Wilhelmina Denness

Characters/ Stock Characters

There are only 3 characters we see in this short film. They are all fundamental
and can be split into specific groups: the doctor and nurse are our antagonists,
and the girl is our protagonist. Alternatively the nurse and girl are the leading
characters, with the doctor being a stock character.

Whats really powerful in this short is how we
are only introduced to the girl from looking at
her eyes. We arent offered a long shot of her
body nor are we given the girls name. This
suggests shes unimportant, implying she is
not the only character to undergo this
barbaric operation. Through the use of the
many point-of-view shots we as an audience
are made to feel as if we are the girl and this
builds our fear and despair for the character.
In the extreme close up shot we can see the edge of her face mask which
instantly gives us the reading she is in a hospital, under anesthesia. This then
reinforces our reading that she is in a hospital, being operated on.

The nurse is an equally salient character to the story. Its her sickeningly,
endearing tone of voice that makes the operation even more unbearable to
watch. Her voice also somehow causes us to
connect more deeply with the girl because this
nurse is part of her unwinding, and we feel,
just as the girl does, that we cant trust the
soft, sweet personality. As to her role, we can
establish that this is a nurse because she
wears a blue coat, cap and a white clinical
mask. Stereotypically medical staff dress in
blue, in the same way as the nurse and doctor.
Since she isnt actually operating on the girl
we can assume she is therefore a nurse.

The costume that the doctor wears is a
stereotypical costume for medical staff.
Since this character is operating on the
girl we can assume he is the doctor.
What actually heightens the fear and
tension when we know the doctor is
taking the girl through the unwinding
process, is the fact that what we know
about doctors is that their pure purpose
to help save individuals lives. That is
why they can be some of the only people we can put all our trust in. But since we
know he isnt doing something good, in reality he is disillusioned with the rest of
society, its like a kick in the stomach to be put in this girls position and to
therefore feel so deceived by someone who should be morally good. Due to the
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lack of speech and time where we do see this character he can be identified as a
stock character.

Settings/ locations

Although were never given an establishing shot to confirm our reading of the
location we can use costume, lighting and sound to inform us that this film is set
in a hospital environment. This means the girl could either be there because she
had an accident or she is in need of an operation for some other reason.

Themes

The common themes addressed in this Sci-Fi film include:
Apocalypse
Slipstream

Genre Iconography

The iconography of Sci-Fi films usually include futuristic weapons. However we
are barely even shown much of what is happening in the film, which we are
made to guess from the use of mise-en-scene, lighting, camera shots and sound. If
we could identify one piece of iconography which is genre-specific we might
point out the cleanliness of the environment since in many Sci-Fi films there will
always be binary opposite locations: either a dirty, disused area or a shiny, new,
clean environment. In this case, the film conforms to the latter stereotypical
location.

Camera Shot, Angle, Movement

A significantly important element of this short
film is the use of focus pulls and the way shot-
reverse-shot has been thoughtfully planned.
You'll have noticed, or at least you will notice
that we only see the protagonist's eyes and
never do we see more of her. This gives the
film a centrally deeper and evocative view of
the girl, allowing the audience to feel
connected to the character. Furthermore, by
giving us XCU shots of the eyes we can see the
varying emotions experienced by the girl in a
much more intense way, thus causing the audience to feel engaged with the film.

Focus pulls, as said, are incredibly striking,
creating a realistic impression that we are
watching the scene unfold from the
protagonist's point of view. It isn't just focus
pulls that give the impression that we, too,
are under the influence of an anaesthetic but
purely blurring the image also does the job
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well enough. By pairing this with point-of-view shots tracing the ceiling we are
put in the character's position, making the scene ever more alarming when we
are subject to knowing what is happening to her. Tracking is also used to
emphasise this.

It's remarkable how few shots are used to create such a powerful film, proving
that it is possible to make a compelling short film in such a short space of time,
and with few resources, leaving me with little in the way of budget issues.

Editing

Although the short film uses cuts as the primary edits, at the end it's important to
mention that the editor has taken advantage of the focus pull to consequently
fade to black, working in with the story when the girl passes out. This further
intensifies the verisimilitude of the film.

Sound

The main aim of the film is to fundamentally shock people and that's what's
ultimately effective about this short. Every element is astoundingly well
presented, with the highest professionalism so as to create a vividly dark and
realistic short film. Sound is an integral part of this short film. Before we are
given the film's preface, the first thing we hear is the diegetic sound of hospital
machines whirring in the background, immediately giving the audience the
reading that this movie will have some relevance to hospitals. It is the sound
which is also used to powerfully convey the immoral savagery of the plot when
the girl's body is slowly being hacked away by the doctor.

What's more, the diegetic sound of the girl's breathing is audible throughout the
procedure, which stresses the characters tension when she begins to panic.

It's hard to decipher at first but throughout the film, low, ominous non-diegetic
music plays in the background which grows in volume as the girl begins to panic.
This then builds and becomes more erratic as it reaches a crescendo the moment
before the girl finally can't see.

Dialogue is also vitally important because it is the speech that develops
characterisation. In this short the nurse constantly speaks to the girl in a very
feminine and soft tone, saying such things as 'sweetie' which, when we realise
what is happening, sounds patronising and thus the speech has undertones of a
sardonic nature. The fact that this nurse is so nauseatingly endearing strikes a
harder blow to the audience because we feel, like the girl, cheated and full of
disbelief: after all, how could someone so nice happen to be a part of something
so evil? It is also subverting the stereotype for 'a killer' (even though she's not
the direct killer).

Lighting

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Just as with all elements of this film, lighting is critical to it in how it further
establishes the environment the scene takes place in. As you may see, high key
lighting has been used in this short to further reinforce the audience's reading
that this is most definitely a hospital.

Typography

Like all titles a sound motif of some
kind couples an edit for how the title
appears and disappears. In this case, a
low, pulsating sound plays when the
title fades in. As it appears the text
tracks out before fading out again.
You'll notice that rather than being
white, the text colour has grey tones
to resemble metal- a stereotypical
futuristic material. 'UNWIND' is in
upper case letters, connoting violence,
boldness and importance. It allows
the audience to infer that along with the text colour, this film is based in the
future where happiness and peace aren't the prime motives of the state/ society.

All of the credits follow at the end just as with a conventional film. However it is
atypical for films to feature the title at the end yet for the case of short films it is
more typical.