James Scott
A sense of terror and a sense of comedy combine in The Procedure.
How does one create suspense in a film? There's a multitude of factors from the setting of the film to the music— or lack of music— used. The short film format is perfect for setting up suspense since, by their very nature, short films don't allow for much time to get mired in detail. All that matters is the tiny trip between point A and point B. But suspense doesn't necessarily pertain to one genre and in this film, it plays on two fields— horror and comedy. In director and writer Calvin Lee Reeder's short film The Procedure, the concept of suspense in a short film gets taken to a new place of tension through clever visual design as well as an excellent timing.
The film starts out with a man (played by Christian Palmer) walking out to his car before getting shot in the neck ith a tranquilizer. He wakes up in a sterile-looking facility with his arms and feet strapped down, an apparatus on his face forcing his eye open. When he screams, a loud alarm blares at him and a sign flashes saying Quiet Please. The situation is frightening enough as it is, but then a ceiling tile above him removes itself and a person (played by Frank …show more content…
He creates a sterile looking environment that adds to the alien feeling that permeates the film's circumstances. An example comes in the form of the Quiet Please sign. Red lettering and loud beeping, the Quiet Please sign signals an amount of forethought on the kidnapper's part; they dedicated enough time to the procedure to make a professional sign. There's also a professionalism inherent in the scene's design which makes the ending of the film all the more unexpected. Rosen's work aids the overall narrative of the film and creates an atmosphere of palpable