Joyride is a short 10 minute thriller set in the UK. As a thriller it uses certain conventions that we identify with that particular genre and style.
First of all the mise en scene used, setting is night and it is raining something seen as to be typically British. Our main character is a power line repair man, because of his costume is a uniform of one and you get a shot of him looking at an electricity pole, he is also on the phone talking to a work colleague about it. We also have the two physco's, dressed like any normal person, however incredibly violent in what they say and what props they have, axe and a knife.
Also three police men/women appear, wearing typical costume as we would expect British police to be dressed as.
There is non-diegetic sound used to build up the tension that works extremely well and keeps your mind wondering, especially at the end when you believe that he is safe you then got the shock sound of him dying, using diegetic sound.
The characterisation is making the main character a bit of a hero, Gillespie himself said he based the main character on Die Hard, using similar costumes (vest) and being caught in tight situations.
The main issues and themes in Joyride, is obviously Joyriding, it involves the stealing of a car and beating a victim.
2) How does this film use genre/style conventions uniquely?
It uses its genre of a thriller uniquely as it keeps delivering surprises, for example when you see the man lying in the road, you assume that he is dead, but then he turns round to be the kidnapper of our main character. A final example is the ending, you believe that he has been saved and that everything will be okay, until you see the sparks flying on the electricity pole, knowing that he is covered in petrol, the camera then starts to tilt and you hear the sound of flames going up, you know as the audience that he hasn't survived.
3) How does the film use the short film format?
The advantage of a short narrative is that it's more fast paced, it leaves no time clips that have no relevance to the film at all, its also able to shock us, with how quickly it can go all wrong and can keep surprising us with twists. 'Joyride' has a good narrative structure and ordering as where we start at the beginning of the film is also where it ends, giving us closure.
4) What do you find interesting about the sound?
The sound is well placed and time, giving us the impression that it is real. You can hear the bad weather that we associated with British weather (rain and thunder), the sounds of the car slowing and speeding also give us the pace of the film.
5) Themes and issues and representations
The main issues raised in this is obviously the stealing of a car and beating its victim, the protagonists seems to enjoy this, there is no real reason why they have stole this car and chose to be violent towards the main character, whereas they could of let him go. We are a restricted audience, we only know what is happening through the main character.
As with Rachel and Priya, consider your format. Embed the film, take some screen grabs to highlight particualr things you liked and sum up with what inspired you?
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