Coming of Age. Rated *****
What is the story about?
A boy suddenly finds himself facing huge responsibilities in a dangerous, dystopian world. He must overcome his fears and face his enemies to save the people he loves.
Who is the main character?
A young boy in a brutal, post-apocalyptic world.
What is their objective - what do they want?
To overcome his fears and face his enemies to save the people he loves.
What is the conflict in the narrative?
the young boy must decide whether he should stay with his ill sister in their hideout, or to go out
in search of help, weapons, medicine and supplies, and the decision he makes has him taking
his life into his own hands, and has some dire consequences.
Describe the opening 2 minutes - what happens, any interesting shots and edits.
Really fast fade in to a scene of the main character running away from something, then quickly
fades to black.
Fades back in again, and includes some really cool flashes, similar to that of lightning, which
creates a sense of unrest in my mind, i saw these flashes, and wanted to see what the source of
them was, or to see what they represented.
The camera is fairly out of focus, and extremely shaky. from this fact, and also that it is following
the main character (from a side on position), i can safely say that the camera is being operated
by a single person, with no aids like Steadicam, just plain old handheld, to give a sense of
realism to the shot, making it seem like a real life event that actually happened, rather than a
short film.
It then fades from a black and white scene of the main character running to a block of black, at
which point the title, “Coming of Age”, appears.
We are then thrust back into a running scene, but this time the camera is positioned to the rear
right of the main character, in a medium shot position, and at a extremely canted angle, which
is very disorienting, and it took my eyes a little time to adjust to the angle. I think the shot is
excellent, as it is tough to watch initially, but is also very visually interesting because of that fact.
then the scene fades out to white for a fraction of a second, then immediately fades into the next scene, another running scene, but back to the long shot, side on position.
It then proceeds to cut through several various shots, including a close up of the characters feet
as he is running. This super fast sequence of shots is very interesting to watch, as you only get
to see each individual shot of the sequence for a split second before it changes to the next one,
and so could be compared to a montage, as it shows the character is covering a lot of distance, as the scenery is different for each shot in the scene, even though they are all shot in some sort of Common or Heath area.Fade out to black, then we fade into an extremely pale shade of blue, which subtly changes to the sky of the next sequence, in which feathers begin to fall from the sky. Fade to black, and the words “SUMMER 2035” appear on the screen,showing that some time has passed between the first sequence, and the next sequence. Close up of boys face, he appears to be upset about something, then we move to an extreme
close up of his face from the right side of his face, as he wipes a tear. We then move to a
medium long shot of the boy, standing next to a shovel.
We then move on to a medium shot of the boy unzipping his jacket and retrieving a feather,
the same kind that was previously falling from the sky, and placing it on a makeshift grave, in a
close up of his right arm and his legs, as he bends to place the feather.
Then we revert to the long shot, and the boy proceeds to walk away from the makeshift grave,
toward the left of the shot, until he exits the cameras view.
We then cut to a very dingy looking, run down old country house, which appears to be in the
middle of nowhere, as the camera zooms toward the main building, at which point the boy
enters the shot from behind the cameras position, as the camera continues to zoom.
On the 2 minute mark, we cut to some excellent match on action, as we just saw the boy
walking slightly toward the right, to turn the corner, then we cut to a position around the corner,
and we can see him about to make said turn.
In my opinion, this is an excellent piece of film. it engaged almost all of my emotions. it was
a tough piece to watch, but it was well worth it. especially the scene in the abandoned house
where the young boy is inches away from his one of the men who is trying to kill him, and when
he finally stabs the man, my heart was pounding like a drum. This piece of film is intense,
better than most mainstream film i have seen throughout my lifetime.
also, when the second attacker picks up the boys satchel and stares at him, contemplating
whether or not to attack him, the camera focuses on the teddy bear which the boy picked up,
and then we see a close up of the attackers face, and you can see the guilt on his face as he
takes the boys supplies, but leaves without killing him. that is a big emotionally touching part of
the film, toward the end.
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