Short Film Analysis - 'Hello Again'

"Do you ever feel like the world around you is trying to tell you something? If we don't listen, how loud does the world have to shout before we will pay attention?"

'Hello Again' is a short psychological thriller by Session7Media. It follows a young woman who is wandering through the woods when her scarf/shawl blows away in the wind, though it is implied by the narrator that 'spirits' are all around us.

She follows the scarf which falls into a hole in the rocks. Unable to retrieve it, she heads back. Whilst she is walking, several scarfs of the same colour and size are seen scattered around the woods. The girl eventually notices them and runs through the woods, arriving at a beach where many scarfs are spread all over the tree stumps. The setting of the film is in a forest therefore it is a naturalistic set with no alterations other than the shawls which are placed around.

The lighting is also very naturalistic with an edited grey-looking filter.  It has many shots of scenery which help set the mood and reflect on the genre of the film as a forest is seen as typically 'spooky' place.  In terms of sound, I admire how the music matches the pace of the physical movement and plot. As more is revealed in the plot, the music picks up pace. It also does this when the woman is running through the woods. This technique is something which I think we could use, as the twist in the story is revealed i.e. the girl is also obsessed with the boy. It has mainly non-diegetic sound using a narrator and music which sets the mood. In terms of editing, the use of slow-motion reflects on the story and genre as ghosts are often associated with slow, 'eerie' movement.

The panning shots of the film are continuously slow-moving throughout the film, even when the movement in the scene is quickened. I like this technique as I think it gives the impression that someone is watching carefully, which ties in with the narrative of our film. In terms of mise-en-scene, I like the way the scarf/shawl in the film is representitive of something, in this case, a 'spirit'. With our film, we will do something similar in order to reflect on obsession and fixation with something. For the boy, he is obsessed with the girl so the perfume, scarf, or pot doll could represent her, therefore he is fixated on that/those item(s) too.