Film Review

5.1 Review and critique at least one short film production

‘In Sound, We Live Forever’ is directed by Joshua Giuliano and is a 12 minute horror short film produced in the USA in 2019. The film starts off with beautiful camerawork spanning a certain location of a prairie with an antique, rusty, red truck in the centre of almost all the shots. It relies heavily on sound and shots of props as two people can be heard having a conversation. They appear to be young adults in a romantic relationship and there is a certain peaceful ambiance as classical piano can be heard amongst the the sound of the wildlife and grasses moving around them. The music continues as the girl tells her boyfriend that there is a man watching them, after they start panicking trying to start up the truck we hear screaming and violent stabbing and it is only afterwards that the music stops. It then cuts to the boyfriend’s dead body lying face down on the ground. After the sun goes down we see through the truck mirror that the girl has survived and this is the first live human appearance we get. She finally manages to start the truck and the sound of the ambiance comes back. It is now dark as she trails down a dirt road when the truck, after a long time of sounding empty, breaks down again. A figure can be seen jumping out into the road and running into the fields or maize to hide. The girl holds onto some prayer beads as she hopelessly attempts to pray to god in desperation and the figure is shown close up, wearing a mask. The man grabs the girl and drags her out of the truck and the camera shot switches to a far away shot as the only sounds that can be heard are the quiet stabbing sounds and groans as the movie abruptly ends.

The visual work is only second to the sound usage as it becomes clear that this film intended to use sound to their advantage. I personally feel that the parts where the music and sound were heightened were meant to show how only the memories and tension of the event can matter whereas the lack of violent sound effects such as the stabbing scene at the end could imply how irrelevant death can be, and almost normalises the action as if to say how ordinary it is in the world, and how the horror is mainly found in the build up of the event that occurs.

The film is mainly aimed at young adults or mature audiences due to the violence it shows, but also because it can be seen to have a deeper message within the use of areas of a film that doesn’t involve much dialogue. The beginning consists of only the sound and dialogue of the couple before the inciting incident as the camera shoots props related to the script and areas of the truck that show the blood and the damage of the incident, which creates a disturbing unnatural scene alongside the peaceful tone of the conversation the couple displays as well as the landscape which is a sunny empty field.

Overall I would recommend the film as it introduces a unique addition into the horror genre of showing what happens in a different way. The use of sound is truly profound and well done and it offers an exciting experience to the modern audience.