Textual Analysis: Maybe One Day

‘Maybe One Day’ is a film directed by Chris Cottam and has also directed 6 other titles including one film called ‘The Lives of the Saints’ which was a comedy/ drama created in 2006. This film documents a day in the life of ‘Dan’ from the moment he wakes up to when he falls asleep conveying a sense of life and experience, extreme and heightened feelings. This is achieved through the journey of one man. Shot from a steady camera attached to him looking directly at his face, which documents him on his day.

The story line to this short film is about Dan waking up as the sun breaks through the curtains, leaping out of bed as he goes to the bathroom and cleans his teeth. He walks through busy rush hour crowds, jumps in a taxi, sits on a train, the background blurring in speed behind him. The whoosh of the scenery fades away running down a green hill, sheep scattering, cows watching, arms open wide. We see him running on to pebbles on a beach and eating an ice cream, the sea washing and cascading around his head, his face looking relaxed up to the sky. We see him in the cockpit of an acrobatic plane, which twists and turns through the clouds, his face pulled by g-force. Finally in bed, his eyes rest, he smiles and turns out the light.

The film starts off with a shot of Dan waking up to commentary of himself and his daily routine. He comments of things like “Twelve steps to the bathroom” “76 Brushes” “29 centimetres of floss”. As he goes though his day the scenarios change from his apartment to the busy rush hour crowds, sitting in a train and country side as he avoids going to work and breaking his daily routine.

The shots used in this short film are the same though out cutting in certain places as time goes by. The non-diegetic sounds in this short film are slow and depressing at the beginning of the film, but when he decided not to go to work the music become more up beat and happy and stay this way as he goes though all these different scenarios but then slowdown towards the end as he goes back to bed. The other non-diegetic sounds in this short film are the dialog over the film of him commentating on his life, like the music in this film the dialog starts of slow, tired and he sounds like he is depressed but when he decides to not go to work and ‘break his routine’ he become more loud and confident, towards the end of the film when he goes to bed he says quietly “I enjoyed today”.

The lighting in this short film is natural lighting in the outside scenes. The clothing changes through out the film. He starts off in his pajamas, then as he is getting ready for work he changes into his work clothes. As the film goes on his work clothes become loosened to show he is relaxed and happy.  The suit makes him look like a typical office worker making the story more believable. I think this short film is very effective in the way it documents the mans daily life. The shot they use though out the film is also very effective as it focuses on the man its self and how is surroundings change through out the film.