BLINKY

Researching the genre "horror" I discovered this short film about a robot. The 12minute film connotes horror in a very clever way. As we immediately know that something is going to go wrong. At first we meet the character Alex, who is a young teen boy. His character is represented as lonely and we feel sympathetic towards him because we come to the understanding his parents are always arguing and do not have alot of time for him, also the fact that he is a only child emphasizes the fact he doesn't have many friends. The house he lives in is very modern and rich looking. This also links into him being lonely as his parents are always working and do not have much time to spend with their son. This is projected by their none-existence in the short film as we only see them once or twice. Instead they replace the precious time they could of had with Alex by buying him different technology appliances and basically anything he wanted- one of those things being a new "guaranteed to help around the house, and be a friend" robot- Blinky. As the film starts off with the advert on telly promoting Blinky's existence. Alex typically gets the robot for Christmas. And we see a little preview of the time spent with Blinky once he got it. There is happy music and Alex is smiling as he plays hide and seek with Blinky in the garden, as well as other outdoor games. As happy and warming the scene is it at the same time had a very sinister feel to it, as we know something is going to go wrong, so the fact this scene was even in the film just makes us feel more sympathetic with Alex as we know this happiness is going to go horribly wrong. As the scene suddenly ends with a scene of them both getting the shopping and continuing back home. Blinky drops the shopping accidently and Alex shouts at him. At this point we know things are going to go down hill. We can tell by the music, by the way in which Alex projects himself, as being fed up and unfriendly towards the robot, and Blinky is presented as being unable to understand emotions and doesn't know that Alex doesn't like him, or doesn't know he does anything wrong, of-course because he is a robot and they aren't specifically made to have emotions or understand them. From this point Alex is horrible to the robot, tries and outsmarts it by confusing it. Our sympathy is turned around and we feel sorry for the poor robot who doesn't understand. We at some point hear Alex's parents arguing. & again we feel sorry for Alex as there is a reason he is taking so much anger out on a man made thing. The idea of hide and seek is represented throughout the film and we get this idea of time running out. Blinky is in the pouring rain counting from a ridiculous number, vulnerable of why Alex has made him do this. The rain is presented as a negative occurrence as we know Blinky is technology and we know something bad is going to happen- which it does as Blinky becomes short circuited and repeats "no problem" over and over again like a stuck record. Alex's mum tells him to turn it off. Then she angrily commands Alex to clean up the garden as Alex purposely made a mess to make Blinky clean it up. "Clean this mess up, otherwise I'll have Blinky clean and cook you for dinner" this quote from Alex's mum stays in our mind as something so insignificant is a clue as to what might happen. From then on Alex does not trust Blinky. Partly because of the fact Alex in a rage told Blinky to kill everyone. Kill his parent, kill the dog, kill him. This plays on our mind until the point we know Blinky is going to horribly mutate Alex. Surprisingly we don't see this. And as we begin to realise Blinky has then killed his mum and dad, he opens the door to the police. We know exactly what is going to happen, but because throughout the film we do not see any blood we do not expect the ending to be Blinky with a Kitchen tool cutting into someone splatting blood everywhere. A powerful ending which leaves us in suspense and horror. Typically, what the genre is expected of.

Overall this research has been handy as I have gathered ideas on not to show any gore throughout my film until the very end in which people will be shocked and it will have more of an impact on their minds after watching it. Also to have perhaps a scene in which everything is cheerful and merry, & to create sympathy for both the victim, and the killer. As this creates more relationships the audience has with the characters. But to narrow the characters down to 2 or 3. As otherwise the audience will get bored as they cannot focus on one person and make a connection with them. Concluding this researched film to have a impact on my thoughts, initial thoughts & ideas for my short film.