The audience then see the man go to his mundane job which he obviously does not enjoy, then suddenly he sees the woman across the road in the opposite building. He becomes extremely excited that he will be able to see her again and attempts to throw paper airplanes across to her in order to gain her attention.

This plan does not work and the woman leaves the building, so the man runs out of his work in an attempt to find her on the street. Again he is unlucky until his discarded paper airplanes guide him towards her abruptly, and the woman follows a single airplane towards the man. It ends with them having a coffee together.

Enigma Codes: At the beginning, an enigma code forms when the audience are unsure on whether the two characters will ever see each other again, and if so how. There is then constant hope that they will see each other again, but a number of facts prevent this until they see each other again at the place they first met.

Due to the fact there is no dialogue in the short film, the audience are left wondering what there names may be and what their voices may be like. However, this enigma code works well as the audience are as unfamiliar with the characters as they are with each other.

How characters are established and represented: The two characters appear as very average, friendly people waiting for a train and the appearance of normality increases for the man when the audience see him in his working environment, due to him appearing to have a simple office job. However, the man seems to reject this mundane lifestyle when he refuses to do any work and instead tries to gain the attention of the woman.

Locations: There are four primary locations in the short film.

The Train Station: This is where the two first meet. It seems likely that going to this train station is part of the mans daily routine, which the woman effects massively as seen later on when he quits his job in order to find her.

 The Mans Office: By the mans facial expressions whilst in this location, it becomes apparent to the audience that the man does not like his job and finds it extremely boring. All the men in this location look similar except the protagonist, displaying a lack of excitement and originality. The other characters are also older than the protagonist which may mean that if the man had not met the woman, he would have been stuck in the same lifestyle forever. 

The Street: For the young man it appears as if the street is the last opportunity he has to see the young lady. Unfortunately for him however, he only finds his last paper plane, which he discards in frustration. However the story than becomes more optimistic when the planes begin to abruptly force the man towards the woman and one plane guides the woman to the man. This enables the audience to know that it is extreamely likely that the two people will meet again and there will be a “disney style” happy ending.

The Train Station: It appears like a circular narrative when the two people end up at the train station again. There is also a two shot frame similar to the one at the beginning, making it obvious that the are together again.

Editing techniques and their effects:

Black and white: The visual effect of the short story being in black and white makes it appear like an old movie, which are often associated with the romantic genre. Therefore the audience are likely to expect that the short film is romantic before knowing anything about the story line. The classic visual effect also makes the story quite timeless as the costumes are very simplistic and could be associated with any time frame, then possibly displaying that love is timeless.

Animation: The fact this short film is an animation makes it appear available to young children, but the romantic storyline also appeals to adults. As a result the short film has a very wide target audience due to it being an animation.

Eyeline match shot when she leaves: What is significant about this shot is that during the shot-reverse-shot, the audience do not realise that the woman has left and neither does the man. The effect of this is that we as an audience share the experience with the character of not seeing the woman leave, and have the same concern that the man may never see her again.

Eyeline match shot when he notices her in a building: Hope is somewhat restored when the man seems to get excited when he peers out his office window. The audience automatically assume that it is the woman, which it is, and the events of him trying to get her attention then occur.

Camera techniques and their effects:

Two person frame: This shot is one of the first and at that moment it seems very natural as it is simply two people waiting for a train facing the camera. From the fact that the first shot type is a two person frame the audience can easily presume that the short film is about these two characters and as it is the man is the one first seen in this shot type, it can also be presumed that the story will be mainly seen through his eyes. The main significance of this particular camera technique is that not only is it the first shot type used, but also the last. This may make the short films narrative appear circular as the shot type is also in the same location. Director John Kahrs may have wanted the short film to appear circular in order to emphasise the simplicity of the story. At the beginning they were two strangers performing their everyday lives, but the act of meeting has slightly changed their course. So although it is circular which may be seen as repetitive (just like the man’s everyday life was life before he met the woman) the difference now is that they have met, as seen in the last two person frame shot in which they are looking at each other instead of the camera which is what they were doing in the first shot.

Long shot when he sees her at the window: The effect of this camera technique is that it may symbolise how although the man can see the woman, the distance is portraying how he needs to first go through a series of events before he can be with her. An example of this is how after he sees the woman at the window, he quits his job that he obviously hates and therefore destroys the boring cycle of his mundane life.

Use of sound: There is no dialogue in the short film. At the beginning of there is ambient sound of the train station and a soothing melody. This makes the opening of the short film appear very friendly and sweet and a rhythm starts to build. In the next scene there is then an ambient sound of an office, with telephones ringing and typing. The volume of the music then rises as the man sees the woman again, which begins to drown out the sound of everyday diegetic sound. Throughout the short film the volume of the music continues to increase until finally the two characters meet again on the train platform, in which the music becomes a quiet hush and the rhythm begins to slow again, but up until that moment the tone becomes very tense but still cheerful.

Iconography: Paper itself becomes a sort of icon in this short story, firstly because of the title itself and then because of how the two characters meet. It is a cute situation in which one of the man’s papers fly into the woman’s face, later causing it to have a lipstick mark. Their second meeting is also caused by paper as the man creates dozens of paper air-planes in order to gain the woman’s attention. Therefore paper become an icon in the short film and the characters relationships as it is the reason they have a relationship to begin with.

Genre characteristics: One of the genres for this short film is romance and the characteristic for this is seen throughout as the reason for ‘Paperman’ is for two strangers to meet and hopefully fall in love. Both the characters motifs in the short film is for them to see each other again. The short film also has characteristics of a comedy, as seen when the man is aggressively pushed by paper airplanes that then lead him to find the woman.

Font colour and positioning of titles: As Disney created the film there is a production card before the opening of ‘Paperman’. This is due to Disney being a large company and being a member of the Big Six. If ‘Paperman’ was created my an independent film director, it is unlikely that there would be a production card at the beginning. At the beginning the only title used is of the title, ‘Paperman’ which is in a simple handwritten script. The positioning of the title is in the place in which the woman then stands a few seconds after the title dissolves into the background.

The significance of the main title is its simplicity, as that is what the short film is, simple. There is no “Hollywood craziness” in the short film ‘Paperman’, just two characters meeting. The titles informing the audience of what crew members took part in the creation of the short film appear at the end in a classic style of pictures of the characters talking in a coffee shop beside it. Around the titles there are also iconic little paper airplanes flying around. To me this seems like a very classic way in order to finish a short film, and I very much enjoy that Disney has not kept its usual motif of having ‘The End’ at the end of the short film, as it is just the beginning for these two characters relationship.