3. Lights Out
• Has the fear that the audience can relate to
• Fear of being alone in the dark
• Lighting – low key lighting, build up tension and suspense, the unknown. I find the use of
the light from the lamp at the end very effective when revealing in the case of this short
the fear, it makes the audience react to the actions taking place with in the film to feel as
if they are a part of it.
• Sound – silence – shows isolation and that the character is lonely, the sound effect of
footsteps show that there is somebody else in the house – somebody that the main
character doesn’t know about- this creates the fear for the audience. The creak of floor
boards also symbolises this fear as it shows that someone is sneaking around with in the
house of the main character.
4. • Camera – I think that the camera is used effectively through out the short. The long shots
show the corridor of the house/ apartment, by focusing on this it suggests to the
audience that this could be a place of danger – it shows the length of the corridor and
the empty space – empty dark space is something conventionally used with in a horror to
create fear. Another effective shot used is the close up used at the very end on the doll/
girls face – this is when the fear is revealed for the audience. – It isn’t always
conventional of a short film for the repair or resolution to be shown.
• Editing – The shot reverse shot used is really effective as it shows the location and where
the fear might be with in the corridor and the goes to a close up of the main character to
show her reaction when turning the light on and off. From the characters reaction it
allows the audience to see that something isn’t normal. Cuts are used to show the lights
turning ‘themselves’ on whilst the main character is in bed – I think these techniques
have worked well especially for the horror genre to convey all the conventions and create
fear with in the audience.
6. ReMoved
• Lighting – low key lighting is used to show how the characters feel and symbolises there dark life,
and how they have to live in the dark away from everyone else and they cant speak out. It is
towards the end when the family get help that natural lighting is used, this helps to portray to the
audience that life is getting better for the children.
• Sound - There is a non – diegetic sound track that plays over the film, most of the narrative is
shown through a voice over, this could be used to symbolise the silence of her life that the only
person she can talk to and trust is herself – this is a very powerful message.
• Camera – Most of the camera angles are close ups, or medium closes up – this shows the small
space that the characters live in and show the fact that they can’t escape. These close proxemics
make the audience feel the same fears and panic that the characters are experiencing.
• Editing – There are a lot of flash backs, cross cuts and jump cuts used, this is used along side fast
passed editing to represent the fear and the fact that there life doesn’t flow like the stereotypical
‘normal’ family. Again this portrays the fear and danger to the audience that the family feels on a
daily basis.
8. The Crush
• Lighting – the lighting used is all very natural to the environments filmed I, most of the
filming takes place outside, the clouds put a dull effect on he scene and help to create a
little bit of fear from the unknown.
• Sound – The sound in this film is mostly the narrative/ dialogue – only with ambient
sound effects that fit in with the locations where the film is filmed .
• Camera – There is a wide variety of shots used with in the film, such as long shots and
wide shots used to establish locations such as the class room – this particular shot shows
the teacher and the one student left in the class room this shows the audience that there
is a different relationship between these 2 characters. Close up shots are also used to
show characters reactions and expressions – I think this is a really good way to make the
audience feel part of the film and have a connection with the characters.
• Editing – shot reverse shot and jump cuts are used. The shot reverse shot is used to show
the relationships between the characters – this works well really well in showing the
audience the relationship between characters. The jump cuts show that time has passed
– because it’s a short film a lot has to be shown and explained in a short period of time.
9. The sort film
• Narrative structures of short films tend to always follow the pattern of
having an equilibrium, disruption and resolution – the film has to make
sense in the short period of time. ( this is part of Todorov’s theory)
• There is a lack of titles and credits with in short films – they tend to be at
the start or end but are much shorter than the conventional block buster
films.
• With in short films there is definitely a lack of a star system – this is often
because the story lines of these films can be very powerful so the actor
doesn’t need to be a big named star as long as they can carry the role out
well. Normally with in short films there are only 1 or 2 main characters
