Short Film analysis

Proximity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J2AhMZ7wdQ

Proximity is a short film which was written by Ryan Connolly, Seth Worley and directed by Ryan Connolly. The short frim was released on 5 December 2013 and was uploaded to the internet and other media sites such as YouTube. This is due to the fact that most shorts don’t have the length, budget or credibility to be shown in movie theatres or DVD release. The short film proximity is a group of captured men waking to find their ankles rigged with proximity triggered bombs, two men find themselves bound together while being forced to play a twisted game of survival as they are hunted by their captors.

The short film uses a production company logo at the start of the film. This is used in the same style as a full film. This is because short films can still supported by larger production companies but this is rare. The production company shown was an unknown low budget production company called “Triune Films” Which is commonly used for the production of short films for You Tube. This production company support shows the short film did have some finical backing.

The short film gives the audience a lot of information in a short amount of time, this keeps constant suspension and makes the audience want to know more. The short also manages to balance the amount of information that is given, making the audience ask questions about the short and why certain events are happening. The short film starts very abruptly with four tied hostages and two armed men giving no indication why these men are tied and where they are going. This lack of knowledge is also show near the end of the short where the only surviving captive man becomes one of the captures for the next group of hostages. This leaves the audience demanding more and answers to their questions.

The camera angles were massively important in a short film such as this because the short was very visually driven and contained and very small amount of dialogue. This causes the audience to focus on what is happening and take their own interpretation on the scene rather than being told what is happening in blunt dialogue. The low amount of dialogue also adds an effect that not even the characters are sure what happening, so all they are doing is focusing on survival. Close ups of the ankle rigged bombs are a recurring theme through the short this is to add the tension of them being a constant threat to the main characters life. This is also shown in the short by using a cut-away which were used perfectly to show when the anklets are switching from green to amber to red and the tension is building.

The short film proximity has a very specific audience. The film is directed towards males between the ages of 13-25. The short film would attract a larger male audience because it contains a lot of action and follows many requirements to be an action film including; fighting, guns, muscular men and blood. This also causes it to fall into a younger age boundary because fans of action tend to be teenagers and young adults. The films contains too much violence to be seen by anyone under the age of 13 meaning that it cuts of some of its audience. The short fits most social economic groups as it is a simple story which can be enjoyed and viewed by all social groups.

The music used through the entirety of the short film was score. Score was used as it creates a great form of tension and the sudden incline of the speed and noise in a piece of score is great for the building of suspense until it breaks. Proximity uses score to its advantage by quietly playing it behind the scenes of dialogue and interaction to show that the danger is always present and not to faraway. The short film proximity contains no songs, using songs would take away some of the tension and the attention should be directed on the character rather than the song.

Proximity is not a full story but rather a small section from a much greater project. By only using a small section it makes the audience interpreted the rest of the film how they wish and leaves a wide open ending. The film also used some effects, these where of a low standard compared to high budget full films. The director and editor managed to work around using effects by cutting away from certain scenes of keeping the effects in the distance. The effects still remained realistic even if they were of a low quality compared to larger productions.

Proximity adds a lot of emphasis on stereotypes to explain the characters rather than dialogue. This is shown by making the antagonist smoke which is used to show evil. Also by making the hostage all wear dirty white clothes which are polar opposites the hunters black clothes. The short films also uses Nonverbal body language to explain the events this is because there is not much dialogue so the feelings of the characters needs to be shown physically. Overall this works very well as a short film as the story is simple but interesting and the story is explained well. They keep the entire short up to professional standard with a high budget blockbuster whilst maintaining constant tension.