Macro Analysis of Hello Again

Hello Again is a short film starring Naomi Scott and Jack Brett
Anderson, written and directed by Tom Ruddock. It is a story
about loss, love and life. Owen who after his mums funeral,
heads to the cemetery and there he meets Maura, a young
girl whose father has recently died. Through an awkward
misunderstanding they start talking to each other and end up
sharing anecdotes about their loved ones. From the
encounter with Maura, Owen finds a way to connect with his mother again.

The narrative of this story aims to connect with the audience through the characters emotions which
allow the audience to engage in the story and bond with the characters. Dennis McQuail, Uses and
Gratifications theory; the audience can identify with the characters, are educated and acquire
understanding of bereavement and it creates escapism for them. For example if the audience are
also suffering with bereavement it provides comfort for them and makes them feel that they are not
alone. Also it allows social interaction through discussions of the storyline.

Owen is presented to be a grieving, lost, young man who is struggling to come to terms with his
mothers death. This is shown through him not wanting to look back at videos and pictures of his
mother with his Father as he is finding it too distressing. The audience learn from these videos that
Owens mother was fun and loving which makes the audience feel sympathy towards him as her life
was cut short and she had so much to live for. To an extent this works in a flash-back sequence as it
allows his Father to re-live the memories. The audience feel sadness and sometimes a fellow feeling
as bereavement is something a lot of people go through so they can relate to how he is feeling.
Evidently people do not want to look at photos of videos of loved ones that have passed away
because they are too hard to look at; as they find it too difficult to move forward.

Maura is presented to be sarcastic and bubbly through talking to her Fathers grave whilst winding
up Owen, saying he fancys her. It shows how different people cope with bereavement, the purpose
of this is to show what different people experience. , suggesting that she and Owen are binary
opposites in a narrative sense -Claude Levi Strauss. Some people view bereaved to be vulnerable
and that they turn down a bad path in life and never recover. The bereaved can sometimes feel that
everyone thinks they are mentally unstable but all they need is support and love. However it can be
that they just need time to deal with the circumstance and let it sink in. Maura contradicts this
stereotype and elements of the mise-en-scene support this. She is wearing bright colours which have
connotations of happiness and joy. The setting is primarily the grave-side however it is filled with
bright flowers which create a warming effect to what would usually be a morbid apmoshphere. Also
the film applies the three point lighting technique to illuminate the characters. The subjects of the
frame (Maura and Owen) are properly highlighted and faint shadows are visible in the background,
adding to the depth of the frame. This allows the audience to focus primarily on the characters and
their emotions.

The genre of the film is a short, emotional drama; this is shown through the conventions of real life
situations, characters and settings and particularly the journey of characters development. However
a particular scene shows flirtatiousness which implies a romantic element to the film; this is shown
through how the characters relate to each other and small talk repartee. The ideology of the film
forms the basis of realism which focuses on giving the audience a true indication of what life is like.
In this film emotional realism is specifically portrayed which means the audience need to be able to
identify with characters situations and share or feel their emotions. Furthermore the aim of the
drama is for the dramatic storyline to move the audience emotionally. The audience can relate to
the characters, the storyline is based on bereavement, the loss of a loved one. This is something
many people experience so they can relate to the characters feelings of pain and distress. Stuart Hall
in 1993 proposed the Reception Theory and looked at the rule of audience positioning in the
interpretation of mass media texts by different social groups. He concluded three ways we interpret
these texts, dominant reading, negotiated reading and oppositional reading. Suggesting people may
interpret media in different ways, in this instance the drama which has a sensitive storyline would be
interpreted differently by many people.

In this particular film the male is presented to be more weak and emotional than the female. This
does not conform to the stereotype that men are emotionally stronger than women. The
significance of this is that it shows to the audience that everyone can be emotional and especially in
our more modern society views are being shifted on gender stereotypes which is certainly shown in
this film. The film is primarily set at a grave yard; stereotypically a grave yard is a miserable almost
eerie place. The film challenges this as the grave yard is full of bright flowers and the characters are
having friendly, supportive conversations. Furth more stereotypically strangers wouldnt have a
conversation at a grave-side just after a funeral, this shows that assumptions we make arent always
correct and these stereotypes that we make are not always realistic.