'Hell Is Round The Corner' Short Film analysis

This short films opening scene is a close up of a pair of hands stained with blood, immediately the audience’s attention is drawn into the film, simultaneously the camera switches to a low angle shot of a protagonists shoes starting to walk off while another is frozen on the pavement. At this moment an asynchronous sound of pianos and chords was added, slowing down the emotions towards the audience, remind them of other thriller films that had used the same sounds to create a murder scene. This effect impacts the views of the audience questioning their prediction of what is about to happen in the film, could this man be a killer? There wasn’t much mise-en-scene used in the opening sequence but the audience’s attention is already grabbed due to the fast pace editing.

Protagonists in the film identities are not acknowledged in the beginning sequence, they was introduced in a way that only the mise en scene was used to create suspense in the audience, later on the film the identities was shown, one of the male protagonists was a innocent bystander that had found a wallet on the floor which the protagonist had dropped, which appeared to a be a suspicious individual whose blood was on the wallet. The protagonist later on appeared to be a cold hearted killer.

This short film had a realistic narrative aspects, all light used was natural, the characters background fitted in the was designated locations (Urban estates), the costumes used were typical casual clothing that is worn by young adults in London; hoody ,jeans and trainers. Simple, match on match editing was used to add an edgy feeling in the film, making audiences feel the anxiety of the protagonists. The film manages to tell the story of the movie in slow pace, raising tension as the film continues, and then at the end all suspense is ended with a shocking but expected end.

The ending is slow and painful towards the innocent male protagonists; the editing was used in such a way that the lighting was darkened while the film was ending, immediately focusing the camera on the killer, appearing to beat down the male protagonist, ending the movie in grieve. The movie was open ended, as I wanted to know the reasons behind this murder, why was there blood on the killers torso and why did he kill the innocent male? That way it made me eager to find out what happens in the movie.