Research: Genre specific 1/3 - THE FIRST BORN

The first born is a sci fi short film which seems to be set in the future as the mise en scene shows bright lights and futuristic technology which suggests the future. It is also established that this is set in a hospital due to the futuristic hospital bed and the doctor stood by her bed side. Everything feels very grimey and rusty but also parts of futuristic technology immediately setting the location. Most futuristic or sci fi short films use bright white lights and futuristic props such as lasers and holograms so this short film fits into the general conventions for the sci fi genre. Protagonists are not very clear in this as at the end the woman who seems to be the protagonist but ends up very neutral towards the end split between being the protagonist and antagonist. There is however a clear antagonist as the man in the black hood kills one of the doctors as soon as he enters. Murder is clearly the first clear sign of this man being an antagonist but also the mise en scene suggests strongly that this guy is a force of evil as he has the classic bad guy cape and also mouthpiece covering his face. The black robe is a clear sign of an antagonist in the conventions of a sci fi film, for example Darth Vader from Star wars. As for the supposed protagonist, she is wearing a pure white costume as she is a patient at this futuristic hospital but being in all white or even bright clothing usually suggests in sci fi films that this person is a protagonist or at least with good intentions whereas evil or people with bad intentions dress in darker clothes. Also in the mise en scene a much more subtle thing in this short film is the use of the colour purple as the colour purple represents many things such as power mystery and magic which fits perfectly in this short film as the magical energy used by both the bad guy and the woman is purple. The woman's hair even turns purple by the end of the short film. The colour purple is always present in this short as it is the key component which links it all together as this shows the two main characters that they are siblings and it is also her eye colour, hair colour and the colour of the magical energy. So purple is used in this film to emphasise the magic and energy which is present in a lot of sci fi films.

 Camera is used in this short film to create intrigue as a lot of the first few shots are of close ups of this very odd mystical looking and also creepy silhouette of this person emerging from a shroud of smoke leaving the audience confused and also interested to find out who or what this is. The camera was used by getting an establishing shot of the chamber full of smoke and extreme close ups of the persons hands and shoulders but not showing any key defining features. The camera again is used to create intrigue as it focuses in and out as we are seeing the world through this womans eyes. The confusing and intriguing atmosphere of the short film is usually a key element to the genre of sci fi as sci fi is meant to be far fetched and different to our world so there are always going to be confusing things that we don't understand fully at first sight. There are a lot of pans in this short as it is meant to be all static constantly as the plot is always moving and the camera like the story needs to keep on going forward.

Sound in Sci fi is key as it is used so much in films such as sound effects soundtracks and incidental music used to add a tense or intriguing atmosphere. Immediately we have non diagetic sound effects for the eerie chamber. The audience are given the sense that this chamber of smoke is evil or just very dangerous. This implies that the thing inside is dangerous or evil too which weirdly enough is a foreshadowing of future events. The short starts with a light and soft non diagetic score over it until the main antagonist enters as it then turns dark and eerie which empthasises this guy is evil and a lot of the time with the usual sci fi conventions the score is used to show the audience who is evil and who is good. A good example of this is Darth Vader from Star wars as he enters there is a thundering dark tune to show his power and dangerous powers.

Editing in this short film is used very well as it uses special effects heavily which is extremely common in sci fi films as sci fi thrives on special effects to put us into other worlds using green screen or blue screen. It incorporates the colour purple once again in the magical energy effect which is used to attack people so it is used by the antagonist in this film but it also used to defend as the woman uses her magical powers to freeze the knives and hospital equipment mid air. So editing is used a lot in this short to empthasise the sci fi element. The editing in general is slow to start with as it gets the audience to listen in as the dialogue is key here but when the antagonist enters the editing gets faster as it is more action packed using quick cut shots to increase the tense and rapid atmosphere of the magical fight.

A2 screen test

A2 Screen Test.mp4 from Animation Station on Vimeo.