Textual Analysis I

Two Cars, One Night

Two Cars, One Night
Production Information
Production Company: Blueskin Films Ltd., Defender
Films, New Zealand Film Commission

Directed by: Taiki Waititi

Executive Producer: Vanessa Alexander

Producers: Catherine Fitzgerald, Ainsley Gardiner

Film Editor: Owen Ferrier-Kerr

Runtime: 13 minutes
Narrative Analysis Set-Up
Two cars are parked next to each other outside
a place marked HOTEL (likely a pub).
Children left on their own in a car for extended
periods of time problems within the social
community, child mistreatment
Protagonist problems:
Young child, accompanied by his companion
Sees an older girl within the other car
Pretends to drive/puts seat back to impress the girl
Abusive towards the girl/swearing/gestures
Girl responds with abusive language and gestures
Narrative Analysis - Development
Girl is playing with her ring
Interactions:
A man on his bike asks both the protagonist and girl a question,
before cycling off
Protagonist exchanges a nod with a man driving by in another
car
Protagonists further problems:
Gets out of his car, goes over to the girls car
Acts like a policemen towards the girl/tries to make himself look
older/tries to act cool
Girl and boy exchange names and ages
Protagonists companion is unresponsive/untroubled to the
protagonists rude remarks towards him/ perhaps protagonist is
trying to eliminate the competition of his companion from the
girl.
Narrative Analysis - Resolution
Resolution to the problems:
Girl and protagonist are sitting closer together
Girl feels the boy is trustworthy, allows him to
hold her ring
Protagonist is given the ring by the girl so he
will remember her
The girls driver gets in the car, and they drive
off, leaving the protagonist staring after her
Technical Analysis - Camera
Camera fly's through the dark clouds at the
beginning of the short at an intense pace.
Limited use of different camera shots/angles
Signifies the low budget of the film
Continuous shot-reverse-shots of protagonists
Continued close-ups of the protagonist and girl
Signifies their importance as the protagonists
Technical Analysis - Sound
Soundtrack interludes with diegetic sound of the wind at
the beginning
No dialogue exchanged between any characters until
two minutes into the film.
Dialogue begins at an infrequent pace between the two
protagonists
Signifies their current non-existent connection
Dialogue becomes more frequent between them
Now signifies their existent connection
Pace quickens as each scene changes
Shows difference in time
Sound of drunken dialogue/singing heard in the
background, coming from the pub, again highlights the
disregard parents show towards the safety of their
children

Technical Analysis Mise-en-Scene
Set design
Black-and-white film suggests the film is
old-fashioned (back when black and white film
tape was used)
Lighting
Low-key
Props
Ring, book

Technical Analysis - Editing
Fast-paced editing
Sped-up action
Exemplified through fast movement of cars/people
-used to signal the passing of time
Also used to signify the changes in attitude both
protagonists feel towards each other
They go from being rude towards each other to
then being extremely friendly, sociable and even
hinting towards feeling love between one another

Themes
Love

Romance

Conflict
Issues
Emotion

Connectivity

Abuse (verbal)

Child neglect