My film studies short film evaluation

1. Evaluation
When creating my five minute short film, I wanted to explore a dark theme, such as the
effects of depression and anxiety, in a way that engages the viewer and allows them to
either relate to or emphasise with the protagonist’s struggles. When exploring the theme of
mental health I also wanted to clearly portray the dismissive reaction that many people tend
to have when exposed to the subject of their mental health, hence the comical tone and
jokes that frequently contrasts against the overall theme of the film, and how toxic this self-
deprecating mind-set can be.
The film’s title, ‘That Little Voice in Your Head’, is a phrase that is tied to anxiety as it is
commonly imagined as a negative voice in your head, however the additional context of the
film’s narrative makes the use of ‘Little’ as an adjective ironic as the personification of the
protagonist’s anxiety comes across as dominating and manipulative. The film’s narrative
starts by introducing the main protagonist and the personification of his anxiety before we
follow them through a normal day of school where the anxiety slowly starts to bring down the
protagonist’s self-esteem. After enough of this, the protagonist finally confronts his anxiety
and where the audience expects him to conquer his demons ends tragically as the
protagonist ends up giving in to his anxiety.
The genre of my short film fits with the comedy subgenre of a dark comedy, with comical
elements such as the aesthetic use of wipe pan camera movement during scenes with a lot
of dialogue, the non-diegetic cartoonish whooshing sound effect and stylistic way that
characters enter and exit scenes helps to create a comical tone that makes light of the film’s
dark subject matter.
When opening my film, I took inspiration from the short film ‘The Ellington Kid’, which
immediately creates a sense of tension through its use of sound editing. ‘The Ellington Kid’
opens with a close up of a knife being sharpened however, the ambient sound is quiet,
emphasising the sound of the knife foreshadowing the disturbing twist of the film and
establishing an underlying sinister tone throughout the rest of the film. The film repeats this
method with a close up shot of meat being cut and of fries being cooked and the way that
the film transitions from each close up adds to building sense of tension by suddenly cutting
to the next shot in a way that the highlighted diegetic sounds is able to catch the audience
off guard.

2. Inspired by this, I opened my short film with a non-diegetic soundtrack playing a sad song,
helping to establish an underlying tragic tone to the film, before a mug is suddenly placed on
the counter. Just like in ‘The Ellington Kid’, the soundtrack plays quietly in the background to
highlight how jarring the sudden inclusion is, as well as, each shot suddenly cutting to next to
build up a sense of tension. However, the tension in the scene is lost through the simplistic
visuals of making a cup of tea contrasting against the sad atmosphere of the scene and the
final quick cut to the sound of the main protagonist slurping on the tea shatters any tension
that was building and establishing the audience’s expectations for what kind of film this is
meant to be.
Throughout my short film, I repeatedly used the same suspenseful soundtrack that plays at
the start of the film. The non-diegetic song plays whenever the character of anxiety starts
tearing into the main protagonist emotionally and its inclusion highlights the moment in the
viewers mind, as well as, emphasises the character’s shift from bright and bubbly to brutally
blunt. When playing throughout the film, the soundtrack usually cuts short as it’s interrupted
by either a contrasting moment of comedy or a transition to the next scene. This constant
stopping and starting throughout the film represents the character’s emotional struggles, the
moment when the soundtrack plays at the beginning of the film is done to define the
protagonist’s already existing emotional issues just before the viewers meet the character of
anxiety. During the scene when the protagonist is questioning what he should say to his
crush, the soundtrack plays again just as we see the more toxic side to anxiety’s personality,
however the track plays for longer showing the protagonist’s insecurities growing and giving
the viewers an idea of a sense of building towards the climax of the film. The final time the
track plays is during the climax when our protagonist finally confronts his anxiety; throughout
most of the scene the soundtrack plays in full, emphasising the hopelessness of the situation
as the protagonist desperately tries to fight back before fully submitting to his depression as
the song continues to play during the credits of the film.
The idea of utilising the soundtrack of the film in order to convey the protagonist’s emotional
state came from the short film ‘Slap’. Throughout the short film, non-diegetic sound is used
to portray how the protagonist is feeling during that certain scene. The film’s opening scene

3. has an unrecognisable, almost alien soundtrack playing throughout. This is done to
represent the confusion the protagonist feels concerning who he is as applies make-up to his
face and the paranoia of someone else knowing about this struggle, much like how the idea
of other life-forms creates a sense of paranoia in other people. The soundtrack is then used
at the end of film to portray the protagonist’s emotional breakdown. As the scene starts, the
viewers can only hear the soundtrack playing in the background as it drowns out any other
sound.
Overall, I’m pleased with how this film turned out. I felt that I made clear, strong
characterisation with a plot that has a strong, and relatable, conflict along with a conclusion
that catches those watching off guard, emphasising the tragic tone that I was going for
without the comedy taking away from the dark theme. My short film establishes a clear
preferred reading on the protagonist’s mental decent and allows for my intended audience,
teenagers or adults that have or are currently suffering with depression and anxiety, to relate
with his struggles. However, I believe that the message of making light of mental health and
how that can have a toxic effect that I wanted to explore, ended up getting lost during the
development process and if I could go back to improve it, I would try to explore that idea
properly.