https://griadamedia.wordpress.

com/learning-aim-c/

Directors Commentary

“Hi my names Liberty and the name of this short film is the Static. The inspiration for this film was
the sixth sense as the paranormal aspect was very tense and created an eerie atmosphere. Another
film which inspired me was what lies beneath as it was a physiological movie creating suspense for
the audience. For this short film, I intended it to be a physiological horror; this is shown later on in
the film as it gets emotionally deeper. At the start of the film we can see the opening titles, with the
distribution and production company which I and my other group member, Cody created.

END OF OPENING TITLES

Scene one starts with the character Liberty sat on a chair in front of a brick wall, an overlay of a
camcorder is present with a dark filter as it shows the audience that this is a personal video and it is
tense. Occasional static overlays occur to add an unnerving atmosphere. The shot consists of a mid-
shot low angle as the camera is pointing upwards at Liberty. We used these camera techniques as
we believed they would work most with this shot. The shot also consists of frequent pop ups of
Liberty’s suicide which is shown fully later on in this film. This was done to make people afraid as to
what is about to happen next. The screen has constant fuzz and then completely stops to increase
the intensity of the genre horror. The camera zooms into Liberty and the screen cuts to Liberty’s
death scene of her staring at the camera as if she is ‘death’ herself.

The screen fades out and in to Cody sat at a desk with his head in his hands looking worried, the shot
is a mid-shot neutral. The character of matt is introduced as his dialogue is presented, showing the
audience that he is the interviewer. As Cody starts to talk constant flickers of static appear on
screen and dark memories spark on screen as Cody speaks out about certain events which
happened. The next scene is a high angle close up of Cody’s hands; this was done so that he seems
nervous as he is fidgeting with his fingers. The scene has flickers of Liberty screaming at the camera
to show the audience that Liberty was in constant mental pain, presenting the audience with chilling
shots. The shot is then reverted back to Cody sat in the chair again at his desk. This time the
memories which appear on screen are ones from certain times. He mentions ‘the park’. We filmed it
this way so that the audience would feel suspense throughout this scene due to it being a serious
interview. This was created in this was so that the audience can understand that this film was not
only just filmed in one location but also outside of school. It adds more contexts to Cody’s story so
that the audience can gain more knowledge of what this story consists of, adding depth to the film.
There are more overlays of Liberty seen as frightening, these shots were filmed in the same room as
where Cody is sat doing the interview, and Liberty, who is dead, is behind him listening in and is
angry at how wrong the Story is that Cody is telling to the audience. As Cody carries on talking the
lighting changes from low key lighting to high key lighting, this was done to create a dramatic effect;
also the camera starts to zoom in.

The scene fades out and Cody is still sat at the desk but the side of the camera has changed so that it
is now on the left of him. As he is asked by matt if Cody had seen Liberty on the day of her death, the
camera starts to zoom in as he carries on talking, which then fades to white to liberty walking up
stairs. This is done to show the audience what Cody was talking about before Liberty committed
suicide. Many camera angles were used for this scene to create a realistic atmosphere; she also uses
her phone to create an accurate atmosphere for this scene. The shot which is coming out of the
cupboard was created to show the ghost’s point of view, creating suspense as Liberty is being
touched on the shoulder. A loud noise is present to make the audience jump out of their seats and
be on edge whilst watching this short movie. Memories flash back as the camera is zoomed in on
Liberty’s eye in an extreme close up. This was done to show the audience the story behind the death
of Liberty. Liberty calls Cody and the camera does a cross cut to show where Cody is present at this
time. The close ups on both of the characters faces show how frightened they are as to what Liberty
is going to tell Cody and what Cody is going to hear from Liberty. The screen fades out and shows
Cody walking towards Liberty as he is about to hear what she has to say. The argument scene was
added for tension as Liberty is seen as angry at Cody for not believing her about the paranormal
spirits she has been seeing. Liberty walks away in anger to show the audience how annoyed she is as
Cody walks after her to apologise. The shot fades out to Cody sat again at the desk being
interviewed.

As Matt asks Cody if he believes in the paranormal after the events which have happened to Liberty,
creepy music starts to play and stops suddenly with more static and scary overlays of Liberty
screaming. A heart beat sound effect was added for suspense as the memories flash on screen.
Doors being slammed show the presence of the paranormal. Later in this scene we see Liberty’s
house with a dark overlay on top. This was done to make it seem that the paranormal have taken
over Liberty’s life. As we see Liberty’s house the lights are flickering on and off. This also shows the
presence of the paranormal. The camera zooms in and as Cody takes his glasses off and puts his
head in his hand, this shows the audience that he is confused and worried.

The screen fades with a black screen of static; it fades into Liberty sat on the floor with a weapon in
her hand. The suicide note audio is over layed on top to make this scene highly emotional for the
audience as Liberty is about to kill herself. The bird’s eye view of liberty shown with the pair of
scissors in which she is holding and how she is going to kill herself. The camera pans to the right as
we see Liberty stab herself, a close up of scissors with blood on them show the audience that she
has just committed suicide which creates an eerie atmosphere. The mid-shot of Liberty dead will
make the audience feel guilty for the character as no one believed her story. The audio of Liberty’s
suicide note fades along with the screen to show the end. The credits appear with a creepy
soundtrack.”

CREDITS ROLL

END