Critical Reflection

     STARE explores the many perspectives and emotions that one can feel towards death, and how each belief is valid in its own right, as death can be whatever one perceives it to be. These different perspectives are highlighted through the colored lighting and costuming throughout the short film. The haunting depiction of Death seen through the emptiness of the room they reside in, as well as the quiet buzzing heard whenever their presence becomes increasingly prevalent.

   The short film concept for STARE was inspired by Netflix's BoJack Horseman for the way it addresses heavy topics, Jack Stauber's Opal for its disturbing atmosphere, and the short film World of Tomorrow. Through these three pieces of media, I was inspired to create something that created a tense and almost ominous atmosphere, while also having a true meaning behind it. When watching World of Tomorrow, I got the idea to make my piece about death, and how people fear it, this later evolving into addressing other perspectives of death and how they would react when coming face to face with death itself. 

    The short film embraced the conventional use of color in film in terms of what color can symbolize, while also over exaggerating each perspective's color through lighting and costuming. By doing so, each perspective's emotions is brought to the forefront through more than just the dialogue or the acting. The piece has embraced aspects of the psychological film genre, through the exploration of human emotion and how two people can feel drastically different about the same subject. 

    Certain perspectives, such as Green and Yellow's, required careful research as they respectively represent survivor's guilt and those who have illness anxiety disorder. Through the use of sources such as the National Library of Medicine , the representation of people with those disorders is carefully fleshed out, to show different sides of those with the disorders. The pairing of the color green and the character dealing with survivors guilt after the death of a friend, works well as green is often used in film to represent guilt. The person crying and even becoming irritable are more exaggerated depictions of how someone who has survivors guilt may act or react to certain people. The none-diegetic audio in the background shares an insight into the mind of the character, who is forced to relive the events that she so wishes she could change the outcome of. 

As for those with Illness Anxiety Disorder, known to some as Hypochondria, the character Yellow represents someone who is incredibly hyper aware of their physical body, even going as far to believe that none symptoms and feelings, are caused by something much worse which is illustrated through their dialogue. In this particular case, the character has what some may call death anxiety, which further causes them to believe that their physiological feelings are caused by something serious that could potentially kill them, causing them to become more anxious. It may sometimes cause people to take or ask for prescribed medication that they don't really need in order to treat these "symptoms". The color yellow adds to this idea of hype fixation, as yellow can be used in film to represent obsessiveness. The none diegetic audio of a heartbeat in the background also helps to further represent the hyper awareness the character, and some people with Illness Anxiety Disorder, feel over their own body. 

    Along with those two, Blue is representative of someone who is very at peace with death, perhaps someone who is even religious and believes that there is a life to come after one dies. This is why there is very peaceful none diegetic music playing in the background of their scene, and why it is particularly noted in the script that Blue physically hands Death a flower as a sign of goodwill and peace. Blue being the only character that reaches out to Death and physically hands them something is also an indicator of how accepting and at peace they are with the concept of dying. Purple is representative of those who are reckless and for one reason or another, do not think that their dangerous actions will catch up to them, this is conveyed through him smoking, as well as the various alcohol bottles indicating drinking. This character is the only one that is implied to actually die of the characters shown on screen, almost as a warning for those who continue to be reckless and do things that actively hurt their health and well being. 

    The branding of STARE is developed mainly through the social media, this including stills from the short film itself, as well as a lot of teasers featuring each character, but always featuring the empty room in which the personification of death spends the film in. The buzzing in the background whenever Death or the room is visible or whenever Death's presence is more prominent creates an ominous and looming atmosphere which is well depicted throughout the social media. Even on the postcard, the multicolored gradient in the background is reminiscent of the ending of the film where all the colors begin to flash on Death, representing how death is whatever someone views it to be, and how each perspective or belief is equally as valid as the other. Even the profile picture of the social media, contains each color that represents each given perspective, and includes the blank wall from the room in which Death resides in, the plain cool light, creating an almost "backrooms" style feel to the room, making it that much more haunting.

    Throughout the social media the target audience of young adults ages 16 to 26 are able to view content to do with STARE, including the various teasers and Instagram story highlight of each character. The short film itself is meant to provoke thought and shine a light on how various perspectives and opinions on subjects such as religion or death can coexist and still be equally valid. By also creating representations of these different perspectives, it allows for those within the audience who may identify with some of the aspects of the characters to feel more seen, and like their view on life is valid.