Short Film Research: Omnibus/ Comedy

    Hey everyone, welcome back to another one of our research blogs. Today we will be digging in and looking into the Short Film Omnibus, a comedy. This film was made by Sam Karmann and won the Oscar in the 1992-1993 awards season. It portrays a Frenchman trying to get off of a train at a stop which it wasn't scheduled for. In this film, the sound starts off as some cheesy movie intro, giving us this pattern that that's how a short film comedy should start. On the train in this film, all you could hear was the sound of the engine along with the dialogue between the Frenchman and the worker on the train. The idea of minimum sound is now starting to become a pattern we have noticed through the short films we have analyzed so far. When analyzing the Mis-en-scene in this film, the costumes are usually oversized for the main character who has to well be humorous. The Frenchman in this film had a brief case, and an oversized suit, which is common in comedy films where the main character has a serious job he's trying to keep. In this short film, this is exactly the case for the character. The costume is a serious outfit, but the way it's presented makes the character look very unserious. 

    The shots in this film also consist of over the shoulder shots, close ups, and some long-shots of the crowd of people in the train. The emphasis on the characters face and emotion exemplifies his worry of missing the train which in a viewers eyes is comedic. With the long shots of the crowd being thrown in, it shows the scope of the situation and how frantic the Frenchman looks in the grand scheme of things, silly. Looking into the editing done in this film, there isn't much done. The only thing we noticed was that there are some cuts here and there and a fade in at the begging of the film and a fade out at the end. Overall, we really enjoy how everything comes full circle in these comedies. We've noticed how the films end how they started. For example, in this film in particular, the Frenchman eventually ends up getting off at the station he wanted. The comedic twist however, is some passenger pulling him back onto the train accidentally without relaxing what they've done. This correctly concludes the movie and remind the audience what the genre is, comedy. There are some things we don't enjoy however. With the short amount of time in the film, it seems difficult to fill in the comedy while telling an actual story as well. For example in this film the conflict needs to be put in place with the Frenchman's troubles before any jokers are made. It only ever picks up towards the end when he's talking to the conductor to get off, when he eventually ends up jumping off. It will be difficult for our group to have a comedy that is fast paced. This film did have a lot of elements that we enjoyed and we will be looking forward to our planning with this knowledge we have acquired. Have a great day and we'll see you next time.