My Film Still Analysis (BLK)

In this close-up shot of a girls face, it is clear that the genre we wanted to depict was horror. You can see her hair falling over her face masking key features such as her eyes, which was intended to create ambiguity and mystery, often common features of horror films. Also, the red lighting helps to symbolise fear and panic, as the colour red reflects these emotions as well as having connotations of anger which is another underlying theme found in the horror genre. However, the girl in the picture looks calm and almost demonic which juxtaposes the idea of panic and follows more with the subject of anger. To achieve this we used portable lighting and placed a red plastic sheet in front of the lights to create a red glow. Furthermore, we found a small stairway leading down into a hole to communicate to the audience a background story – perhaps that the girl is trying to escape from somewhere or someone (the bars surrounding her show that she is trapped) in order to reach safety, or the more likely story that the girl herself is the 'someone' that others need escape from. Referring to the earlier point of ambiguity, the shot was taken in such a way that the storyline is open for interpretation. Ultimately, the shot was successful in portraying the emotions found in horrors and the idea that a girl is in the image helps to follow along with stereotypes and also emphasises a heightened sense of vulnerability, yet for others in the story or for the girl herself, is uncertain. In hindsight, we might as a group, have experimented with different shots, in particular, a birds-eye view to show the depth and darkness of the hole and therefore playing more on the notion of vulnerability and maybe even loneliness.