Wednesday 14 October 2015

R32 - Short Film Analysis: 'Night Night Nancy'




The films starts off in silence as the frame is focused on a text message on a phone saying "Night Night Nancy". A diegetic 'ping' goes off, showing that she has received a new message. The camera then cuts to a mid shot of a girl sleeping and the pings from the phone slowly wake her up. There are diegetic synchronous sound of her moving within the bedsheets to reach for her phone as the text on screen says "Josh: Hey babe, you wakes?". She then sits up straight and the camera takes a low angle shot of her whilst she replies with the text coming on screen. 
A high angle close up shot is then used as the text messages between her and Josh continue. As she types, a soft tapping is heard from her nails clicking against the screen. When she goes in her gallery to send the pictures that Josh asks for, she sees something unfamiliar, and the camera focuses on her facial expression for a few seconds in a low angle, before showing what it is that has grabbed her attention. 
When she sees pictures of herself sleeping, she clicks on it and a sinister booming sound is heard. The music gradually builds up but is still very faint as she looks around in a low angle panning shot to see who is there. The frame then cuts back to a high angle of her typing on her phone "I think there is somebody in my house".  

The next scene shows her opening her door which is heard through the diegetic sound effects and it softly locking shut. Here, we can see her as a full character - the fact that she is wearing pyjamas gives the connotation that she lives by herself, as there seems to be nobody else present. The dark lighting makes it hard to see her facial expressions, however how slow movement towards the camera adds to the intensity of the scene.  
As she is walking, there is a non diegetic sound of her footsteps as she is presented through a midshot, but it is clear that it is coming from her. As she walks past the first room, the lighting coming from within creates a large, monstrous shadow across the right wall, signifying the horror genre. 
The camera then does an 180 degree flip and then uses a tracking shot to follow her as she is walking slowly and intently to check who is in her home. The long establishing shots as well as the faint eerie background music alert the audience watching and prepare them for an expected shock. 

She then reaches another room and stops by the door to text back Josh, in a two shot. Very silently, a deformed ghost steps out in the room behind her, whilst a sound effect of a knife slicing something is used. As she realises what is there in a close up shot, the sinister music increases and she runs back to the room we saw initially. The killer then follows and goes into another room holding a knife dripping in blood symbolising a horror genre. As it turns into another room, the diegetic noises of the door clicking open and shut can be heard again. As it disappears into the other room, a handheld camera shot is used as she panics whilst messaging Josh that "there is something holding a knife". Just before she can finish, in the left side of the frame, the killer peaks it's head out of the door and the suspenseful music builds up again. 

Just before it reaches the door, she silently runs into the cupboard, and a low angle arch shot is used to show the gap between her and the door. The killer wonders in, in a low angle, wearing a metal mask, whilst the diegetic sounds of it tapping on the door before scraping it, can be heard. 
The costume it is presented in implies that it is a human, as they are wearing a grey hoodie with blood all over it and it's hand. Likewise, the lighting is still very dim, but the viewers can still see the expression of the character's face, which is presented in a close up shot. The girl's trembling hand and flushed skin gives the connotation of her being terrified of dying, as a point of view shot shows the killer wandering around the room through the gaps of the cupboard door. Similarly, the fact that she is holding her hand over her mouth implies her heavy breathing pattern, and that she cannot control it, so she tries to make herself quiet, or otherwise, she will give herself away. The music heard are the deep notes of the violin, which are very long - adding to the anticipation of whether the killer will get her or not. 
In a sharp motion, the killer yanks the covers off the bed, presented through the eye level gap between the cupboard doors, however when the girl tries messaging her friend, a diegetic ping comes from her phone. This causes the killer to slowly rise up and walk out of the frame, allowing the audience to hear the non diegetic footsteps, getting closer. After the frame is on the victim who is trembling even more, the frame cuts back to the gap where the killer's face fills it in. The intense music gets even louder as she cannot conceal her fear any more in the close up shot. 

Suddenly, the music stops, and the killer disappears, and the girl's facial expression shows a sign of relief. She then looks back at her phone in an eye level shot, before it cuts to a high angle shot of a picture appearing on her phone of a man slaughtered by the throat. She slides left and right, and then calls Josh. Before he picks up, a non diegetic jingle can be heard coming from a child's toy. An extreme close up shot is then used as she slowly puts the phone turn and turns her head. The little melody contrasts from the horror as it is normally associated with innocence, yet here, it foreshadows the coming of the killer. In another extreme close up shot, still hearing the melodic tinkling sound, she goes to switch the light on. As she switches it on, a birds eye view shot shows a bloodied hand with a hand cuff on it, as the lighting gets brighter. The costume has also presents a dirtied doctor's uniform as if they have just performed a surgery. When the close up shot shows Nancy's face, she looks up and down, before the audience can finally see the killer who is presented to be in the doctor's uniform. The use of make up and prosthetics give the impression of a bloodied face, yet the bandages wrapped around the head do not conceal the flesh. In a deep and low, growling voice, he says "Night Night Nancy" in a close up shot, before reaching up and turning the light back off. The film ends with a loud crash, before hearing silence. 

The slow melancholy tune is played again as the credits appear in white text. After they have finished, the production company appears right at the very end.   

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