1-Minute Short Film

Use of Micro Elements in this Short

Mise-en-scene
When creating the mise-en-scene for this short I was careful to only worry about elements such as props and setting. The protagonist had to carry something into the supply room in order to give premise to the narrative, otherwise there would be no reason for her to enter the room at all. I chose a stack of textbooks as this room is where they were kept, so the setting was appropriate. The use of the supply room in this area also worked well as there were some people near by, but not enough so that the situation was unbelievable. The actor's character expression and movement was originally not appropriate for the theme of the original short, which was a horror, however I changed my theme to a more comedic one, making the smiling actor more appropriate.

Cinematography
When filming I did not refer back to the source material, however I studied it carefully before and after collecting footage. This allowed me to match some shots together and use the same editing technique which had been used in the original short. Similar closeups of the protagonist were used in both our films, however the original employed more tracking shots of the protagonist than I used, as I preferred to use a steady fixed camera location. This made it easier to work around the people and objects in the room without having to re film and move things constantly.

Editing
When editing this short I was careful to keep within the one minute time frame which I had been given. Many of the more montage like shots were cut down to under five seconds, while I kept the length on ones such as the protagonist leaving the room.

Sound
I did not film any dialogue in this short as there was only one character, so it did not make sense for her to speak. She instead used her character expression and movement to convey emotion. In order for the genre of the short to be apparent I then added in comedic, light hearted, non-diagetic sound. The music then gave the tone to the entire short. 

Narrative
Todorov's theory of narrative equilibrium can be applied to this short, as the girl existing outside of the room is the original equilibrium. This is then disrupted when she gets locked inside, trapping her in a problem. There is then a return to a new equilibrium when she figures out it is a pull door and escapes. The narrative is largely prop driven, as without the textbooks the protagonist would never have entered the room. The door also acts as a prop as if it was not a pull door she would have been able to leave with ease.