Analysis of two short horror films
I watched two short horror films. 'The Red Balloon' and 'The Smiling Man.' They both sufficiently fitted into the horror genre but in different ways. The red balloon was a short film about a babysitter looking after a young girl alone until it become apparent that something is wrong with the girl, until it is revealed that a psychiatric ward escapee is hiding in her room. The smiling man, was much stranger, and in my opinion scarier. It again was about a young girl however this time she discovers a strange smiling man/creature in her creature, who is revealed to have killed her parents.
Inner. (Thematically)
The Red Balloon had a young girl in it and alongside this, children's toys with a pink child's room. The child is always a signifier of danger or general creepiness in film, if you know the genre you are well aware that when a child is involved it tends to attract the paranormal. The children's toys are portrayed as creepy. This is obviously the opposite of what we would normally see in our normal lives. To have something so mundane be presented so terrifying to us is unnerving to an audience. Also we have the child's bedroom. Its painted pink and white, a childlike innocence being portrayed here, but with the strange low lighting it is seen as creepy.
Another stereotype is to have the antagonist be strange or different. It is rare to get a antagonist that isn't either physically or mentally deformed (for the exception of such films as 'American Psycho' of whom was terrifyingly normal.) Also the babysitter trope is common, a lone young adult looking after an innocent child doesn't put the advantage in their favour usually which is why we so often root for them. This film also plays on the common albeit childlike fear of there being something under the bed, when this is forced to be true we are even more scared.
Outer (Mise en Scene.)
As mentioned there is an intense low lighting being used throughout. When the door is open in the little girls room the light hits the girl as if in a spotlight, while the rest of the room is in shadows and dark. This makes her behaviour that much more creepy and signifies that this is who we should be wondering about, as well as putting her into the eyes of the antagonist. Sound is important in such films. There was the use of parallel music in a lot of scenes, making our heart race that bit more and also telling us that something is wrong, making it intense. Obviously a red balloon was used in random points throughout the short film. The colour red is once more a trope in these types of films (take The Sixth Sense or The Shining which are famous for their use of the colour red.) The colour signifies danger, and again against the dark is stark and bright and strange. Its random appearing is not explained nor obvious as to why, and probably is seen as a good and bad thing to different people, I thought it was an interesting touch that made us as an audience more intrigued. Mobile phones tend to play a huge part in horror films. They act as a signifier once more of danger. They tend to be in the hand of a mindless teenager who is unaware of the danger they are in, or someone trying to call for help who cant etc.
Inner
The Smiling man once more played on the innocence of children, as explained, is a common theme due its unnerving, opposite nature. There is once more a similarity in that the antagonist is strange in some way. We are made to fear it. This time it is much more terrifying. The man's skin white and fingers spidery. In scenes we see his hands when giving gifts to the child which are tied to balloons. This seemingly nice gesture tied to such a innocent and fun object but in the hands of such an oddity is sure to make an audience member squirm. He also uses the blood on the floor to paint his face like a clown. This, obviously, is strange. But clowns are also a huge aspect of horror films (Take 'It' for example) and are once more playing on some audience members fears of clowns.
Outer
In the beginning the child is simply sitting there watching children's cartoons. The cartoons are simple and sweet and we are for a second misguided into feeling comfortable and reminiscent of our own childhoods. The happy old timey sounds of the mickey mouse cartoon is broken by a strange, unusual and clearly paranormal sound, breaking that innocence. A single red balloon (!) is sat amongst the white landing when she walks out the room. This is as mentioned, a signifier of danger and we are immediately confused and awaiting. The music when she picks up the thing attached to the balloon gradually builds until she picks it up, making us expect something much more worse than the doll parts that are actually attached to it. When walking up to the creature we short a worms eye view shot that shows he pink children shoes. We root for her to not walk towards it, her innocence being reinforced with this shot. The creature continues to perform a 'trick' and produces a red ball. Again the colour is a theme here, telling us that despite this sweet act he is still dangerous. The only sound the creature makes is laughter. This is a play on simplicity which makes the watcher disturbed; a happy act now becoming a scary one.
Inner. (Thematically)
The Red Balloon had a young girl in it and alongside this, children's toys with a pink child's room. The child is always a signifier of danger or general creepiness in film, if you know the genre you are well aware that when a child is involved it tends to attract the paranormal. The children's toys are portrayed as creepy. This is obviously the opposite of what we would normally see in our normal lives. To have something so mundane be presented so terrifying to us is unnerving to an audience. Also we have the child's bedroom. Its painted pink and white, a childlike innocence being portrayed here, but with the strange low lighting it is seen as creepy.
Another stereotype is to have the antagonist be strange or different. It is rare to get a antagonist that isn't either physically or mentally deformed (for the exception of such films as 'American Psycho' of whom was terrifyingly normal.) Also the babysitter trope is common, a lone young adult looking after an innocent child doesn't put the advantage in their favour usually which is why we so often root for them. This film also plays on the common albeit childlike fear of there being something under the bed, when this is forced to be true we are even more scared.
Outer (Mise en Scene.)
As mentioned there is an intense low lighting being used throughout. When the door is open in the little girls room the light hits the girl as if in a spotlight, while the rest of the room is in shadows and dark. This makes her behaviour that much more creepy and signifies that this is who we should be wondering about, as well as putting her into the eyes of the antagonist. Sound is important in such films. There was the use of parallel music in a lot of scenes, making our heart race that bit more and also telling us that something is wrong, making it intense. Obviously a red balloon was used in random points throughout the short film. The colour red is once more a trope in these types of films (take The Sixth Sense or The Shining which are famous for their use of the colour red.) The colour signifies danger, and again against the dark is stark and bright and strange. Its random appearing is not explained nor obvious as to why, and probably is seen as a good and bad thing to different people, I thought it was an interesting touch that made us as an audience more intrigued. Mobile phones tend to play a huge part in horror films. They act as a signifier once more of danger. They tend to be in the hand of a mindless teenager who is unaware of the danger they are in, or someone trying to call for help who cant etc.
Inner
The Smiling man once more played on the innocence of children, as explained, is a common theme due its unnerving, opposite nature. There is once more a similarity in that the antagonist is strange in some way. We are made to fear it. This time it is much more terrifying. The man's skin white and fingers spidery. In scenes we see his hands when giving gifts to the child which are tied to balloons. This seemingly nice gesture tied to such a innocent and fun object but in the hands of such an oddity is sure to make an audience member squirm. He also uses the blood on the floor to paint his face like a clown. This, obviously, is strange. But clowns are also a huge aspect of horror films (Take 'It' for example) and are once more playing on some audience members fears of clowns.
Outer
In the beginning the child is simply sitting there watching children's cartoons. The cartoons are simple and sweet and we are for a second misguided into feeling comfortable and reminiscent of our own childhoods. The happy old timey sounds of the mickey mouse cartoon is broken by a strange, unusual and clearly paranormal sound, breaking that innocence. A single red balloon (!) is sat amongst the white landing when she walks out the room. This is as mentioned, a signifier of danger and we are immediately confused and awaiting. The music when she picks up the thing attached to the balloon gradually builds until she picks it up, making us expect something much more worse than the doll parts that are actually attached to it. When walking up to the creature we short a worms eye view shot that shows he pink children shoes. We root for her to not walk towards it, her innocence being reinforced with this shot. The creature continues to perform a 'trick' and produces a red ball. Again the colour is a theme here, telling us that despite this sweet act he is still dangerous. The only sound the creature makes is laughter. This is a play on simplicity which makes the watcher disturbed; a happy act now becoming a scary one.
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