Blaas 'Suspenseful Short Film Alma'

Analysis of Alma’s Suspense

As defined by Oxford Dictionary, suspense is a state of feeling excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. In the suspenseful short film Alma, directed by Rodrigo Blaas, a young girl is lured into a shop containing dolls, including one which looks like her, only to become trapped in one of the dolls. The director’s use of different techniques creates a suspenseful mood for the viewer. Blaas uses sound, setting, and camera work to create the mood of the film. The director is able to form the suspenseful mood, by using different types of sound.

The first technique the director uses, to create a suspenseful mood, is sound. In the film, before the climax occurred, the background music begins to intensify. The use of the music helps create a suspenseful mood, because the sound warns the viewer something is about to occur, and makes them anxious for the character’s fate. Also, the only noises besides the music are the door of the shop creaking open, Alma’s footsteps when she walks in the snow, creaks when the dolls ride on the shelves, and the character breathing. The little use of sound makes the mood suspenseful, because it makes the viewer question what is about …show more content…
The little use of sound, which intensifies before the peak of the film creates suspense, because it informs the viewer something is about to occur. Also, aspects of the setting, specifically the windows designed to look like a monster face, and the dolls on each shelf in the shop, make the viewer anxious, because they reveal parts of the plot, which are frightening. Lastly, Blaas uses different perspectives, such as when the doll can be seen behind Alma, and in front of her after the door opened, which creates suspense, because the viewer knows something the character does not. The proper use of suspense, can create a thrilling mood for the people watching a