Amstel Malta Box Office presents 'Cindy's Note'

THEME
Do not condemn others: You do not condemn people when you have not experienced what they have. You should not judge or condemn people when you have not experienced what they have gone through or understand them. It takes practical involvement in a situation to change it.
Passion for change: It has two sides, when she wanted to leave Taraba she was passionate about it like speaking in a bad way to the principal and NYSC co-ordinator. Then she later became passionate to change the society.
Love: When Cindy’s boyfriend, Wilson left the village, she could not do anything instead she got into series of trouble with the villagers and the NYSC co-ordinator.

PLOT
There are different plots like cyclic, a plot where there is a centre to all the stories e.g. Vantage point. There is the serials, where there is series of stories e.g. Gossip girl. The plot in Cindy’s note is lineal plot and here thee is a beginning, middle and end. In Hollywood, it is called balance, imbalance and balance. The balance at the beginning of this movie was understated; the entire story was a flashback. The first balance was Cindy going to Taraba to serve. The imbalance part was when Cindy’s mom called and said that NYSC deployment was delayed. It was like her hope was dashed because she had to go to the village for a while. The climax was the point when the man (that came to fight that his children should not go to school) fell down, everything was slowed down. The climax was emphasized when the NYSC co-ordinator came to insult Cindy and said she was dating the principal. The balance came after the imbalance when she came to her senses and decided to change the village problems by bringing tractor.

TIME
The time used in this movie is the narrative time. The movie lasted a whole year but they picked only the important parts of the movie and left the rest.

MIS EN SCENE
Camera shots: The medium shot was the most prominent. The long shot was used when they were in the market and people were dancing. The close up shot was used when they show a character and it was used when somebody was ringing the bell.
Camera movements:
Pan shot: This was used in the market place; the camera was panned left and right. Pan shot was used very well in the movie.
Crane shot: When Cindy just got to the NYSC camp, this shot was used and when Cindy was reading her diary at the beginning of the movie.
Voice over: This was used at the beginning and the end mostly when Cindy is reading from her diary. Also in the movie when she was farming, when her boyfriend, Wilson left and came back to the village and all the phone conversations were voiced over. The voice of Cindy’s mom did not sound good enough to portray a rich woman that she was and then the voice was too loud for a phone conversation.
Hand-held camera: This is an effect created by holding the camera in your hand; it is used to simulate human movement. It was used after the orientation camp when people were moving and also in the volley ball game in camp.
Stunts: This was used in the market when Wilson was running after the thief and it was also used at the NYSC orientation camp, all the exercise and falling was done by stuntmen.

EDITING
In the movie, they used continuity editing throughout the film, showing the viewers their expectation. The issue of two Paulines in the movie was unnecessary.

SILHOUETTE EFFECTS
This was used when Cindy was working in the farm.

CAUSALITIES (CAUSE AND EFFECTS)
Because Cindy’s mom could not get her reposted, she had to endure every other thing which at the end of the day turned out to be the best for her. Cindy had serious attitude problem which was a product of her background (she plays on the influence of her parents that are very wealthy) to the extent that she spoke wrongly and rudely to the NYSC official, this at the end made the NYSC official not to trust her when she changed. The way she spoke to the principal was also very wrong and this is because she was proud. Her attitude affected a lot of things she did and Pauline too was exasperated at a point. Ngozi who sold clothes to her came to Usse to collect her remaining money and that was the wrong time she went. Cindy would never have taken anything on credit if not for the girl that was there.

Cindy was selfish and hot-tempered. When the girl hit her with the bag, she got angry immediately and she took the girl to class because of her self-pride, she endangered the girl for that teacher. She wanted to change the people but did it in her own way. She felt bringing people to school was by making it interesting but it was later she discovered that it was the tractor because the children cannot go to school and farm at the same time and vice versa.

Cindy was ambitious but she went about it in the wrong way. She had a good motive but had a wrong means of carrying it out. She was wrong but she was sincerely wrong because she did not know she was wrong. Development must start from the people not from the person changing them.

Wilson was the voice of reasoning, his part was subtle. He was the stabilizer, the rescuer. He paid the money a girl in camp was owing Ngozi, he helped Cindy get her purse and he begged the principal on Cindy’s behalf. Cindy was insensitive when Wilson helped her get her purse, what she said to him was wrong and everybody in the room realised it except her.

LESSONS LEARNT
The main lesson is ‘the way up is down.’ If you want to go far, you do not claim to go too far early because what takes you far is knowledge. Cindy felt she was at a height and knew everything, she never thought clearly until she was brought to the ground. If she succeeded, she would think she was right. People cannot change without their permission i.e. Cindy cannot change people without taking their permission. You have to make them understand that they need to change.

ATTRIBUTES OF AMSTEL MALTA BOX OFFICE MOVIES
There is always a feeling of hope in AMBO movies. It tells you, you do not have an idea of what you can do in somebody’s life until you give them a feeling of hope. People’s limitations are always before them. Aim at changing a life not necessarily lives.

The point of the village setting all the time is also telling us that you do not have to be in city to succeed. They are trying to discourage stereotypes. In AMBO, they focus on one person and one theme.