Heartstrings - Story and Conventions Research

FILM TITLE: Heartstrings

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: United Kingdom

DIRECTOR: Rhiannon Evans

YEAR OF PRODUCTION: 2009

SYNOPSIS: It is a story of two string people, who fall in love and are connected but then they are pulled apart from wanting to go in different directions. They then feel lonely without each other and one asks for forgiveness. One of the string people then they said sorry and together they connected their hearts with a bow which mended their broken hearts.

The film uses the genre of a romance and shows two people who seem to have a connection which is shown through their demeanour and the way they interact with one another.

A clear example of it being a romance was that it followed the 3 act structure of a romance. The couple meet, and then there is an argument. One of them leaves the relationship which leaves both to be lonely. One asks for forgiveness and then they love each other again. This is a very common structure in romance genre films.

The particular shot which tells the audience it is a romance is when one character gives the other the heart and they connect as this instantly gives a symbol of love and connection between the two characters.

The film uses minimal colour, only using predominantly white and with bits of red. White is often meant to mean the idea of innocence in Britain so this mixed with the use of red, a passionate and fiery colour worked showed the simplistic nature of love.

Many of the codes and conventions followed through from the particular style of the way that Evans filmed the piece, she explains in her blog that she used research and inspiration from “Morph, Voodoo Dolls and Sad Sack from The Raggy Dolls.” (Evans, March 10^th 2009)

The codes and conventions of a romance used were the use of the hearts on screen, represented with the heart strings which come from chest of the characters.

Another convention which was used was that the characters were string figurines and were animated in a simplistic and children’s show fashion. Such as shows like Morph from Art Attack.

Like in Morph the characters were given simple names as stated by Evans “I’ve named them Lefty and Righty because for the most part of the film they will occupy the left and right side of the screen” (Evans, March 10^th 2009). This allows for a wider appeal and engages the audience as they can relate to the character as it is more of a blank canvass. This convention is often used in role playing games as it allows you to feel what your character feels and put your feet in their shoes.

The use of colour and expressions in the film is used particularly well, emphasising the idea of the simple needs of love.

The use of expressions on the characters is well used and conveys the message but better than if there had been a voice over.

In the film the director used a lot of symbolism to put across messages to the audience, these are both subtle and obvious and aid the viewer in understanding what is happening.

The whole film has a sense of naivety about the character, the way they interact. The way they are surprised when things happen. This in turn makes the audience see the power of love in a new and more awe inspiring light.

As previously mentioned in both Codes and Conventions and Genre is that the piece is artistically simplistic and the use of a small pallet of colours and the simplicity of the heartstrings. This was stated in a review by Flickering Shadow Designs “Two white teddies with only eyes to distinguish them enact a romance with no more than a red thread each. Clever animation, evocative and expressive.” (FlickeringShadow, 2010)

In the piece one of the characters has a small head and the other a large head, this was meant to establish gender between the two characters.

Another representation in the film and the most obvious is the heartstrings, in which the film gets its name. The director made a visual representation of the connection of love between two people through the string which left the chest cavity. This again in a very easy and meaningful manner told the audience what was happening through visual metaphors which were mimicking the feelings   of love through a real entity.

The overall film was most likely aimed at a young audience, this   is because of the way the director has taken on a style from children’s shows such as Morph and The Raggy Dolls, but also because the end project is light hearted and deals with the strong emotions of love in a simple and loving way.

Resemblances occur from this film in other children’s shows such as Get Well Soon aired on CBeebies which explains medical issues such as water infections and how to avoid them in a simple and children friendly manner.

The film is aimed at a target audience of all ages and feel that it can be related to by anyone. It has the joyful and humorous moments for the children, has the information and emotion for teenagers and for adults the light hearted take on an emotion which is known throughout all strands of life.

The use of the string characters in particular adds the cartoon element which is used in almost all children’s shows such as The Hoobs, Get Well Soon, The Wombles, Teletubbies, Pingu and many more. This added to the film as it straight away told the audience that the film is light hearted.  It also brings in a young audience to watch the film as at that age children are often curious about the world and seeing things that they can’t believe are happening such as the use of stop motion. By having this element it has that effect of showing that love can happen with anyone no matter who or what they are.

Another particular element which lends itself to a young audience is the use of humour throughout. The vivid emotions portrayed by the characters plays a key role in the film’s success and it allows the audience to easily identify how that character is feeling.

The film also has elements which suit an older audience such as the topic in which the film is about. Love. The most common emotion which is used across films as it has a lot of power and meaning behind it. The story shows the couple and visually shows what love does to someone. This is quite a mature   story and wouldn’t yet have been experience by young people.

It was picked up upon by the British Film Institute that “quite brilliant in its ability to render every turn of emotion.” (Bradshaw, 2012) which again shows that through the use of the cartoon figurines and as Evans called them ‘big, beady eyes’ (Evans, 7 April 2009) she could create a simplistic, cute and   innovative style on her film.

The entirety of the film is based in one location; this again adds to the simplicity of the piece and strengthens the message behind it. It also is just plain white and this works well as it means that there are no distractions in the background which would stop the viewer watching the video.

The use of the white background meant that the audience could leave it up to themselves where there were and be more engaged with the piece. It also gave room for white space which meant that the red of the string.

The director, Evans stated in her blog that she tried a variety of different backgrounds including Carpet and Knitting but she found that the material was the best as “it was lighter so the puppets stood out and it had no   pattern so gave the illusion of infinite space, which is what I was hoping for.” (Evans, 27^th April 2009)

There are two characters in this short film. Lefty and Righty. The characters are genderless but it is shown through their sizes and their demeanour that there is a difference for genders. Neither of them have a pinpointed gender.

Lefty is shown to be the smaller of the two characters and throughout the piece Lefty is shown to be more shy and timid than Righty.

Lefty is also the one who fixes the broken heart string by making a bow, we see his loneliness during the time when the character are apart. We feel more for Lefty as he is the one we feel the pain with in the mid-section of the film.

The overall film shows references to shows such as morph through the character movement and the style of the film.

There are also references to films such as romantic comedies like Love Actually, The Proposal. These commonly follow the same outline, a clear example would be Remember Me up until the ending sequence of the film where the storyline follows the same route as described in the synopsis.