Textual analysis: 'I Heard It Too'

I Heard It Too - Award Winning Short Horror from Matt Sears

The short film starts with the sound of chimes to create the sense of fear among the audience. This is a convention in horror movies as usually chimes and pianos are used to create effect. The titles come on screen, with the production company being the first context. The use of font is unique as it looks like a child's handwriting, written with chalk, connoting that there is a child involved this short film. The text says it is created by Matt, allowing the audience to identify with the producers and creators of the film.

The sound plays into the first scene of the mother carrying her child to bed. The mother comforts her child and sings to her to make her fall asleep. Usually this is a convention in horror films. A mother singing to her child connotes her nurturing characteristics to make her child  feel comfortable. There is an over shoulder shot of the little girl while the mother finishes singing "mommy's going to buy you a mocking bird". The child smiles which connotes that she is going to be in danger and that smile is going to be wiped off soon.
Whilst she sings, there are handheld shots of photo frames and a toy, connoting that the toy belongs to the little girl. Since the shot of the toy breaks the rule of thirds, it connotes that this toy is significant to the little girl in this short film.
The mother switches the lights off and the child tries to sleep. The switching off of lights connotes that something is about to get her. Children are stereotypically afraid of the dark, and think that a monster will get them so this is creating verisimilitude.

The screen goes black and the sound goes silent. This creates suspense,  and allows the audience to think that something will attack the little girl. there is a muffled voice of a lady called the little girl "Bethany? Bethany?" as if she is looking for her. This sound is kind of familiar with the audience as they do not recognise the voice of the lady but think it is her mother. However, it is not her mother, as her mother just put her to sleep. This sounds as if someone is trying to lure the little girl into danger.
Bethany hears the woman calling her and wakes up to the sound. She think its is her mother and calls after her. There is a conversation shot of her looking at the door, expecting her mother to come inside.  As she doesn't hear anything else, she goes outside to check what it is. It is dark, which connotes something is leaking in the dark to get her.

There is a close up of Bethany's face as she hugs her teddy, which connotes that she is scared and believes her teddy will keep her safe. Since she is holding it so tightly, it could connote that the teddy is symbolic in the short film. She slowly checking outside to see if someone is there but the voice is still calling her. There is long shot of her walking down the corridor to see who is there, followed by a low angled shot of the staircase, to connote that the muffled voice might be coming from downstairs. Suddenly something comes out of the room and grabs her by her mouth, pulling her in. At this moment the audience get very tensed. Something might happen to this little girl.

We see that the girl is safe, she is with her mother telling her that she "heard it too". A very light piano type of non diegetic music plays. This connotes that there will be an equilibrium where the suspense will build up and something will happen. The mother reassures her child and tells her to hide as they can hear the voice coming closer to them.
The monster / zombie says "ready or not, here I come" whilst there is a close up of the mother's ear. This connotes that since she heard her saying she's coming, she will act quickly to try and save her child and herself.
She hides her in the wardrobe and goes to look for the monster with scissors in her hand. The close up of the scissors in her hand, and the fact that her hands are shaking vigorously connotes that she us scared but is only being brave for her daughter. It also connotes that her weapon will not be strong enough to defeat the demon. Since there is no one there, it connotes and foreshadows that the demon somehow invisibly got into their room. This is a typical convention of the horror genre. when she comes back, Bethany is not there. She looks under the bed and finds her, whilst Bethany tells her that she "saw her". Once her mother says "saw who?" we as the audience automatically can see that she is about to be attacked / killed off by the monster.

We see the close up of the zombie's feet with the guess that she is wearing something white which looks like hospital patients clothes. She attacks Bethany's mother first, which builds up the suspense, telling us that the little girl Bethany is the next victim. Before this, Bethany drops her teddy, which is significant as it connotes that she is no longer safe and nothing can protect her. In a way, the teddy symbolised her mother as soft, loving and warm and welcome but now that she is gone (and the teddy is dropped), she has no one to comfort or save her.
They used CGI (computer generated imagery) to create the effect of the zombie / monster at the end.