When The Day Breaks (Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby, 1999)
Narrative Structure
When The Day Breaks (Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby, 1999) is about a humanoid pig who seeks comfort from her everyday life in the city after witnessing an accidental death of a humanoid chicken.
The story of the film is that a pig and a chicken bump into each other as they live out there normal day to day lives, but when the pig bumps into the chicken it causes the chickens oranges to go rolling away and as the chicken goes to pick them up, it results in a twist of fate to call it where the chicken gets ran over, and the rest of the film depicts hows this event has effected the pig, and it shows her going about her everyday life like previously but this time her mood is dragged down almost like the mood of the chicken before the accident.
This short film establishes the protagonist through the amount we see, Rosie the pig on the screen. Although the film begins with the chicken character, as the film progresses it becomes clear to the audience that the protagonist is Ruby, a pig. When the camera is on er she is singing along to this opera music that is playing in her house, and she is cheerfully skinning potatoes as she executes a dance. However as the film progresses and certain circumstance take place we as the audience are made aware of her acute sensitivity. Although this film also establishes other characters which helps the narrative flow and create sense of what the film is about, as at the beginning of the film we see the chicken first as he is having his breakfast. And from this first impression of him, it is implied that he is enjoying the quiet solitude of his life. The thing about this film that stands out the most is the converging narrative and how we see these two people living their lives solitary and as events take place the lives of these strangers come together.
The location of this film is established through the shots of the building, the trains, roads and the traffic light. These shots provide information to the audience and show these humanised animals who are living in what I seemingly a contemporary city in which these humanised animals live in (with no actual humans).
Cinematic Influences
Cinematography
An example of cinematography is there is a tracking shot of the pigs movements, this is significant because it flows in time with the music and creates this pace to the film. Throughout the film there re lots of tracking shots showing the movement of the film and at one point in the film the camera tracks through electrical wire and plumbing to link unrelated shots together and a major theme of this short film is this idea that everyone is connected, and this shot creates this on a visual level and helps the audience grasp this idea as we see into loads of humanoid animals lives.
Sound
The sound in When The Day Breaks opens with this traditional old music which matches the aesthetic of the film but then after this there is this diegetic sound of the pig singing to this opera music, along with the music. There are also examples of diegetic noises which hep Crete an atmosphere and show this day to day life, but it has been done in a way that it matches the music, so there is a diegetic thud of a chair, which thuds in time with the music and again this is another form of creating pace in the film. The pacing of this film is down to the key elements of film form and this makes it really effective.
Editing
In this film there is a significant use of editing to create this clear cut between the time, so the edits cut in time with the music again like said about cinematography and sound it is used to make the sequences flow. Another use of editing is when the chicken dies, as he is trying to get the orange that dropped down the drain there is a fade to black, this signifies that there’s been a death and help the story flow from the event to another. To keep the rhythm and pace of the film there is a sue of rapid cuts, this is shows the chickens life as a whole and allow the audience to know more about the chicken which result in more empathy that the audience feels towards the death of the chicken.
Mise-en-scène
In terms of costume, the chicken is wearing a suit which no only signifies this human-like world these humanoid animals are living in, but also allows the audience to an insight on the chicken lifestyle, and implies to us his wealth possibly in comparison to the pig who is wearing a dress which doesn’t symbolise wealth more an average, stable lifestyle. Also in terms of mise-en-scène, when we see this extreme-long shot of the building we see that the only window with its blind down is the pigs window, which draws attention to it and reciprocates her feeling within that current time (guilt etc.). A final point to make about costume is the colours of the characters clothing, most if them are wearing black and white except for here are a few exaggerated features, showing this subtle plain aspect of the city.
Performance
Something that specifically stood out to me with the performance of the pig in When the Day Breaks is the movement of the pig as she is dancing, she is in time with the music and this has been done to create this flowing effect and avoid any confusion especially considering the other key elements. Also, the chicken throughout has this mellow and stern sort of mood which greatly contrasts with the mod of the pig who is jumping around seemingly happy, but when the accident happens the pig in some ways takes over the mood that the chicken previously had. Also there was a wish bone of the floor which indicated to the audience that the chicken had died, creates a clear picture to the audience without making it a horrible scene.
Creating Meaning and Effect
I think that the filmmakers intentions of this film were to show how everyone in the city is connected, this is done through showing the shared (similar) lives that people live even if their lives seem isolated and atomised, like the pigs life was before she accidentally bumped into the chicken and he dropped his oranges in which when he went to get it he was run over. This was just a coincidence that they happened to be there at the same time, and this is a demonstration to show the connections between strangers. The fact that this idea is being portrayed that everyone is connects seemingly makes it become a holistic entity. Also, this creates a response to the audience to make think about the actions that someone takes towards another, it creates this meaning to the film and effectively creates this emotional response from the audience. The filmmaker achieved this through one specific sequence that I can think of is where the camera follows the electricity through the city showing all these different lives of people and it connects a disparate array characters that had some involvement in the chickens accident, one being the pig (Ruby).
Also this film creates meaning and effect through the aesthetic binary oppositions. This film displays a more abstract, geometric line-drawn style of animation and this is used when we travel through the power lies and drains of the city and get a perspective of different live sin the cities, the effect of these binary oppositions is hat creates this abstract feeling to the film, there is movement between the ‘realism’ of the characters’ lives to the reality of the connections.
Personal Reaction
At first I personally thought this film was very strange, and a little bit odd, but after thinking about the meaning behind the film I seem to understand it more, but with that being said it is not one of my favourite short films we have watched so far, and I personally think that although the story tells a story it wasn’t as grasping as some of the other short films we have already watched. I would rate this film: