Alone - Short Film Review

Alone. Alone is what this man is. Years after the world ended and the human race perished; this is the only man left standing. How did he survive? What caused the outbreak? We don't know. No one does. This short film gives you an inside look on what the only man left alive does on a day-to-day basis, what he does to survive, kill time, and keep himself sane.

Alone, directed by Brock Torunski is a 6 minute short film about a man who is the only one left on the planet. I found that this short film uses lots of exposition which is not really needed as an audience can tell by the conventions used such as a deserted location and a slight blue tint which gives the film a cold atmosphere some of what is going on in the film. 

The film is a long a descriptive monologue which leaves nothing for the audience to imagine. I think that this closes the film of to a wide audience because not everyone will be able to relate to is, if there is some room for the audience to put in their own experiences and opinions, they are more likely to find things in the film they recognise and identify with. 

The location chosen for the film works well in that it shows an abandoned residential area, where the character can go into the other houses and look for food. However, the overall look of the houses and streets doesn't fit with the post-apocalyptic genre. They are all well kept and clean, as if other people were still living there but the character is supposedly the last person on earth... 

The film uses music and sound effects to create an eerie and mysterious atmosphere which works well and suits the film. The film uses a few flashback scenes which are made obvious by a white glow and blurriness on the outside of the shots, this clearly shows that the shots aren't from the present day and make they almost look dreamlike. 

Overall, I enjoyed this short film and have taken some ideas away from it to think about in my project. For example, I want to make sure that when filming I use genre conventions so that I don't have to get my characters to say it in their dialogue. I also want to make use of lighting and sound as much as possible in order to create an effective atmosphere. In terms of dialogue, I want to avoid giving my characters long pieces of dialogue and getting them to explain everything that is happening, I want to leave some things open for my audience to interpret it how they wish.