Annotation of 'Mirror'

'Mirror' - Short thriller film. Created by Troung Do & Daniel Rodriguez on 9th  June 2013 (Published on youtube)
             - Produce & Directed by: Troung Do & Daniel Rodriguez
             - Written by: Daniel Rodriguez
             - Carl/ Ethan Coleman/ Telephone Operator by: Miguel Arce

The reason for why I chose 'mirror' as a case study to analyse about is because the film causes tension which is what I would like to cause in my short film as the genre is horror/ thriller. I looked into this short film to analyse the different ways in which they use the camera and the atmosphere around the actor to build up this tension, so from what I learnt I can use it in my own work to make people feel tensed about my video and feel worried or frightened that something is about to happen even though it may or may not come.

Summary

A teenage boy (close to a man) is in an apartment and the phone continually rings, but he keeps picking it up and hanging up straight away. When he finally answers the phone to listen to who is calling him, on the other line was somebody talking to him in a low voice, which is hard to hear. The teenage boy starts to panic and keeps trying to get off the line, but he doesn't as the man on the other line keeps continuing to talk. The teenage boy tells the person on the other line that somebody has been watching him. A letter than comes through the door which read 'no one can save you.' He then tells the person on the other line to tell everyone that their are bad people around and that they will kill people.He starts getting angry and he notices that he has received another note from under his door. Which this time read 'We know who you are Ethan.' The phone line then goes dead.

The teenage boy then looks at his reflection in the mirror and then the scene match cuts to somebody watching him through a computer monitor. It then ends with a man twirling a pen in his hand, then circling the teenage boys name, 'Ethan Coleman'.

Narrative Structure

The film is a non-linear film as it does not involve any flashbacks. As the film does not have any potential times for them to use a flash back.

How Are The Characters Represented

The teenage boy is represented to be vey anxious and panicky as he does not understand what is going on or happening around him. He is also represented as a normal teenager as it looks as if he is in a campus room in normal inside clothing (as he wearing socks, without shoes on).

The mysterious man is represented as evil as he knows what the teenage boy is going through but he allows it to continue as he watching him through the computer monitor.

Use Of Camera

Mise-En-Scene

Location
This short film used two different locations. The first location is in an apartment which is like the size of a university campus room. The second location looks as if it is in an office.
The locations they use in their short films are a good location as they are easy to use and for their film they did not have to use a big area, as they stayed the majority of the time in the corner of the room.

Costume
The clothing choice for the teenage boy was casual clothing, as in the beginning it just looked like he was stressed, also as the location looked as if he is in the university room. The casual clothing allowed him to be represented at first, as a normal everyday university student.

The mysterious man also looked as if he was wearing casual clothing, but i don't believe it matters in what he is wearing in the scene as you can't make out the clothing really, as it is all darkened out. What i can make out is that the jumper he is wearing could be made out of a wool material, thus why i said he is wearing casual clothing.

Props

The mains props used were the telephone; the mirror; notes; pen. These are the props which the producers had to make sure they had or the film may not of turned out the way they may have intended it to be like. Other props were items to make the room look as if it is a normal apartment and a normal office.

Editing 

They used fade to black at the end after the man circled his name. This could have been used to cause tension, making the audience believe they are going to see more and see what happens to the teenage boy. Instead they just cut to credits, which can leave an effect on the audience as they are sitting there wanting to watch more.

They used quick transitions showing short clips of ones scene and moving onto the other. This was used when the teenage boy was panicking, this effect emphasises the use of the character panicking, making look better than his actual acting skills alone making people believe he is panicking.

They use match cut as the teenage boy is walking around the room as the phone is ringing, this allows the shots to match as it includes a sound bridge in the background showing that these to different shots continue off each other.

They used a jump cut from when the teenage boy was on the phone to when the letter is being passed under the door, this cut causes tension as it is not an expected scene. Again this shot causes tension to the audience watching it and the scene makes people want to see what on the letter which they then used a motivated cut allowing the audience to see what has been written on the letter.

Sound

Dialogue was used throughout the scene, this allows the audience to understand what is going on as without the dialogue the scenes would be very confusing and hard to follow. The dialogue draws the audience into the scene as they have to stay quiet to understand what the man on the other side of the phone is saying.

Sound bridge was used at many different occasions, such as right at the beginning from the transition of the movie title until the close up of the phone. This allows scenes to sink with each other as you can understand that while the phone is ringing, he understands it is ringing, but does not want to answer the phone. 

Ambient sound is used as the ringing is natural noises which a phone produces, this makes the film more realistic as this is a sound you hear at anytime throughout the day (noise a room will make).

Target Audience

I would class the short film to be targeted at 21 year olds and over, as it may seem boring to some teenagers as they tend to have less of an attention span compared to someone who is 21.

What Ideas Can I Use In My Film

From this case study I have learnt that using a variety of camera angles adds confusion into the film as it is going so quick you don't know if something is going to happen in the scene. The film also uses a wide shot with a match cut to a mid shot to a match cut to a close up. This allows the audience to focus on what the director/ camera person is showing that this is the main product in the film. They also use a lot of close ups to see the reaction of the actor in the situation which they are in, this allows the audience to put themselves in the shoes of the actor as they are able to feel the fear of what the actor is going through.

They are also able to set a scene by ceasing the audience attention by creating a sound bridge which starts from the film title and continues into the first scene. This is an idea I can potentially use in my  film as the music or sound is able to set a scene straight away. For example if I decide to use a horror song then it sets the scene of something is going to happen because something is not going right.