On a website called Short of the Week, I searched through the thriller genre to find a short film that would be suitable to review and analyse. I decided on the 2011 short crime thriller called Prosopagnosia.
This film can be found HERE .
About Prosopagnosia
Similar to my research on Black Swan, I wanted to learn a bit more about the short film before I began my viewing and analysis. I found that the film was directed by Hugo Keijzer, and edited by short film editor Nils Rensen. As Rensen isn't greatly known in the industry, I struggled to find any information or personal insight on his work on the short film, but I am able to learn about his editing techniques through my review.
The synopsis provided on the film in Short of the Week is below...
Alfred finds his best friend dead in her apartment and looks the perpetrator right in the eyes. Too bad he can't recognize anyone's face.
My Film Review
In this second film review and analysis, I watched carefully and made notes on the editing styles and techniques used throughout the film...
General
- Most likely as to not use up too much time within a short film, the opening title card is brief and cuts to the point, while still having an artistic element to it. As can be seen below...
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| Title Card |
Editing for Suspense & Tension
- We feel the tension between Alfred and the investigator through quick cuts between their dialogue, as Alfred is interrogated.
- Throughout the interrogation scenes, the tension builds more and more through quick cuts and pacing.
Editing for Drama & Emotion
- Calm insert/flashback styled shots are used to portray memories of Alfred's best friend and his girlfriend, allowing us to connect with him. An example of this can be seen in the screenshot below...
- In a different style to that of Black Swan, the editor doesn't linger on shots for suspension, but instead to capture the emotion on a character's face.
Editing Techniques
Jump cuts, L & J cuts, cutting on action & cutaways
- The film starts with a brief shot of the main character Alfred's face and immediately cuts away back to the night of his best friend's murder.
- The use of L & J cuts are very well used to keep the conversation between Alfred and the inspector flowing.
- Transitioning between scenes, mostly the opening scene and the scene after the titles uses a fade in from black, creating a smooth transition.
- The film doesn't stick to a linear order, as it frequently jumps back and forth between Alfred's flashbacks and the present, however they're well connected with moments transitioning with him looking a photograph before we see the flashback. Such as the example below...
- Throughout the interrogation scenes, trickery shots are cut between to use different actors to play the inspector in a seamless way. Portraying Alfred's non-recognition of his face.
- Jump cuts are used between all of Alfred's flashbacks in almost a montage style, allowing him and the audience to connect that his best friend was the same person as his girlfriend.
- The film then ends with further jump cuts as we distance ourselves from Alfred upon his realisation, jolting further back from him before the film cuts to black.
Pacing
- The film starts quickly, going straight into the core of the story to establish why Alfred is talking to an investigator.
- Similar to Black Swan, when the character is thinking of a happier time, the pacing dramatically slows down, before picking back up when in the distressing reality of the situation.
Influences & Comparisons
This was very interesting to review in order to learn about how to deal with cutting a short thriller, as the time is restricted but the content still needs to flow and draw the audience in. I found that within this short film, there was less time to linger in order to build suspense, so often quick cuts were used to heighten tension instead, which worked to the story's advantage very well.
I found the techniques of building tension with a fast pace and emotion with a slower, more heartfelt pace to be inspiring when considering the ways to edit these moments in Double Exposure. I also noted that the key similarity between the two films is the fact that the story is non-linear, and uses flashbacks to tell the story. I found the transitions between real-time and flashbacks in Prosopagnosia to be very clear and smooth, and it had me make important considerations in the way that the flashback in Double Exposure needs to be transitioned into.
Overall, combined with my review on Black Swan, it was very useful to me to analyse thrillers similar to our film in both feature film length and short film length, to gain the two different perspectives and editing styles used in both. Before editing, the two films gave me great inspiration in which individual techniques I wanted to use to best suit the film.
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