Textual Analysis- Stranded

Stranded is a student made short film in which a group of friends are traveling by car for a camping trip when they breakdown in the middle of know. As they try and call for help an unknown threat is seen by the audience. 

I feel that the plot is a little hard to follow and the above is just my interpretation. In the short film we see the friends being caught one by one. But I'm left feeling that one of the friends, Megan, acts very odd towards the other character, Jessica, or I think those are the correct characters names as one of the name shouts is hard to hear/understand. Megan says to Jessica that the noises were "nothing" and when getting back to the car being the only one left she sits in the drivers seat as if it was planned. The killer is seen in the back of the car but they then drive off. In my opinion the plot can have two meanings that they are all in danger or that Megan is the one behind it all? This is one of the major issues as its hard to follow and understand although sometimes can be more interesting for some audiences. 

Mise-en-scene
The film is set in the countryside in an attempt to make the characters cut of and isolated, a very typical and well used convention of the horror genre. However this does fail slightly because when looking closely to examine the short film I could see some houses and farmland along with direction signposts and road signs causing a slightly unbelievable plot if you notice this. The three girls are dressed in casual clothing to make their characters relatable and believable for the audience which has a positive impact. 
The biggest issue I find and other people who have watched the short film have noticed is the actors are not very believable. They come across as non rehearsed and very poor camera presence. This means that the overall effect is ruined as its not very believable. They sometimes might look at the camera and make mistakes. 


Sound
Most of the sound featured in this film is diegetic as dialogue, the sound of the car and general ambient noise like wind etc captured by the camera they were using for filming. However at both the beginning and end feature two non-diegetic soundtracks, which in my opinion is not relevant relevant to the film making it seem out of place. The only way I can argue this is they have used a song featuring the name "Stranded" which links with the film and films a boring opening to the film so the audience aren't bored straight away. 
I feel the largest issue of all as mentioned that you can tell/hear the sound was recorded with a built in microphone on a camera or phone, meaning the audio is mostly poor quality; especially outside when its exposed to the wind the audio becomes distorted. There is very little attempt to correct these issues as the volume of audio jumps about meaning some dialogue is very low and then some loud. 

Editing
The editing used is very basic with very random cutting and odd clip lengths. There are some fades used in sometimes correct places which make sense. The editing seems rushed in my opinion although I do notice that have tried to attempt fast and slow paced editing to change how the audience reacts and feels. I believe this has worked as it is noticeable when the killer strikes. One of my small issues is the first thing on screen. When the film starts there is text showing film production names etc. And straight away I believe there is a mistake. I believe the title is supposed to say "Worldclass Films Presents" although it reads "Wordlclass Films Presents". I think this is a mistake and leaves the audience questioning the accuracy of the short film before its even begun. This is a big point that you should always check everything twice before publishing it.


Camera work
Most camera angles are good with a short range used and normally handheld, allowing the shot to adapt and change focus in a single take. It also places you in the scene making for a more real and believable storyline. This genre in particular adopts this style of filming heavily as it helps keep up the tension in scenes and creates a heightened atmosphere. But the handheld shots in this film are often to shaky, making them hard to focus on and giving a negative effect overall. The short variety of camera angles in the film results in a rather monotone mix of close-ups, long shots and medium shots. A tripod has been used rarely and fails to achieve any smooth panning or tilting.