Attic Panic - Ailsa

Attic Panic

Attic Panic - Short horror film from David F. Sandberg on Vimeo. February 2014.

Media language and narrative

 

The film starts with the title, which looks like writing on a window that has condensation on it. This instantly looks sinister. 

The camera pans through a dark setting and reveals a woman getting something out of the cage. She attempts to unlock the door but it doesn't work. Her confusion is shown by a CU, and her struggle is also shown through a CU (of her hand. Through this we only hear ambient and a little diegetic sound - this will emphasise what happens next.

We are then introduced to a squeaking sound, which creates mystery. There is then an eyeline match onto a MS of an object/ person covered by a white sheet. This creates enigma. The woman's facial expression reveals she's both scared and confused. 

 

We are then shown a LS of a light that's surrounded by black - this emphasises how ineffective this is and therefore makes the audience worry.

 

The sheet covered object/ person is shown in the same MS (to show how it hasn't moved - making the aftermath more effective,) and then it twists slightly. The woman is shown in a MS, and her terrified looking body language and facial expression causes the audience to also experience fear. The light suddenly switches off and we hear a diegetic sound of it smashing. This leaves the audience feeling anxious, scared and wondering what will happen now. We hear diegetic sound of the woman becoming breathless as a reaction to this, it's emphasised even further by a high angle view of her - showing vunerability. All of the shadows and silhouettes also create enigma and fear.

Another light is shown as the woman now struggles to unscrew it from the wall. It burns her hand, which could be a sign that she should leave it alone and something bad is going to happen. Non - diegetic eerie and unpleasant sound builds up as she, once again, struggles to open up the cage. We then see a darkly lighted MS of the white object/ person walking.

 

Once she's in, there is an ECU of the white sheet, followed by a fade - to - black and a CU of the woman's terrified facial expression. 

The woman starts to pull at the white sheet, to emphasise this we see various CUs of her 

 hands. 

The non - diegetic sound gets louder and more high pitched to build tension. 

 The non - diegetic sound gets louder and more high pitched to build tension.

It's then revealed that there's nothing under and the non - diegetic sound stops.

As it continues to squeak, the light is shown in a CU. The white object/ person appears behind the character without her realising.

The non - diegetic sound builds up again and there is a black screen, followed by it ending with the diegetic sound of the light bulb smashing. 

The narrative of this short film is linear as it just follows one simple storyline, without going back or forth in time. 

Representation

Women in this short film are represented as being vunerable and unable to fight their own battle. They are seen to be more at risk. Dark settings are presented as being scary and full of shocking things. 

Genre

 The genre of this film would be horror. It has many conventions that come with this, such as ghost-like objects and dark settings.