Short Film - Brief Analysis

Martilino

This is an early short film by an up and coming director, Monshur Alam.



The very beginning of this short film uses a series of shots that are stringed together by fades to black. This creates a sense of enigma right from the start because we remain unsure about the location and characters involved. The narration also gives a sense of enigma by describing something without giving many clues as to what exactly it is "if I have to then it's going to be done". Along with this there are a variety of shots that come after each fade, ranging from big close ups, close ups and long shots.

The sequence starts with a very brief establishing shot of the main character in a dark and seemingly empty room. The room is dimly lit by an electrical light, signifying the dark and urban environment that the film is set in. The next shot is a big close up of a gun held in someones hand, which helps illustrates the serious tone of the scene. The next shot is a continuation of the opening shot and this time tracks in closer to the character, drawing the audience into the story. We see a close up of the main character's face that is half hidden in shadow. This, along with his dress codes, possession of a gun and the dark environment all point towards gangs, death and murder.

I think that this is a suitable opening as it sets the tone and structure of the film out well. I like the use of non-diagetic musical cues during the narration in the beginning. The sudden use of the piano accurately timed with the revealing of the characters face creates a serious manner to the character and what he is saying. The menacing piano is used throughout the narration and creates a climatic and dramatic effect, which is seen towards the end, where there is a montage of the victims being shot in the head.

I think that the narrative of the film is well chosen because it encounters issues to do with street crime and gang culture. It portrays members of the gangs as murderers, who are trying to out do each other by doing the most horrific crimes possible. This glorification of random murder as well as the view expressed by the main character of how he is pressured to go one step further even though he knows that the others are sick and twisted. The director chose to veer away from the horror genre by focusing on the action and build up of tension rather than showing the gory details of what is being committed. He sets the scenes up so that the audience feels vulnerable by placing the victims in normal and realistic situations, rather than going down the sadistic route of horrors like 'Saw'.

To improve this film, I think that the character should have been lit by a stronger light, as we cannot see much. This will also create a more defined shadow on one side of his face and signify the fact that he is not the protagonist or antagonist. It's possible that the the main character could have told the story in a more interesting way by using more gestures and facial expressions. I think quality of sound recording and tones of voice could have been better, but is nevertheless very good for this low budget film.

Narrative Structure - Todorov

Torov's narrative structure theory simply outlines the chain of events found in the storyline to conventional films. The sequence of events is said to go something like this:

Equilibrium - The starting balance in the story, where normality is held.
Disruption - An event that breaks the normality and causes irregular changes in the environment.
Thwarted attempts - The characters involved try to restore normality, but fail.
Resolution - Eventually, they succeed in overcoming the disruption.
New equilibrium - A new order is restored. Anything affected by the disruption is most likely to have changed, thus this equilibrium is new.

Applied to the film 'Scream'

Equilibrium - At the start of the film we see a teenage girl in a house, behaving normally and representing the student body at the college she attends.
Disruption - The young couple are murdered in the beginning of the film, which leads to fear as fellow students realise there is a murderer.
Thwarted attempts - Students attempt to fight back and work out who the killer is. Protagonist emerges. Police get involved and try to protect.
Resolution - The murderers reveal themselves and are then killed.
New equilibrium - Assumption of a happy ending with the protagonist winning and therefore allowed to continue her life.

This narrative structure theory almost works for this film. I don't believe that the film shows a true equilibrium either at the beginning or end, only one that is assumed by the audience. Otherwise it seems to fit well.

DVD cover analysis: Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer

This is the DVD cover for the film 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer'.

The front cover itself contains a more subtle key image than what is normally expected. Hidden within the title of the film is the still image of a male looking into a mirror. It is an over the shoulder shot with the camera's focus on the mirror, with the character looking at himself. This gives the feeling that you are in the room with the character and that he is in a personal moment. He is looking into the camera with a menacing expression signifying that he has or is about to do something malicious. Also, the fact that he is looking back at himself puts forward the idea that he is questioning himself or his actions, possibly signifying a sense of insecurity and instability commonly found with psychotic killers. The character's hair is scruffy and seems to be unkept, further suggesting that he does not care about his appearance and that he is untamed by law and free from the expected ethics of a normal man.

The title of the film is entirely coloured red, with the main image embedded into the word Henry and tinted red. Because there is only one character in the photo, the audience can take that that character is Henry. The colour red, in this context signifies blood, gore and anger, which are likely to be prominent traits in this film. The text beneath the title "He's not Freddy. He's not Jason. He's real." stands out from the black background, just like the red title does. 'Freddy' and 'Jason' are both fictional characters from other thriller/slasher films 'Nightmare on Elm street', 'Jason X' and even 'Freddy vs Jason'. By seeing this it gives the audience something to go by in terms of expectations of the film. The fact that the sentence states that he is real makes a psychological impression to whoever is looking at the cover because Freddy and Jason are notorious for being sick and twisted as fictional characters, whereas Henry is comparable to them and he is real.

Overall, the simplistic nature of the cover gives a very enigmatic and stylish feel to it. This causes the audience to be provoked into knowing more about Henry, other than him being a serial killer and also causes the audience to expect a distict and well thought out styling to in the film, another reason why they should see it.

The Descent cover

This is the front and back cover for the film, The Descent. The film is about six girls that go on a caving holiday, but become trapped inside an unchartered cave. We follow them as they try to seek a way out. However, they are then hunted down by a humanoid race that are adapted to the conditions underground, with horrific results.

The cover portrays the tone and feeling that is apparent in the whole film, with a dark, black background and shaded faces. The strokes of red represent the blood and violence in the film, but it also makes the text stand out from the rest of the cover. There is the key image of the main protagonist who's face is half covered in shadow, this suggests fear and that she is hiding from something malicious. The front cover has a quote from a magazine, saying 'the most significant Brit chiller since 28 Days Later'. This gives the audience the need to see the film, especially if they have seen "28 Days Later". Beneath the title it also says 'from the director of Reservoir Dogs', a high quality film that the audience can associate with and have an idea of the director's style will impact the film.

This is an image of the silhouette and shadow of a woman. The shot is taken at night and the woman is walking in a street alone.

This shot is a good representation of thriller because of its enigmatic elements, where you cannot see the character. This makes her look vulnerable as she is walking alone in the centre of the image, with the shadow she is casting dominating the image.

The light source is coming from behind the character and reflecting off of the ground, possibly signifying that there is something chasing her.

Thriller
Similar to horror films, except thrillers use exciting action and tension to engage the audience. Normally referred to as movies where one is on the edge of their seat.centuryofslang.com/reviews/genres.php

I agree with this definition, except thrillers are not necessarily similar to horror films although they do create feelings such as tension, fear and anxiety. A film involving a lot of action, such as the action thriller franchise 'James Bond' contain plot twists and create suspense through face offs and confrontations.




My Initial idea

A man recovers from a coma and awakens in hospital. He is amongst unfamiliar faces who say that they found him laying in the street. He is left alone in the room to get some rest and looks at the objects around him, food medical equipment, a heart monitor and an emergency call button. A doctor is alerted that the emergency button has been pressed and rushes in from another ward. The man is laying there, but as the doctor gets closer you notice that a scalpel is missing and he gets ruthlessly stabbed in the neck by the mystery man. He then gets up and wonders through the hospital with a crazed look in his eye, hiding around corners and assassinating people in his path. The sequence stops when he finally gets outside.