Deconstructing - The Red Balloon

Plot

This story is about a boy that finds a balloon and starts to play with it and treat it as a friend. This friendship goes through tough times as the boy is forced to leave his new friend outside the bus to school, the school and his house because balloons are not allowed inside these places.

Characters

The janitor, the boy's mother, schoolkids, the boy and the balloon.

Location

At his house, at school, in an alleyway and at the railway yard.

Dialogue

No dialogue apart from some inaudible conversations

Sound

There are different soundtracks for the different scenes, mainly used to emphasize different moods i.e. when the balloon is annoying the janitor in the story a mischievious soundtrack is played. You can also hear street sounds etc. i.e. sounds of a bus moving off.

Treatment

The colours in the film are washed out and most of the objects are greyed out with only limited colours shown. The red of the balloon and blue colours of the boy's clothes are the colours that stand out and the ones that are not washed out. This emphasizes the characters of the film.

If I were to direct this film again, I would place more emphasis on the characters involved in the action so that they stand out more from the other characters in the scene.