Short Film Analysis - Sniffer
In Bobbie Peers 2006 short film Sniffer, the audience follows an unnamed male protagonist as he battles with conforming to the societal norms. This theme of freedom from conformity is shown through the use of; symbolism, colour scheme, and camera techniques.
The society presented in the short film is depressing and bleak. The colouring of the buildings are all grey and dull, in addition, the clothes worn by the inhabitants of the world are all neutral tones with no sense of individuality to them. Although the citizens all have the ability to fly, they are kept to the ground via ‘gravitation boots’ and forced to continue their routinely lives without real chance of finding happiness. However for the films unnamed protagonist, this changes when a pigeon enters his workplace. This bird of flight is the final push the protagonist receives to allow him the drive to contest the status quo. He walks out of his workplace, confronts his wife and undoes the strappings of his gravitational boots, floating to the sky and ‘freeing’ himself from his society’s conformities.
Arguably the most influential device used by Peers in the short film to convey the theme is the use of symbolism. Symbols such as; the hook, gravitation boots, and the pigeon, create visual imagery and draw on the emotions of the audience in the hopes of portraying the intended meaning. When first introduced to the protagonist of Sniffer he is pressed against the roof of his bedroom. His wife unstraps herself from the bindings of her bed and by the use of a hook, drags her husband back to his bed where she proceeds to strap him in. The hook used here is a symbol that shows the lack of freedom the protagonist has. The hook is kept by his wife’s bed as if him floating to the ceiling is a regular occurrence, him being brought back down by this hook shows the lack of connection between the two characters, as well as the reality that he is not free from his bindings to his bed or...