Short film research: The Sunshine State/Thriller

 

                 Welcome back to my blog reader! In order to research the thriller genre for my short film, I watched the short film “The Sunshine State” by the filmmakers Sam Dixon and Skye White  using the short of the week website and I will be analyzing its different camera angles, shots, movements, Mis-En-Scene, sounds and editing that are commonly used in the film. Further, the story is about a young man who is under the influence of alcohol and is by himself at night in the middle of nowhere, he then picks up a stranger old man hitchhiker on his way back home to Queensland. Beginning with sound, some diegetic sounds that I found were music from the restaurant the young man was in, dialogue of the young man and the old hitchhiker plus people in the background. There was also the sound of slamming the car door, the birds towards the end of the film, the radio static to wake the old man up, the sound of turning on the car as well as the sound of the old hitchhiker knocking on the window of the car. In addition, there was also the sound of the phone ringing and lighting up the cigarette. Additionally, the sound of them fighting over the wheel and stopping the car by force in attempt to not run over the animal as well as the sounds of them punching each other and the young man hitting the old man with a glass bottle. Further there were also non-diegetic sounds in the short film such as the suspenseful instrumental music as the young man is driving which then builds up towards the climax of the film where the characters are fighting over the wheel. Moreover, looking now at the Mis-En-Scene, the main setting/locations took place were first in front of the restaurant in the middle of nowhere then the two main characters drive until they settle in an open location where the fight happens and the locations throughout the whole film has dark surroundings something that is common in thriller films as it provides a suspenseful and mysterious tone. Following that, at the last scene where the fight takes place, it shifts to a lighter surrounding. All this leads us to the lighting used in the film, through most of the film, as I mentioned before, had low lighting in order to create fear and tension within the audience with the aid of shadows such as the scenes when they were driving. Then, the last scene is where the lighting changes to being a little brighter which serves as a way to highlight the fight and its aftermath. Further, during the driving scenes which had very low lighting, the color white was used around their faces in order to emphasize the actors' emotions and expressions which adds suspense to the scene while also given the viewer a clear way to see how the characters feel and infer what they will do next. Moving forward to costumes, the young man and the old man were wearing casual clothes that can worn during the cold weather, every day clothing is commonly applied to thriller films in attempt to make the viewer feel as if that could happen to them as well as a way to make it relatable for the audience. Further, the makeup was simple as they are supposed to appear as if they are wearing none which little to no makeup is an aspect that is commonly found in thriller films. Moreover, looking at the editing, there was a scene where the young man starts driving and then it dissolves to the image of the moving road. Further, there were also shot reverse shots such as when they were having a conversation the car as a way to show the continuity of the conversation. In addition, there were also insert shots found within the short film such as when the young man is driving, and we see the road then his face back and forth. Looking at the camera angles, movements, and shots, there were multiple point of view shots such as when the young man was driving and the audience was watching the road as if they were the character. There were also long shots such as the scene where the old hitchhiker is standing outside the car and the young man is inside the car which is a two-shot as there are two characters in the scene. Further, there were close-ups and medium close-ups of the young man and the old hitchhiker as well as a medium shot of the young man after he hit the old man the bottle. Moreover, 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 “The Sunshine State.” Well this is my cue to leave, till next time reader!