Non genre specific- Mikes new car short film

When investigating other genres of short film I focussed on the short film that related to Monster Inc (2001) which was a adventure and comedy. The short film I decided to look at was Mikes New Car which was made in 2002 which was also had a comedy genre. I thought by investigating this genre of film I would research the complete opposite genre to drama and explore the other possibilities that you might find with the comedy genre. This short film explores one of the main characters Mike getting a new car and him and the other main character Sullivan experience difficulties with it.

Camerawork is used throughout this short film to emphasise the comedic genre of the film. You can tell this because there are a lot of wide shots being used front onto the car showing both of the character in the shot. With the use of a wide shot the audience is made aware that the both characters and the car are the most important things within the film, the fact that the film doesn't explore anything outside the Carin detail further implies this. Another idea that can be inferred by this is that it gets the audience to look at the film as a whole and it doesn't focus on any real detail, this could be because the target audience for this short film would have already seen Monsters Inc so they would already know the characters and the basic idea behind the storyline. Due to this the short film doesn't need to focus that much on explain the background this is why not a lot of long shots are used to show the setting/location and there aunt that many closeups showing the audience detail about the characters. Another way that camerawork has been used to infer that the genre of this short film is comedy is through the use of camera angles. What I mean by this is that the film explores the car fighting back which involves Mike getting hurt which isn't anything unusual as you would've seen in the first film. The camera angles used to show the car and the very start is a high angles shot which shows what power the characters have over the car which is what it is supposed to be like but then at the end the camera angle changes to a level shot of Sullivan through the car as it drives off this shows that there has been a change in power. This shows that it is a comedy film because it explores the idea of something that shouldn't fight back, fight back and the fact that it is inflicting pain onto Mike and not Sullivan which is what always happened in the first film. Due to the use of camera angles and camera shots this short film is highlighted as being a comedy film.

Another aspect of mise-en-scene which implies that this short film is a comedy film is props. Within the short film you can see that the car that they are driving has teeth implying that it is a monster which is ironic because it does in fact act abusively towards the characters. Another idea that can be related to this is that monsters have cars and are living a normal life like we do. What I

mean by this is that due to the use of the car and the idea that they are living a normal life the shortfall becomes relatable and because they have explored this idea in an over exaggerated way the film has become comedic. They have almost inserted a small bit of seriousness into the storyline by including the teeth on the car which could imply how deadly they are and then the idea of how they can ca
use people pain but this is all presented as being comedic due to these choices. In conclusion the short film is being presented as having a comedy genre.

The use of sound also infers to the audience that it is a comedy film. What I mean by this is that in one of the scene where the camera shows the whole street there is hardly any sound; this contrasts the scenes before and after because of the sound. This creates a comedic element because during this scene the audience focusses on just the footage allowing them to see the man that walks up to the car by due to the things that are happening runs away, in other films where there would be more sound and emphasis on the actions,
this could be seen as scary but due to the combination of camera shot and sound the scene is presented as being comedic. Overall within this scene due to there being no sound the audience gets to focus on the actions which because they are exaggerated they are seen as comedic.

Another aspect of mine-en-scene is lighting and within this short film you can see that there is bright, natural lighting being used. Bright and natural lighting is a stereotype of the comedy genre because it
implies that the story is happy which is what a comedy should be because it makes people laugh. With the contrast of actions and light in this short film also makes it comedy because if the music was different and the light was different to film would come across as more of a horror genre which isn't seen as comedic. Due to the use of bright lighting the idea that the storyline is supposed to be happy and there is intact a happy atmosphere is suggested to the audience, therefore implying it is a comedy film.