'Two & Two' By Babak Anvari - Short Film Research - Sam Swinson

'Two & Two' By Babak Anvari - Short Film Research - Sam Swinson

About the Film (Director, Release date, Overall plot and Issues):

This short film is a 6 minute short that was created by Babak Anvari. It was released on  the 17th September 2011. I found this short film on YouTube which is a video sharing platform.

This short film is based in a classroom that is in Iran. The film starts by showing the students in the classroom then the teacher comes in. We immediately see that all of the children are very disciplined as they do what the teacher says straight away. Then the children are informed that there will be some changes in the school by the headmaster. This is because now the students are going to be taught what the teacher want or believe in. The children are now taught that two plus two equals 5 instead of equalling 4. However, 1 student disagrees with the teacher and gets killed because he keeps on saying that it equals 4. Finally, at the end of the film we see a student write out 2 + 2 = 5 then he scribbles it out and writes 4.

This short film deals with the issue of authority and challenging authority. This is because the  authority (the teacher) is trying to inflict their views on to others. Also, it deals with the issue of beliefs because the student that challenges the authority truly believes in what he is saying and he sticks by that for the whole film. It conveys the message that there will always be powerful people that will force the wrong views onto others and the people that stand up for what they believe in will suffer in some way.

Concepts:

I will be applying 3 media concepts to this short film. I will apply:

• Narrative
• Media Language
• Representation

Each concept will be colour coded to make it easier to see where I have applied each concept to the short film.

Analysis:

Narrative & Media Language:

• Todorov's 5 part narrative theory can be applied to this short film.
• Also, Barthes narrative theory about codes can be applied to this short film.
• Levi-Strauss's narrative theory of binary opposites can be applied to this film as well. 
• The film starts with a close-up on a blackboard that zooms out and tracks backwards to show an extreme long shot with some children in a classroom (Figure 1).
• This establishing shot shows the setting for the film and the classroom the film is set in us very basic with grey walls which is a neutral colour.
• On top of this, we can see that all the characters in the classroom are boys and there are no girls in the room which raises the issue of equality. 
• This is because in the area of the world that this film is set the views on women are very stereotypical which suggests why only boys are in the class because only boys are worthy to learn in that part of the world.
• This is the Equilibrium part of Todorov's narrative theory because at this stage in the story everything is normal.

Figure 1

•  After this the teacher walks in and as soon as the door is opened the students stop talking and stand up to show respect (Figure 2).
• This suggests that the students are well disciplined.
• Also, this shows Levi-Strauss's narrative theory of binary opposites because the students are smaller than the teacher which represents authority vs powerless.

Figure 2

• Then there is a mid shot of the teacher as he looks at the students (Figure 3).
• There is a zoom into the wall speaker behind him as the headmaster speaks.
• As the zoom in happens there a switch from a wide depth of field too shallow depth of field to put the audiences focus on the speaker.
• This created Barthes code of enigma because the audience are wondering why the focus is on the speak and it connotes that the change being described is important to the story.
• This is important to the students because the diegetic dialogue is "there will be some changes in the school."
• This is the Disruption part of Todorov's narrative theory because the once balanced world is now being disrupted by the change the headmaster is making.

Figure 3

• After the announcement from the headmaster has finished there is a mid shot of the teacher as he writes on the board "2 + 2 = 5" (Figure 4).
• This is also part of the Disruption stage as now the audience knows exactly what the distribution to the balanced world is.
• After the teacher has finished writing it on the board he turns to the class to see how they react.
• This creates enigma because the audience is questioning why that has been written on the board when they know it equals 4.

Figure 4

• Next, there is a mid shot of one side of the class as they say five (Figure 5), however, there is one student that is putting his hand up to say that it equals 4.
• This is the first time that we see a powerless person stand up to the authority.

Figure 5

• Then there is an over the shoulder shot looking at the teacher in a mid shot (Figure 6).
• The teacher is saying to the student that he should not question what he is being taught.
• This represents the authority forcing their views onto others and making me believe in the same things that the authority believe in.

Figure 6

• After this, another student stands up to the teacher and says it equals 4.
• This is a mid shot of the student at eye level angle to represent that the audience is on the same status level with the student which allows them to sympathise with him (Figure 7).
• This is the Confrontation part of Todorov's narrative theory because the student has seen the disruption and is trying to resolve it.

Figure 7

• Next, there is a close-up on the teacher as he shouts the diegetic dialogue"SILENCE" (Figure 8).
• This clearly shows Levi-Strauss's narrative theory because the student is powerless vs the teacher who is powerful and the teacher gets angry when the student tries to take his power.
• Additionally, this is used of Barthes Action Code because the audience can sense that something is going to happen because of how angry the teacher is getting.

Figure 8

• After this, there is a slow zoom from a mid-shot to a close-up of the student as he stands.
• As the teacher has left the room the other students start saying things like "you will get us all in trouble" and "he's going to kill you" (Figure 9).
• In modern terms "he's going to kill you" is an expression of a figure of speech, however, in a place like the setting of the short film where dictation is still used this is taken more literally.
• On top of this, this foreshadows that the student is going to be killed.
• However, the student is still not backing down and his facial expression shows determination which suggests he his going to stick to his beliefs.

Figure 9

• Then the teacher comes back with some other students who are model older students.
• There is a close-up on the teacher with the older students out of focus in the background (Figure 10) and their costume is the same as the younger students, but, the have a red patch on their arms.
• This represents Nazism because it is very similar to the patch warm by a Nazi soldier. 
• This means that these people are following the orders of the higher powers and that is what the young students will one day become.

Figure 10

• Next, there is a close-up over the shoulder shot focusing on the young student as he is at the front of the class and has been asked to complete the sum.
• His facial expression shows determination and this suggests to the audience that he is going to stick to his beliefs.

Figure 11

• After this, the next few shots are editing in a fast pace to add to the authority that they have over the student and adds emphasis of what might happen to the audience (Figure 12, 13, 14). 
• This is due to the contact in pace which emphasises the point more.
• Also, this adds enigma because the audience is questioning why the older students are holding up air guns.
• This begs the question are they going to kill the student.
• On top of this, the audience is guessing what till happen next with Barthes Action Code.

Figure 12

Figure 13

Figure 14

• Then the student writes "4" on the board and turns back around to face the class.
• The boy is then shot by the older students which is a huge shock to the audience and to the other classmates.
• Then the is a cut to a close-up of the writing and the blood on the board which emphasises the shock to the audience (Figure 15). 
• This is the Resolution part of Todorov's narrative theory because the student who was causing a disruption has been dealt with.

Figure 15

• Next, there is a cut to the teacher as he writes out "2 + 2 = 5" and turns back to the class.
• This shows the circular narrative part of the film because it is the same shot as the at the start, however, both the students and audience have learned what happened when you challenged the authority.
• Also, this is the New Equilibrium part of the story because this is what the new balance will be like for the world.

Figure 16

Representation:

• Representation is used effectively in this short film.
• The teacher is supposed to represent authority and how authority cannot be challenged because authority decides what is right and wrong.

• Additionally, the student represents someone who truly believes in what they think because he didn't back down even when authority got tough with him.

• Something interesting about the way that it represents this issue of challenging authority is that if people in real life didn't challenge authority then life would not be the same as we know it.
• Finally, the final shot is a close-up (Figure 17) on a student crossing out the "5" and instead writing "4". 
• This represents that some people stand up to authority without actually physically standing up to the authority.

Figure 17

Short Film on YouTube:

Inspiration (relating this research to my short film):

What in particular you found inspiring, or CREATIVE about the use of the concept in the film?


I liked lots of aspects of this short film and found lots of parts of it inspiring in different ways:

• I like how the circular narrative is used effectively to emphasise the issues that this short film is about because we can clearly see the path that the students have been through since the start. Therefore, I am going to try and implement a circular narrative into my short film.
• On top of this, I like the subtle ending that connotes deep meaning. This is because the student did the same as the student who got killed, but, he is disobeying authority quietly to himself. Therefore, I am going to try and have an ending that connoted deep meaning like this.