Drama project Short Film Inspiration - La Migala (the Bird Spider)

La Migala (the Bird Spider), Dir. Jamie Dezcallar (2011)

Whilst researching films that deal with approaching 'phobia' as a main emotion in a single character, this one film in particular stood out to me. La Migala (the Bird Spider) deals with a simple concept; a man who struggles with depression and loneliness as well as arachnophobia (fear of spiders), who buys and sets free a poisonous bird spider in his own apartment. The plot caught my attention initially as I find it quite different that the filmmaker has chosen to develop their character by placing them alongside their largest fear, and using this as a symbol for coping throughout the film. This differs from our own film in that we would like to achieve the opposite with our character, by using their phobia as a restriction in their life that they won't ever be seen to overcome within the film, and will instead focus on avoidance of their phobia rather than the facing of it.

I really like the way that this film approaches fear as a main subject matter and on going theme throughout, and feel that some of the ways that the film manages to keep this so simple and sometime subtle yet effective is something that we can take inspiration from and apply to our own film.

La Migala is also an interesting piece to look at within our group, as it takes on the same challenge to filming within a single location that our film does. Although set in a full apartment as opposed to our choice of narrowing this down further to a single room, there are many elements to this film that I feel keep the viewer drawn in despite restricting the filming to this one location space.

Whilst watching this film for a second time, I took the following notes on areas which I found to be interesting and achieved well within the film:

• The part where the sound stops as the character first takes the spider out of the box - made me connect with the character and how he sees his fear as he first comes into contact with it - like the sound, the character's fear makes them feel completely frozen.
• Sound use in film - a memorable point is the kettle whistling after the phone message scene occurs. The sound change emphasises drama progression/build up of tension and could be representing the conflicting emotions of the character.
  The sound of the spider tapping on the floor made me as a viewer feel uncomfortable - connecting with character and their own fears.
• Dim choice of lighting throughout the film helps to reflect upon and represent the character's loneliness, darkness/depression as well as give off a sense of fear - as a viewer, there were times I expected the spider to suddenly become present out of this darkness.
• Several close ups throughout the film - particularly upon character's face, items within the apartment and the spider - shows progressive development and position of the character.
• Amount of focus on character - follows simple daily routine and structure of day to day life - gives viewer an insight into this character well. Close up on feet as character gets up out of bed and puts slippers on repeats throughout - think we have one shot similar to this within our own film, as it shows the character does have some form of structure/routine to their day, even though it appears to be a simple action.
• Favourite shots - Toothbrush running along character's hand - clever way to show character imagining his own fear and the way that he perceives it - diegetic sound use also used here - think this works well as symbol of/for fear. Spaghetti turning into worms - playing with character's perception of fear as well as fear itself.
• Set design and elements of the background in apartment says a lot to viewer about character - emptiness, colour scheme etc. all help to suggest and portray the character's sense of loneliness.
• Few empty room shots - light at window - similar to shot in We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011, Dir. Lynne Ramsay) , as well as early storyboarded shots for our own idea.
• The panic scene at the end of the film - similar to ours as character reaches for door handle - a strong character performance and close ups help the viewer to put themselves in their situation and connect with their perception of the fear.

Inspiration for 'A View' (our own film)

I think our film can take inspiration from the creative choices and ways in which this film approaches the main theme of 'fear', as opposed to the style or form of the film. La Migala gives more away to the viewer via a voiceover narrating the character's thoughts and gives more of a back story to why they feel the sense of loneliness. With our film, we are aiming to challenge ourselves by choosing not to give the audience this information, but instead let them work things out themselves via the more subtle details and features within the film, in the hope that it will make our film a bit more unique and take a slightly different angle to those we have previously seen approaching 'fear' as a main subject/theme.

There are some shots within this short that are similar to ours in the way that they tell the story, however with our film we aim to achieve more of the showing of these features as opposed to the giving/telling to the audience that a voiceover narration can aid in.An example of this is the photographs as items of memories - within this film, the character is literally seen looking through old photos and holding them in their hands, whereas in our film, photographs will be used in the background design of and way that we choose to lay out the room, and by having our character knock one of these over without noticing this action themselves, we aim to build up the anxieties of and personality of the character for our viewers in a more subtle and gradual way.