Nathan is an autistic child who has synthesia and sees the wold through colours. He also enjoys maths as he sees the patterns in it and that then can be seen through colours. Mr Humphrey is someone who tutors Nathan from the age of 9 in maths and he has motor neuron disease. Nathan goes into train in Taiwan to gain his place in the olympiads (a highly recognised maths challenge for the best under 18 mathematicians in the world).
I have chosen to write about this film because Georgia (my partner for my two minute opening) and I have decided our genre for our opening will be drama and we thought we'd have the potential to relate it to either something we have experienced or potentially a mental illness, which is where x+y comes in. As a) I grew up with a brother with autism and have lived with many people with it meaning I'd have strong first hand experience which would make it easier to present in our opening and b) it's a strongly misunderstood disability so I would aim to present it in a way that would tackle the incorrect ideas of it.
I like x+y because it uses a strong use of colour and music to relay how each student sees life and furthermore how they see maths. I also like the variety of perspectives used to relay the same thing. It's filmed in a very effective way in order to emphasise how each character sees beauty in the world.
Analysis of opening scene
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Wide shot - establishing shot
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Rain - digetic noise
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Motorbike - digetic noise
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Non digetic music is authentic to location (Taiwan)
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Non digetic dialogue - voice over from Nathan. This is important as it allows us to understand what he is thinking and feeling from his perspective (important as he is autistic)
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Tracking shot
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Blur
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Close up depth of field
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Flashback - blurred
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focus on light - reflective of Nathan's synthesia
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Close up reverse shot - conversation
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Cuts aren't slow or quick
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wide shot - shows they are under the table
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Slight high angles on Nathan to show he is smaller
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wide shot of parents
The blurring, flashback, and focus on light/ colour is key. It's reflective of Nathan's synthesia and autism. It makes the world "pretty in his eyes" therefore pretty in ours; it allows us to empathise with the character.
From the analysis of X+Y, we have decided that our storyline for our two minute opening needs to be something the audice will be able to sympathise/ empathise with. We would need to reflect the struggles of our character and how they see the world through their eyes.
As well as this, we have seen the importance of lighting and sound. I think something that would be interesting to explore would be non-digetic dialogue. A voice over could be an effective way of communicating the main characters life story/ day to day troubles to the audience.
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