A2 Media Studies
Lights Out
I looked into this hort film once my group and I had decided that we wanted to create a horror short film. I thought that this would be useful to analyse so that i have an understanding of what horror short films tend to focus on
This is the first shot that we see. The establishing shot has been used to show the title of the film and set the scene. The title helps represent the image because it’s dark and some of the lights are out. It suggests that lighting will be very important in this short film as it adds to the mood and atmosphere. This shot also helps establish the genre as a lot of horror films take place in the dark. In this shot, rain has been used in the background to create an eerie atmosphere for the film.
We then see the main character turn off the lights. This suggests to the audience that something will happen as this must be crucial for the short film because it is titled lights out.
We next see a point of view shot from the monster with the woman looking down the dark corridor. At this point, the audience know that something is in the dark. The fact that this is a point of view shot makes the audience think that the woman will ignore what she thought she saw. This may be because in horror films many characters know that they are in danger, however, they tend to forget or ignore the threat. However, in this short film, the woman keeps turning the lights on and off. This makes it look as if she is going crazy and thinks that she is seeing things.
Once the character notices that the shadow has moved, a loud sound effect is used to show the fear the character is going through. This is also used to shock and entertain the audience in a fearful way. The main character is also home alone from what the audience can tell. This is a common convention of a horror film because usually the film will take place in an environment where there is no one around to help them
This shot shows the character trying to do something about the shadow. This is something that will usually happen in most horror film narrative. Once the distraction has been noticed by the characters, they try to destroy the distraction and fix the damage from this distraction.
There is a quite a long pause of a shot of the door. When this happens, sound is used to make this seem creepy for the audience as if something is behind the door. This adds to the horror because sound makes a big impact in horror films. Also the audience like to see things that they wouldn’t experience in real life.