Analysis of short film 'Lights Out'

The short film opens up to an establishing shot of what appears to be a housing area, with the title “Lights Out”. The scene is set in what appears to be very late at night, this demonstrated by the low-key, pitch black lighting, the light provided coming from the housing indoors. This automatically links up to typical horror conventions due to the fact that low key lighting is a huge element for this genre (as stereotypically, darkness has connotations of fear and evil thus is effective in setting the mood for horror films as their intention is overall to create an element of fear for the audience). To add on to that, the title of the film “Lights Out” instantly connects to the visuals that we see on the screen, as the lights are literally out. We here diegetic sound of rain, the sound also been synchronous as if you look close enough you will notice that it is actually raining outside.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of inside a house, in which a woman is coming out what is most likely the bathroom. Costume wise, she appears to be wearing her bedtime outfit, which is clearly a very normal thing to wear. However, what stands out for me in this outfit is the colours, the outfit is all white, which is evidently a light colour. Evidently, the woman is the victim within the media piece, therefore, the use of all white clothing emphasises her innocence, this being because white has connotations of purity, this representing her as vulnerable, which is effective as she is the victim/protagonist. Her outfit alone also juxtaposes heavily with the antagonist and also theme of the short film, as “lights out” clearly is another way to indicate completely darkness, and the antagonist is also a completely black supernatural shadow like figure (till the end where the appearance is actually revealed).

Furthermore, the short film already links up to typical conventions of short films by the narrative, as the plot line is demonstrating an ordinary, everyday situation which will eventually have a twist.

We see the woman walk down her hallway with the use of a long shot and turning the hallway lights, in which she turns around and has the shock realization that a sinister, supernatural shadow figure is standing in the darkness. The fact that the antagonist itself is a shadow automatically links to horror lighting conventions of including prominent and projected shadows, the use of them being to indicate to the audience that the antagonist is near/about to attack!

 The first meeting with the antagonist is exhibited by an over the shoulder shot of the woman, her looking back at the hallway. The use of the over the shoulder shot is effective in creating suspense and fear factor as it gives off the impression that although she is directly facing the actual antagonist, she is also being watched by another person, this almost working as a double threat. Over the shoulder shots are also a convention of horror films for this exact same reason. The next camera shot after this is taken from the opposite direction, within the hallway, facing the woman. This can be seen from two different perspectives, either just simply being a shot within the hallway to demonstrate to the audience that nothing is actually there as the hallway is empty, this being effective as introduces the supernatural factor properly (giving a “now you see me, now you don’t” vibe). On the other hand, this could also be seen as a point of view shot from the antagonist staring back at the woman, this being effective as it putting the audience in the perspective of the antagonist emphasises their power, depicting the woman as even more endangered now as the audience aren’t even there to protect her (as we cannot see things from her side anymore, forced to take the side of the evil entity).

To add on to that, this particular scene also demonstrates spotlighting as the light is directly focussed on the woman (the spotlight is all on her), which is a horror lighting convention and also effective in emphasizing how alone she really is in that house.

The woman turns the light back on and off and each time we see the antagonist’s shadow getting closer and closer with each light switch, ironically, the antagonist only gets closer when the lights are off, this making the visuals and title of the short film link. We see reaction shots of the woman each time the lights go back on to reveal the shadow mysteriously disappear, this linking to the stereotype that people within the horror genre (specifically women) act in a very dim, naïve manner, loosing basic common sense. This is demonstrated in the woman’s behaviour, as instead of leaving an evidently threatening, harmful situation she continues on to put herself in danger even when the antagonist is getting closer to her.

Music wise, the sound is diegetic (so you hear the synchronous sounds of just the light switches), this works well in creating the atmosphere as it the sound is close to silent with the exception of the light switch, it is effective as the silence emphasises how alone she is in her house, highlighting her isolation. This linking to horror as isolation is a narrative/setting convention as it puts the protagonist/victim in a position where it is hard for them to get help because of it.

The sound is like this until the woman switches the light off one more time to see the antagonist directly in front of her, in which we hear typical jump scare music - this being deep based, eerie music, this clearly being another convention of horror films as jump scares are a huge feature. Jump scares tend to effective when a scene beforehand has led up to that moment (creating tension/suspense) which is what has been done and presented within this scene.

The lady then puts duct tape over the light switch to stop it from turning the lights off, before proceeding to go to bed. This is another example of characters within horror films lacking common sense because instead trying to find help and get out of the place which clearly has a dark entity inside, she stays there – putting herself at more risk. To add on the to that, I feel that symbolism has been used within this part of the clip with the use of black duct tape over the white light switch. This is because white evidently has connotations of innocence, this juxtaposing with black, as the colour has connotations of evil. 

To add on to that, duct tape is clearly a very strong tape which is hard to get rid of. How this works as symbolism is that is that the black duct tape represents the antagonist and the white light switch the victim, and how the antagonist is now latched to the woman and it is going to be a challenge to get rid of the villain.

We are then introduced to a medium shot of the woman’s room, in which a table light is provided as a source of light source within this scene, the camera then cuts to a medium shot of the woman in bed evidently trying to get to sleep. Soon after, we are then shown a point of view shot of the door in her room, being slightly open, the light from the hallway being visible. What builds suspense within this scene is the use of sound, we as an audience hear footsteps in the hallway, however the footsteps appear very eerie and unnatural, making the floor creak, this being a way to indicate that the coming of the antagonist. We then see a reaction shot of the woman who is clearly full of unease at the abnormal behaviour, to then we are introduced to an eyeline match of the door again, however this time the light from the hallway turns off. Automatically, this works as a warning sign to the audience as we already know (from the previous scene) that when the light turns off the antagonist is at its most powerful.

Sound is used heavily to create suspense as we hear the footsteps pace dramatically down the hallway, the sound quickly increasing in volume indicating that the antagonist is getting closer and closer. This is effective because as an audience we still cannot see the actual threat character therefore it puts us in a position where we have little power because we are in a position where we are getting intimidated/frightened but cannot see what exactly is causing that emotion. As a response, the woman frantically pulls her bed covers over her in an attempt to hide from the antagonist, within this portion of the scene it is particularly quiet, this increasing the fear factor for the audience because at this point it is very suspenseful and we are expecting something such as a jump scare.

When she eventually takes off the bed covers we see an eyeline match of the door, but this time fully opening and it slightly banging the wall. This is paired with incidental spooky, high pitched music. The woman puts the cover over her head again quickly (as the audience we see this as a reaction shot) before the camera then cuts to a low angle shot of the table lamp dramatically turning on and off, this being paired with deep based, low key, spooky incidental music, appearing to replicate the sound of an earthquake. Within this scene, we witness point of view shots, close up shots from inside her bed (so handheld camera shots) and shots through internal frames (the point of view shot of the plug is done from inside her bed, us seeing the plug from a gap within her covers). This is effective as it creates a feeling of verisimilitude, and we as the audience get to see things from her exact perspective and shoes, this making us feel whatever emotions she is feeling and overall feeding on to the whole idea of films being a vicarious experience. This continues for quite a while before the woman finds the plug and takes out, making it all come to an abrupt halt.

Peace seems to have formed, as this time when the woman comes out from her covers, we see a point of view shot of the door again, this time half closed like before with the light from the hallway being visible. From what it looks like it was all in fact a dream. However, this is a special convention of horror films frequently used called ‘false sense of security’ – a cliché used to lead someone into believing that all is well before attacking or doing someone bad). This is effective because it relaxes the audience and makes them feel all is well, this making it easier to scare them/make an impact later as they would be in a calm state of mind – not expecting this.

The short film clearly acts on this because as soon as the woman looks around and gets comfortable again, she turns around and to see the antagonist next to the lamp in a very threatening, unnatural manner (clearly being non-human) before turning off the lights, this being paired incidental music, working as a jump scare.