Short Film Analysis

The Flying Man

The Flying Man is a short film about multiple murders that take place by the Flying Man, a vigilante who takes it upon himself to rid the streets of New York of convicted criminals. As the death toll rises the citizen start to dislike the vigilante and the police try to stop as they think he should have just brought them to prison rather commit them to needless deaths. 

Throughout the starting sequence of the film there is large use of low angle shots to show the Flying Man as he is in the air which implies that the unknown vigilante has more power than others as he he places above them with him being in the sky. Although there are rarely any other people in the shot when he is shown to be flying the feeling of him still being superior to all others is still strong just by the fact that he is flying and looking down everyone from the air.

As the Flying Man is being reported on there are over the shoulder shots to show what is happening from the helicopters sent out to track down and possibly capture or destroy him, but as it is meant to be being filmed from the helicopter the shot is shown to be disrupted by other frequencies that are conflicting with the camera's.
Also, the vigilante is shown as part of the Breaking News bulletin on a news channel as to show the severity of the situation at hand as he drop a car from the city skyline. This then brings the seriousness of the situation up and helps to build tension for the audience.

As the film opens point of view shots are shown to be looking up at the vigilante and shows people using mobile phones as a way to film what is happening showing the event of the Flying Man to be something of great spectacle as the citizens standby and watch has chaos ensues.
The two main characters that seem to be attempting to track down the vigilante appear to be doing so in a peaceful manner the eldest of the two has armed himself with a hand gun as a way of protection, though this may seem to show that he is willing to fight for his life I think it shows more of the man's fear towards the Flying Man and to death and so is arming himself in more of way to feel protected rather than to actually use the weapon at hand. Also given a lot of the film seems to be shot at night there seems to be a lot of shadowing of the characters which builds the tension of the scenes by darkening the character's features and giving the scenes a slight eerie, uncertain feeling.

 







Throughout music that is similar to that of films like Sunshine and Kickass is used. The music uses slow bass that contrasts with the speed of the drums. By doing this the drums keep the pace of the film fast while the bass keeps the tension high and building.
A news reporters voice is heard as the film leads up to the news report film and comments on what has been happening so far with the vigilante's actions and how people have been reacting has the action unfolds. This is also used towards the end as the two characters tracking him down are put in a car pile up on the highway by the vigilante, in it used to explain that one of the men is alive although recovering in hospital and leads to the final scene of the film when the man realises his inevitable fate.


In the final scene of the film the younger of the two men is shown to be laying unconscious in a hospital bed. This is then taken to a close up panning up his chest to his face to show him waking up. Once awake he makes his may to the window as he realises that his fate has been sealed as death by the hand of the Flying Man. As the he rises into the shot from below the window pane you can see the reflection of the man's face in the glass as his fate is revealed. The scene then cuts to black and the credits role up the screen in small, clear text.