Textual Analysis - Two Cars, One Night

Two Cars, One Night

Live-action drama, New Zealand, 2004

Director: Taika Waititi

Writer: Taika Waititi

Language: English

Colour: Black and White

Runtime: 13 minutes

The form/shape/structure starts slowly with a long-take of a sped up shot of a car park with cars moving in and out of the place, the sky moving and people coming in and out of a busy cafe/restaurant/bar. The slow start of the structure combines with the mood of the actors as they watch longingly and hopelessly towards the adult that are having fun whilst they're stuck in a boring car. Another car pulls up along side the two boys car and they are the only two cars in the hotels parking lot. The boy begins to show off to the other girl by pretending to drive the car fast and making his own sound effects, the camera keeps this scene slow and comedic compared to an action movie by taking long takes with big shot sizes. This technique of long takes carries on through the playful non-dialogue scene of the girl and boy characters. Little dialogue is used until 5 minutes into the film and then from then on there is a big scene which is the majority dialogue and with long takes. Overall, the structure is mostly languorous takes.

In this extract micro elements from the technical category of editing are being used within the first shot of the film with the sped-up clouds moving across the sky so quickly, this already tells the audience that there will be a theme of distortion in time, which is the main theme of this short as the kids want so badly to be older as they feel this gives them more power, freedom and authority. Another micro element from the technical category of camera shots - wide shots and long shots are being used when showing the two cars next to each other and the children in them as this makes them look small, insignificant and weak and this symbolizes how they feel as children. Furthermore, micro elements from the technical category of mise-en-scene - lighting and color design are being deployed as the lighting is very dark and the color design is monochrome as this shows the kind of mood as youth is something that should be celebrated but in this extract it has an underlying dark tone as the kids hope to be old and are sort of wishing their life away. Finally micro elements from the technical category of 

The set up shows the problem of this extract as the waiting and boredom of being a child and bad influences due to the parental neglect. The protagonist is the boy that goes and talks to the girl. The hook is the unexpected behavior as the children are left in the car and also that the children have strange behavior verbally as they're swearing, one of the boys talks in slang and the other is reading and this is all behavior that is associated with adults. The development then shows the girl and boy boastfully and passively arguing towards who is the most grown up and is therefore the alpha. However, there is an underlying flirtation between the two kids and therefore it's more of a competition of who is in control of the potential relationship. The challenges in this extract are the age and inexperience of these situations for the kids and what stands in the way is the stereotypes of that age equals maturity and appearance vs. reality. Finally, the resolution is the catharsis as it is relatable due to everyone has been this age before and identifies the naivety that they also once had and especially when it comes to the naivety in love.