Twelfth Post- Different Directions of Short-Film

 

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A chair served as the spotlight character in our film. We used several shots to depict our relation to the chair, including coverage shots of us sitting near the chair. An establishing shot at the film’s beginning helped identify the building we filmed in. The vending machine in the lounge served a great purpose in lighting since we turned out all the lights in the room for certain scenes. We could have used more artificial lighting. One of the only scenes we used additional lighting was when one of us walked up to the chair (looked dark, but a phone light positioned in an open ceiling tile attempted to shine light on the chair) and then was killed off. Maintaining the room lighting by not shutting the lights off in the vending machine scene would have given the action less of a horror-feel.

We could have taken a few more low-angle shots of the chair to convey the chair’s power over the victims. The lighting on a few of the shots showing the chair could have been a little brighter to emphasize the dominance of the chair against our characters. We could have had another extreme wide shot isolating the chair all by itself to denote disconnect and distance (Sharman). One alternative ending to our movie was to have all of us fall victim to the chair. Instead of having two people attempt to take the chair out and throw it away, every person would have been killed off by the chair. The chair got the last laugh anyway, as it appeared in the same room at the end of the film as in the beginning. Jump cuts could have emphasized passage of time during scenes we were trying to figure out how to get rid of the chair. The same characters could have been in frame in the same positions, and multiple similar set shots could be juxtaposed in lengthening the passage of time.

 Another alternative ending we considered involved getting rid of the chair for good, without the chair reappearing in the film. We could have left the chair in the location of the garbage bin. The chair could have taken its victims to a special location, with the camera finding the chair and all the captive individuals near the film’s end.  Showing the film in color versus the decision to use black and white may have given the film a different feel than the horror genre we were striving for. Black and white, as evidenced by Sharman, is good for bleak and dreary subject material. Reality is sharpened with black and white, and colors cannot distract viewers as easily (Sharman). Utilizing color would have made the chair easier to see in a few scenes, but the chair shape and size in contrast to the other chairs eased the burden of deciphering the focus of the film. Overall, I liked the plot line of our film and thought the final product turned out great.

 Citations:

Sharman, Russell. Moving Pictures. University of Arkansas, 2020.