Short film research: Hysteric / Thriller-Mystery Genre

This film in its entirety is about a family, as the two daughters are seen in bed they are risen to curiosity when they hear a mysterious noise come from their home. It all turns out to be their mother who was stricken with madness and these two daughters and left to fight on their own for their own safety and survival from their mother who is out for blood. The most common camera angle seen in this film was a medium angle camera shot which mostly only focuses on the upper half of one of the daughter’s body as we see the actions she takes to uncover the mystery of the sound. Tracking shots were also extremely common as we follow the same daughter getting up and walking towards the noise that was being made as she investigates, when she discovers her mother killing her father the tracking shot goes from the mother back to the daughter. These tracking shots make it look like it was all shot in one large take which really makes it look as if the audience were following the daughter right beside her. Ambience was the most prominent in this film as we hear only the loudness of the rain falling from the sky and hitting the windows of the home as well as the mysterious noises coming from the other rooms that the mother had been making. Dialogue is present but its only present for a few words as the girl calls out for her father and how the mother protests how she’s going to kill her daughters as well, this film can almost be considered a silent film with the lack of dialogue. The only outfits that were seen for the actors were lounge wear such as pajamas and night gowns, since this film only takes place in one setting and at night time there is no wide variety of clothing that the actors are able to use for this film. The use of props were very little, but out of the two one of the props that were used were really effective for the story which was the wooden and or metal horse that was being used to assassinate the father, as the girls run out of the house one of the sisters can be seen holding a stuffed animal which shows the sudden urgency of them running out of their rooms awoken from their slumber as she grabs the nearest thing that could bring her comfort in this time. The lighting was extremely low light and dark, we can hardly ever see the actors to begin with and the only times that lighting can be seen to show a character is when natural light is used, like the moonlit sky reflecting on the daughter or the small lamp reflecting little light to show what the mother is exactly doing to the father as she kills him. The acting very classical and dramatic but its nothing over the top, there is raw emotion being shown through the actors as they witness these unfold in front of them showing signs of distress and despair once they start to realize the ugly truth and that they have to start fighting immediately to stay alive, acting with urgency. The mother also sticks very well with her role of madness as she does everything in her power to try and kill the two daughters attempting to escape. Makeup is not really present due to the fact that these are younger girls, it’s all natural and theres no filter to mask anything on their faces. Fade in and outs were the only sign of editing seen in this film which goes from the intro of the film fading into the film in its entirety and fading back out to end the film. Cuts can be seen only very few times for example when the two girls are trapped in the car as the mother lights it on fire and then cuts to the outside of the car to show the mother in tears. Something that I really enjoyed about this film was its silent story building, although we never receive any context through dialogue from a character the scenes play out the answers right in front of us and serve as an explanation within itself. Although an element that I feel this film was lacking was context of why this was all happening to the mother in the first place, the audience is just thrown into the ring of fire left to question what is actually going on with her and why.