Short Film Analyse 2

This film is very clever because at the beginning of the film it makes it seem like the boy is the killer through the way he approaches the old people and presses the fact he wants to do some jobs for them and the title being the boys name is the title of the film. When the title is on screen the effects used make it seem like Frankie is the killer. The first shot is of the boy as he asks the old lady if she has any jobs for him to do the camera does a shot revers shot between the two characters as they talk. Even though the old lady says she doesn’t have any jobs for him he still pushes that he can do anything, the old lady lets him in and the camera goes to the boys point of view and we see an old asleep in a chair. At this point the boy seems harmless but you wouldn’t think that two old people could kill someone so the audience assume the boy is the killer. The house he walks into has very low key lighting when outside it seems like its the middle of the day, so it sets the atmosphere that something bad will happen in the house. we then see a low angle shot of the boy racking leafs and in the background the old lady is looking out of the window at the boy, non-diegetic eerie music starts and we can also hear diegetic wind. The camera changes to a low angle medium shot of the old lady to make it clear to the audience that the old lady is watching the boy then changes to a high angle shot of the boy looking up at the old lady showing he knows that she’s watching him. I think the camera angles show there power status again giving the audience more reason to think that the boy is the killer. When the old lady comes to tell Frankie she has to go out and there are drinks inside she tells him to call her grandma at this point the non-dieigtic music starts again and it seems a little strange or this old lady to ask this boy she has just met to call her grandma. The audience starts to question the old lady now weather she is what she seems to be. We then see the boy walking into the house the eerie music still playing, he opens the fridge and the camera angle changes to a close up of and empty fridge as it pans up and down. The eerie music goes up in pitch and gets louder, the boy close the fridge and the camera changes to a point of view shot but we don’t know who of, but they push the curtain aside with a walking stick so it makes the audience think its the old man because we saw him earlier with a stick. The camera goes to a close up of the boy but we can see that the old man is standing behind him, the boy turns around and the man suddenly hits him. The screen goes black then slowly the picture comes back and the old lady is sat in front of the boy. She seems to be putting some sort of cream on his bruise, the boy says he wants to go home and wants his mum but the old lady tells him that grandma will look after him then gags him. The audience now know for sure that the old couple are the killers in this film. We then see a close up of the boys face all bruised the camera zooms out to a wide angle shot and we can see the boy sat next to the old people tied up as they watch TV. The boy starts to cry and the old man tells him to shut up but he continues to cry and the man then starts beating the boy with his stick. The way the camera work shows the stick coming down then the boys pain on his face really makes you think hes being hit and its bad when you see a innocent adult being beaten and can’t do anything about it but when it happens to a child its really traumatising for the audience. The camera then goes back to the same wide angle shot and we see the old to people not caring that they are beating this boy. The next scene is between the old lady and the boy, the camera work is just reverse shots between medium close ups of the two characters. The old lady unties the boy and tells him she has a surprise, Frankie sees this as his opportunity and tries to run away but the old lady catches him. When she does we see a medium shot of Frankie looking at the old lady as she forces him to walk back and we can see the old man stood behind him. The camera angle changes to a close up of the old lady holding a knife and eerie non-diegetic music starts, the old lady grabs the boy and the music starts to get faster and louder we see a low angle shot of the old man looking down at the boy telling him ‘This wont hurt a bit.’ The camera changes to a shot of the old lady holding the boy and we see the old lady make the arm movement to look like she has just cut his throat but we also see the boys face so we see his facial expression which makes it seem more realistic. She drops him and the camera changes to a shot looking down at the boy as a pool of blood forms around his head, the camera then cuts to a closer look at the blood and when it does the non-diegetic music makes a sound which makes it seem even worse. The screen blacks out and the music stops, the next shot we see is of the old lady checking her mail and she stops at one piece of mail and smiles. Then we see them on the table and it was a person missing report for the boy.

This film is good because the killers don’t seem to be who the audience immediately thinks and because the victim is a child it makes it ten times worse. If I compare this film to the other one they are very different but i can use techniques from both. From the first film i can use the idea that the person has some sort of obsession with something and has a split personality and the killings. From this film I can take the impact it has on the audience when a child is killed and the false thought on who the killer is.