Product analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meeZifCVro
Short film: Lovefield
Written & directed by: Mathieu Ratthe
Genre: Horror, suspense
Run time:5.29

This short film, is set in a corn field on the outskirts of a town called Hedren hill county The film starts of with the feel of a horror film, but then as we carry on watching there is a twist as we realise the man is helping the woman not hurting her.
The short film starts with the title Lovefield on the shot of a corn field, this sets the scene as an audience we can tell that this is in the middle of no where, with most probably no one around to help anyone. Then non diagetic music starts of a violn playing, this is a high pitched noise it starts of really quiet building up as the camera pans up from the corn field to a old sign that says Hedren hill county. On top of this there is a crow, crows are stereotypical seen as creatures of death. As an audience when we see this we think that something bad has happened. Corn field are easy to hide things, and as the audience we let our imagination get the better of us and start thinking what could be hidden in here. This is a technique used in many horror films to get the audience tense and scared. The non diagetic sound stops and a phone tone is heard , this gives the idea that someone hasn’t answered there phone that someone has lost it and its been left while trying to ring someone for help after seeing the phone left open the camera pans further back to reveal money, a bag and some clothing with blood stains on it, we also see a hand touch the floor. A effective camera shot comes in when we pan further back again to reveal a foot. From this we know a human has been hurt as we can hear her crys and screams from pain. The foot on camera then tenses up and then relaxing giving the idea she has just died. This is effective as it doesn’t reveal anything to much about what really is happening, we can see the person fully so we cant be 100% sure what really has happened. However The audience again will use there imagination from the clues the director has left for them to put there own story of what has happened together. A knife is then pushed into the ground aggressively as this is done the music starts again very loud and vicious, giving a dramatic feel to the short film. The knife and blood are stereotypically related to something bad however in the short film this is not what the really reason is. There is then a shot of the mans legs as he is standing up, we see overalls, a tattoo with scruffy hair, he looks dirty covered in mud and dirt. This gives off a stereotypical bad image and impression of this man, he looks evil therefore the audience assume the worst from him. The camera is then a mid shot of the bottom half of his body, we see him backing away and running.
The man then comes on to a silent road, because of this again it gives and errie atmosphere. The man gets into a car, and goes into the boot. The crow mentioned early starts to crow louder and the cuts between shots get quicker and faster paced. This creates tension as the audience is feeling rushed and unsettled. There is shaky camera shot in the car, this acts like a point of view shot, so we as the audience assume something is watching him in the car. To add to this the crow starts to tap on the roof of the car, this makes us as an audience feel uneasy as we believe there is someone in the car and something is going to happen to this man. The man rummages in the boot till he finds a blanket, when we think of dead bodies we think of them being covered up, so we assume this is what the man is getting the blanket for. Another effective shot is as the man approaches the woman body again, it is a long shot however, her feet are at the front of the shot and the man walks into the shot from a distance standing over her with a blanket. There is another point of view shot this time we are the woman it is a low angle shot as she is on the ground. The man is looking over her and placing the blanket over the camera, there is then a cut to the man side on. This is where the twist on the story comes in as we then see a baby wrapped in the blanket passed to him. A new non diagetic sound comes on, this music is much lighter and happier. Then the man says it’s a boy and they both start laughing. This makes the rest of short film seem light hearted and not sinister at all. We then see the woman mouth to the man thank you. There are then shot of the people smiling, this creates a happy, carefree atmosphere and puts the audience to ease after all the tension has been built in the short film. A slow pan up to show the whole scene makes it seem much less scary and dangerous, there is car parked at the side of a road and a tractor in the field and the police come into shot.
The whole short film is done to build tension and then tear it back down, to keep the audience sitting on the edge of there seats. There is no speaking in the film apart from the one line “ it’s a boy” this is a stereotypical feature of short films. The title of the film is called love field, which creates a contrast of the bad atmosphere at the beginning however as the film does develop makes more sense, of a stranger helping a woman. This film tells a whole story from beginning to end which is a stereotypical feature of short films.