Short Film Analysis - "Stalk"

Stalk, Campus MovieFest 2010

This short film was made for a movie festival hosted in the United States. Although the film quality isn't as up to scratch as most short films I believe the theme and several of the shots used could be beneficial to revise for use in our film. It depicts a young female character, probably in her late teens, depicting stalker like behaviour towards a male character at a park, the film plot is odd and has little sense until it begins to repeat and shows a sense of routine.

The film starts with a cut-in shot of an empty jar and the pace is immediately set by jump cuts of a female adding bread, peanut butter, brown letter and a pen into the shot; it is not known at this stage but these items become symbolic in the film showing a constant routine of the character and the passage of time. The jump cuts then continue as she puts a pebble into the empty jar, triggering the major toned music which strangely gives positive connotations, for the story of the film this doesn't really give a happy theme to the setting but rather a strange tone that gives off a delusional image, similar to the personality of the main character. The same song is played throughout. The character then writes the day on the brown bag, places a peanut butter sandwich into it and then leaves the house; this routine seems planned and so it is implied that she has been doing this for some time, all the time the jump cuts are often used to show the strangeness of the character. The main bulk of the shots in this part are close ups and mid shots set from eye level to high angle; This shows a neutral eye level view throughout this part of the short film.

The next scene is where the plot begins to unfold, it depicts the female character sitting on a bench and watching the male character who she is "stalking" avoid a hole filled with pebbles and then takes a picture when his back is turned. She then takes a pebble from the hole and puts it in the jar that was empty in the first scene. This plot line makes the audience think what is going on because it is unclear as to why she is doing this. The characters confidence in doing this could also indicate that the storyline has gone on before the film even began, her body language and frequent smiling shows this confidence. Her smiling doesn't give off a nice aura for this particular style of film but instead gives a creepy aura which fits in well with the "stalker" theme. The thing that changes in this scene is it's all shot from one shot, a long shot of a park bench looking in on what's going on. This makes the audience believe that they are actually stalking the character because there is little camera movement it is in a fixed spot.

The next sequence mirrors that of

the first scene giving it a sense of routine because she is doing the exactly same thing again, the audience know it is not the exact same twice because the character writes Tuesday rather than Monday so it is implied that a day has gone by since we last saw the character. A certain part of editing starting at 1:17 is used to shorten the time on the screen but it is the same time as last time for the main character. The editing used is where they split several shots onto the same screen in a split screen fashion, creating parallel timeframes, this keeps the viewer ensnared into the film, similar to that of the main character being ensnared to the person she is stalking, because there is so much happening on the screen at once. She then repeats the same as Mondays scene by sitting on the park bench, watching the male step over the pebbles, taking a picture, then taking a pebble, all the time with the same smile that shows she is strangely getting pleasure from what she is doing.

Short film analysis - Gone Goodbye

Gone Goodbye is a short artistic film which was made in 2009. This short film explores relationships and instances in an unusual way. The film follows a man on his journey; although it doesn't really show why he's gone there specifically. The main focus of this short film was to make it highly stylistic and to create a pleasant viewing experience for its audience.

Its use of long scenes adds emphasis to the dramatic voiceover, increasingly adding emotion by telling you a story. It starts with a overhead shot of a car driving on an empty country road, this symbolises loneliness. We (the audience) assume that the person who is driving the car is the person who is also the voiceover. Roland Barthes suggests that 'enigma' keeps the audience guessing and questioning what is happening and why, this is shown in the long cut as the viewer doesn't know the entire story and are guessing as to what has happened to the voiceover character. The soundtrack throughout is quite ominous which grips the attention of the viewer. The first cut itself is in 1:40, the length of the cut is to show that the entire story has been happening much longer than the actual film; increasing the emotions. The use of long cuts and slow, gripping music entices the viewer to keep on watching. The numerous number of shots showing empty planes on land, panning views of seemingly empty and solemn forest areas further accentuate the feeling of loneliness, throughout this short time we feel a sense of sympathy for the character. The balloon is used as a visual metaphor for his life which gives a powerful idea of how his life is left shattered when the balloon pops.

Character Profiles

Connor Stenton - A 17 year old male, born 27th March. He's currently studying English literature at college, his love for books, poems and philosophy motivate him to attend college although he is sometimes unable as his parents are financially troubled and had to move into a smaller house quite far away from college, but close to the girl who he has taken an interest in. Although Connor himself isn't a mentally unstable person, his naivety and inexperience with the opposite sex leads him to doing things which isn't socially acceptable, the audience can feel a sense of sympathy with this character, or they may just portray his actions to be perverted.

Lauren Heigl - A 16 year old female, born 17th of July. She's currently studying in college to become a vet. Her shy nature leads to her not making many friends at college and her attendance begins to deplete as she feels less and less motivated to go. She starts to become distant from her friends and parents and spends the majority of her time with her books. Although this character holds a sense of mystery as we do not follow her steps in the movie because the film is focused on the male; the female only becomes the focal figure in the camera in the final scene.

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.

Single White Female (1992)

Single White Female is an erotic thriller centred around obsession. Similar to the story of our film, though our film does not involve violence or anything overtly sexual. This film shows the point of view of someone who is being stalked/obsessed over, whereas our film shows the point of view of the obsessed. Like we plan to use in our film, it uses many shots which focus on the obsessed, or victim. In this case, Alison. It uses many close-up shots to show fear. It also uses shots of Alison where Hedy, the woman obsessed with her, is watching her, with Alison unaware of this.

Possible Script Ideas

Boy:

"My name is ____. I enjoy reading, writing and photography. Oh, and I'm in love. I'm in love with the most wonderful person. She's not the prettiest, or the smartest, but she's mine. She just doesn't know it yet."

This would be the opening 'diary entry' and opening to the film. Unlike most obsessions portrayed through film, the boy doesn't claim she is the best at everything i.e. in attractiveness. This avoids the cliché often associated with love.

"She forgot her scarf today. I'll keep it safe for her. I'll return it eventually but not just yet. It smells of her. One day soon, I'll have that smell in my arms."

(After buying perfume which the girl uses)
"The lady at the beauty shop asked me if the perfume was for my girlfriend. It was. I plan on sending it to her as a gift. Not just yet though. I want to spend time with it first."

"I followed her home today. It was quite difficult keeping up with her: she's a fast walker. I stood outside her house and watched her through her bedroom window. Everything about her called out to me. Her hair, her smile, her cheeks, everything."

Girl:

"My name is _____. I like to read and write and walk. I'm in love. I'm in love with a boy who is invisible to the rest of the world but to me, he is the only one in the world. He's special and he's all mine."

"Today I left my scarf for him. I hope he picked it up. I wouldn't mind if he held onto it for a little while."

"He said 'hello' to me today. I could've screamed with excitement."


Each spoken thought may start with "Dear diary".

Obsession (1976)

This trailer from the 1976 film, 'Obsession' frequently uses an extreme close-up on the eyes of characters. This technique can relate to how the boy focuses all his attention on the girl and in return, how she focuses all of her's on him. This is reflected in the use of the shot as the camera is focusing on one particular thing. 

The trailer of the film attempts to create suspense and tension with the use of music and with the shots used. Our short film won't use this style as we feel it doesn't work with the plot as the characters aren't trying to be intimidating or threatening, despite their fixation with each other. As the male character in this film is obsessed with an incident, not a person, his behaviour is erratic and incautious, whereas the male character in our film is careful and takes his time. This is much more chilling characteristic we wish to incorporate.