Finished Film Evaluation

Link to Horror Film: Hide and Seek

Hide and Seek is the name of my variation of a horror film I (Alex Harris) worked on with Alex McNally. It's a short film of sorts, but it serves as a trailer or prologue of a larger story. That larger story is that a detective landed a killer in prison prior to the events of the movie. The killer (Alex Harris) escapes by the time the film starts and is now hunting the detective's son (Alex McNally) and the detective has to save his son from the killer. While not stated outright, the backstory is hinted at during the short film. Specifically, with the whiteboard in the killers hideout.

 For instance, the left side of the whiteboard shows a picture of the detective (Alex McNally with a hat and fake moustache) a line between the detective and the half picture of the son, (meaning that there's a link between the two characters) and a school (the sons location) the killer wrote "bad" next to the picture of the detective, meaning that the killer doesn't think that going after him would be a viable option.

On the other side of the whiteboard, there is another picture of the son, as well as the words "good" and "yes" with a lot of arrows pointing at the photo, hinting that the killer wants to go after the son for revenge. This works decently when it comes to hinting at the backstory and the killers plan, but I believe that it could have done more effectively. For instance, the newspaper the detectives son dropped in the bin told us that the killer escaped from prison and that no-one is safe.














While it tells us that the son is in danger, it doesn't tell us much more. The newspaper could have included a couple of lines of exposition such as "killer imprisoned X years ago by detective (detectives full name) has escaped from prison" could have given the audience a little bit more of a hint of the plot without shoving it in their faces. To go even further, the son could have worn a bag with a tag on it with his full name (in case he lost it) and we could have a close-up shot of the tag so we know that the student is related to the detective that captured the killer. This would allow the audience to put the pieces together themselves without a single line of dialogue being spoken. Instead, however, the less-obvious clues provided in the finished film allow for a little bit of mystery, so more secrets can be hidden throughout the (hypothetical) finished film allowing the backstory to be pieced together as the film goes on, instead of revealing the backstory from the beginning. Either way, the subtle hints could have been executed more effectively.

There is very little to say when it comes to acting. It wasn't particularly special for either actor. It was serviceable for the film, but both actors could have been better.

Camerawork was of good quality. The shot angles, panning speed and locations were effective, but I don't think our choices made a particularly massive impact on the final film.

For visual editing, there's nothing particularly special until the end. There is a fade from the credits to the main film, and the film cuts from different scenes, and that's about it, except the end, where there's this image which enters the film after a sound. That is the most visually interesting piece of visual editing. While I think it was good, I think I could have done more visual editing.



However, sound editing is probably the strongest part of the film. Sound has primarily been used to build up tension for the reveal of the killer in his hideout. Such sounds include unnerving music building up over time, and the ever present scraping of the knife, increasing in volume up until 1:30, where it stops, along with the killers movement, marked by a specific sound, which then plays again as the killer looks up at the camera. Aside from the specific sound, there is silence 1:30 onward. No other sound effects, no sound of shuffling, no heartbeat, nothing. The killer has realised that he's being watched, and the silence is much like what a hiding person would strive to achieve, which goes well with the fact that the killer knows that he's being watched. I believe that the sound editing was highly effective for building up tension, leading to a heart-stopping experience, not unlike what prey goes through when they accidentally alert a predator to their presence. I am particularly proud of the atmosphere I captured, simply with sound editing.

All in all, I say that while the film had its faults and was downright mediocre when it came to some aspects, where it shines, it really does shine. Particularly with the sound editing, and what I learned from making this film, I can use with any future projects.

Alex Harris 12/04/2017