'Aqua' - Student Made Short Film

In my search for student made short films, I came across 'AQUA' and found the title interesting, so I watched it and was amazed by it, therefore will include it in my research. It is linked below.

The film starts with an unknown character struggling to surface in the sea, the dynamic is instantly dramatic as the music relates to pain or a sad situation - its definitely mysterious and enticing. This works extremely well as an opening. Before this however there is a quote saying "water is the driving force of all nature" which gives an eerie feeling as if water has the power, this works well as it sets the theme in place as all throughout this film, the common theme is water/aqua (hence the name).

After the opening, we see a scary looking house, its dark, surrounded by trees and appears abandoned, emphasising the 'creepy'/uncomfortable atmosphere. We immediately see a running bath and are introduced to the main character; the teenage girl. I like that there isn't much irrelevance in the shots yet the producers aren't giving too much away, it appears to be a good balance.

There are so many incredible shots and angles in this film making it a lot more interesting than what it would've been, for example when the girl puts the bath fizzer in, we can see her do so from the bottom of the bath, there are also high angles at the beginning where we can see the girl trying  to reach the surface of the sea. There's very good tracking shots too, for example at 1:20 we see many family photos on the table as well as close ups (3:30) where we can see water spreading around the kitchen floor.

I really like how the producer stays true to the theme, everything is about water, eg the kettle being put on, taking out a bottle of water from the fridge, turning on the tv onto a water programme. The twist is, the girl initiates everything that happens, e.g. turning on the tv or boiling the kettle etc.

The only thing that doesn't work too well is the end quote ("all water has a perfect memory, and is forever trying to get back to where it was") as it doesn't appear to have much relevance or make too much sense in relation to the film, and sometimes the music is overly intense for what is happening, however except for that I love it.

The costume is very casual, relating to real life. The girls even got chipped nails showing she's not going out anywhere or overly bothered about appearance.

There aren't really any credits either, however its not needed as the quotes make up for this. The location is in and around the girls grandmas house, in the basement,  kitchen, living room, hallway and bathroom. The only location outside the house is the sea where the first girl we see apparently drowns.

I will definitely take inspiration from this film in my final product in terms of the shots/camera angles used, not so much in terms of its intensity though.