Contextual Research | Short Film Review: The Best Medicine
The Best Medicine Short Review [CLICK HERE TO VIEW]
The Best Medicine is a rather quirky short film that addresses real world, personal issues people face in a day to day environment, mainly body confidence, self confidence and fearing the judgement of others. Let's begin the review:
Narrative
A young girl isn't satisfied with the sound of her laugh, and therefore seeks out help in order to change it - fortunately in this world, there are such things as 'bottled laughs' - something which appears to be simply a solution one drinks and it manipulates the way in which someone laughs, seemingly forever.
After seeking out a shop who claims to be able to help her with her problem she is given a box with 5 different laugh solutions within. Throughout the rest of the short we're shown montages of the different dates she's gone on, each time trying a different kind of laugh. It's presented in a comedic, lighthearted way which suits the tone of the short perfectly. Over the course of the short she begins to realise that none of the laughs are better than her own laugh, and begins to become more and more comfortable with it. She eventually goes out on a date where she forgets to drink one of the laugh solutions and ends up laughing naturally - upon doing so the man laughs back with an equally silly tone. They both begin to get on extremely well and walk away from the bar to continue their potential relationship, falling in love with each-other's laughs. Essentially the moral of the story is being confident within your self and your own personality traits is something to be encouraged, and one shouldn't try and mask it with all sorts of products.
Character Design
The protagonist is the only main role within the film, no-one else has any significant dialogue whatsoever. She's cast extremely well, successfully portraying the clumsy, self-pitying nature of someone who likely lacks confidence within themselves, and it's great to be able to see that change over the course of the 2 and a half minutes. Due to her confidence issues the audience is encouraged to sympathise with her from the beginning and goes along with her as she uncovers parts of herself. Also, crucially this character is extremely relatable, as with the reality of social media and internet trolling nowadays, people are wary of being judged and/or ridiculed more than ever.
Editing
The main use of editing within this short is straight cuts, this helps emphasise how fast-paced her life is, but also simultaneously pushes the comedy aspect of the short. Unlike previous short films I've covered on this blog, there is a much lighter, relaxed tone to 'The Best Medicine' and it's a breath of fresh air! Similarly sound bridges are used throughout in order to successfully connect each scene together, making the narrative of the show flow much smoother.
The only unique time we see a difference in editing techniques is the fade to black after she acquires the laugh 'medicine'. One could argue that this is emulating her new beginning in a way. As we fade in from black we're waking up to a new day filled with new opportunities, thus highlighting the optimism within her at this moment.
Cinematography
Throughout the short film we get to see a lot of close-ups of the young girls face, the use of this helps convey her emotions towards her situation and further pushes the fact that she severely lacks confidence within herself. Additionally it helps differentiate the different dates, by making evident that she is wearing different clothes and slightly different styles of makeup. likewise, the same sequence of shots for each date are utilised to generate a visible personification of repetition, the only real discrepancy between them all being the different types of laughs, and perhaps the sense of panic and urgency as she stumbles in her high heels out of her apartment door.
Halfway through the film when she receives the laugh solutions a focus pull is used to exaggerate the importance of the medicine to the woman, how much it really means to her that she can alter her physical attributes in order to appeal to societies desires. The extreme close up on the solution itself could be a method of building tension with the audience, increasing anticipation as to what the new laughs might sound like.
Every date that the woman goes on within the short uses the same series of shots leading to them walking separate ways at the end, however when she uses her own laugh and they get on well, both people walk off together in the same direction, not only does this bring a great sense of catharsis to the scene, it also contrasts between the previous shots all throughout the film, symbolising their new found happiness.
Sound
Initially when our protagonist goes to collect the solutions off of the woman in the shop there is a sharp sounding, non-diegetic thunder roll in the background to signify the ominous nature of the interaction, I believe that she represents the corporations greedily offering fake solutions to consumers with no real care for their feelings, whether that be in relation to the pharmaceutical companies that make billions in profit off the illness of others or simply an oversight, I'd like to believe that the narrative is getting at something deeper here.
In contrast to that, the music we hear when the girl is getting ready in front of the mirror is quite theatrical and dramatic; this could suggest that she enjoys getting ready and sees it as a performance of some kind - it also adds to the light-hearted, comedic nature of the film. This ties in with the music at the end of the film, which takes a much happier tone rather than dramatic, bringing everything together and providing a neat conclusion for the audience and the character.
Conclusion
All in all, 'The Best Medicine' is an absolute pleasure to experience, it empowers women in a way that isn't necessarily appreciated as much as it could be in society. Nowadays it feels that a woman has to openly declare that she's happy to be plus size, or supports feminist movements to be empowered, however this encourages the bolstering of one's confidence in oneself before focussing on what anyone else thinks of you, and that's fantastic.
Narrative
A young girl isn't satisfied with the sound of her laugh, and therefore seeks out help in order to change it - fortunately in this world, there are such things as 'bottled laughs' - something which appears to be simply a solution one drinks and it manipulates the way in which someone laughs, seemingly forever.
After seeking out a shop who claims to be able to help her with her problem she is given a box with 5 different laugh solutions within. Throughout the rest of the short we're shown montages of the different dates she's gone on, each time trying a different kind of laugh. It's presented in a comedic, lighthearted way which suits the tone of the short perfectly. Over the course of the short she begins to realise that none of the laughs are better than her own laugh, and begins to become more and more comfortable with it. She eventually goes out on a date where she forgets to drink one of the laugh solutions and ends up laughing naturally - upon doing so the man laughs back with an equally silly tone. They both begin to get on extremely well and walk away from the bar to continue their potential relationship, falling in love with each-other's laughs. Essentially the moral of the story is being confident within your self and your own personality traits is something to be encouraged, and one shouldn't try and mask it with all sorts of products.
Character Design
Editing
The main use of editing within this short is straight cuts, this helps emphasise how fast-paced her life is, but also simultaneously pushes the comedy aspect of the short. Unlike previous short films I've covered on this blog, there is a much lighter, relaxed tone to 'The Best Medicine' and it's a breath of fresh air! Similarly sound bridges are used throughout in order to successfully connect each scene together, making the narrative of the show flow much smoother.The only unique time we see a difference in editing techniques is the fade to black after she acquires the laugh 'medicine'. One could argue that this is emulating her new beginning in a way. As we fade in from black we're waking up to a new day filled with new opportunities, thus highlighting the optimism within her at this moment.
Cinematography
Throughout the short film we get to see a lot of close-ups of the young girls face, the use of this helps convey her emotions towards her situation and further pushes the fact that she severely lacks confidence within herself. Additionally it helps differentiate the different dates, by making evident that she is wearing different clothes and slightly different styles of makeup. likewise, the same sequence of shots for each date are utilised to generate a visible personification of repetition, the only real discrepancy between them all being the different types of laughs, and perhaps the sense of panic and urgency as she stumbles in her high heels out of her apartment door.
Every date that the woman goes on within the short uses the same series of shots leading to them walking separate ways at the end, however when she uses her own laugh and they get on well, both people walk off together in the same direction, not only does this bring a great sense of catharsis to the scene, it also contrasts between the previous shots all throughout the film, symbolising their new found happiness.
Sound
In contrast to that, the music we hear when the girl is getting ready in front of the mirror is quite theatrical and dramatic; this could suggest that she enjoys getting ready and sees it as a performance of some kind - it also adds to the light-hearted, comedic nature of the film. This ties in with the music at the end of the film, which takes a much happier tone rather than dramatic, bringing everything together and providing a neat conclusion for the audience and the character.
Conclusion
All in all, 'The Best Medicine' is an absolute pleasure to experience, it empowers women in a way that isn't necessarily appreciated as much as it could be in society. Nowadays it feels that a woman has to openly declare that she's happy to be plus size, or supports feminist movements to be empowered, however this encourages the bolstering of one's confidence in oneself before focussing on what anyone else thinks of you, and that's fantastic.
this is GREAT contextual research! :)
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