Contextual Studies - Short Film Review 3 - Call Back

My third and final short film that I am reviewing is called Call Back. Its about a man who has killed his wife and lover after catching them having an affair. After instantly regretting what he has done, he is offered a dose of hope for a way out by a mysterious man over the phone. Can the man be trusted? Is this a genuine escape route?

As soon as the story begins its intense from the start. The use of fast cut editing and the enigma created due to not revealing whats going on immediately grabs the audience with mystery. There is a rumbling low atmospheric track playing in the background to let the audience know that something dark and dangerous is happening. A non diegetic sound of the phone ringing is heard showing several different close ups of a bloodied hand and a gun before cutting to a birds eye view of a woman covered in blood, laying on the bed. There is also a man dead on the floor. Its done from an audiences perspective looking in at the whole scene. Without saying too much the audience can draw conclusions of infidelity from this scene as well as seeing a close up of a wedding ring.

There are many close ups used through out this film mainly to add to the intensity of the film for example the door handle moving as the police are on the other side of the door and the needle as the protagonist is injecting. It heightens the action that is being carried out.

There is a scene where after the man has injected the liquid we see everything has been edited in slow motion. This allows the audience to simulate a high, drug feeling of what the character is experiencing. It takes us from watching whats happening, to being in the scenario ourselves. This is also helped by switching to a POV shot and blurred vision.

In terms of audio, this film is heavily focused on post non-diegetic audio. There is the eery score in the background throughout most of it as well as the sound of a slowed down, pounding heart beat allowing us to align with the characters own heart. There is also a scene where the sound goes quiet and then there is a loud knock at the door using a jump tactic to get the audiences heart going.

Over all this is a thrilling and captivating short film that use's great techniques to help add mystery and tension. For my own film I will take the use of eerie music and less dialogue to help create mystery and suspense.