Gasman

The Gasman is about a split family, meeting with each other around the festive season, and showing the struggles.

The scene is set straight away with this film, in regards to being the festive season. Firstly by playing ‘Let It Snow’ on the radio, and also with the boy pouring sugar on the table and driving his toy car through it, like snow on the road.

The film starts with a man polishing his shoes, and background ‘house’ noises or children and their mother. It shows the class of the film straight away.

(Shows people getting ready, but poses an enigma as to what they are getting ready for.)

At the beginning it doesn’t reveal any faces. The first face you properly see is the little girl’s, which signifies that she’s a main character in the feature. It never shows the mother’s face – meaning she isn’t important or isn’t an important role in the story. The second face shown is the little boys – meaning he isn’t as important maybe, but allows the audience to familiarize themselves with this character.

The girl makes a juxtaposition of stories, by clicking her shoes together and saying ‘no place like home’, which has been taken from The Wizard Of Oz.

In the middle of the story, the boy throws a rock at his father as a joke - play fighting, which they all giggling at. At the end though, the rock throwing has a darker meaning. The girl wants to throw the rock at the other, but we're just shown her gripping the stone in anger and throwing it down. It shows her jealousy of the other girl being in her family's or more specifically, her father's life. Jealously is also shown at the party, when the other girl is sat on their father's knee and she fights with her to get her off.

The audience get a feel of involvement throughout this film, you see shots at the party, which allow some people to relate to the story as well as the struggles the family is going through.

The costume design has been very well set for the feature. The children wear subtle costumes make the film realistic. For example the children wear their school uniforms to a party, it's sad and shows the financial situation the family is in, hoping for the audience's empathy.

At the beginning of the story, the girl is shown (with close up shots throughout) as the happy one within her family, who loves her father, however at the end, she's the one who's most upset and angry with her family secrets.

Another point about shots is the location used for the production. The Railway line scenes signify that the film was low budget, but also allowed easy tracking shots as well as no interruptions from the public.

The background music is quiet and doesn't distract from the dialogue, which allows the audience to follow the story easily. It's constant Christmas songs to keep the scene going throughout the film. Christmas songs is usually a time of joy and being with family, but this family's Christmas is quite different...