Short film research: Porcupine/Thriller

                         Welcome back to my blog reader! As a way to research the thriller genre for my short film, I watched the short film “Porcupine” by the filmmaker Clifford Miu using the short of the week website and I will be analyzing its Mis-En-Scene, different camera angels, shots, movements, sounds and editing that are commonly used in the film. Further, the story is about a young mother who is a widow, one New Year’s Eve night she has to protect her infant from intruders and therefore askes the 911 operator if she has permission to shoot. Starting with sound, some diegetic sounds that I found was low to loud banging of the front door from attempting to open it by force by the intruders. There were also gasping sounds from the young mother throughout the short film, there were sounds from fireworks and screaming/laughing from individuals enjoying the holiday at the beginning of the film. Also, there was another diegetic sound from blowing out the smoke while she was smoking and the sound from crying of the baby plus there was dialogue between the young women and the 911 operator as well between the young women and her late husband. In addition, the intruders were speaking while trying to open the door and the police and a News person had also dialogue. There was also sound from the police sirens, the gunshot, and birds from one of the flashbacks with her husband.  Further, there were also non-diegetic sounds in the short film such as the sentimental instrumental music from the scenes that she was reminiscing then changing to a more intense instrumental song as thing began escalating. Moreover, now looking at the Mis-En-Scene from the short film, the location consisted of the young women’s house which had dark surroundings. Regarding the costumes, the young women and the intruders were wearing casual clothing which is what characters in thrillers usually wear in order to add realism to the situation and make the viewer feel that what is happening on the screen could happen to them. In regard to makeup, the young women wore limited amounts of makeup in order to give her a natural look which is commonly for in thriller films. Further, the lighting used in this short film was very low for most of the scenes in order to create tension and fear within the viewers with the help of shadows which such as when she is waiting on the floor for the intruders to come in, this example of lighting is commonly found in thriller films. Another example of how lighting was used in this short film is that in one of the last scenes, the colors red and blue reflect on the young woman’s face amidst the low light that surrounds her which aids to depict emotion such one that could lead the viewer to infer that the red could illustrate her anger and the blue her sadness. Moving forward to editing, there is a cutaway towards the climax of the story as the young women is preparing herself to shoot the intruder when they come in as this will help delay the main action and help build the suspense leading up to the main moment in the film and as a way to show the young women’s thoughts. Also, there were flashbacks at the short film's beginning to give the viewers insights on what happened to the protagonist. Regarding camera angles, movements, and shots, there were close-ups of the young woman's face and an extreme close-up to her eyes in order to display clear emotion, which will add to the dramatic tension. There were also medium close-ups throughout the short film in order to aid viewers to take in the young woman’s facial expressions and emotions while still displaying the background. Further, there was an over the shoulder shot while the young women is on the floor and is facing the front door as a way to show her perspective. Also, there were tracking shots in order to follow the young women and there were wide shots in order to emphasize the space that surrounds the young women as a way to make her seen isolated. In addition, elements that I found appealing from this short film were the diegetic sounds such as the banging of the door and the young woman's gasping as they added to the suspenseful aspect of the film. Moreover, an element that I did not find appealing for the most part from this short film was the low lighting used throughout the film. Further, this was my analyze of the camera angels, shots, movements, Mis-En-Scene, sound, and editing from the short film in the genre of thriller “Porcupine.” Well this is my cue to leave, till next time reader!