Text/@ Researcher Lao Huang
The German short film "Gift", also known as "The Best Gift", Douban score of 8.3, is the graduation design of Jacob Frey, a graduate of the Baden-Württemberg Animation Academy in Germany. The film is only 4 minutes and 12 seconds long, but after its release on March 27, 2015, it won 59 awards. Author Jacob Frey was therefore directly mined by Disney Animation Studios.
The short film "Gift" tells the story of a boy with a leg disability who is unwilling to accept the reality of disability, so he cuts off contact with the outside world and indulges in games at home all day. His mother often taught him to stop playing, but he was bored and did not listen, until one day his mother gave him a puppy with the same leg disability.
The puppy was not defeated by the harsh reality, but optimistically faced the setbacks of life, showing a positive and optimistic nature, which deeply touched the disabled boy. Finally, the touched boy turns off the game, opens the door, and plays in the sun with his puppy, ushering in the sunshine of life.
▲ In "Gift", many close-up shots are aimed at the boy's eye expression
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >01, O. Henry's Approach: The short film uses an O'Henry-esque ending that gives the audience an unexpected effect</h1>
O.Henry was an American short story writer of the early 20th century, who was ranked with Chekhov and Maupassant as one of the world's three greatest short story masters, and was known as the Manhattan Laureate Prose Writer and the Father of the American Modern Short Story. His works are known as the "Encyclopedia of American Life", and his representative works include "Maggie's Gift", "The Last Leaf", "The Policeman and the Hymn" and so on.
The O'Henry ▪ method, also known as the O'Henry ▪ brushwork and the O'Henry-style ▪ ending, is a kind of abrupt writing method created by O'Henry ▪ at the end of the peak loop, willow dark flower. His works often have an unexpected ending at the end, and when the reader is surprised, he has to admit the rationality of the story, thus admiring the ingenious conception of the work.
▲ "Gift" first gave us an explanation to a boy who was addicted to games
At the beginning of the short film "Gift", we see a boy who is addicted to games all day long, who ignores his mother's bitter persuasion and lives in the killing world of games every day. This reminds us of the children around us who are also addicted to games, who do not listen to their parents' advice, and who ignore learning and live in a virtual game world.
On this day, the boy's mother gave him a puppy. At the first sight of the puppy, the boy thought it was cool, but after discovering that the puppy had a disability in one foot, he immediately disgusted and disgusted the puppy and left the puppy on the ground. After the puppy was thrown, it still stumbled and ran to the boy, but the boy kicked it out.
Seeing this, the audience's mood is disgusted with boys. He's a boy who only indulges in games, a boy who doesn't listen to his mother's persuasion, or a boy who has no sympathy!
However, the end of the short film subverts the audience's attitude towards boys. When the boy was touched by the optimistic nature of the disabled puppy, he finally turned off the game, and he never wanted to go out of the door, this time, finally stood up and led the puppy out. And at this very moment, we saw a boy with a leg disability!
It turned out that this boy, who had previously disgusted us, was actually a disabled person. At this point, we instantly understand the boy, understand why he has been shutting himself off at home and indulging in games, and understand the blow that the cruel reality has brought to the boy, making it difficult for him to accept his imperfect self. And the puppy, let him usher in the brave, ushered in the sunshine.
▲ The boy was impressed by the puppy and finally stopped the game console
O'Henry's ▪ technique often suddenly makes unexpected changes in the psychology of the characters at the end of the story, or reverses the fate of the protagonist by one hundred and eighty degrees, so that the reader is shocked and recalls the previous plot, and has to admit the rationality of the psychological changes of the story or characters.
At the end of the short film "Gift", when the boy stands up on crutches and walks out of the door, we are shocked, we have previously hated this boy, and even migrated from hating this boy to hating the children who are addicted to the game around us.
But the moment we learn that this is a disabled boy, we understand the boy and begin to sympathize with the boy. At the same time, he smiled and wept for the boy to walk out of the door and find the sunshine of life, deeply touched and happy for him.
In fact, when we were in middle school, we felt the charm of novels created by O'Henry's ▪ methods. Remember "Maggie's Gift", the hero and heroine love each other deeply, but they are suffering from poverty and cannot give each other Christmas gifts. In desperation, they each secretly sold their favorite things in exchange for some money to buy gifts for each other.
The hero, Jim, sells his beloved watch and buys a comb made of "pure tortoiseshell with jewelry on the edge" and gives it to his wife Della, who has beautiful hair. Della, on the other hand, secretly sold her beloved hair and bought Jim a white gold bracelet.
When they finally exchange gifts, they are shocked that the other party has given up what they love for themselves. The end of the story not only surprised the audience, but also made the audience feel the concept of priceless love. This is the effect of O'Henry's ▪ technique giving the audience a peak loop and a dark flower.
At the end of the short film, we are shocked that this is a disabled boy
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >02, lens language: through the lens language such as the big panorama, portray the psychological changes of boys</h1>
Lens language refers to the photographer's expression of thoughts through the lens, like language. When watching film and television programs, we can often see the ideas and content that the photographer wants to express through the themes and pictures captured by the camera lens.
According to the different field distance and perspective, the lens language is divided into long-range, panoramic, medium, close-up and close-up, etc., and the shooting methods include pushing, pulling, shaking, and moving. Different lens languages convey different looks and effects.
An ordinary lens language may only play a role in explaining the basic scene, or a certain action or psychology, but it cannot resonate with the audience. A good lens language can not only resonate with the audience and improve the viewing experience, but also convey the purpose that the photographer wants to express.
Next, let's appreciate the subtlety of the language of the shots in the animated short film "Gift".
▲ From the puppy vision, depicting the red ball under the table
Generally speaking, the lens language has three main functions: auxiliary narrative, strengthening feelings and setting off the atmosphere. Although the short film "Gift" is only 4 minutes and 12 seconds, a careful analysis of the language of the shots in the film reveals that there are many remarkable shots and the ideological content they want to express. Here, I will choose three lens languages for analysis.
▲ The boy shut himself in the house and played games
This is the scene of the boy staying at home alone before the mother comes home and indulging in games. The photographer uses a large panoramic lens to explain the boy's environment: closed and dim space, hanging shutters, and large unopened table lamps. Author Jacob Frey contrasts the closed and dim nature of the room by "drilling" in through the shutters and the contrast between the few rays of sunlight "drilled" in through the shutters, and the white lamps on the ceiling, suggesting the boy's autistic heart.
▲ The mother can't help but worry about the current situation of the child after returning home
This is the mother's homecoming, the photographer centered on the mother, portraying the mother's helplessness and slight sadness when she saw her son who was addicted to the game. A few rays of sunlight projected from the shutters hit the mother and the gift held by the hand, and the author uses natural light to make the mother and the gift inside the box the focus of the camera.
But at the same time, this shot gives a lot of space to the boy's blurred side: eyes wide open, mouths pursed, Boy 1 throws himself into the virtual world of the game, completely ignoring his mother's return. The language of this shot, on the side, sets off the boy's deeply trapped in the game, and also has a strong contrast with the boy who took the initiative to stop the game and walk out of the door later.
▲ The boy walked out of the door and enjoyed the sunshine of life
This is the end of the short film "Gift", where the boy and the puppy play in the open space in front of the house. The photographer used a large panoramic lens to shoot from the perspective of the room, with the boy and the puppy as the center of the focus, and at the same time explained the surrounding scenery: the room was no longer closed and dim, the sun outside was very good, the ground was green, a warm picture, suggesting that the boy had opened his heart and accepted his imperfect self.
Shooting from the inside of the room to the outside, it also sets off the soft and warm sunlight outside, so that after the audience watches, not only is it happy for the boy to find the sunshine of life, but at the same time, he can't help but feel the urge to go out of the door, enjoy the sun and green grass, and relax himself.
▲ The end of the short film is touching, and the green and warm sun makes us want to let go of ourselves
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >03, theme presentation: parents can try to use the "side door effect" to indirectly educate their children; children are strong and accept imperfect themselves</h1>
The "sidegate effect" refers to the desired purpose through indirect means. Used in family education, when parents tell their children about the big truth, and children are unwilling to listen to or do it, they choose to influence children through indirect means, such as games, storytelling, etc., so as to indirectly achieve the purpose of education.
In the short film "Gift", the mother often persuades the boy to pause the game, but the boy does not hear it. So, on the way to work, the mother saw a puppy with a leg disability like a boy, so she bought it back and gave it to the boy, hoping that the naturally optimistic puppy could affect the boy. Here, Mom uses the "side door effect."
Eventually, the boy is impressed by the optimistic disabled puppy and feels that he can accept his imperfect self, so he closes the game, walks to the sun, and embraces the future. The mother successfully achieved the goal of educating boys indirectly through the "side door effect".
This gives our parents a good educational inspiration. In the parents' family education, if we always talk to the child about the big truth, the child is not only difficult to accept, but also has a rebellious psychology. We parents can flexibly use the "side door effect" to indirectly achieve our educational goals through parent-child games, parent-child reading, watching educational cartoons or children's variety shows together.
▲ Read picture books with children and use the "side door effect" to indirectly achieve educational goals
In the short film "Gift", the boy cannot accept his crippled self, is unwilling to face the harsh reality, and thus indulges in the game all day long. Luckily, his mother gave him a puppy to find himself, dare to face his imperfect self, and then cut off the game, walk out of the door, and embrace the sun.
In the process of growing up, no one can be perfect, and there will always be all kinds of "imperfections". Some teenagers, unhappy that they are single eyelids, so they take the risk of cutting their double eyelids; they are not satisfied with their collapsed noses, so there is a nose augmentation.
I think we should accept the "imperfections" we encounter. There are some established facts that we cannot change, but because we cannot change them, we can only change our hearts, face "imperfection" strongly, and accept "imperfection".
Accept your imperfect self and face life bravely
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the final summary</h1>
From the perspective of creative methods, the German short film "Gift" uses the O.Henry method to bring the audience an unexpected but deeply reasonable ending. From the perspective of lens language, just 4 minutes and 12 seconds, but let us see the subtleties of the use of lens language. From the perspective of theme presentation, it brings us enlightenment for family education and children's inner growth. In short, the German short film "Gift" is a rare and good film with concise content but rich in philosophy. I am @ researcher Lao Huang, welcome to like, follow.