At the beginning of the short-film the character Sam is woke up from her friend Lindsay who is panicked and disturbed about something she has seen in her apartment, this is enough from Sam to get out of bed and drive to her friend to pick her up and get a proper understanding of what's happening.
At the beginning of the film the disruption in the comes from a phone call during the night from Sam's friend Lindsay who is frightened and disturbed as she states that their is something in her apartment and she doesn't know where she is, this causes the protagonist (Sam) to get up and drive to the nearest landmark to pick up her friend and figure out what on earth is happening. The Struggle in the film is when Sam enters the apartment to investigate leaving Lindsay in the car, as she investigates further she enters the bedroom where she jumps at her own reflection and Lindsay sees the figure moving towards the bedroom, warning Sam she removes herself from the car and darts back into the apartment where Lindsay is being eaten by a vile skin like beast, seeing the unthinkable Lindsay begins to alert the creature through her sobbing when she begins to back out of the house and rushing back to the car to make her escape even though the tank is empty, as she turns the key one last time a rustic bin flips to the ground filled with the empty road behind it. Keeping her eyes open on the bin and the darkness behind Lindsay is unaware of the creature next to her as it lunges itself in front of her eating and killing her. This short is open to a sequel which they created.
The Short-film doesn't give way to any stereotypes or stock characters but helps build the characters through the way they act or speak throughout, for example
The visual storytelling
The Camera angles in the short-film are a range of high, low, and straight camera angles which helps make the short more cinematic, the higher angles which start at the later parts of the film shows the characters lack of dominance against the creature, The straight angles have no effect but to see a conversation. In the short they use dark lighting to set the scene given to the audience and helps to create a feeling that something mysterious is at play. The lighting in the short-film is dark to set the scene given to the audience and helps to create a feeling that something mysterious is at play. The type of lighting used is a range of side lighting and front lighting.
The Sound Used
The Sound used in the short-film is a mix of both diagetic and non-diagetic sound which are used as the music and any missing sounds that might not have been picked up by the camera or the microphone from a distance. An example of diagetic audio in this film is the creatures growl as it begins to near Sam in the room of the apartment and the bin drop that wouldn't be picked up from inside the car. An example of non-diagetic audio in this film is the atmospheric music that was played in the background near the end of the film.
Codes & Conventions
The codes and conventions used in this horror film are shown through the use of alienation of the character Lindsay and her fear of the unknown of the thing in the apartment. The use of quick cuts and isolated locations show the how much detail they have thought about their chosen genre for their film. The use of isolated areas also shows how vulnerable Lindsay as she was "attacked" at her apartment. The use of non-diagetic music is another convention that helps the audience feel disturbed or uncomfortable throughout the scene, the use of the dark environment is another use of lighting which helps to reveal the antagonist which in this case is a monster.
The shots used after Lindsay leaves the building shows that she is isolated from everyone else through the use of an empty path/street. The use of the abandoned apartment is another of the conventions which reveals more of the set and helps build up the tension for the foreboding events.
The use of non-diagetic music also helps to create the tension of the climax as the monster kills both Sam and Lindsay.
This short-film is a lot more imaginative than the witness as it includes the use of horror codes and conventions such as monsters, characters, locations and lighting throughout, where as the witness short-film was a lot more down to earth as it uses everyday characters and weapons.
To differ to 'witness', 'the thing in the apartment' is a lot more imaginative than the witnesses grounded use of the protagonist and weapons used throughout the film due to it's protagonist monster and it's set as a whole.
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