Sian Ruffell

Short Film Analysis

The Peace of Wild Things directed by Adam DJ Laity described as an,
autobiographical film follows a mans journey into nature as he
searches for balance in his life, and is based on the poem by Wendell
Berry. The film is in black an white showing a man finding peace
within the wild, throughout the film the film there is speech about the
man finding peace again within the wild.
The poem has speech running throughout of a man speaking which is
over powering the instrumental music playing in the background. The
speech of the man links with the images shown, when despair from
the world grows in me and I wake in the night to the least sounding
fear of what my life and my childrens lives may be. The image shown
whilst the voiceover is speaking this sentence is of a maybe firstly
peacefully sleeping but when the voiceover speaks about how he
wakes in the night because of fear of what his and his childrens lives
might turn out to be the baby is then filmed laying on its side with its
eyes open, the baby can signify what the man does- how he lays there
in the night worrying about his
life. The baby can also signify
the children this man has, that
they are young and he may
worry about how the children
will grow up and live their lives.
At the start of the short film the
sound of trickling water is fore
grounded, this sound is normally related to relaxation which links with
the title and the word peace.
The film shows a man though grass land and mountains, as the man is
walking slowly the editing speeds up the movement of the wind and
the clouds moving through the sky- this can connote into the man
spending many hours enjoying the landscape and forgetting about
everything that bothers him in life and appreciating the simple things.
The speed of each edit is 4
seconds, each part of the
landscape and scenery is
presented to the audience for 4
seconds and the cuts are simple,
which again can relate back to
the simplicity that the man in the
film finds peaceful. The film is
presented in black and white, this is also simplistic but also some
people are said to dream in black and white and the whole film is
about peace and feeling free. When we are sleeping we are our
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most peaceful therefore the reason for the film being in black and
white can connote into the peacefulness of sleeping and dreaming.
The lighing of the film at the begging is low key having only one light
shinging onto the babies face comparing to the slightly lighter lighting
of the landspace suggests that the character of this man is at his
happiest when walking through the wild and sitting on top of the
moutains looking at the scenery. The contrast of light and dark is
stronglty presented through out
of the film, when the light passes
through the moutains for
example it contrasts harshly with
the darkness- again conoting
that the man may be closer to
finding peace within the wild.
The clothes which the man is
wearing when full body shots are
shown are simplistic matching the theme running throughout the film.
The majority of the film the character is filmed from only above the
shoulders therefore the clothes he is wearign doesnt get seen bteh
audience that much.
When filming the man the camera shows a full body shot of him
throughou this journey, it is a wide shot as it not only shows all his body
but also shows the landscape of which he is hiking through until his
jounrey is complete and he finds peace. There are many different shots
shown in the film, a tilt up of the camera from the water to the sky and
a panning shot of the mountain tops show the audience what the man
is walking through on his journey. The camera is kept of a tripod
capturing the movment of the wind and the moving clouds, however
sometimes it does move direction but remains stationary (as stated
above- panning and tilting shots
etc). When the man finally finished
his jounrye and is filmed from
behind sitting on the top of the
moutain the camera is staionairy
and zooms in onto the view from
below, slowly. The slow movement
presents the peacefulness and the
achievement that the man can feel as he has reached the top of the
moutain. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free This is
the voiceover that is spoken when the close up shot of the man is
presented. The close up shot only
focuses on his eyes, this makes what
the voiceover is saying more
drematic, giving it more of an impact.
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