Ancillary Task: Poster Research

A Deadly Silence

This poster has been created in a way that successfully conveys the genre to the audience. The fact that the two characters on the poster are silhouettes creates mystery around them which would intrigue the audience making them want to watch the film to find out about them. The image as a whole helps to introduce the horror elements of the film as it quite dark and not showing the characters adds to the uncertainty. This aspect could be quite unsettling to the audience before even watching the film which would attract them to it. The tagline "a dark secret kept hidden for too long is in danger of becoming..." is a clue to the events which will unfold during the short film. It is placed near the top and in the centre of the poster so it grabs peoples attention and also adds to the dark nature of the film. The fact that the title is in red also signifies that it is a horror film and it is most commonly associated with danger, anger and blood, all of which feature in the film.

Chasing Cotards

Chasing Cotards is a short film about an artist's life after the death of his wife. The actors names feature at the top of the poster, as they would on feature film posters, which would interest fans of the cast to the film. The colouring and blank expression of the character in this poster conveys the idea of him believing himself to be dead (Cotard's syndrome) which is the plot of the film. The flower pattern on the poster is used to show the artistic nature of the character and is also the wallpaper in the character's house where a painting of his wife is hanging which is a prominent feature of the film. The tagline "sometimes believing you're dead is easier than knowing you're alive" is an obvious link to the characters feelings within the film as he is dealing with the fact his wife has recently died.

Idea for short film

The basis of my short film on the story I discovered while researching on the internet:

You know that ringing sound that you will perceive when you are in a very quiet area? Some people say this is an auditory-illusion brought about the ear’s inability to detect frequencies below the threshold of the human senses. This is completely wrong. That ringing covers up something else altogether. If you are quick, patient, and maybe a little lucky, you will be able to hear past the ringing. What you will hear are voices whispering to each other. They will silence themselves quickly but with practice, you will become more adept at catching and interpreting what they are saying. You will hear things of the past, the present, and the future. However, you must be careful. Because there is no such thing as a voice without a body.
And when you start noticing them, they will start noticing you. - www.creepypasta.com/the-ringing/

My initial idea for the basic plot of my short film begins with a forensic scientist, Freya, investigating a murder scene when she hears the ringing mentioned in the above text. In the ringing Freya can hear a voice, although it isn’t very clear. She hears it a few other times after this but the voice gets clearer the more she hears it. Eventually she tries to get her friend to listen and hear the voice but she doesn’t. The voice gets clear enough for Freya to work out exactly what it is saying when she realises they are actually talking to her. I will possibly make the voice a child and by what the child says, make it seem that Freya is their “imaginary” friend.

Examples of Short Films

Inseparable
Inseparable conforms to many of the conventions of short films. This film features an extremely small cast with two main cast members, Benedict Cumberbatch and Natalie Press. This is quite common in short films as it deals with one plot unlike feature films which would have subplots with a variety of characters. Another way this follows the conventions of short films is the way in which the story is told within the film. The plot of the film is about twin brothers, both played by Cumberbatch, who lead completely different lives switching places after one of them finds out they have a terminal illness. It relies more on the camera shots and the details within them to put across the plot of the film. An example of this is when the main character visits his doctor, there is no dialogue in the scene but the images shown tell the audience that he has a terminal illness. This then allowed the filmmaker to be a lot more creative in the way they shot the film than if it was a feature film.


Sebastian's Voodoo from Joaquin Baldwin on Vimeo.
Sebastian's Voodoo is an animated short film about a voodoo doll trying to save the other voodoo dolls from being pinned to death by sacrificing himself and has won several awards from a variety of film festivals. It is a good example of a short film as it has a relatively simple plot which allows the animator, Joaquin Baldwin, to have a lot more creative freedom with the images he chooses, for example the use of voodoo dolls instead of simply people.


Day Of The Braindead from Si on Vimeo.
Day of the Braindead is a short film made for Tridentfest in Cambridge and involves a group of characters in a zombie-like state with the desire to annoy anyone they come into contact with. This film was shot and edited in four days with a small budget and it is quite common that short films would have relatively small budgets. The film also uses quite a bit of humour so it is like a parody of a zombie horror film.