The Manipulated Living (short film)

The fact that the child is wearing white and is Caucasian symbolises
his innocence, which is further emphasised between the contrast of
the bright colours and the low key lighting. The director has
positioned the character laid down with his arm across his body, this
foreshadow to the audience that the protagonist needs to protect
himself from a more dominant figure.

The non-diegetic soundtrack is menacing and therefore increases

the tension, this is reinforced through the non-diegetic sound effect
of the trinket (piano keys) that have connotations of childhood and
innocence; these two conflicting sounds, as well as the close up
showing the fear installed on the young boys face, make the
audience feel uncomfortable and worried for the protagonist.

Here we see Goffmans narrative theory presented; the fact that the
black shoes as part of the antagonists costume cuts off the high key
artificial lighting, acts as a motif to the audience suggesting his
antagonistic role within the text.

Before this character appears on screen, the music turns ominous

and the pace increases. This makes the audience aware that the
film is about to enter the disequilibrium stage of Todorovs theory.
The dark clothing worn by the antagonist informs the audience of
the stereotypical attributes of an antagonist. The whiskey bottle
allows the audience to see his irresponsible nature, which further
emphasises the innocence of the character shown in the previous
shot.

The director has positioned these characters in a way that

represents Levi Strauss binary opposition theory. Here we can see
protagonist against antagonist; as the dark clothing is on top and
overpowering the white clothing suggests the dominance of the
antagonist to the audience and reinforces the transition into the
disequilibrium stage.

The editing technique of a shot reverse shot positions the camera

from a high angle shot to a low angle and then back to a high angle.
This represents the duettagonist as dominant and suggests he is the
helper in terms of Propps narrative theory.