Matthew Topham; Film Review

Short Film Analysis - “Home” (2012)

Film website:  http://www.homethefilm.net/
Link to video: http://vimeo.com/16295101

“Home” is a Rom Zom. It is about the tale of a young woman who is the sole survivor of a zombie apocalypse, living in the woods. As the story progresses, more light is shed on her past - her fiancé was infected and they never managed to get married.

The protagonist is the woman. She is not named in the film because her name is irrelevant to the plot of the story. Her husband is revealed to be chained up in her house towards the end. They are the only two characters in the film (aside from the zombies, of course).

The following screenshots are from the film, in chronological order.



The opening establishing shot of the woods; where the short film takes place.



After several shots of the peaceful woods, this shot of a decaying skeleton is shown, along with a loud noise.

The opening title.

The protagonist looking at something.

Close-up of her face to show emotion.



Eye-line match. The picture is what she is looking at.

A shot of some items on a table. Noteworthy items, as they place a role towards the end of the film.

Another establishing shot. She is going fishing.

An interesting shot showing the protagonist behind some trees – making it seem like she is being watched (by zombies, perhaps?).

Looking through the binoculars.

Eye-line match, again. She was looking at the zombies.

Being watched, again?

The setting sun, to show a short time-lapse.

More information on the back-story. She was supposedly meant to get married.

The tin can shaking. Meaning (as established earlier) an impending zombie attack.

 Her chained up zombie husband.

Close-up of putting the ring on his finger.

After contemplating either killing him, or even committing suicide, she decides the shoot the chain keeping him from attacking her. A change of focus from her face to the gun is shown above.

She kisses him, ultimately turning her into a zombie. Close up of her eyes changing.

The credits. Very simplistic, in my opinion.

Editing

Regarding editing, the transition practically used throughout the film is a cut – a lot of the film is at a fast pace (like during the zombie attack scenes) – and the rest is very slow; there are longer scenes with few cuts when there is no little to no action.

Titles/Credits

As mentioned prior, I think that the credits are quite simplistic. The same can be said about the title – no visual effects, just the title of the film. I think that this is right - the film doesn't seem to need any over exaggerated titles and such.

Mise-en-scene

I found the mise-en-scene very interesting in this film. For example, the items on the table all play a part towards the end of the film. This is very good, continuity wise. It also foreshadows the conclusion of the film, too – all in all, a very clever idea to include these items early on.

Sound

Sound is very sparse – there is no talking in the film. However, there are a few examples of sound used to shock the viewer - and, to point out the extraordinary – such as in the opening scenes. When the skull is shown, a heavy drum beat is played to draw the viewer’s attention to said scene – and in particular, the skull and death.

Cinematography

The film tends to use close ups to show the woman’s face, and in the zombie attack scenes, long shots/medium long shots. Two point of view shots/eye-line matches are used to show what the protagonist is looking at. It looks like there are no lens filters used. As far as cinematography is concerned, a lot of basic techniques are used in this film.