Irene Lee, Girl Detective
'Irene Lee, Girl Detective' directed by Yulin Kuang
(23/06/2014)
Found on: YouTube
Watched on: YouTube
This short film is about a seven year old girl named Irene Lee who wants to be a detective and sets out to find the case of the missing mysteries around her neighbourhood.
This short film is about a seven year old girl named Irene Lee who wants to be a detective and sets out to find the case of the missing mysteries around her neighbourhood.
The title, Irene Lee, Girl Detective is effective because it instantly presents the girl as the main focus of the short film, already beginning to show the representation of gender as the female is the lead character. This is also shown in "girl detective" which shows the audience that Kuang is breaking gender stereotypes in this film.
There is an iris round in transition which focuses on Irene like the beginning of a story. This is accompanied by an adult male voice over who rhymes in the dialogue, sounding like a parent telling a bedtime story. This is also shown through the gentle music box non-diegetic lullaby music. This represents the young age of the character.
The setting of Irene's room is revealed and the bright colours represent the liveliness and excitement of being a kid. The colour of the setting is blue, representing gender by breaking the stereotype of girls liking pink. This is also shown through her costume as she is wearing shorts instead of a stereotypical dress or skirt. There is then a close up as the large prop teddy bear is snatched out of frame, representing her young age.
This then cuts to a close up of a prop Tip Jar which the audience is led to believe is for a lemonade stand. However, a jump cut to an extreme long shot reveals an old looking stand with the decor being a sign reading "private detective". This adds humour and a lightheartedness to the film, representing the wide imagination of children of a young age. There is also a prop toy cart alongside the stand which is revealed in the extreme long shot which represents her young age.
An over the shoulder shot with a shallow depth of field showing children playing with a prop skipping rope represents how hard it can be for children of Irene's age to fit in with other children who have different interests. The non-diegetic music suddenly turns tense as a lemonade stand is revealed which is covered in bright yellow colours (contrasting with Irene's old wooden stand) and covered with decor homemade crafts. The children have long blonde hair and their costumes are stereotypically girly dresses. This represents the theme of breaking gender roles and the difficulty of fitting into society by doing so, even at a young age.
The non-diegetic music once again changes as Irene comes up with an idea. The cut to black transition and the use of lighting when Irene brings back the light with her idea shows her intelligence for her age. She turns on a prop lightbulb which is typically used as a metaphor for ideas being created. This shows how girls are big thinkers as well as males (breaking stereotypical gender norms).
The use of childish drawings on the post-it notes and the prop coloured chalks being used in her presentation contrasts more grown-up ideas whilst still coming across as childish. This shows that even though Irene is very intelligent for her age, she is still a child. This is emphasised through her dialogue "lemonade is evil" as is a very petty thing to say and exaggerates immensely, representing her young age through her childish behaviour.
There is a two shot close up as the girls from the lemonade stand tell her off for still acting so childish. Their facial expressions are disapproving and the use of flicking their hair in the body language suggests that they think themselves superior to Irene. In the dialogue they tell her to "grow up" which is ironic coming from two children but also represents age through the imagination being synonymous with children. The two girls are also representative of societies stereotype of young girls, once again showing how Irene is breaking these gender norms by not conforming.
The fourth wall is broken when Irene's dialogue "stop" interrupts the voice over, showing that she is aware of it. This represents age because it is like a child interrupting the parent's story. The non-diegetic music then turns to silence and in the next cut there is only ambient sound to be heard as she packs her stand away. This could present how Irene believes she should grow up by stopping the narration and lullaby music. It could also just represent her sadness as the use of blocking in the previous scene seemed to show how opinion was not valued by any of her peers, despite the effort to look authoritative shown through the use of low angle.
The non-diegetic music and voice over starts again when the male character, Parker, is introduced. Showing that even though he looks older, he is still as imaginative and childish as she is as, making them equal despite their gender and age. This is emphasised through the multiple usage of wipe transitions to show Parker's sleuthing and the medium shot two shot after the sequence which shows their height difference but is still at eye level, showing their equality and likeness in thinking.
The non-diegetic music then becomes hopeful as the close up of both characters holding the prop magnifying glass seems to seal their friendship and shows their equality. Their is another iris round cross circle transition which indicates an ending to the story. The very low angle from an extreme long shot as both characters walk into the centre of the frame with prop binoculars in the setting of the tree house show their superiority over normal gender and age roles in society. It makes them seem powerful.
Yulin Kuang has used YouTube to share her short film. This is very effective because it has allowed her to distribute it to a very wide audience as the site is accessible to anybody with internet. At the end of the film she has provided links to her YouTube channel and social media which allows the audience to easily share the film and provide feedback on it. She has also used the comment section on the video to communicate and with the viewers, allowing the creator and the viewers to connect, making them more likely to want to watch more of her content and keep up on her social media.
I like the use of subtle social commentary on not conforming to societies expectations of gender and age. I thought this was done in a lighthearted way that was enjoyable to watch. I also liked the use of distributing the film onto YouTube because of the viewer and creator connection, allowing for very quick feedback and discussion.
There is an iris round in transition which focuses on Irene like the beginning of a story. This is accompanied by an adult male voice over who rhymes in the dialogue, sounding like a parent telling a bedtime story. This is also shown through the gentle music box non-diegetic lullaby music. This represents the young age of the character.
The setting of Irene's room is revealed and the bright colours represent the liveliness and excitement of being a kid. The colour of the setting is blue, representing gender by breaking the stereotype of girls liking pink. This is also shown through her costume as she is wearing shorts instead of a stereotypical dress or skirt. There is then a close up as the large prop teddy bear is snatched out of frame, representing her young age.
This then cuts to a close up of a prop Tip Jar which the audience is led to believe is for a lemonade stand. However, a jump cut to an extreme long shot reveals an old looking stand with the decor being a sign reading "private detective". This adds humour and a lightheartedness to the film, representing the wide imagination of children of a young age. There is also a prop toy cart alongside the stand which is revealed in the extreme long shot which represents her young age.
An over the shoulder shot with a shallow depth of field showing children playing with a prop skipping rope represents how hard it can be for children of Irene's age to fit in with other children who have different interests. The non-diegetic music suddenly turns tense as a lemonade stand is revealed which is covered in bright yellow colours (contrasting with Irene's old wooden stand) and covered with decor homemade crafts. The children have long blonde hair and their costumes are stereotypically girly dresses. This represents the theme of breaking gender roles and the difficulty of fitting into society by doing so, even at a young age.
The non-diegetic music once again changes as Irene comes up with an idea. The cut to black transition and the use of lighting when Irene brings back the light with her idea shows her intelligence for her age. She turns on a prop lightbulb which is typically used as a metaphor for ideas being created. This shows how girls are big thinkers as well as males (breaking stereotypical gender norms).
The use of childish drawings on the post-it notes and the prop coloured chalks being used in her presentation contrasts more grown-up ideas whilst still coming across as childish. This shows that even though Irene is very intelligent for her age, she is still a child. This is emphasised through her dialogue "lemonade is evil" as is a very petty thing to say and exaggerates immensely, representing her young age through her childish behaviour.
There is a two shot close up as the girls from the lemonade stand tell her off for still acting so childish. Their facial expressions are disapproving and the use of flicking their hair in the body language suggests that they think themselves superior to Irene. In the dialogue they tell her to "grow up" which is ironic coming from two children but also represents age through the imagination being synonymous with children. The two girls are also representative of societies stereotype of young girls, once again showing how Irene is breaking these gender norms by not conforming.
The fourth wall is broken when Irene's dialogue "stop" interrupts the voice over, showing that she is aware of it. This represents age because it is like a child interrupting the parent's story. The non-diegetic music then turns to silence and in the next cut there is only ambient sound to be heard as she packs her stand away. This could present how Irene believes she should grow up by stopping the narration and lullaby music. It could also just represent her sadness as the use of blocking in the previous scene seemed to show how opinion was not valued by any of her peers, despite the effort to look authoritative shown through the use of low angle.
The non-diegetic music and voice over starts again when the male character, Parker, is introduced. Showing that even though he looks older, he is still as imaginative and childish as she is as, making them equal despite their gender and age. This is emphasised through the multiple usage of wipe transitions to show Parker's sleuthing and the medium shot two shot after the sequence which shows their height difference but is still at eye level, showing their equality and likeness in thinking.
The non-diegetic music then becomes hopeful as the close up of both characters holding the prop magnifying glass seems to seal their friendship and shows their equality. Their is another iris round cross circle transition which indicates an ending to the story. The very low angle from an extreme long shot as both characters walk into the centre of the frame with prop binoculars in the setting of the tree house show their superiority over normal gender and age roles in society. It makes them seem powerful.
Yulin Kuang has used YouTube to share her short film. This is very effective because it has allowed her to distribute it to a very wide audience as the site is accessible to anybody with internet. At the end of the film she has provided links to her YouTube channel and social media which allows the audience to easily share the film and provide feedback on it. She has also used the comment section on the video to communicate and with the viewers, allowing the creator and the viewers to connect, making them more likely to want to watch more of her content and keep up on her social media.
I like the use of subtle social commentary on not conforming to societies expectations of gender and age. I thought this was done in a lighthearted way that was enjoyable to watch. I also liked the use of distributing the film onto YouTube because of the viewer and creator connection, allowing for very quick feedback and discussion.
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