"Rosebud"

This short film uses a play on time to keep the audience interested and active. The audience is thrown strong emotions of fear and worry throughout the film because of the play on time. A girl is split up from her mother at a tube station and in her imagination meets up with her fairy godmother. During the time that the girl is split from her mother the audience is taken on a trip through her imagination.

A shot of a clock moving backwards is shown but for the average viewer this is overlooked and you don't really notice its significance until the second watch.

In the scenes where the mother and daughter are split, the audience is thrashed with opposing emotions. Thanks to the effective mise-en-scene of the shots the viewers emotions are changed every few seconds. In the shots with the mother one might feel fear, hurt and surprised, whereas in the shots of the child you feel less worried due to her blasé attitude.

Feelings of desperation and fear are shown with the use of a busy platform full of people that don't really care about anyone else but themselves. In this shot the camera is looking slightly down at the mother showing a lack of power. Mixed in with scenes showing the child's vivid imagination, the audience is left slightly confused and also worried for both protagonists.

The child's innocence is a massive part of this short, the ignorance to what could happen to her by playing in a tube station is definitely shown. For example, she is seen playing with "Mr. H" her hula hoop on the platforms, if the hoop were to fall into the tracks would she follow? This is just one example, but the dangers of a tube station are completely overlooked by the young child and this puts the audience in a slightly uncomfortable position.

When the mother is pictured running onto the platform and finding her daughter a sense of relief is felt. The woman who has been pictured helping the young child is shown to be another figment of the child's imagination. The child is pictured at the end alone however. This is to exaggerate the child's use of her imagination. It shows that she is used to keeping herself amused and is possibly an only child.



Bibliography:
1. Gaby Dellal. (2008). Rosebud. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYfPGo9X3Ek. Last accessed 5th February 2010.