Film Analysis: Creepshow (Miles Collin 2021)

Authors Note: This was written for a university assignment. The only change since being marked is that I give a plot description in the opening paragraph.

Content Warning: One of the images in this essay is NSFW. It is vital to the film and the discussion it wants to have, and as such means it is also vital to this essay.

This essay will analyse the short film Creepshow (M. Collins, 2022) to see if it successfully manages to convey a meaningful story using different technical and narrative forms such as cinematography, editing, cultural codes and more. The film follows a Mother and Son after his art exhibition in which tensions rise over the art, their past work, and the strained relationship that has worsened over the years. In order to analyse the short film it is important to also acknowledge some of its influences, both visually and in terms of its storytelling. The film shares a similar story to that of Three Businessmen (A. Cox, 1998) as that is also a film in which two characters discuss their differing views, particularly on art. Both films are also slow paced and character led. Lars Von Trier is also similar due to his use of shocking imagery ie the taxidermy scene in the house that Jack built (L. Von Trier, 2018) or the mutilation scene from Antichrist (L. Von Trier, 2009) he is a filmmaker who knows how to construct a memorable shot which sticks with the audience.

The most integral bit of mise-en-scène in the film is that of the art piece which starts the whole dialogue about art and its value. The piece depicts a micro-penis with a smiling Barbie doll next to it. It is designed to be shocking to the audience who, most likely, haven’t seen this type of imagery before. The art tells the viewer that the Son is a shock artist, this is what leads to a breaking point in their relationship and sets up the whole argument. The Mother feels it is “grotesque” (1m21s) when asked by a stranger and makes her opinions more vocal to the Son in the kitchen. The way it is revealed also adds to the shocking nature, there isn’t a slow pan from character to the piece or a fade but rather a quick cut. It is a jarring and unexpected shot which the viewer is forced to look at due to the white walls surrounding it creating an empty void which the eye cannot focus on.

The Cinematography in the film is mostly objective which is described as “The audience views the event through the eyes of an unseen observer” by Joseph V. Mascelli (1965) which means a viewpoint which isn’t affected by a characters emotions.

Both images - Creepshow (M. Collins, 2022)

These shots are objective so that the audience can be given the chance to choose who they agree with. By having it far away from the subjects the audience can’t be influenced by the inbuilt media literacy they have picked up through years of watching films and television.

The objective nature of the shot also means that the audience knows exactly what the scenes geography is allowing them to focus in on what is being said which leads to the characters philosophies being at the forefront of the viewer and means the filmmaker can explore the themes further. The impersonal feel of an objective camera also creates an uneasy atmosphere, as if the viewer is listening in when they shouldn’t, the uncomfortable vibe that is brought about from this is similar to the discomfort the characters feel.

Creepshow (M. Collins, 2022)

The shot of the art piece is from the point of view of Mother, thus making it a subjective shot. W. Robert Barnard described it as “camera angle films from a personal viewpoint: the camera lens becomes the eye” (1971) which means that it is any angle which showcases a characters feelings on what’s happening and the audience is directly involved in the moment.

A subjective camera is used sparsely through the film which makes it more impactful when it does happen. The most obvious example of the subjective camera angle is when the Mother and Son are talking at the table and 2 shots are edited to be layered on top of each other.

Creepshow (M. Collins, 2022)

The choice to have it in a close up tells the viewer that not only are the characters listening to each other, but the audience should as well. It is designed to add importance to the sequence, especially when contrasted with the rest of the film which has mostly been wide shots.

Another use of a close up is that of the Barbie doll when the Mother tells the son “I think it’s. Beautiful” and the shot changes to the Barbie dolls face.

Creepshow (M. Collins, 2022)

This shot effectively uses denotation and connotation. The denotation is that of a Barbie doll, a toy, nothing more than plastic moulded to look like a person however the connotation carried is a plastic smile. The face has a forced look of happiness. This is related to the Mothers feelings on the art piece where she pretends to like it. This is further exemplified by the head of the doll turning to look at the micro-penis with the fake smile.

The film uses an ultra wide angle lens when establishing the art gallery. This makes the room feel large and adds a surreal atmosphere to the white walls which create a void like feel to the space surrounding the art piece.

Creepshow (M. Collins, 2022)

The lens also makes the room look longer than it actually is further adding to the surreality of the room. The lighting is very sterile and clinical, which matches the look of psych wards such as this corridor in the mental hospital from Terminator Judgement day (J. Cameron, 1991).

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (J. Cameron, 1991)

This is to visualise the idea that the characters have issues that need to be looked at, particularly in terms of a slight freudian relationship The art piece acts as a window into the mind of Son and allows the viewer to learn more about the Mother. Because of this piece they start to pick apart each others views on artistic integrity like a psychiatrist would pick apart someones mind through dialogue.

The film also uses some interesting editing techniques throughout its short runtime, the most obvious of which is the choice to overlay the 2 close up shots during the conversation in the kitchen between the Mother and Son.

Creepshow (M. Collins, 2022)

This shot combines the intimacy that a shot reverse shot allows with the close up and combines it with the rhythm and pace of a long, wide take that shows all the characters. By doing this it keeps the audiences attention and allows the actors to get into the scene. Every movement and emotion is captured closely by the lens and the viewer is forced to listen in on the private conversation. The colours in the shot are also distorted which is a visual representation of the distorted relationship the characters have. It doesn’t match the colours of the world set up by the rest of the film which were very muted. The colours here are vivid and off. Reds and greens are on the screen that weren’t there previously. It is similar to entering a new world as these characters talk to each other in a way they haven’t before, the unfamiliar territory they enter is told visually by the unfamiliar colour tones.

There is also more subtle editing techniques used throughout, like the opening shot of the girl walking down the path match cutting to the Mother walking along a similar one. It creates a connection. The denotation is just two people walking along paths but the edit connotes a relationship that isn’t fully explained. There is also a humorous smash cut used when the Mother talks arrogantly about her own art, exclaiming “And every living, breathing artist who dares to draw god” (M. Collins, Creepshow, 7m30s) which then cuts to the Son being sick in the toilet. The most likely scenario is the Son has drunk too much and the stomach has decided to rid itself of it, however the cut shows symbolically that the Son finds that type of talk sickeningly arrogant. This is made more apparent by the Mothers speech being a response to the Son calling her out for not creating art but rather “Chauvinism” (7m21s).

Units of meaning are pieces of small information that are used to build up a world or character to be realistic and add more texture to the film outside of its basic story. They are described as “Characters…built from tiny fragments of information” (Edgar, Marland and Rawle, 2010) which is crucial to any film.

An example of a unit of meaning is dialogue which this film uses very well, the majority of Mothers lines build her up as arrogant such as when she talks about her film not being shown a slam dance, a very popular film festival, which shows she feels she is above the festival. Her arrogance is most obvious however during her rant about how her films aren’t chauvinistic by saying things such as “I am my favourite artists” (7m23s) as well as “and every living breathing artist who dares to draw god” (7m30s). These show an inflated ego, especially when contextualised through her reflecting on her most commercial feature being a failure. The ego of Mother further shows Freudian psychology as she is constantly battling who she is and who she was. The emotional, or mind, is fighting the physical reality, or body. W.R.D. Fair Bairn wrote “In this view, human forces are in an unending process of conflict, between mind and body, sex and aggression, id and ego, individual and society” (1952) which also represents other themes the film talks about such as sex, ego and society, particularly through the lens of reputation. A lot of the Mothers lines reference reputation such as “To put your reputation on the line for such an empty and pointless act” (4m53s) or “Your reputation is the only thing you leave behind from beyond the grave” (5m15s). These lines imply the Mothers care for her name after she dies, she wants to die remembered for creating art which is meaningful and important like those of Van Goch or Hiroshige, who are directly referenced in the film, and worries that her Son creating art which she sees as empty will tarnish that. The idea of reputation creates a dichotomy as Son responds “If that is the case, I shan’t rest until it is destroyed” (5m24s)

The film also uses the cultural code (Barthes, 1975) which is when a piece of media references something that is within the cultural knowledge like a song, political event or anything else which can be reasonably assumed an audience can pick up on and know of. Some examples of the cultural code have already been mentioned such as the Slamdance film festival or the artists Van Goch or Hiroshige. However, a prominent one that opens the film and allows for the Mother to leave is the show Art (Yasmina Reza, 1994) about three friends who discuss what a plain white painting means to each other. It is the reason that the Father couldn’t go to the Sons show and was chosen because of its name and content. The Sons art isn’t seen as worthwhile by his parents and so they go to see real art, a show which satirises artists. It tells the Son, and to a further extent the audience, that his parents don’t support his artistic endeavours as they see it as a gesture which has no depth.

In conclusion, Creepshow does successfully manage to convey a story using technical and narrative elements. The story of a fractured relationship between a Mother who has a history of making erotic films and a Son who creates shocking art is conveyed not just through literary concepts like dialogue, semiotics or other non visual methods but also through how shots are composed and edited together. The final result is a mature and thought provoking short that doesn’t just look to talk about the characters but also use them to discuss a wider theme of what is and is not art.

Written by Stewart McConnell

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References

Barnard, W.R. (1971) Advanced film-TV production techniques. II, Storyboards, set designs, graphics, camera angles, continuity [PDF]. American Chemical Society. Available at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ed047p318.

Barthes, R., Miller, R., & Howard, R. (1975, January 1). S/Z: An Essay. Hill and Wang.

Edgar, R., Marland, J., & Rawle, S. (2010, June 4). Basics Film-Making 04: The Language of Film (First Edition). AVA Publishing.

Fairbairn, W.R.D. (1952) Psychoanalytic studies of the personality. London: Tavistock, Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Mascelli, J., V. (1966) The five C’s of cinematography;: Motion picture filming techniques simplified,. Cine / Graphic.

Media

Antichrist (2009) [Film] Directed by L. Von Trier. Nordisk Film Distribution: Denmark

Art (1994) by Yasmina Reza. Directed by Yasmina Reza [Comédie des Champs-Élysées. 28th October].

Creepshow (2022) [Short Film] Directed by M. Collins. STV: UK Available at: https://player.stv.tv/episode/4a98/rts-student-awards-2022.

Terminator 2: Judgement day (1990) [Film] Directed by J. Cameron. Tri-Star Pictures: United States

The house that Jack built. (2018) [Film] Directed by L. Von Triers. TrustNordisk: Denmark

Three Businessmen. (1998) [Film] Directed by A. Cox. VPRO: Netherlands