Textual Analysis: After Time [Student Work]

After Time [Student Work]

After looking at different student work to look at I have chosen to do After Time by Hayden Woodcock, Hubert Osinski and William guy. I chose this peice as there genre of a horror thriller fits very closely to our own project of doing a psychological thriller and also as this peice is high grade work and therefore a good example of what to do

Shot Analysis

Within the first few moments if the piece, we are shown two shot inside the bathroom we shows to the viewer that some actions occurring are being repeated in an endless cycle and also maybe foreshadowing later events of that scene. 

The following shots occur outside and notice a major change in the tinting of the shots, changing from a sickly green overlay to a much more washed out grey but also has higher contrast, meaning dark colours are more prominent . This gives an impression that in the bathroom, something is off and thus should be taken with caution whereas outside it is seen as a much more darker place and thus events that occur here could be more dangerous and even chances of death. We see a character running into a camera shot, the camera unmoving before he leans against the tree that the camera was focused on and gasps for breathe as the main title of the film appears above said character. This nay be done to show how critical this character is to the plot of the film.

The next scene returns to the bathroom and has longer shots but not much longer, scowling down the pace showing that the character believes he is safe and no longer running from whatever was chasing him. We see closeups of his hand and give the audience a chance to look at his bloody bandages wrapped around his first. This suggests to the audience that this character was recently involved in some sort of conflict, that that he's still here shows he either won or fled when realising he couldn't win. We are given an extreme closeup of his hand before its cuts to what appears to be a flashback scene as shown by the distortion and sudden jump to events occurring outside the bathroom. These shots are used to convey to the audience about how stressed he is and also shows the confusion of the character as the distortion means that his own memory of the event is distorted, meaning the viewer knows just as little as the character. This suggests that he is suffering from some sort of mental condition.

After the flashback has occurred, the character is shown to grip onto the sink to pull himself back up, showing that the flashback has ended and he try to comprehend what he just saw. It can been seen from this as well that this flashback has made him visibly tired and exhausted. All of a sudden, dogs are heard outside and the character frantically try to stuff everything back into his back as quickly as possible to get away. This highlights how concerned he is at the situation but also shows how he takes caution in events like this. It also shows that he is frightened of what happens next and wants to avoid it as much as possible. The event also starts building tension as events begin occurring again with high pace which all builds up to him trying to escape through the air vent and eventually being grabbed and then cutting to black. This gives a very dramatic ending and also leaves the audience wanting more.

Sound

Sound is used throughout the piece and is majorly effective in creating effects in the piece. A low note can be heard playing through most of the opening and is used to create a sense of disorientation and is probably used to express how the character feels and also used to show to the viewer that something is off about this. Crows can be heard which are diegetic and is used at the start of the scene to great effect as crows are used in popular culture as well as often in horror films to symbolise death and fear and is a way of foreshadowing events. This shows that it could hint to the characters death. When the main character bursts frantically into the bathroom and slams shut the door behind him, loud and sharp tones can be heard from it slamming, overpowering everything else that can be heard at that time. It is used to show that the character is conscious of urgency as well as caution. 

When the flashback scene commences, the background music is drowned out and cut by the white noise of the distortion and matches the tone created by the visuals. This adds to the disorientation of the scene and works with the visuals to create a sense of confusion as to what is occurring. 

Digs can be heard Barking and is used as the pivotal moment when the character realises he is no longer safe and begins to panic. The new and more intense background music shows this as the pace is increased and showcases his urgency of wanting to get out of the situation. This also adds to the tension of whether he will be able to escape or not. It also builds suspense quickly of which is realised in dramatic fashion at the end when it suddenly cuts out as it cuts to black.

Mise-en-scene

The bandage worn on the characters hand shows that he has to be in conflict, why or whether he win or fled is neve shown which makes the audience with questions, this draws them in to watch the rest of the film.

Conlusion

Despite the fact that this was creates by just 3 student, the peice is very well done. I love how it uses colour filters to showcase emotions and also information about a location which is something I find interesting.  The effects used in the flashback sequence are very high quality considering the tools they would have used to create something like that. It's is also amazing how well the effect is used to show the character breaking down and how it highlighted his disorientation. One thing I believe let's it down is that the pace of the scene fluctuates alot during the scene, thus making it hard to judge what is occurring. This could also have been used to make the audience feel just as disorientated as the character and if that is the case then that is incredible. In conclusion, this scene was great to analyse and has given me great ideas that I could actually do and include to my own production as it fits in my genre.