Analysis of 'Mr Foley (Enda Loughman, Mike Ahern, 2009) by Chayana Forde

Mr Foley

Mr Foley a short film that follows a man who wakes up from an accident to find some Foley artists and a small orchestra creating a sound track to his life. This comedy pokes fun at how film and t.v makers create the sound that we hear in their products, and how the characters would react if they could see the processes that happened to create the atmosphere and Foley for all of their actions, and it would have to be done if we did this in real life in the style of surreal comedy.

The sequence starts with a comedic, yet slightly alarming frame of a heavily bandaged man sitting on a hospital bed. It is then that the simple title of 'Mr Foley' comes up, which the viewer assumes to be his name. When the nurse come to take off the bandage on his ear, the music, which the viewer would assume to be non-diegetic music starts to play.

The music could be described as a 'curious tune' that has notes jumping around and short phrases that sound like a sentence. the way that the music raises in tone at the end, mimics the mannerisms of a question. This is parallel to the scene as it represents the way that the character is feeling as he just woke up and is unsure what is happening.

As the nurse continues to unravels the bandage from his head, there is a cutaway to rubbing some material, then back to unravelling the bandage, and then a POV of the bandage being removed from his eyes to reveal an out of focus room, and then another cut away to a man lifting sellotape from a wooden board. the constant cutaways and direction of attention mirror the disorientation of the character, but also demonstrate how each of these actions are linked, introducing the idea of the Foley artists creating the sound that we hear.

To confirm our suspicions that these people are creating the sound effects, there is a POV shot in which we see the Foley artists intently watching what the nurse is doing, and trying to create an appropriate noise in turn. The comedy of the scene is found in how absurd the situation of having somebody having a small orchestra and two men deep in concentration rapidly trying to create sound as it happens, all in smart costume that shows that this is something that they take seriously.

What adds to the comedic effect of film is the facial expression of disbelieve on the main character's face as he is in a bizarre situation, and he is the only one that seems to notice. 

Another example is when he covers his ears and the orchestra stops playing, but keeps their bows ready for when they are going to start playing again.To addition to the unusual events happening in hos room, when he calls the nurse, (who is a stereotypically cheerful young woman, as nurses are often shown) and she starts singing and dancing about how he might need to change his bed pan.

Deciding that he has had enough, he storms out of his room, only to be followed by the orchestra, who proceeds to play some fittingly dramatic music as he runs. The camera becomes handheld, and adopts the style of a chase scene that you might see in a thriller, as the fast frequency of shots accelerates the pace, and the low angle shots give the impression of a stalker.
 
However, all of these factors are overshadowed by the rather amusing image of people running and playing instruments, (particularly the cello). All of this crescendo and fast pace is then juxtaposed with the mellow shot of them all crammed inside of the elevator.

When Mr Foley finally finds freedom on the rooftop, the diegetic sound is white noise. He starts to scream, but no noise comes out (almost like screaming with your mouth shut, an idiom to show frustration). This, along with the prominent grey (as grey is an colour that represents disappointment, dullness and lack of emotions) that is in the setting, represent how the character has lost hope of his life going back to normal

 
When he catches glimpse of a 'colourful' bird, he gestures desperately, willing it to sing. As a bird is an icon for song and ambient sound, the character thinks that if he can hear the bird sing, then he it will prove that he is not crazy. When the birds starts to chirp happily, the character's facial expression melts into one of relief... that lasts for a mere second before his facial expression twists into one of horror as he spots the foley artist blowing into a bird whistle.

As the character stands up, the camera pans out to reveal that the whole orchestra had caught up and had already resumed their playing, but this time with some vocal harmonies that seem to push Mr Foley close towards the edge of the building. All of the music comes to a halt, as Mr Foley loses balance, and then we are met with the cartoon-like sound of a draw whistle and a crude crack that represents his bones before it fades to black in a rather dramatic, yet comedic, end- or so we think.

Once again, the audience is met with the familiar scene of Mr Foley getting his heavily bandaged face unraveled. However this time, we are promptly met with dialogue from the nurse, which earns a relieved 'it's over' from the character. Ignoring his side comment, the nurse then asks him to 'loosen his trousers' and then 'turn over', earning a laugh from the studio audience located in his hospital room. This reveals a circular narrative that starts and concludes with the same theme.

 The narrative of this short film doesn't follow that of Propp, or Barthes, as it has a very simple story that is a snippet of time. It has a linear plot that shows events in a contumacious amount of time, as there is only on time cut at the end. This gives the viewer the illusion that it seems to be one bizarre dream, as this is something that would not happen over a period of time. The linear narrative also adds to the comedic timing, as it is fast paced, which highlights how absurd the situation is. This would have been lost if the timeline was choppy and disorientating. In the end, it is revealed that the plot is actually a circular narrative, as it finished where it starts, which suggests that this character is trapped in this loop where he rotates through alternate worlds.