Case Study 1

"Stitches" - short horror film (Bloody Cuts)

·         I have chosen to do a case study on this particular short film as it is a horror and that is the genre I want my short film to be in also.

·         It has creepy sounds effects/music in the background which I feel adds to the tense and creepy feel of the film. That is called non-diegetic sound.

·         The lighting is quite dark which comes across as being quite spooky and thrilling.

·         It is set in a house making the environment realistic, making the short film more believable to the audience.

·         There are sound effects, such as a phone ringing and the noise coming from the TV, making everything seem very realistic.

·         Each scene plays for a few seconds before it cuts which allows you to take in everything.

·         They use a variety of different shots such as, long shot when they are showing the setting with the character to help set the scene and show the location that the character is in. Wide shot to capture the whole scene and the character also. Cutting on action was also used the she was look at some books, it but to a close up shot of her looking at the books and also when she open the door to a mid-shot of her coming out the other end as she walks through it which inspires to also use a variety of shots in my movie. The different shots allows the whole video to flow and create all different viewpoints for the audience. This helps them digest everything and be able to see her range of emotions and actions just by the different angles and shots they decided to use.

·         I also would like to have creepy background sounds and music to add to the suspense of my horror movie as it does in this short film.

·         They use props such as puppets and dolls to create a creepy setting as they cut to them frequently. This can also be used to add to the ‘horror’ film of the video.

·         At the end of the video she screams and it then cuts. I hope to do something like this in my video as I find it a very good ending and thrilling climax to the horror film. It leaves you in suspense and wanting to see more which is what all movies set out to do.

·         There are hints throughout the short movie of something weird happening. One of these is the TV that is on which talks about a patient escaping and they warn people of the local area which already creates suspicion. These hints build the short film up as the audience automatically begins to suspect something bad is going to happen. I feel like I could also do this in my short movie.

·         They use close up shots which show the emotion and facial expressions of the actor is the movie, especially at the scene at the end where she is screaming. I may also like to take inspiration from their use of close ups in my short film.

·         At the beginning of the short film the cutting rate is quite fast accompanied by spooky music and children’s laughter. This automatically draws in the viewer and captures attention. I could do this also as a way to capture my audience attention and set the theme. The cutting rate slows down once the actor is introduced which I will also do.

·         In the short film the actor has dialogue which I also want my character to have however I want more than one actor in my movie whereas the film I am analysing only has one.

·         She is represented as a normal teenage girl through the modern clothes she was wearing.