Research: Third Case Study

Third Case Study: Victim (based on Slender Man) Student Award Winning Short Horror Film

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Directed by Eddie Adamson, 2013

Starring Jake Holmes and Jordan Scott

 Synopsis:

A teenage boy has a morning run when he suddenly sees a white, faceless figure in the distance which suddenly disappears when he looks again. He is then intrigued and even anxious about this occurrence and he proceeds on discovering what this figure really is. A persecution takes place in the middle of the night in a forest and he is then ambushed and implicitly attacked by this entity.

The narrative is linear as we follow the events in the protagonist’s perspective chronologically.

How are the characters represented in “Victim”?

In this short film there is only one main character (without counting the faceless figure as a character). The teenage boy is seen as normal, although the isolation that the short film presents on this extract startles the audience. There is no family, friends or else. He is completely isolated which seems a recurring motif throughout the extract, the protagonist is alone fighting against this “fear” of the unknown.

Use of Camera?

Types of shot: handheld/shaky camera, wide shots, long shots, close-ups.

1)       Handheld/shaky camera: persecution scenes or when in the “slender man” perspective.

2)       Wide shot: let us know the body representations of the characters in this case the protagonist’s fear.

3)       Long Shot: when the protagonist looks at the figure lets the audience wondering what the figure is, it intrigues and engages the audience to the short film.

4)       Close-ups: showing the inner emotions of the protagonist in this case.

Editing:

In terms of the editing, the most prominent technique was the use of fast cutting shots, which is in essence an element of horror/thriller short films. In addition to this, at the end of the short film a scene presenting a supernatural nature of the figure is shown which is created via the use of post-production – editing.

 

 

Mise-en-scene: Location, lightning, costume, props and make-up:

1)       Location: the location focuses both in a plain field/forest as well as his house.

2)       Lightning: the lighting throughout the start of the short film seems normal which is quite menacing and ominous towards the rest of the storyline. After seeing the figure the short film suddenly starts to proportionally show dimmer lighting which foreshadows the end of the film.

3)       Costumes: there are no extravagant costumes as the protagonist wears usual clothes showing that he is a normal teenage boy. The figure wears a white mask to represent the idea that he is or it is “slender man”

4)       Props: the computer shows how intrigue the protagonist was when discovering this figure when typing “white, faced figure”. The phone to use as a torch when he is in the middle of the night in the forest.

5)      Make-up: there is no distinctive make-up here unless the figure has some but it isn’t outstandingly shown to the audience.

Sound:

The use of sound in any film more importantly in a horror/thriller film is crucial for success. This is because the bulk of the atmosphere is shown through the use of sound. In this case ominous music and emphatic non-diegetic sounds give a far more fearful outcome.

Target audience:

I personally feel, that again the film would be targeted to a young audience of about 18-25 years old as it contains strong language and violence. This short film would be perfect for the mass audience which are keen to watching horror or thriller films as this piece is within those genre boundaries.

What ideas could you use in your own short film?

In our short film, I believe that an implementation of a range of different shots when the actor is just performing one action (running in this case) would make the film far more horrific and thriller-like as well as adding flow to the storyline. Moreover, the opening sequence of this short film is strange and ominous which is what our short film is attempting to create. For this reason, adding a series of shots with a similar kind of music will make the beginning of our horror short film more poignant.  The