Analysis of a short film

Substance (2013)
Throughout the film the director in collaboration with the editor portray binary
opposites through the drunk friend and the sober friend. The drunk friend is
represented as reckless and clearly having no control over her actions and
consequences. However the sober friend is portrayed as empathetic, caring and
having to endure abuse from her friend as she cares for her.
The film instantly opens with non-diegetic soft score music, this helps to
immediately connote the dramatic, sombre tone of the film to the audience. The
grey-based colours used within the frames also help to emphasise the tone, this
combined with the slow tracking used on the establishing shots and the slow
pace of the opening sequence foreshadows the dark events which are set to take
place in the rest of the film. The peaceful establishing shots of the surrounding
environment are quickly contrasted with the mid shot of the door bursting open
with the sober carrying the drunk friend in and stating (through diegetic
dialogue) that her friend needs to stand up. The soft non-diegetic score music
fades out as soon as the characters appear to help exaggerate the stark break
away from the peaceful atmosphere.
A close up is then used of the two characters feet, the use of costume helps to
connote the personality of the characters to the audience. The drunk friend is
wearing red high heels which reflects her wild personality whereas the sober
friend is wearing flat brown boots, this shows that the sober friend is less wild
and much more grounded and therefore is the more mature one out of the pair.
Within the shot we see the drunk friend struggle to walk, nearly falling over only
supported by her friend who prevents this from happening. This action not only
shows the physical support the sober friends gives, but also the emotional
support that she desperately needs. As the sequence moves on we see the
drunk friend clearly struggle and disapprove of her friends responsible
behaviour and hitting her in the face and asking her (through diegetic dialogue)
how dare you take me away from that party, I was having fun. This shows the
nave nature of the drunk friend and that she is only focused on present selfgratification and clearly does not understand the consequences of her actions.
The sober friend is also represented as patient, despite being struck by her friend
she continues to support her and hugs her (as seen through a mid-shot) her
caring nature is emphasise through the non-diegetic score music returning to
symbolise despite what abuse she has to endure she will always be there to
support and care for her friend. She constantly repeats her diegetic dialogue
telling her friend that she needs to go to bed. Close ups of her show her trying
to calm the drunk friend down, the shots focusing in and out slowly combined the
handheld movement represent the uncontrollable and destructive behaviour of
the drunk friend. The tolerance of the supportive friend is further emphasised
as once the drunk friend is settled diegetic dialogue is used telling her friend that
she hates her. The non-diegetic score music reaches a held chord and a midshot reveals the hurt expression on the friends face as she quickly hurries away.
This shows the sensitive nature of the sober friend and despite trying to be
strong and support her friend, the actions of her friend do in fact hurt her.

A diegetic sound effect is then used in conjunction with a medium close up on

the sober friend being awoken by a distant noise of someone walking around in
the house. The wide shots of her hurrying to find out where the noise is coming
from use handheld movement again, however this time it is more prominent, as
a mid-shot reveals the drunk friend on the kitchen floor having drunk again
combined with a non-diegetic sound effect empathising her discovery shows the
destructive nature of the friends behaviour and how she is acting out of
impulses based on her addiction as opposed to logic. The shot reverse shot
between the sober friend discovering her friend drunk yet again and her shocked
reaction (as seen through the close up) represents the friend finally accepting
that there is nothing that she can do anymore and shows her as being helpless.
However despite feeling helpless she continues to try and restrain her from
drinking anymore, the two shot clearly shows the hurt expression on the sober
friends face and that she is trying to fight her emotions in order to protect her
friend. Diegetic dialogue is used by the sober friend stating that shes only
trying to help and yet combined with her hurt expression seen through the two
shot it only shows that she is exhausted and feels helpless. The non-diegetic
score music reaches a crescendo as she repeats her diegetic dialogue of her
trying to help again furthering emphasising her helplessness.
Overall throughout the short film the director is showing clear binary opposites
between the drunk friend who is suffering from an alcohol addiction who has no
self-control and understanding of the consequences of her actions and the sober
friend who is demonstrating strong self-control by trying to fight the feeling of
wanting to give up on her friend.