Short film research: Found/Thriller

 

               Welcome back to my blog reader! As a way to research the thriller genre for my short film, I watched the short film “Found” by the filmmaker Richard Hughes using the short of the week website and I will be analyzing it's Mis-En-Scene, different camera angels, sounds and editing that are commonly used in the film. Further, the story is about a father who has being searching for his daughter non-stop for the past ten years, his search leads him to a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere located three states away from where his daughter went missing. Starting with sounds, I found some diegetic sounds within the short film such as the sound of the wooden floor creaking, the sound of opening the trunk, the sound of hitting the leaves as the father passes by, the sound of the cover of the car, the sound of footsteps and doors opening, the sound of breathing hard, the sound of the white and black cartoons, and music playing in the background. Additionally, there were also non-diegetic sounds such as when the short film began, there was suspenseful instrumental music that increased in the parts that required later in the film. For instance, when the father found the basement and the music continued to increase and become more intense as he discovered things. In addition, there was also an ambient sound which was wind and birds. Further, there was also dialogue from the father and the kidnapper. Moreover, looking at the Mis-En-Scene from the short film, the location of a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere which had dark surroundings as it took place at sundown and nighttime. In regard to the costumes, both the kidnapper, the father, and the young girl wore normal clothing which is something that is commonly found within thriller films as this causes the audience to be able to relate to the characters and make them feel that what they are watching on the screen could actually happen to them therefore adding realism to the film overall. Regarding makeup, all the characters wore little to no makeup as another way to add realism to the story. However, the father and the kidnapper had blood and bruises all over them from their fighting which demonstrates the use of makeup in this setting. Moving onto lighting, the way lighting was used varies such as when there is low light as the father is coming up to the Kidnapper’s house. When the father goes into the basement, there is extremely low light, however there is cleverly located light that is coming from upstairs and is just enough for the audience to see the father and for him to be able to find the flashlight. This is all to maintain that suspenseful tone throughout the film by balancing low and strategically located lighting. There was also the usage of color such as red throughout the film such as when the kidnapper and the father were fighting while the father had the dynamite close to their faces, the color red was reflected. This might have been applied to emphasize their strong emotions for different reasons. Further, an example of props used in this short film are the gun, the dynamite, and the knife. Moving onto editing, the father ended up having flashbacks while he was unconscious and within the flashbacks, they had the dissolve editing technique. Further, there were also shot reverse shots when the kidnapper was talking to the father and insert shots of the knife scene. Moving forward to the camera angles, movements, and shot, there was a low angel as the father was looking down at the basement and there were arc shots as the father found the house to increase the suspenseful tone of the film. Well this is my cue to leave, till next time reader!