Joseph Russo

SECTION THREE – EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL SHORT HORROR FILMS

“LIGHTS OUT” (2013)• This is an example of a successful, short horror

film that has many conventions of a short film and a short horror film. One of these is online distribution. It was only released online as it is just three minutes long but has over 2 million views on YouTube, but at the same time it is creative and fast paced.

• It has a small cast with no dialogue at all which are also conventions of short films. There is just one character involved with the villain only appearing briefly at the end. As there is one character, there is no dialogue but a lot of imagery is used.

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• The sound is overemphasised as there are many sounds that the audience would expect to hear in horror films such as creaking floorboards, footsteps and creaking doors. Having all of these sounds in a three minute film is very overemphasised.

• A lot of emotion is conveyed throughout the film as it is fast paced. The audience would feel scared because of the fast pace of the film, as they know that something scary is always likely to happen.

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• One location is involved, which seems to be the characters house and this is especially important in short horror films because the fear can be taken out of the narrative if more than one location is used in a three minute film.

• There is a twist at the end of the film, which is also a convetion of a short film. The villain’s face is revealed very briefly when she turns on the light at the end. In some feature length horror films, the villain is never revealed, such as in Paranormal Activity where the audience never sees the villain.