Virgin Shorts - Saloon

Out of the 12 short films we watched, I had a few favourites, including '2.20' and 'Inanimate', but I also enjoyed 'Saloon', a clip showing indian men receiving different treatments in a hair salon.

What I found particularly interesting about this short film was that it portrayed the usual conventions of a salon, but using a play on words for the title, they made a casual trip to the barbers for an indian man seem more like an experience. The title 'Saloon', which is also the name of the barber's, reminds an audience of cowboys, where there is a serious atmosphere. It is interesting to see how a simple trip to a barber in india, which has all of the usual grooming e.g. hair cutting and shaving, is made to feel more manly than it really is, when usually, activities such as going to a salon, are associated with women.

The music used is the short film is continuous, and the male voice along with the fast paced music goes with the action happening in the salon. It is a slightly fast paced clip, which uses a lot of still shots, ranging from medium shots to close ups. These are used to show what different men around the salon are doing. The men seem very engrossed in trying to look their best, not talking to each other but getting on with things. Also, the props used are not hi-tech equipment we would find in salons today, but a traditional indian way of doing things is shown, which matches the context. For example, a brush is used to apply the shaving cream and spread it around the men's face.

Parts of this short film that I may incorporate in my opening sequence are the use of music used to create a certain atmosphere, the weird, quiet, out of the box meaning behind what is actually being done, and the different camera angles used to make the clip more interesting to watch visually.