Five Minute Film Analysis by Shelley Brookes

For my short film analysis I chose the film ‘The Talisman’ by Mathieu Ratthe although it was written by a popular writer known as Stephen King. I found this film by typing in short films on www.youtube.com. First I watched another of his films called ‘Lovefield’ and then I saw the link to this one on there and found it to be more interesting. It has a twist within it and we are wanting to achieve this in our film therefore I thought analysing this film could further my knowledge on what to do in our film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LHFRF0mVho

It starts with a long shot of all black and the outline of a door that you can tell is slightly open due to the light coming through around it. Orchestral low frequency music is played whilst the camera slowly zooms in towards the door and the words ‘demo scene “THE HOTEL ROOM”’ merge closer to the camera. As the camera gets closer a person appears from the left hand side of the camera walking towards the door. He reaches the door and pushes it open letting in a explosion of light and the room is lit up showing a hallway with a door to the right and a boring decorative feel. You also see it’s a boy dressed in casual clothes carrying a rucksack although he soon disappears inside and the doorway and inside of it can not be seen because of the light.

The screen is then filled with a flash of the light and the pitch of the music rises to course more of a noise, this is a way of disguising the cut to the next image. The light gradually dims to show a picture frame on a wooden table, in the frame is a picture of a boy and a woman the music is now a bit louder than before when the camera was outside the room. From the body language between the two it hints that they are mother and son. A shadow is then seen in the frame and someone walks past the camera. The camera uses a pan to follow this person who drops a rucksack on the floor in front of the table. This gives the audience the impression it is the person we followed in to the room as the camera has just followed him again. The camera then zooms in on the bag. It is army green with the word ‘sawyou’ on the front and inside is a sketch book show from the drawings stuck on the front.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of a room with the shadow of someone in a cupboard door before the boy from the beginning enters the room. The director uses diagetic sound here as the boy is shouting mum repeatedly and the music has gone so that the audience focuses on this. The camera is slowly zooming in on the boy and he then starts to remove his coat before telling his mum he is home. This tells the audience he has probably been at school. The camera then cuts to a close up of the boys face as a continuous shot. This is to show the audience the look of confusion on the boys face as he still hasn’t had a reply from his mum.

The camera then cuts to a long shot of a living and dining room with a big window covering the majority of the wall in the background. Through the window a peer can be seen along with the sea and sand. On the peer is a funfair and the weather is nice therefore it would usually create a happier feel although the silence makes the audience think something isn’t right and then a crow cawing appears and flies past the window.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot from the sofa showing the side of the room where the boy enters. Its pans across the room following the boy who is looking out of the window that is now situated behind the camera and the crow can still be heard. He then turns to look at some double doors which he walks towards and begins to open them whilst the camera tilts downwards and pulls focus on a cup of coffee that is letting off steam. This tells the audience that it has just been made therefore someone must have just been in that room. A higher pitch noise is heard whilst the camera is looking at the coffee causing the audience to think something is about to happen then it cuts to a long shot of the boy opening the doors from the inside of the room behind them. This again is continuity editing. The music then cuts off again and a non-diagetic sound of a television is heard.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the boy although the camera is slightly tilted upwards. The boy focuses on the bed still and says ‘mum, come on. You told me an hour ago I’m starving!’ The camera then cuts back to the long shot of the room and the boy walks towards the bed whilst the camera slowly starts tilting up and moves so that the audience can see the bump in the bed that the boy is talking to.

The camera then cuts again so that we can see the bed from the boy’s angle but the boy keeps walking forward and the shot then becomes an over the shoulder shot. The camera then moves around the boy following his hand as it touches the quilt and whilst he is still shouting mum. Although his voice appears more quit now as if his mums asleep. It becomes a close up of his hand and as he moves the quilt it cuts back to the long shot slightly tilted up at the boy. As he moves the quilt and asks his mum if she’s asleep he realises there’s no one in the quilt. At this point there is a look of confusion on his face and the shot cuts back to his arm moving away from the quilt. Also, when the camera cuts to this shot the crows starts to make a noise then which is a lot louder than the television in the background. It gives the audience the impression that the crow is an important part of the film.

It then cuts to a close up of the left hand side of the back of his head. Showing the expression on his face when he turns towards the left where the crows caw appears to be coming from. The camera has pulled focus on his face so the open door in the back ground is blurred. Then a shadow is seen on the wall through the door and a loud noise is heard. This would make the audience jump and cause suspense because they now want to know what is in that room. The boys head immediately turns to look at the door and its pulls focus on the door then rather than the boy so you can get a better look at the door, when he turns his head you hear something drop on the floor in the room and the shower turns on. This tells the audience it’s the bathroom. The camera then zooms in towards the door and suddenly cuts to a wall next to a door with the shadow of the boys face on it. You can tell we are closer because the shower has got louder. The boy then shouts mum again and when there’s no reply he moves and the door opens towards us showing the boys head come around in to the room the camera is in. The camera then zooms in on his face and cuts to the eye line view of what the boy is looking at, this is the bathroom and a steamed up shower with what looks like a person in it. The camera then zooms in towards the shower before cutting back to a close up on the boys face and the door and panning across it whilst he says mum I’m home. It then cuts back to zooming in on the shower and then back to a medium shot of the boy where he is still looking at the shower and begins to walk towards it and violins start to play in the background softly whilst he is moving his head with confusion. He then shouts his mum again, the music still playing and the camera cuts to a close up of his feet following them while they walk toward the shower asking why she doesn’t answer him. This also gives the audience a better view of the room. There is a shoe on the floor as if it’s been kicked off and a towel screwed up, also the bin has been knocked over to the left.

When his feet are nearly at the shower it cuts back to a close up of the shower door and his face entering the shot. The music has gone and once again he shouts the word mum and looks down, the shot then cuts to an eye line shot, a close up of his hand knocking on the glass door right next to the handle and the loud orchestral music from before returns. The camera uses a continuous shot cutting back to a close up of the boys face whilst he is still knocking and says ‘mum’ again. The boy begins to try and look in the shower and the camera cuts to a shot from in the shower where his eye is looking through and he asks ‘what’s going on in there’ at this point the music pitch and frequency gets higher. It then does a quick cut back to his hand for a second showing that he is now knocking faster on the door then a cut to a close up on his face and then back to a close up of his hand trying to emphasise the panic and making the audience scared because it hints something’s going to be in the shower. The camera then cut to a medium shot from the inside of the shower and the boy immediately opens the shower door with a look of horror on his face looking around the inside making the audience want to look at what is there. The camera then cut to a shot of the shower head and running water making random loud noises whilst zooming in a bit but no one is there.

A cut is then made to a close up on the side of the boys head showing his confused and upset but relieved. It then cuts to a medium shot of the boy looking away from the shower whilst saying mum and the camera travels down towards a table with a mirror on it until it finally shows a bunch of pills, pills bottles and prescribed bottles of liquids as a hint of drugs. The music appears to be a string instrument and it is very loud and disturbing. The way he says mum whilst it shows you these makes the audience think they are hers. Whilst the camera tilts downwards you vaguely hear the boy’s voice asks ‘what’s going on here?’ and at this point the music has gone back to being quiet and gentle.

The camera then cuts back to the living room emphasising the window because it’s a nice day therefore the light from outside is what’s lighting up the room. The music has now stopped completely. The camera pans from left to right in the room but always has the window fully in the shot. It’s just showing you it from different angles in the room. We then see the boy in front of the camera walking towards the window but looking round the room rather than out of the window. The camera keeps panning to the right whilst the boy turns round making sure he’s looked everywhere in the room for his mum. The silence makes it a lot more eerie and causes excitement yet suspense.

The camera then cuts to a medium close up of the boy facing the camera with the window behind him. The boy begins to walk backwards as the camera zooms in on him he stops walking backwards and the camera zooms in to make the shot a close up of his face. This shows the confusion and horror on his face whilst he stares at a fixed point behind the camera. He then says mum again as if he feels her closer because he doesn’t say it as loud and he says it more slowly.

We then hear a loud crash and we see a crack appears in the window behind him. The camera then uses a continuous shot as the boy begins to turn round the camera cuts to his face and shows a medium shot of him as he jumps which then quickly zooms into a close up of his face showing how scared he is of what’s about to happen bacuse you can see him breathing more heavily and his eyes fixed on the window. The camera then cuts back to the window where the crack expands still making that awful noise as it does so and the camera gradually zooming in. when the crack develops and becomes horizontal down the middle of the window a loud smash is heard and one side of the crack flashes over exposed light and the sound of thunder is heard. At this point the orchestral music appears to cause the audience to feel terrified. The half of the window that went bright then flashed to the same view outside yet it was dark, bad weather and looked a lot scarier. You could see the lightening that was making such noise within the room. The camera then cuts to another close up of the boys face whilst the music still plays and then it cuts straight back to a close up on the half of the window that’s changed emphasising a big lightening strike that appears in the background although there is still some blue sky that can be seen in the top left corner. This shows the contrast between the weather in each half of the glass. The camera then slowly zooms in on the glass giving the audience a good look at the storm that is taking place. A loud scream then over powers the sound of the storm and the camera cuts to outside the window tilting up at the window whilst the scream is still occurring. It is a woman’s scream hinting at the audience that it may be the boys mum. You then see the boy moving towards the window anxious to look outside and as he moves close the camera zooms in on the boy. When he reaches the window he puts one of his hands on it. As the camera becomes a close up on his face you see his facial expression turn in to a shock yet scared look. It then cuts to a tilted down shot as it is to show what the boy is looking down at. There is a woman dressed in her dressing gown being dragged in to a black car by two people in black. She stands out because her clothes are brighter than everything else in the picture. She is screaming up at the window and the camera zooms in on her face whilst she does so showing her resistance to go with the two people. It then cuts back to a tilted upwards medium close up of the boy through the window shouting mum because he wants to help her.

The camera then cuts back to an extreme close up of one of the men that are kidnapping her and he immediately turns his head. He doesn’t look like a normal person as his face is covered in hair, he has long hair and his eyes are a very scary aluminous green and yellow. He continues to stare at the boy whilst he is still screaming for his mum, his hair then begins to grow even more on his face that much that you can’t see his face and he begins to look like an animal. And a disgusting sound like the moving of worms or beetles is heard whilst the hair grows.

It the cuts back to a close up of the boys face and a look of horror as he doesn’t know what to do and now that he has seen the people that are taking her. His mum has begun to scream again at this point and the camera then cuts to a tilted down close up of his mum screaming and struggling. Whilst the camera gradually zooms in then cuts to a tilted down close up of her arm and a hairy hand grabbing her arm and her scream changes to a short low pitch one and then she stops. Her white dressing gown makes the hairy hand stand out more for the audience to see because it is a really dark colour compared to the white. The hand then begins to push at her arm and then the camera cuts back to an extreme close up of the boys face at the window screaming for his mum whilst it cuts back to a tilted down close up of his mums face as she looks exhausted and scared. It then goes back to a tilted up extreme close up of the boys face repeatedly shouting mum and the camera begins to zoom out and we hear a woman’s voice shout jack and the window returns to normal and the crack disappears along with the bad weather. This has established what the boys name is and behind him you see a woman stood with a white dressing gown on and Jack then turns his head to look at her. The camera cuts to a medium close up of him with a look of confusion on his face and the window in the background back to how it was before. It then cuts back to a view in to the house from the outside of the window with the back of Jacks head as he has turned to look at the woman. He then turns it towards the camera and looks back down at where his mum was before and a piano begins to play. It then goes to a medium close up of the woman and the audience then know for certain that it’s his mum. And as the camera slowly zooms in on her she asks, ‘is everything alright honey?’ and then gives a warm smile before the camera cuts back to a medium shot pulled focus on Jack from outside the window. The camera then begins to zoom out as his mum walks towards him and says ‘honey’ as he still hasn’t answered her question. He then turns to look at her and gives a reply ‘yeah…everything’s alright mom’ whilst the piano still plays in the background and the camera is still zooming out. It then turns in to a long shot and a loud bang of drums is heard when the crow lands on the window sill and looks at the mother and son talking. It then begins to core and the camera cuts to a black screen with ‘directed by Mathieu Ratthe’ appearing in white writing in the middle of the screen. ‘directed by’ disappears first and then the name. Then the words ‘Based on the novel “THE TALISMAN” by Stephen King and Peter Straub’ when this has disappeared the rest of credits appear with all the people that were involved with the making of this short film.

In my opinion this was an excellent short film because although it was only 4 minutes it had a beginning, middle and end. Also, it had a twist in it and contained things that would get the audience thinking and cause a feel of terror and suspense. I felt that some details were missing though and that a longer film could have gave me a better insight to why things were happening and I would also like to know what happened after this. But overall for the time the film lasted it was well produced.