Film Research- Are You Still There?

 

Are You Still There: A girl has been through a lot, now her car battery's dead in a strip mall parking lot. 

DP/Editor/Sound Designer: Sam Davis and Rayka Zehtabchi 

Cinematographers: Sam Davis  

Co-producers: Derek Tonks and Sarah Bazzi 

Associate Producers: Matthew Stanley and David Junker 

Genre(s): Drama, Melodrama 

Conventions: In this film, you sense the lingering of grief. You see that her dad passing away still affects and haunts her in her daily life. You see that she is trying her hardest to repress those feelings, but it leads her to cry and only makes things worse for her. The film takes place almost entirely inside Safa’s car. Her frustration builds when her car won’t start. Then a lady starts to yell at her and threatens to call the cops on her if she doesn’t get out of the parking space she is in, which makes her more annoyed. As time passes, she goes from feeling put out to being in despair. But then the same lady who was mean to her, comes to the realization that her car won’t start and is nice to her. And as the scenery changes so does the tone. And the chemistry that Safa and her mom have is wonderful. You can tell that they are close and have an unbreakable bond. These scenes are very warm and uplifting. And as happy as those moments are, you can see that Safa still griefs over her dad. You can tell she still misses him and that there are things that she is going to have to do without. For instance, she couldn’t call triple A because her name wasn’t registered underneath her dad’s. And then she had to jump start the car, which is her dad, with her mom. It’s the little things that pull everything together.  

 

 

Tropes: I like how they are the little reminders of the dad still lingering. For example, the car happens to be dad’s but is eventually passed down to Safa. And when she needed to call triple A, she couldn’t get help because she wasn’t registered under his name. It intensifies that feeling of sadness because even though he is gone, he still lingers in her life. And then there is the hat that she found in her mom’s truck. And yes, even though that is a sad moment it’s still a very sweet moment for the daughter.  

 

 

Clichés: The main plot revolves around the death of a relative.

 

Takeaways: This film touches on the idea of how even though someone in your life is gone, the memory of them isn’t. That is one of main concepts for my major task that I am trying to create. Because even though the mom is gone, the daughter has little things that still connect her and her mom. There are little reminders of her everywhere. Whether it’s a memory, a place, or something she left behind for her.