The Arrival - Daniel Montanarini

The Arrival (2016) directed by Daniel Montanarini, is a short film around a pregnant women, sitting in a cafe waiting for the father of the baby to show up. The basis of this film is off her decision on whether to get a decaf or caffeine coffee, a voiceover depicts her thoughts in this pinnacle decision as she also is decided at the same time whether to keep her baby or not and this decision of which coffee impacts her decision. Although this question is seemly harmful in everyday life, for a pregnant women, this is a consequential question and this film investigate the internal debate of the woman, Anna, and the reasons to and not. This film was inspired by a documentary that Montanarini was making at the time, All about Mothers, which explored the relationship between mothers and their children as they discovered that they were pregnant. The film was also inspired by a photograph of a young woman sitting in a cafe by Alexander Nesterov. 

Genre - Drama

Narrative - The ending of this film is left open as although we see her train of thoughts and her decision that she finally makes about whether to keep her baby or not - signifying by her ordering a decaf coffee - the ending is still left up to our imagination as as the man, who Anna has been waiting for, arrives, the camera quickly tracks back and we do not see his face or the rest of the conversation that goes on between them about this topic. We are left in the dark as to whether she changed her mind or he changed her mind and we are left to decipher and decide what the outcome is and what we would like it to be.

Mise-En-Scene - Mise-en-scene is used as a key part of this film throughout, it helps to portray the story with the use of costume and extras, explains the setting and it is also used to portray underlying meaning in the film. To begin, the mise-en-scene clearly shows the women sitting in the cafe with the setting and use of props; the coffee cup, booths and menu. The setting around Anna is well lit but darkened in the background so she stands out in her white t-shirt and pale skin - this emphasises to the audience her importance as the main character. The setting of the cafe is also made to look like a train carriage with curved lamps on the the table, the placing of the light and windows - this is emulates to the audience that Anna is on a journey, it is a used as a metaphor to represent her pregnancy and thought and decisions that she need to make about it. Another subtle but effective use of Mise-en-scene is the choreography of the extras around. There is a link made between performance and mise-en-scene with each extra creating an idea in Anna's head. For example, when an old lady in the shot stands infant of the clock, Anna's thoughts move to the amount of time she 'has left' until she can't have a baby. When a couple walk in through the door, the voice-over begins to talk about the relationship or lack of relationship she has with the man. This goes on throughout the short and although it is a subtle effect use, it is incredibly well done and brings another look to the film when you watch it twice and see these little hints dropped around.

Cinematography and Editing - In this short, there is a lack of editing and cinematography. The film consists of one long shot with no editing at all so visual actions around is lacking allowing us to solely focus on the dialogue and the performance of Anna.  In terms of cinematography, the first shot is taken behind a door with blurred glass. The shot is unclear and allows us to imagine what is behind as we can see the figure walking around behind. Once the door is open and the shot becomes clear, the camera slowly dollies in moving from a wide shot to a mid shot to a close up. This slowly builds tension as we listen to her debate about the baby. At the pin point of the film, where Anna decides to keep the baby, the camera is close up and stays there until right at the end of the short. This is where the camera slowly begins to dolly out again as the man she was waiting for arrives. As the camera stays in a position where only Anna is in the middle of the frame and does not move around we do not see the face of the man and are left wondering.

Sound - Sound plays a key role in this film as the voice-over is the main dialogue in this film and shows the theme and story of this short. The voice over is used to represent her thoughts and the debate that is going on in her head. This is the main use of sound as there is rarely any diegetic sound of her speaking, only her ordering the coffee. We listen to the voice over and see her body language and facial expressions.  Sound is also used in other ways to depict the story, with a baby crying in the background and the thunder storm. This shows the turning point of the story. When the camera dollies into close up, sound is used to take us into the train setting - which I mentioned in Mise-en-scene - a rattling sound of a train speeding across the tracks overpowers the ambient sound of the cafe. This is use to symbolises the journey that she is on and also the arrival of someone. 

Lighting - Lighting is used in the film to emulate different moods and key decisions. To begin, the lighting is lowkey and creates a gloomy atmosphere around Anna. But she is light by a side spotlight, illuminating her as the main character to the audience and the focus point for the camera. As the camera is dollying in to a close up and we are transitioning into the train sounds, the lighting begins to flutter to emulate a train moving and then lowers, leaving Anna in darkness with a tiny spotlight on her. This makes her stand out even more than before as she makes this vital decisions on whether to keep the baby or not. However, the darkness around her lingers for a while to signify the important and impact of this decision.