good moral values. The audience feel slightly sorry for the boy at this point, not having what he's worked hard saving up for, although are relieved when he makes his own bow and arrow.


The Homeless Man is a character the audience have sympathy towards, most being able to relate to the pain they feel when seeing a homeless person freezing on the street. He lives in front of the shop and seems to be present every time Archie visits. Despite his rough living conditions, the man seems to have some optimism when shown playing his guitar looking fairly content with life - however, he looks increasingly more deprived and depressed. The audience understand the awkwardness when being in the presence of a homeless man, and the guilty feeling of ignoring them. Archie seems to do just this, until later on he starts to show more interest in him, and eventually gives him his money - something which may make many adult audience members feel guilty, envying Archie's extreme generosity, particularly being only a young child.

Archie's Mother doesn't play a very large role in the film, which makes the boys generous act as the end seem even more surreal. She has no input into where Archie spends his money, and simply accompanies him to the shop each time, holding his hand. Audience members who are mothers may have proud feelings on behalf of the mother, who has watched her child do numerous chores over the vast majority of a year, only to give it away in a moment of morality - the life of another or materialism? Archie's mother merely had the role of giving him his well deserved pocket money into his piggy bank, having such a large role in Archie being able to save, she understands what it must have took to give it away.

The Shopkeeper only appears towards the end, and owns the shop containing the bow and arrow. Although maintaining a minimal role, the shopkeeper, in a way, presents the audience positioning. Through her body language and actions, she presents herself has having the same mindset and expectation as the audience - both the character and viewer believing that Archie is going to enter the shop and purchase his item after being on the outside looking in for such a long time. As she unlocks the shop door, she looks at Archie insinuating "are you coming in?", after seeing him stand outside for such a long period of time and perhaps knowing his reasoning. Like the audience, she has this expectation and assumption of the boy - he's going to buy the bow and arrow he has longed for. The twist of giving the money to the homeless man instead makes for a much more interesting and climatic ending.








Mise-en-scene

time period confusion - fourties mother, modern child

Costume: The character are dressed in a quite old-fashioned 40's manner (particularly Archie's mother), although, this could be contradicted by the fact in one of the scenes, Archie is seen wearing a modern-looking hoodie, insinuating that actually, this is set in the modern day. From what I can see, the time period is not focussed on, leaving the audience wondering when it was actually set - this makes the storyline seem more important, emphasising that moral deeds like that emitted by Archie are timeless. Archie's Robin hood outfit also reinforces the fact that this is timeless, being an old fictional character that people still know of today. This outfit also reinforces how much Archie really wants the bow and arrow to complete his look. He clearly aspires to be like Robin hood so much so that he dresses up as him on a regular basis when he goes out to glare in the shop window at the bow and arrow.

Old antique shop in background

Locations: Similarly to the costume, the locations used are also ambiguous in terms of time period. The cobbled streets and lack of proof of globalisation insinuate that this is an old town. However, many places in the UK still maintain settings like this. This sort of location may have been used as a representation of Archie's personality. In prior decades children were always brought up to respect their elders and manners were always important. By having this an ambiguous time period presented, the story becomes much more uplifting for the audience, through suggesting that acts of kindness like this do still happen and that the country still maintains its tradition values. There are many different angles that can be taken on the connotations of the setting - the latter is simply a personal viewpoint.

four seasons, lighting differentiation 

 Lighting: There are two key reasons for the use of lighting in the sequence. One is simply to show the season it is as the progression of time -winter, spring, summer and autumn, and another as a representation. The generally grim, average lighting represents reality, and the reality that for most people, work is required for any reward - like Archie, who is required to work for the bow and arrow. The realism of the lighting makes Archie's kind act much more surprising, being in a realistic place where selfishness is more popular than kindness. Conversely, it could be a symbol of the life of the homeless man, and his reality.

the bow and arrow in the shop window

Props: The main prop, the bow and arrow, conveys a similar message to that of the locations and costumes. It is situated in a toy shop selling a variety of handmade toys - something every much outdated with today's electronic technology. Again, making the time period unknown. However, the fact the last scene features Archie building his own bow and arrow reinforces past and somewhat unmaintained values of materialism, giving the story a much more uplifting ending.







Cinematography

Types: The establishing shot is the most frequently used, in order to establish Archie's relationship with the shop. The same shot type containing the same objects within the frame is repeated throughout the sequence in order to reinforce the basis of the film and how big Archie's want for the bow and arrow really is. This, along with the repetitive shot of the boys mother putting his earn't money into a piggy bank, shows how committed Archie is, making his generosity at the end even more heroic. Medium close-ups of the homeless mans poor condition are used in order to give Archie's perception and perhaps his reasoning. A couple of these shots are closely followed by medium-shots of Archie's somewhat shocked and misunderstood face suggesting his realisation of the way some people live.

Composition: Archie and his mother are placed to the left of the screen as part of the foreground, with the shop and the homeless man place in the background. Archie is faced towards the shop day dreaming about owning a leisure item, whilst the homeless man is facing onto the streets, the harsh reality of where he lives whilst watching Archie want something so trivial compared to the basic food and shelter he desires.. This shows the variation between the two social classes and the very different lives they lead.

Angles and Movement: In terms of this particular film, there isn't much to say about movement an angles which could be a fault in the filming - the director may have chosen to convey meaning in through other means.

Focus shift: Nearing the end of the sequence, there is a focus shift, meaning the camera chooses two subjects, which swap camera focus. In this case, this was first Archie, then the bow and arrow set in the shop window. This sequence takes place just after the shopkeeper arrives, inviting Archie and his mother in, thus shows the sudden focus that Archie places on the desired bow and arrow at this point, hinting to the audience that he is about to buy it - which of course he doesn't.

Camera focussed on Archie

Archie is blurred and the bow and
arrow comes into focus

Editing

Straight cuts: The vast majority of editing transitions in Archie are simple straight cuts, which could connote the "down-to-earth" nature of the plot. The harsh reality is, Archie has to work very hard in order to prize this much wanted bow and arrow. As set over a long period of time, this also speeds up the storyline, and shows Archie to be doing a lot of work over a seemingly shorter period of time that would be connoted if fade transitions were used more frequently.

Fade transitions: Despite the fact straight cuts are widely used, fade transitions are used as a "fade in" at the beginning of time-section 2, and as a "fade out" at the end of time-section 6 (read narrative section). The reason for the fades to dominate this time frame is to show where the story really begins and ends - the middle part. Time-section 1 and time-section 7 are the starting and concluding points. The point in between show the process Archie goes through to get from lusting over the bow and arrow (starting point) to building his own (concluding point).

Eyeline match: A key scene in the film, as I believe, involves an eyeline match. This is when it shows Archie looking at the homeless man with questioning, and could been seen as the turn around in the film, where the boy realises where he should really put his money. Through this eyeline match, the audience are able to see exactly what Archie is seeing, and how this might affect his decision.

Animated/Graphic shot: At the end of the film, the moving image of Archie and his home-made bow and arrow changes to a shadowing, animation shot, giving a more "fairy-tale" feel to the ending. By doing this, the idea of Archie's Robin hood image is reinforced and gives the audience an input into Archie's mind and how he sees himself. It also concludes the end of the story well, with originality.

Sound 

One interesting thing about Archie, is that there is no diegetic sound - no dialogue or sound effects. The only sound that features is the non-diegetic score, a piece of piano and string music. Although quite a sad piece of music, the strings give it optimism. As the shopkeeper comes to unlock the door, the music becomes softer with  less strings, this is then sped up when Archie gives the money to the homeless man and the strings become more prominent. This gives a sort of "heart-warming" effect for the viewer.



Titles

The titles I thought were placed really well. I often find that during many films the titles distract me away from the visuals, and with such a short space of time, Archie's narrative begins straight away - titles during this would be very distracting. Instead, the director took advantage of the last shot, and chose to position titles then, at the ending, where there is no action. This way, the audience are not distracted. Three lots of titles take place at this point, fading in and out rather than being placed messily on the screen. Despite this, a cleverly placed title at the beginning, on a background shop, is used to show the name of the film, just so the audience have some idea about what the film is about, Archie, obviously the boy.

What have I taken from "Archie"?

I loved Archie as a short film, and feel as though I can take a variety of ideas from it  in order to allow mine to be just as good!

• I think the fact the narrative takes place over a long space of time (a year) means more meaning can be created out of it and more can happen. With only five minutes to create my short film, I want the film to "say a lot", as it is difficult to tell a story in such a short time frame. 
• I like the fact that the film flowed perfectly well without any dialogue or any kind on diegetic sound. As an audience member I understood perfectly what what going on throughout the sequence and I feel that the absence of such sound made it "sweeter", I really think this was effective. If I could find such a musical  score that would change according to the mood of the visuals, or get one to be written, I would definitely consider this option.The cinematography and body language of the actors also helped me to understand the storyline.
• I really like the way the titles are placed at the end. Despite not being involved with the narrative, the Robin hood image at the end means there is still something visual for the audience to look at rather than the usually black scrolling of names.