2. Mise-en-scene
Location:
• While the location of the house is unknown, inside the house is very small and cramped.
Everything is messy and unorganised since there isn't a lot of space to put things. Some of the
hallway's paint has chipped of the wall and hasn't been repainted. This shows the audience that
they are a poor family of two who are not in a fortunate position to be able to keep the house in
top conditions.
• The son's room is a mess, following the typical child's room to filled toys all over the floor. This
could be because he is too busy fighting the monster or there just isn’t enough space for all of
his toys to be stored away. Which only leaving an empty space in the middle of the room so that
the characters are able to move and give the audience a clear view of the monster in its doll
form.
• The audience has a limited view of the bathroom but from what they are able to see, but it is
easy to tell that the bathroom isn't nicely decorated. The plain brick walls are out of place, not
following a neat pattern. It further enhances the point to the audience that this family isn't in a
position where they can live in a nicer house.
• The mother's room has more space for the characters to move around freely compared to the
sons room but it is still filled object that are possible not necessary needed, for example the
fireplace has multiple object on top of it without them being positioned in anyway. Also the
walls are grey, making her room a lot darker than the rest of the house which could be so that
the audience has a difficult time seeing the monster in its true form.
3. Mise-en-scene
Lighting:
• While it has been kept fairly bright for majority of the film. While there isn't any colour, the
amount of lighting inside the house compare to the outside near the start of the film where
you can see the mother standing next to the window. This shows the audience that this film
takes place at night and a possibility that there are not street lamps around, meaning that
there might not be any houses near since the lighting comes from inside the house .
• Having a hard light effect to enhance the shadows inside of the house, since this film is in
black and white, it lacks colours but make up for it with the dramatic shadow the hard light
effect leaving . It can make it difficult for the audience to see the monster since they are
wearing dark clothing and tends to stand where there is a lot of shadows or darker walls such
as when it is inside the closet or the mother's room.
4. Mise-en-scene
Costume:
• The mother in this short film wears her white clothing and in the black and white film, its bright so
that it can standout from the rest of the grey and black surroundings. This shows the audience that
she is the hero within the short film, showing her innocence but can over power the villain despite
wearing her pajamas which usually shows that a character is in a weak state but that is the time
where she is seen as her being the most powerful, going against what a lot of horror films would do.
• The monster wears black or dark clothing that covers majority of its skin, this clearly shows the
audience who is the villain of this short film. It has long fingernails that look almost like they are
talons from a bird, increasing how much this monster is inhuman. To the audience, they could
possible think that it could be a monster the son has created because of it's bizarre appearance.
• The son wears shades of grey, showing that he is neither good or bad because he becomes the
person that the monster comes after but only because he was beating up the monster in the first
place. He wears a type of vest above his usual clothing with a shield picture on the front of it, trying
to show the audience that he his suppose to be a knight or the hero in the film but because of his
grey clothing he becomes more of a false hero and the damsel in destress.
5. Mise-en-scene
props:
• Doll is a prop, is a toy that the son abuses during the start of the film. The importance of
this prop is that it shows the audience the villain's smaller form but it also gives the
audience and idea what the villain will look like in its final form because the two forms are
dressed exactly the same.
• The pots and pans in the kitchen, they become a distraction for the mother to forget about
the monster and her worried child to go a stop the food from burning. This shows the
audience that it's almost nighttime she is preparing food which could be for dinner and
since dinner time is the closest mean to night time, the audience will know that monsters
are usually active during the night, where people are vulnerable.
• The wooden sword the boy carries around during the first half of the film is used as his
weapon of choice when beating up the doll of the monster. This can tell the audience that
the son might be the hero in the film because of how it is known that knights would use
swords to defeat enemies.
6. Mise-en-scene
Movement of actors:
• The mother is a busy worker, throughout the film she is constantly moving but not in a energetic
way like her son, she moves from different chores that she needs to do in the house while trying
to keep the monster in its room. It clear that she is frightened by the monster but will become the
hero to protect her son from it.
• The son follows the stereotype of being a child, loud and always active. For the first half of the
film, you see him running around, screaming and he tries to be the hero by telling his mom that
"I'm killing a monster for you" however he becomes the 'princess' as he is scared of the monster
and isn't the one to defeat it.
• The monster has countless unique and different types of character movements that can make it
difficult to pinpoint exactly what the character is like. It movement is almost bird-like when it is in
the mother's room, the way it leaps across the room as if it is flying and crouches when it lands
but then it stands tall, like a bird would to seem more tall and frightening. However it can be seen
as being very childish as it decreases in size, backing away from the mother so the audience that it
fears her and isn't as powerful as it seemed to be.
7. Sound:
• For diegetic sounds, the son screaming. The kitchen is filled with diegetic sounds such as the
water in the sink and the boiling liquid in one of the pots, they use the diegetic sounds to avoid
complete silence, giving the audience an idea what the time is in the film but also makes the
audience think that nothing like jump scares will happen because they usually appear when a
scene is in complete silence.
• When the monster gets closer to the mother's bedroom, the sound is focused on the mother's
breaking and the loud bangs coming from the monster, completely blocking out her son's voice
as if the monster controls what the mother and the audience hears and making them more
scared to the sound they are limited to.
• The mother's scream completely stops the non-diegetic soundtrack that appeared when the
monster was in the mother's bedroom. Her scream is a way to stop the monster from
progressing any further which is her only warning the monster. This is could make the audience
think if the mother is inhuman as well because it looked like the monster had the advantage but
retreated when the mother started screaming.
• Whenever the film gets to a point where there is suppose to be complete silence the ambient
sounds become more noticeable . Towards the end of the film, a non-diegetic soundtrack is used
when the monster appears in the mother's room, it can show it invading the mother's bedroom
which is suppose to be the safest place for the child and it being there takes away the security
the child might have felt.
8. Cinematography:
• The film is mostly mid-shots, giving an idea of what the inside the house looks like without
showing everything and who the characters are alongside the characters' interactions with each
other, so lack of wide shots in this film can enhance the feeling to the audience that the house is
really small.
• Close-ups are mainly to show the characters' expressions, such as when the mother warns the
monster to not leave the room without her permission, the lighting isn't bright so it wouldn't
work with any other camera shot but with how close the camera is up to her face, it is easy for
the audience to see her angry expression.
• Low angle shot is from the mother's point-of-view as she confronts the monster. It make the
audience feel small with the monster towering over them and still increasing in size, making
them feel week and vulnerable.
• There is a high angle which also becomes a point-of-view shot when the mother is shouting at
the monster, where the audience takes the position as the monster looking down at the mother
but also increasing in height making her look small and weak, hence the camera tilting more as it
is raised.
9. Editing:
• Thee monster's movement up the stairs is edited by taking a shot every time the monster
moves up one step, which was all put together speed up so that it makes it look like it is
levitating up the stairs at an alarming pace. This shows the audience that the monster isn't
human despite it's human like figure.
• The film is only in Black and white, which can enhance the darkness of the shadows, making
it difficult for the audience to see the monster's tall form towards the end of the film. Also it
can show the audience time period the film is set in (between 1930 and 1960, where black
and white films were first created to the point where films in colour became available) since
it isn't strongly suggested in the film.
• The pacing is kept slow for the most part and only increases slight when the monster
appears on the stairs. Which is because of its sudden appearance of its full body, finally
coming after the son. However as quickly the pace picks up, it also almost immediately
slows back down to a time to the morning after. The audience might think that this happens
on a regular basis because of how fast the build up ends.
