Life is a short film directed by Vignesh Venugopal through RunwayReel – Telugu Latest Short Films. The two-minute story of “Life” shows how different people cross the dirty and stagnant water on their way to their own destinations.

With this short film as a visual text, analyses using multimodal and semiotics approaches were made.

Multimodal Analysis

Written Language

The short film does not include much written language, especially captions or dialogues. It only has written language on its first and last portions. On the first few seconds of the film, “RunwayReel presents“, “officially nominated for International Short Film Festival of India“, “a Auctors production”, and “Life…:)” are the written language displayed. Additionally, on the last seconds, the only written language is “Life is simple. Why complicate it?” Then, the staff and other details about the producer are presented.

Spoken Language

There is no spoken language used in the short film.

Visual

The most consistent visual in the short film is the sight of the dirty and stagnant water on a road with green grasses growing on the side. Two individuals pass the area. In the middle of the film, a visual of a school boy, who is the last traveler, appears, followed by the view of various big rocks. The school boy puts those rocks in the stagnant water and steps on them so that he can cross to the other side of the way.

Audio

Natural sounds can be heard all throughout the film, such as the chirping of the birds and the sound of water when someone wades through it. On the later portion of the film, an instrumental sound is used.

Gestural

The most dominant gesture is walking or stepping. This is seen when the three travelers pass through the road with stagnant water. Another is the act of collecting rocks by the school boy and his smile right after he is done placing those rocks in the stagnant water.

The Modes and Their Message

This short film does not utilize a lot of written and spoken languages, so that the visuals and gestures will be emphasized. There are only three people and their actions are common and minimal. This reflects that the production of the film was simple. The natural sounds and the visuals embedded in the film also shows that the staff did not put much time on editing and used only those raw shots and audio. These relationships boil down to the central idea of the short film that is simplicity, which is indicated on the last portion, “Life is simple. Why complicate it?“.

Personal Reflection

By using only minimal film aspects, such as a few written language, no spoken language, consistent visuals and gestures, and natural audio, this short film embodies its very theme – simplicity. It could have only taken a few takes and a little editing and preparation to create this masterpiece, since almost everything seemed natural. Moreover, while watching it, I realized that this short film with a simple plot can undoubtedly create an impressive and thought-provoking effect to its audience. Its simplicity or naturalness is its core. Indeed, life is simple, so why do we need to complicate it? Let us just be natural and make use of the things that the nature or environment provides, like the school boy who utilized the rocks to safely pass through the dirty and stagnant water.

Semiotics Analysis

The Signs

The short film is rich with symbols. The most evident one is the road or the way, which symbolizes life. The dirty and stagnant water represents the hindrances or challenges that we encounter in life, while the travelers are us. The rocks, which the school boy placed in the stagnant water, stand for the simple and obvious answers or solutions that we already have around us.

The Signs and Their Message

The first two individuals, who walked in the water, may represent some of the people who complicates life by facing the challenges head on without a plan of action and who only thinks of themselves. Facing the problem directly without proper planning could result to more problems. For instance, in the film, the two travelers walk with their feet submerged in the water, which could cause foot diseases like Leptospirosis. This is unlike the school boy, who looked for a simple solution that is to place big rocks so that his feet will not get soaked in the dirty water. The school boy has a simple idea and a simple plan to resolve the problem. Just like that, life is also simple.

Personal Reflection

From time to time, we come across some life challenges, but there are always solutions to these problems. It is best that we must not act according to our impulse when facing them, in order to prevent creating more problems or complications. Instead, planning a good and remarkable solution would be best. In the film, I believe that the school boy is not only a deliberate person, but also someone who embodies initiative and leadership skills. His action is effective not only for him, but also for the next travelers who will pass through the same way and encounter the same hindrance as him. Thus, he did not make only his life simple, but also the life of others.

I am an only child. My mother is a teacher; my father is a farmer. Oftentimes, I feel lonely staying at home as I imagine the fun activities of the town or city. Yet, I just love sitting at home and looking out the window with a sense of security and peace. Whenever I’m outside, it’s like I am being dragged home.