Tight Jeans - Destiny Ekaragha

 Tight Jeans (2008), directed by Destiny Ekaragha is a comedy that explores attitudes towards cultures and debates about race and culture. In the film, three black male teenagers are waiting for their friend to drive them to a party. As they begin to get frustrated, a white man walks past wearing tight jeans and this sparks a debate about many different things, from the question asked by Joseph 'How can a man wear jeans that tight?'. The debate begins about how it is possible to wear jeans that tight, it moves to a more sexual topic and then onto whether white women are better to be with then black women and finally onto the discussion that black people populated the planet. The conversation continues until another character walks past in a white shirt and sparks another conversation. Although some of the questions asked throughout the short have deeper meaning, the conversation is kept light-hearted. Destiny herself says  "I think sometimes laughter is the best way to talk about serious issues, because it stays in your head longer"

Genre - Light comedy

Narrative - This film follows Sad Field's three act structure, and is a circular structure as the film has an open ending. The film finishes with Joseph saying. 'How can man wear a t-shirt that tight?' which will lead to another conversation about clothing and culture. The film is a dialogue heavy with the conversation being the pin point of the film.

Mise-en-scene - The characters in this film are distinguished by costume as the plot originates from what a passing character is wearing - tight jeans.  It is shown that clothes are pinnacle in this film as throughout the opening scene, there are constant shots of clothing and what people are wearing. To begin, the montage of the busy market shows many shots of clothing being hung up and sold. There is an indication about what is going to be key in the film later on, with a shot of an advertisement that says 'Men's Trousers', this is later confirmed as the main character have a conversation about men's jeans. The three main characters are wearing baggy jeans, bright coloured jumpers and similar shoes, they are all shown to have the same style.  The baggy jeans separates them from the passing character and shows the difference between the styles in different cultures. You can also distinguish the character's personalities due to their clothing. The character in the blue jumper, Theo, is seen to be the voice of reason and calm-headed, the character in the red jumper, Joseph, is shown to be loud, impatient and wild with his thoughts. The colours red and blue are seen to be opposite colours which symbolises the contradiction in personality. The character in the middle, Marcus, who is wearing orange acts as a mediator between them, whilst sparking the conversation about race and culture. The set is placed in a council block of flats as they sit on a wall waiting for their friend. The surroundings are bleak and dull which highlights the characters as their bright clothing stands out.

Cinematography and editing - The opening scene of the film are a montage of a bustling market with bright and vibrant colours. These shots are short and sharp showing people walking, purchasing and looking around the market. This later cuts to the three men sitting on the wall of the council estate, which gives us a depiction of the location and setting. The opening scene uses the most amount of editing throughout the film. For the rest of the film, subtle cinematography is used to emphasise the conversation going on. A wide shot begins slowly dollying in on the main character, setting the scene and showing that these character are waiting for something as they look up towards the block of flats. As the character walks past in tight jeans, the camera follows the character walking out of the estate, in a low shot of the jeans, which establishes what conversation is to happen, The camera then cuts to the boys as they watch him walking into the distances showing us that it has caught their attention. Throughout the film, the camera pans and dolls slowly as the conversation is pursuing to create a sense of realism.