Short film research: Behind / Horror-Mystery Genre

This film is about a mother who is struggling to accept the fact that she is close to losing custody of her baby. With all of this going on for the mother, a mysterious woman confronts her about something much more horrid and sinister that would come forth and they’d experience quite soon. Camera angles that were most prominent and seen in this film were over the shoulder shots as seen when the mother and the woman are seen speaking to each other, medium and close up shots are also shown when we are only focusing on the mother and the actions that she does. The most common sound that was featured in this film was ambience, at the birthday party you can hear the chattering of the people in the background as well as more slightly noticeable noises like children playing and plates clattering against each other. The ambience is quite noticeable but hear over this is dialogue, while the audience can still hear the background chattering we also get an emphasis of dialogue for the conversation that the mother and the mysterious woman are having as well as the phone call between the mother and the father of the daughter they are fighting custody for. Costumes and outfits that were present were casual clothing such as t-shirts, sweaters, long sleeves, jackets, skirts, pants and shorts, once the setting switched to the mother’s home she is seen wearing a dull night gown. Props the props that were used really emphasizes the time period that this film takes place in, the mother is seen with an old flip phone used to call the father and in her home we are able to see her using a home phone. The mysterious woman was also seen holding a camera that appears to be from the 2000s. The lighting in this film is very dull and dark, there is never really a bright scene but it fits due to the theme of the film and trying to build up that mysterious horror setting. The make up is also very prominent, especially on the mother. She is seen with dark blackish gray eyeshadow over and under her eyelids, her eyebrows have been darken and she is seen wearing a dark nude lip color. This look all together really brings the character of the mother all together and it really makes her seem like she’s incredibly stressed and tired visually and mentally. The acting is classical and dramatic, the mother acts dull and unphased of her surroundings when it comes to other people but once it came to confronting the mysterious woman and the unknown entity she is seen to be acting extremely distressed and afraid. Cutaways and Cuts are seen as editing techniques most common in this film, mostly just to switch the angle of the current scene that is going on. A fade transition was seen when it went from the intro of the film fading into the title screen and then fading out back into the film and the current scene after the intro. An element that I really enjoyed in this film was its quick story building, there was never a dull moment when watching this and each and every scene would build onto the plot and adding even more questions and mysteries for the audience to question what is going to happen to the mother and her daughter, and whatever the old mysterious woman was warning them about. Something that didnt appeal to me in this film specifically is that there was a lack of explanation about the entity itself and why it wanted to take her baby, it all happens so quickly that the audience doesn’t get to understand the importance of this entity to begin with. This film also ends on sort of a confusing cliff hanger so it never really solves the mystery for the film in its entirety.