REFLECTIVE BLOG – RESEARCH AND GROUP WORK
In our World of Animation class, we were assigned groups with one short film each – my group, Group 5, was given the animated short ‘Nodding Off’ by Kailey Choi.
Because we spent the first three weeks of class in lectures, learning about cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en-scene, we could use that knowledge to build an analysis of our assigned film.
Group 5 set up a powerpoint and a group chat, then discussed our work. We decided to divide the film into four parts: colour/atmosphere, editing, sound and framing/camerawork. There were two members of the group that wanted to do the same section (which, at the time, was colour/framing), but I managed to convince them that colour and framing are quite different, so one group member could do colour and the other do framing, and they could both expand on those topics individually.
I took on the task of analysing the editing of ‘Nodding Off’.
After our group discussion, we set ourselves the task of creating rough slides that we would discuss and refine in the next class. These are the notes I took on my first rewatch of the short film:
And the rough powerpoint slides I made from these notes:In class the next week, I spent my time gathering references on the internet and making more in-depth notes. One of our tutors told us that students often explained HOW something was used, but what they wanted to know was WHY – with this advice in mind, I identified the types of shots and editing techniques I needed to explain (using the online YouTube video ‘6 Ways to Edit Any Scene — Essential Film & Video Editing Techniques Explained’ (StudioBinder, 2023)) I split my notes into three sections:
- WHAT the technique was
- WHY the technique is used
- WHY the technique was used IN THIS CONTEXT
I built upon these notes to create coherent powerpoint slides and a script, which I posted screenshots of to our group message board so the other members of the group could see how I was going about my work and use it to help themselves if they were stuck. I then made cue cards for myself and practiced my speech with multiple friends and family members.
ANALYSIS
The story of ‘Nodding Off’, on the surface, is merely trivial, with many of the choices made in the production arguably made for purely comedic or ironic reasons. It shows a tired office worker driving home from his job, only to fall asleep at the wheel. The protagonist himself is frivolous – a bobblehead dog on the dashboard that comes to life to clumsily ensure their safe passage back home. The dog could be part of that frivolity, perhaps being a fatigued hallucination the office worker came up with to fill in the gaps in his memory when he fell asleep in the car.
But this short film, while humorous, can also be interpreted as a cautionary tale or a commentary on pressing issues.
At timestamp 00:00:20, a road sign can be seen stating ‘DON’T DRIVE TIRED’. This both acts as an ironic warning and a suggestion that this story is inspired by the very real problem of ‘drowsy driving’ – “NHTSA estimates that in 2017, 91,000 police-reported crashes involved drowsy drivers. These crashes led to an estimated 50,000 people injured and nearly 800 deaths” (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2017).
This statistic was counted in America, where the animation takes place (as you can determine from the roadsigns pointing to ‘Santa Monica’ and ‘Los Angeles’) one year before the release of this short film. Choi could be referencing these numbers and raising awareness of the issue.
The specifics of the catalyst in this story can only be speculated about – that is, the full reason for the office worker’s exhaustion.
While it could be that the man is just irresponsible – perhaps he had a bit too much to drink or stayed up too late the night before, the implied idiocy lining up with his obliviousness towards the wrecked car – the man looks to be in his thirties at least, well out of his ‘partying prime’. It is more likely that it is not the fault of the man but the fault of his job and employers.
The man could be being overworked and put on longer shifts that he is either not yet used to or are so long that he will find it hard to keep his eyes open either way. If this is the case, and it is the constant unfairness of the job that causes him his fatigue (rather than simply a one-off busy day at work), then the job could be blamed for the damage sustained to the car, which the man will have to use his hard-earned money to pay for.
This vicious cycle of overworking to earn money, causing damage due to fatigue, losing money to fix the damage then overworking to earn that money back could be the soul-crushing lifestyle that Choi was alluding to when this film was produced.
REFLECTION
I feel that the day of the presentation went as well as it could have. I spoke much clearer than I feared I would, and I didn’t forget points or stumble too much over my words. My points, to me at least, were clear enough, and I connected every editing technique back to WHY it was used in Nodding Off and what it did for the story and characters.
However, I was the only person in Group 5 to show up to class. This was because of heavy snowfall preventing my classmates from travelling, but it means our presentation was short and unfinished, which was disappointing considering the amount of work I put in.
Thankfully, I was already the first in my group to speak and had already written an introduction, and because of the lengthened time I was now given to speak, I could include several points I had previously cut out.