Research and Planning - Video

Case Study – Twenty Pounds by Chris Broom

‘Twenty Pounds’ is a short story about a girl who has drug issues. The film has been shot in live action and has a linear narrative. The genre of this film is drama. In the film we are shown her journey and what she has to do to purchase some cocaine. In the end we find that she burns the twenty pound note which symbolises her end in drug taking. The twenty pound note symbolises her whole journey and also what she is going to use it for. The director has opted to use Todorov’s linear narrative in his film as the film is shot in the sequence of beginning, middle and end. The film also is shot in live action. The theme which is set out in the film is youth and drugs but we go onto actually realise this is the theme only during the end of the film. The audience of this film are people who have dealt with drugs before and also adolescents as they are normally associated with drugs. 

The film starts off by zooming, a close up shot, into the British £20 pound note, hence the title ‘Twenty Pounds.’ Non-diegetic sound is played throughout the film. We know the film is going to consist of some sad event as the non-diegetic music played throughout is melancholic. As the camera zooms out the twenty pound note, we are then introduced to the protagonist. A transition is used to move from the twenty pound note to the protagonist. We are shown a close up shot of the girl and then a close up shot of the twenty pound note which is on the floor. A long shot of the girl is then screened to establish the setting and we are made aware she is walking through a outdoor shopping centre almost in pursuit of the twenty pound note which is on the floor. She is walking a bit fast in chasing the note however the music played in the background contrasts her urge for the twenty pound as it is very slow and melancholic. This shot establishes the story as we now know the aim of the girl. But the twist is that we do not know what she is, later on in the story, going use the twenty pound for.

As the film progresses long shots and close ups are used to convey her chase for the twenty pound note. We are then shown the deuteroganist in the film who is the drug dealer. We are introduced to the antagonist by a close up shot of his feet; this creates a sense of mystery as we really do not know he is a drug dealer until the end. We are just shown a glimpse of him and this creates more mystery but then the scene develops and we are shown an insight into life. The story here takes another twist as we discover that he is actually drug dealing to fund his music lessons. A long shot is portrayed to show him playing the piano with his instructor. And a shot reverse shot is used when he hands over the twenty pounds over to the piano teacher. The next scenes are long and mid shots of the drug dealer smoking and also a high angle shot of the drug dealer is taken to show his power. After this scene we are shown the protagonist again and she finally is victorious in chasing the twenty pound. Throughout the film we are only shown the lower part of the protagonist’s body using a mid-long shot; but during the end where she purchases the cocaine she is mainly shown in full and this shot could symbolise that she does not feel whole until she consumes the drug. In the end she purchases the drugs and a mid-long shot is used to highlight this. Still images are used in the end to piece together what has actually happened throughout the film. And finally the film concludes in a close up shot of the protagonist and the twenty pound note as we find the protagonist burning the twenty pound note which symbolises her end in drug abuse.

This film influenced me in many ways and gave me many ideas such as the notion of using motifs in my film to portray transpiring something. For example in our film we are going to show a scene where our protagonist finds a letter from the hospital and this letter is going to be a symbol of the antagonist’s illness.