Analysing Short Films: 'GERRY'S GARDEN' - Alex

'Gerry's Garden' (Dir. Jobie Nam, 2014)

'Gerry's Garden' shows a male waking up after what appears to have been a rough night - he looks physically dishevelled, unkempt and some-what busted. He is introduced to another male doing 'interpretive dancing' in the back garden, claiming that the space is now his.

The titles are some-what of a homage to early TV comedy/animation, which is a clue to the ending already. Although, the titles are definitely not something you would notice until the second time watching. Obviously 'Gerry's Garden' is a play on the classic 'Tom and Jerry', first introduced in the 1940s. The titles are aesthetically similar to of the classic's opening sequence during the Hannah-Barbera era (1940-58), and follow closely to 'Metro Goldwyn Mayers' iconic "lion roar" opening (also used for 'Tom and Jerry'). 'Gerry's Garden' opens with music similar to that found in the 1940s - an upbeat, cheerful instrumental track to keep high moral during the war. Added effects have been used to give it the authentic image shake back in the 1940s.

A fade to black-to-picture is used, with a sound bridge to accompany it. The first piece of footage shows a middle aged male, asleep on the floor. The music ends abruptly and the character begins to wake up - appearing dazed and confused.
His clothes look filthy, but he seems to get up and go straight to the door - indicating that he is familiar with the setting. My initial thoughts were that he was hungover at some sort of party, and decided to crash round someone's house on the floor. Although socially peculiar, it does seem realistic. The male shouts out that his dad has locked the door again, and an extreme close up of the door handle is shown.
Off-screen singing can be heard, and the male begins to slowly turned round - a close up reaction shot is used to show his confusion at what he can hear.
A POV shot then used to show what the first male is seeing - to his surprise, a guy is sporadically dancing in the garden and mumbling a tune along with it. Using sound editing, there is a slight headphone leak so we can just about hear what he's listening to as well.
The character's are very different in appearance - the first male inside is a typical British 'geezer', whereas the male outside has more a hipster aesthetic with his man bun hairstyle and guy liner details. It's clear that the two conflict straight away, mainly due to territorial issues. The first male shouts for his dad saying there's someone in the back garden, but he is quick to say "I'll sort it."

Like any successful conversation with two characters involved, a shot-reverse-shot is created during filming to indicate who is talking to who. What makes this conversation unique is that they are talking through a glass panel - obvious problems that spring to mind are sound. Obviously with a wall physically separating two people having a conversation, sound can come across as muffled. The editor for this film seems to have done a decent job and remembering to use filters in sound editing to achieve this creative illusion.
The male outside's voice is a lot clearer due to the acoustics of the room he is in. The male inside has a lot more echo in his voice due to the sparse use of furniture in his room. ~These important details are easy to forget when editing, but it will be something I now look out for when creating our own short film in the future.
Going back to the glass panel, the two characters also use this as a prop. The male outside uses it to his advantage by claiming he can't hear properly from the other side. The male inside says:

"Listen, I think you better get out" where the man outside then replies;

"You want me to get my ass out and stick it on the window?"

This kind of bickering is something we would expect in a child's argument, which again, gives us a clue to the big reveal at the end of the film. The male outside sticks him on the window - and this type of behaviour is common in the animal world as a sign to 'back off', most commonly in cats. He then begins to pee on the window; a sign of owning territory, so other animals know that they have been there. All of the conventions seem to be clear second time watching. Even the male inside displays common features of a dog; a dog showing their teeth usually indicates "Stop that" - much like how humans laugh to indicate someone doing something stupid or out of the ordinary, a dog shows their teeth and growls.

In some ways, this narrative could be interpreted through Todorov's theory of classic narration. So far, a character originally in equilibrium has found a disruption (being a guy in his back garden), the confrontation is this current argument ("This is my garden."). The resolution is when Gerry's dad comes downstairs. Using a pan shot, initially focused on Gerry's side portrait, then revealing Gerry's dad - it's only then that we find out that the guy inside is Gerry. His dad then says:

"Gerry, for God's sake. Stop that barking, will you?"

His eye-line match is a clear indicator as he looks straight down at the ground. If Gerry were really a human, his eye-line would would have been more of a straight line across the room.

The big reveal shows that Gerry and the male outside represent a 'cat/dog' binary opposition (introduced by Levi-Strausse). It's the most common 'feud' in the animal kingdon and in modern day entertainment. From here we can decode all of the clues that we were given, for example:

• the colour of the clothes they were wearing closely match their animal counterpart
• Gerry waking up on the floor, which was actually on a dog mat 
• the cat showing more of a carefree attitude, whereas Gerry is an angry dog.
• Gerry showing his teeth off, very much so like a dog
• the cat showing his bum/urinating on the window to claim his territory
• the 'Tom and Jerry' references; rather, just showing a cat and dog instead

'Gerry's Garden' has satirical elements to it, while also appealing to the animal lovers audience. As this short includes minor taboo language and rude gestures, I feel as though the audience may appeal more towards those older than 15.
The character's approach to each other is somewhat childish, and that's pretty humorous to see in older men, so the audience is pretty open. I also don't feel as though this short serves any real 'purpose', in terms of representation, they don't discuss any real issues or problems. At a stretch, they cover region/race - region being the two territories they believe they own, race being the different species of animal. Again, this is a real stretch of an answer!

I really liked this short because of the surprise elements to it - there were so many codes, and I feel like it was written so cleverly. Ideally, this is something I would like to create in the future. A strong storyline, with other-the-top characters in realistic situations, and topped off with a big reveal at the end. It's clear a lot of research and planning has gone into this - researching animal behaviour, (presumably) method acting, and finding costumes that fit their animal counterparts to a tee was a beautiful finish. 
I also looked at the comments section for this short, and others have agreed that the film is "observational and gripping". 
When it comes to creating our own short, I've now realised the importance of research, planning & the importance of audience feedback. My only concern would be; is there a way of revealing the story line to an audience without revealing the big plot twist at the end, but still keeping them engaged?