Textual analysis of “Doll House”

Doll house is a short film directed and written by Pete Middleton that i discovered on YouTube. It is a Thriller/Horror hybrid that lasts 2 minutes 35 seconds.

Dolls house has a very interesting, smart uses of mise en scene throughout, as it is all filmed in black and white, giving it an eerie, spooky mood from the start. The dark colours like black and grey are often related to horror and crime, giving this the perfect tone from the beginning. Middleton has also used the non-diegetic soundtrack of a thunderstorm to add to the darkness of the film. Throughout the film Middleton uses the sound of the thunder to shock people (make people jump) the way a musical sting would usually be demonstrated in a feature length film.
The credits appear in a typewriter font that adds a sharp edginess to the opening backing up the atmosphere the colours and sounds are creating. The second shot is of the little girls black bed in a big empty white room, showing us, the audience that she is secluded and alone. People do not expect a little girl’s room to be open and empty; therefore Middleton has instantly told the audience that this girl is the victim of the story. This is followed by a close up of the girl lying in bed looking at something off screen. This makes the audience curious for just a split second as to what she could be looking at. Middleton then allows us, the audience to see what she is looking at by placing the camera behind the object which in this case is a doll. On the right hand of the screen is the back of the doll whilst in the left hand we can see the little girl sitting up staring at this doll. The iconography of a doll is smart as it is a stereotype of fears for many people and using stereotypes is a typical convention of a short film that is often successful. The camera then cuts between front view of the doll in the side of the screen to the back view of the doll and the little girl, this is repeated several times and builds up tension with the audience. The next couple of shots are of the little girl staring at the doll, there’s a straight on mid shot of her sitting up followed by a side profile shot before then jumping to a close up of the doll which is now slowly moving its head, this is a good technique of subtlety as the audience isn’t sure if the doll actually moved or not. This follows the conventions of keeping the audience engaged and thinking. Throughout there are also flashes of lighting which he has smartly placed on the dolls face illuminating it. The girl then hides under her covers and the camera focuses on her for a while.
A close up of the doll shows that its stopped swaying and the non-diegetic soundtrack of the doll stops. The audience know in the back of their minds that the doll is going to of moved when the girl comes out but they still stay watching in fear. A musical sting is then used briefly on a quick glimpse of the empty chair where the doll was sitting, this makes the audience jump. Middleton quickly moves over the chair before returning to the girl’s eyes where we see her staring in fear at the empty chair. There is then a mid shot of the girl looking under both sides of her bed, the young girls performance throughout is one of complete stillness, she doesn’t change her facial expression from this straight almost hazed look and she doesn’t make a sound, this brings a strangeness to the film and creeps people out. As she looks under the bed the camera follows the girls search to show the audience that the bed is clear, this keeps the audience guessing. Finally the camera returns to the centre of the bed as the girl sits up, as she does this the camera zooms in whilst a musical sting is played followed by the diegetic sound of the girls scream. This is a very predictable ending but also an effective ending as it does everything that is expected of a Thriller/Horror short film. It intrigues, it makes the audience think and it shocks.