SHORT FILM RESEARCH: POWER/RANGERS

Title: Power/Rangers

Dir: Joseph Khan

Plot summary: A grittier retelling of the Power Rangers franchise

Accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw5vcUPyL90

Mis en scene: setting and location- the short film is set sometime in the future in which the Power Rangers were disbanded and a war rages on. The film has flashbacks to a more modern day period in which two of the lead characters are gunned down by the bullies from the original TV show.

Mis en scene: iconography and props- For props, it tends to use props typical in action movies such as guns and nun chucks. This is primarily due to the hand to hand combat as well as for the battlefield sequences that try to display. There is a very effective shot at the beginning where you see a power ranger's helmet on the floor, displaying the intensity thay goes on within war.

Mise-en-scène: colour and lighting- A large majority of the film uses fairly dark lighting with a lot of the lighting coming from neon signs. Much like another science fiction movie Blade Runner, it uses lighting techniques very present within the neo-noir genre.

Editing: sound and vision- the short uses very quick edits, especially for the fighting sequences in in order to portray the action better. As stated before, it primarily uses dark colours, although it uses colour to distinguish the rangers from each other e.g. the green ranger, the pink ranger. It also uses more typical editing techniques such as shot reverse shot where one character is interrogating another character.

Mis en scene: makeup and costume-  Generally, the costumes are attempted to be made somewhat futuristic. It takes inspiration from the original TV show but attempts to make the costume more grittier and more grounded in reality. The costumes take inspiration from Starship Troopers and other science fiction films whilst combining it with the costumes from the original TV show.

Cinematography: The short uses a large number of tracking shots in order to develop tension in some of the scenes that build up to the action scenes. It also uses high and low angle shots in order to get a better view of many of the action scenes

Title and credits: the movie generally abandons the use of opening credits like many other short films. The only credit used in the opening is when it says " a film by Joseph Khan". Like other short films, it tends to abandon opening credits due to the fact that it takes up too much time, whereas most short films tend to try and get to the "meat and bone" of the film which its in own story. For this reason, it lacks opening credits.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Ty_Js35UqZ4A1X5YcaJh9xIKDviXIa0OC5MJAW4CuvI/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000