Task 1 - Analysing Short Films: Witness

The opening shots give a feeling urgency as the character is at a mid tracking-shot (maybe long tracking-shot), From there the camera uses a close up to show the emotions on the characters face.
The use of natural lighting helps make the footage more vibrant and a little bit over exposed, there is a use of transitions e.g. the photo becoming an actual scene and using the over expose to show a memory, or fantasy coming from the protagonists mind as well that the place she loves is a bit like heaven to her.

The non-diagetic sound in the film is use clearly to show the dark intentions of the masked man and the lighting/colour grading is getting darker as the narrative moves forward showing that the place that she calls heaven is actually a lot like hell, witnessing the vile and disturbing things that happen in the forest. The blur in the footage is just how fast the camera is moving but also shows how quickly she wants to get away from the antagonist.

The close up on the knife at 5:35 helps show what the character is planning to do before she does it quite clearly as it begins to build up the climax and the false defeat of the short-film which makes it a lot more intriguing to the audience.

Throughout the film there are a lot of codes and conventions which shows that the genre and classification of the film, to show this within the first couple of second they use low key lighting and darker lighting around the surroundings of the character. The film uses quick cuts which is another use of thriller conventions but use long shots between them, later in the film they use a flash back and non-diagetic music to help create more tension as the character finds out what is happening as she is attacked by the masked stranger.


As a comparison to both 'the thing in the apartment' and 'witness' they both use dark lighting for their scenes and use a lot of loud music to build tension throughout the film as a whole. Both antagonists show a risk factor to the environment the protagonist is in the film, the protagonist also have a reason or story behind them which helps show the audience why they're in the scenes and locations shown. The reveal of the antagonist in the climax of the short-film help build the risks the character is has to escape and (or) stop anyone else from being killed, the use of guns in these shots contribute to the classification of the genre.