'The Real Thing' Analysis

Notes
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Camera: front mounted camera on car, slow tracking shots, large compilation, shots last 2-3 seconds, tell story, run alongside the plot, macro shots, variety of long shots, medium shots, close ups, interview shots

Editing: quick, short cuts, fluent throughout. Speed changes for panning/tracking shots. Text over film, titles at the end, plain text over footage.

Sound: Voice over throughout. Old western style music faint in background, gets faster as the car goes out into road, noise of car is extremely loud in the mix.

Mise-en-scene: Based in a garage, busy looking, work fuelled place, main protagonist wearing plain clothing, neutral colors.


'The Real Thing' is a documentary style short film, focusing on the history and rebuild/creation of a Ford Mustang. The film starts with a really interesting shot, where the camera is attached to the front of the car. This POV shot, combined with the raw sound of the car, allows for the audience to feel as though they are one with the car. As the sound gets fiercer, the shots begin to change much faster. This adds to the drama of the piece and makes the acceleration and the speed of the car appear much greater than it probably is. As the film progresses, and the story evolves, quick cuts (acting as a montage) of different pictures stuck up, with extremely slow, yet effectives pans help with the voiced-over narrative.    Guitar cuts in and simultaneously with this, the titles appear placed in the left and right of the screen. The thick, bold white font stands out against the varied focus shots. There is not much change in the shots, as they are still a compilation of long, medium and close up shots. A key element in this film is the shot-reverse-shots going back and forth to the narrator of the piece. Being enabled to see his facial expressions, connotes the pure emotion that this man feels towards the project and topic that he is working on. There is a constant background music with a western feel which links back to the origin of the Mustang itself. All of the shots mirror the story and have a relevance towards what is being said.
The location change is introduced with an establishing shot of the new venue, and the location, typed in the same font as the start, in the top right corner. In the show there are a number of reaction shots which show the emotion and pure love for the car.
As the car is pulling out of the garage, the music not only gets louder, but also increases in pace. This adds severe tension to the film as the viewer readies themselves for the Mustang to be unleashed onto the road. The use of an interior shot allows an insight into what is happening inside the car, relating the edgy feel that the driver himself portrays. the sound of the revving engine is then increased drastically, mixed with extremely short, extreme closeup shots of the engine itself, expressing the pure power that the car itself has. As the car speeds away, tracking shots of the car on the road express the speed and ferocity that the car has. The main films end with the car driving away into the distance, with a very wide angle shot, spanning both sides of the road, connoting the project has come to an end, as with the film. the end titles then come over some artistic, extreme close up shots of the workshop and the car, showing off the work in all of its glory.