Short Film Research: Oracle (Thriller)

 

The short film Oracle first begins with a black screen, only letting viewers hear the noise of, what is revealed seconds later, a carpenter machine. I think this had an eerie effect, which is typical of a thriller, as it gave the viewers a bit of information, but held back the rest. The short then moves on to showing several children, one sitting in the snow, another eating a plant, with a child playing in the snow in the background. What I have noticed in the first minute of the movie is the lack of background noise, which also adds to the eerie effect of the short. By choosing to omit the music, viewers like myself pay full attention to what is going on. This actually almost feels unsettling. The short then moves on to showing a boy go up the stairs, while the noise of the carpenter machine plays in the background. However, the noise is now distorted, which really made me anxious as to what is going on. The boy seems to look at the door, as the distorted noise grows more intense. However, the short then cuts the scene. A notable scene involves the boy laying down in bed, staring at a blue hallway light, until the scene cuts black. The boy is back staring at the blue light, which actually turns into a blue balloon with a completely black background. As he starts counting a bunch of blocks with the balloon next to him, the scene actually cuts to his mom holding him as he makes weird movements and noises. There is also a clip of him screaming against what seems to be a blue curtain. These seem to be crosscutting clips, as it all appears to be happening at the same time. The background music gets more intense until finally, the screen goes back and the music fades out. The short shows the boy still in bed, looking again at the blue hallway light, except this time a shadow appears. The shadow is very creepy, and seems to be a silhouette of a person. The scene cuts and shows the outside of a house, an establishing shot. The short actually cuts back to a scene from the beginning, showing the boy back on the stairs staring at the door, except this time, the black shadow seems to be coming out of the door. 

Takeaways: 

The omission of music in some parts of the movies created a very unsettling feeling. It was almost as if music creates a sense of security, but the lack of music in short made the effect very creepy as I could hear the smallest details. For example, the noise of a door opening, the carpenter machine, the breaths of the child.

Also, I noticed that the short would give the audience some information at times, but not the full picture. For example, in the beginning, the short shows the boy on the stairs staring at the door. It was not told why the boy was there or why he was staring at the door until the end of film. It is only at the end where I realized he was waiting for the shadow to reappear.

I also thought the common use of blue throughout the film was interesting. Starting with the blue hallway light, the short film constantly uses blue objects to stay consistent with the theme. Examples are the blue light, the blue balloon, the blue curtain, and even the blue text revealing the title of the film.