Short Film Analysis - Office Space

Office Space is a short film made by PJ Liguori that he posted onto his youtube channel KickthePJ in 2013. 

The film starts with a black screen and the sound of a ticking clock a medium close up of an alarm clock abruptly appears on the screen as the sound of the alarm starts ringing, implying the beginning of a day. An arm comes into shot angrily trying to turn off the alarm clock taking multiple attempts. This indicates that he is not happy about waking up and facing the day. 

This is also highlighted in the next two shots which is a close up of the button on the kettle being pressed and then a close up of the steam coming from the kettle. This implies that he might need some form of caffeine to get through the day. 

This is followed by a close up of him putting on his tie indicating that he has a professional job, this is then confirmed in the next shot where he sits down at his desk and sighing highlighting his dissatisfaction with his job. The non-diegetic music is monotonous and repetitive indicating the tone of the work place however it is electronic hinting at the main characters creativity and playfulness. The camera then zooms into the incoming tray on the desk as a large stack of work is placed into it, this is then followed by the camera panning around to the main character as he takes a sheet off of the top of the pile and starts working. 

The colour scheme of the office is very dull with a lot of grey indicating that this is a serious and boring place. As the protagonist is working a long shot becomes a two shot as his boss walks up to his desk and slams his hands down asking about a late report and criticising the protagonist for unprofessionalism. In the two shot the boss is stood up whilst the main character is sat down, this indicates that the boss has all of the power whilst that main character has none. The boss’s voice is also monotonous and doesn’t pause for breath, making it sound almost drone like. The next shot features a zoom on the outgoing work box indicating the end of the day. This is followed by three shots in quick succession a close up of the front door lock being opened, the kettle being switched on and the steam from the kettle showing his routine. 

Then there is a medium shot of the main character walking into his living room, throwing his bag and coat down, sitting down on the sofa and putting his head in his hands whilst sighing. 

He then reaches for the mail which in an example of match on action is shown in a close up. Most of the envelopes make it clear that there are bills inside, some of which are “past due”, which gives the viewer an insight into the life of the main character, however he then finds a leaflet for a holiday company. At this point choir music starts to play and a shot reverse shot shows a face of happy realisation. The colour scheme also becomes warmer at this point, all of this indicates that the leaflet has given him an idea that makes him happy. This is followed by a medium shot which slowly zooms in on him writing quickly into a notebook with the enhanced diegetic sound of the pencil on paper.

The screen the abruptly becomes black with the diegetic sound of a clock ticking indicating a new day. Most of the day is the same, highlighting the repetitiveness and monotony of his life, up until the work is put on his desk, however before this there is one difference which is that it only takes one attempt of hitting the alarm clock to turn it off indicating he is less fed up than before. 

When the work is put in the inbox he picks up the top piece of paper like before however he doesn’t start writing, suggesting his mind is elsewhere. This is highlighted when his boss comes to talk to him, his voice sounds distant and the main character is looking out of the window.

As the main character puts the work in the outbox small doodles of space can be seen on the work, indicating that he likes space, this also foreshadows a later plot point. The key in door, kettle being turned on, and kettle steam sequence is then repeated, however when he enters his house a non-diegetic mystical ukulele music starts indicating creativity.

There is a panning close up of the contents of table in the living room which is covered in paper, sketches, masking tape, a hot glue gun, extra glue sticks for said hot glue gun, a disassembled camera, and string.

Most of these things are common crafting essentials indicating that he is making something. In this shot we see the main characters arm reaching for the hot glue gun, in a match on action edit into a medium close up we see him using the hot glue gun on what appears to be some sort of circuit board, this is followed by a close up of him taping something with the masking tape and another panning close up of a sketch on the table and then back to the medium shot of him writing in his note book. All of this highlights the characters creativity.

Then the screen goes black and the ticking is heard again. When the alarm goes off the character presses the button gently and turns it off almost immediately as the day begins to repeat. When he arrives at work he looks almost happy and doesn’t sigh when he sits down.

When the work is put into the inbox he seems to be almost excited and takes the first sheet, however instead of writing on it he folds it into a paper airplane.

When the boss turns up at his desk to shout at him he isn’t there and the boss doesn’t know where he is and is angry about this as can be seen in his phrasing of the question “where the bloody hell is Jones?”.

The music starts out as the same monotonous tune as before but when we cut to a medium shot of the main character facing away from the camera on the roof of the building it becomes more mystical and exciting. This shows that he is excited for something and hasn’t let the repetitiveness of his life stop him from changing the routine.

This is followed with a medium close up of his face and upper body holding the paper airplane he made and then throwing it off the roof. After throwing it he smiles and sighs in relief then walks back into the office. Inside the office there is a two shot of the main character walking towards his boss, they are now both standing and have an equal amount of power.

As the boss asks “where the bloody hell have you been” the main character just puts his hand on his bosses shoulder, shakes his head and walks off. This leaves the boss visibly confused in a close up.

The next shot is of the main character walking into his living room where there is a large object covered by a sheet. He puts down his bag and rips off his tie throwing it on the ground, removing all connections to the corporate job he just walked out on.

There is then a close up of an open vintage suitcase which already has some clothes in, showing how he has planned for this, and he adds some food indicating he’s planning on being away for a long time. There is then a medium long shot of the main character turning towards the large sheet, this the cuts to a low angle medium shot from behind the main character to exaggerate the size of the covered item.

Taking off the sheet it is reviled that the item is a large cardboard spaceship.

The next shot is inside the spaceship and we see the main character sitting down clutching his suitcase, indicating that he is nervous, he presses some buttons on the panel next to him which is followed by sounds of the rocket powering up and the countdown to lift off. When he presses the launch button the whole rocket starts shaking indicating movement, and he squeezes his eyes shut and starts breathing heavily, suggesting he is scared. When the shaking stops he opens his eyes and looks out the window.

We see this from outside the rocket looking in through the window, as the shot is outside the rocket we are also shown many twinkling stars to show that he is in space. We see that he has a large smile, showing that he is happy that his rocket worked and excited that he is in space.

In a close up back inside the ship he laughs slightly in disbelief and as this shot zooms out he leans back in relaxation and relief.

The next and final shot is of the rocket ship floating in space with stars in the background and the earth in the lower corner of the screen, showing that he has finally left all of his earthly troubles behind.