Short Film Research - Inside

This film has been put together very well and is impressive in terms of showing a mental illness. The film is about a man who is locked inside a padded cell because he is mentally ill by having schizophrenia. At the start of the film you hear voices which indicate he is experiencing hallucinations. With the majority of the film you experience his split personality disorder in a room with many different characters. The producer’s intention for this film was to make you aware of someone who is experiencing this illness in order for you realize the capability of schizophrenia. This film is an awareness video that has been distributed to film festivals to also showcase the talents involved. This is also the target audience for this film as they want to show the people at the film festivals what they have produced in order for positive feedback. The film would be suited to an older audience as you would not really expect children to watch or understand what is going on. I would expect this film to be a certification of at least a 12A because it could upset anyone below that age in terms of the narrative. Also this film contains a more mature theme which would not be suitable for anybody younger.

In this film there are a lot of characters with two main characters such the mentally ill person and one of his split personalities. Throughout the film you see the mentally ill person mostly in every shot by seeing him from the very start and in the last shot of the film. This is because the film is based around this person. The other main character is one of his split personalities who is an older lady who is acting as one of the people in charge of the mental hospital in trying to help him. It’s only when you realise that when another person walks in the room and starts to ask him the same questions as the other lady you realise that something is strange. You then find out as an audience that she is actually not real and is in his mind with them saying the line “ I feel fine, doctor” which is the last line of the film. The person who has walked in is the real person in charge of the mental hospital. The other characters in the film are the ones who epitomize his different personalities. The film is set in a mental hospital which you can easily identify as one of the first shots is of the mental guy in a padded cell. When you see this you instantly can tell that there is something seriously wrong with this guy. The only other settings are of him being escorted down a dark corridor and the room where his split personalities take place. The sounds in the film are the ones of the different characters who portray his different personalities and obviously people talking. Throughout the film there is eerie music which corresponds with the freaky settings and actions that takes place.