Past The Second Stage is a six-minute movie by Samuel Hunter Galloway about a man grieving for his brother. Due to it sharing a similar genre (drama) and timespan as Cumha (about five minutes without credits), I decided it was a good idea to analyse it and search for inspiration for our own piece.
The structure of Past The Second Stage follows a fairly conventional route; there's an established equilibrium (Man trying to get his brother's affairs in order), a disruption (Man angry at his brother's death due to it being an accidental overdose), and then a new equilibrium (Man allows himself to openly grieve for not only his brother but their lost youth, where they were much closer.)
One of the most notable aspects of Past The Second Stage is the use of a voiceover as a sound bridge to introduce a conversation while the action on screen doesn't match up. Although nothing is set in stone, this is something we were considering for Cumha, if not with a script then with the ticking of a clock. It was good to see it used in a professional piece, so I could get a better idea of how it may sound in our movie.
In terms of Mise En Scène, one of the most striking things I noticed in this short movie was the contrast between light and dark and the use of outdoor and indoor scenes. Any outdoor shots are full of nature and brightly lit by natural sources, whereas indoor shots feel claustrophobic due to being dimly lit and the set being grimy and untidy.
When the main character enters the room, the first thing he does is open the curtains, providing a strong main light source for most of the movie. This allows for some lovely backlit shots.
As the man's emotions reach a climax, the room fills with light, presenting light as a vehicle for truth so that he can finally be honest with how upset he is. This is an interesting idea we could incorporate into Cumha as we've been toying with the idea of two very definite, opposing locations: A bedroom at night, and a brightly lit park during the daytime. Using light as a motif in our piece could be applicable as well, it could possibly represent the past and our main character's nostalgia.
An interesting technical code used was the treatment of flashbacks. They were slightly slowed down, with soft focus and the occasional lens flare. This all added a dreamlike feeling to the past and really made the man's nostalgia much more understandable and poignant. Glimpses of the past also made shots from the beginning have more meaning, the shot of the two young boys playing together, in particular, seemed to have more gravitas.
I also liked how the flashbacks focused on one part of the body or a certain object instead of just using medium shots. It made it feel more like an actual memory because the man was only recalling what was really vivid to him, and couldn't perfectly remember whole scenarios.
Focusing on certain objects also happens in the present day, which adds to the overall mood and slow pace of the piece. Light is used once again to show certain objects in positive perspectives and other in negative ones.
This is something we could incorporate into Cumha, and it would work nicely with the slightly disjointed, ambiguous vibe of the film.
One thing I noticed that Past The Second Stage did, that it may not have done if it was a full length movie, is leave the ending slightly ambiguous. Very few questions get answered, other than how the brother died. There's still the mystery of how he ended up taking drugs, if his death was intentional, or how long ago the two brothers drifted apart.
I've noticed this in the past: due to their brief timespan, most short movies leave their endings open for interpretation, and this could be something we use in Cumha, particularly because we may not have a script.
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