Work over the weeks and how we completed the project
The past 4 weeks me and my group did a ton of work for this project. The first lesson in which we were assigned to our groups, during the first we focused on getting introduced to each other and taking our first look at the short film we were assigned which was called “fearnando” we has brief discussions on the task at hand but we focused on meeting each other as it was our first time meeting each other is the big class. After the lesson we all went away and did an analysis of our own. For me I did moving image arts for my A levels so the task of analysing a film was very familiar to me. I focused on each section separately, lighting, camera,mise en scene, sound and editing, I wrote brief notes on the different topics.
In the next class we all got together and discussed the notes we had made. This is when we created the PowerPoint which would later be used for our presentation. We made different slides for each of the different categories and we all threw in our notes and discussed all the different areas. We also watched the short film many times and made even more notes on it. After the next week, over messages amongst the group we divided each section to different group members, for example I chose camera so I focused my research and analysis on camera movement, shot composition and such. I found the process rather enjoyable, especially when we were sitting as a group in class each working on our different sections and complaining about the short, which none of us liked. I also did some reading, mostly back into some moving image arts notes I had taken from last year but also a book that was recommended from the teachers called “film art: an introduction” I also watched some film analysis videos in the background while I wrote, the most notable being “this is how a dolly zoom works” which I used as a refresher on the topic of dolly zooms as the film has a key shot where a dolly zoom is used to make the stairs appear bigger and more intimidating to the character who we follow throughout the short
Peer assessment:
Darian did a lot of the communication and helped keep the whole group together, acting as the team leader. I believe we all found this incredibly helpful and percentage wise of the work done I’d give him a 39%
Mara was also a key contributor to the discussions, in the group chat it was mainly her and Darian talking, she wasn’t as active but certainly made the group better and her work in the slides was substantial so I’d give a nice 37
Korie was not as active on the discord and didn’t attend the group discussions as much, despite that she was a joy to work with and made us all giggle. I found her contributions to the slides very interesting with good analysis in my opinion so I’d give 24%
My analysis of the short film
The short film begins with a dolly shot through the hall and into the main character’s bedroom, this is intended to give the feeling that the character is being watched.
It also serves to establish the environment as a house that the character lives in with his mother.
The length of the shot gives the viewer time to relax before later scares, with the intent of making the later scares bigger by starting calm.
This rotating shot introduces the main character, showing him playing a video game on his laptop. It also establishes his bedroom to the viewer as the camera pans around him revealing what he and his bedroom looks like, establishing the necessary information about the character. Here the camera shows the door which sits slightly ajar.
The same door the camera had previously come through, the shot serves as a pov shot till it changes to a close up as to try and draw attention to the shadow in the dim light.
Unfortunately due to the dimness of the shot and the unchanging camera position, the shadow becomes hard to notice making it feel as if nothing happened.
I feel that this shot would have been vastly improved by either a pan in or the camera angle being at the crack in the door, which would draw focus as to what is seen.
This shot has a really ugly tilt up as he looks up and the camera stays on his face. The camera moves jolted and stiff, lacking the fluidity that would be expected.
This could have been done to throw off the viewer to increase discomfort, but with how in the rest of the short the camera moves fluidly it seems unlikely.
As put in the book Film Art: An Introduction, “The tilt movement rotates the camera on a horizontal axis. It is as if the camera’s head were swiveling up or down.”
A camera movement should not completely take you out of the film and story. I choose to believe that this is an animation error as it takes the viewer out of the emotion of the scene, which the film then struggles to regain that connection throughout.
Shot reverse shot to show the characters expression before panning to a close up of the drawer to emphasise the action of him picking up the lighter.
The composition of the shot is framed so that the main action is in the centre of the camera which draws attention to it without the eyes having to move much.
Low angle worm shot of him walking to the door, this is to make a jarring change from showing him as large and in charge to his actual height being shorter than half the door frame.
This is to give a sense of inflated ego and confidence whilst showing that in reality he is just a scared child. The composition presents his small and unintimidating presence
This composition doesn’t reveal much but the low down angle adds to a growing sense of the character being watched by some far away entity.
what really should have been done is a high angle instead of the low angle they chose, as a high angle makes the character feel smaller and more vulnerable but they instead chose a low angle.
The frame also has him centred which helps guide the eye easily to him amongst all the darkness.
Steady calm shot provides a rest after a small build of tension, this makes a sense of false security as the audience waits for the climax.
In all honesty this scene kills the tension, they intended for the shot to provide a momentary shock before a bigger climax, but the climax is less scary than the lighting so it ends up not working in their favour. The use of medium shots feels quite boring and works against the film by not even being hand held, instead the camera is completely steady which makes the viewer feel disconnected from the film and characters.
Also the use of shot reverse shot to show our characters fear of what he sees, a method pioneered by classical hollywood and Alfred Hitchcock.
This method helps put the viewer in the character’s shoes and feel their emotions which gets the viewer emotionally invested in their story.
Another shot that would have been improved by more lighting but nonetheless, this is an effective shot with its composition as it uses a Dolly Zoom to make the stairs appear taller as the child looks at them.
The fact it’s a pov shot forces the viewer to be put into the child’s shoes which effectively shows the child’s fear to the audience which in turn makes the audience fearful for the child’s safety. This type of shot was a type frequently used in German expressionism.
Here the camera holds still whilst the boy’s hand moves shakily. Whilst I believe a handheld, high angle shot would be most effective, this shot does show the shakiness of his hand and therefore his fear without disturbing the audience’s view and therefore helps the audience understand what is going on in his mind.
