Depict - 'Meow' evaluation

https://www.depict.org/2017/meow/

I really like how the creator/s of this video used all 90 seconds to its potential and started the story straight away.  From the beginning, the camera movements really complimented the facial expressions and thought process on the girls face. For example; she goes up to what we can assume is her house, she then hears something which makes her pause and as the sound continues we can see her curiosity grow. This is shown by the camera angle lingering on the door handle scene before we see her slowly venturing out to meowing sound. I believe this was done on purpose to show her confusion and how intrigued she was. The shadows were manipulated to create a sense of uncertainty within the video, especially at the start as we are already unsure of where the ‘meowing’ was coming from. Tension and suspense was designed in a way to progressively build as the girl went to explore the source of the sound. The phone was being used as a torch which really emphasised the darkness outside. This added a sense of eeriness with the curiosity of what will happen next, that combination escalated when the phone battery died. I think this really grips the viewer’s attention and makes them asks questions “what will happen next?” “It’s only a cat, right?”.  However, I don’t like how dark it ended up after the phone died, I feel like it made the scenes to come too dark to see what startled her. Although having said this maybe the creator/s were wanting to keep the ‘cat’ as inconspicuous as possible. I also disliked the screaming added as it felt too fake and too drawn out. The ominous music built more suspense as she entered the safety of the house, although obliviously this is very cliché as usually there is no ‘safe’ place in this type of genre. The facial expressions at the end were very well portrayed as we see the fear in her face as she heard the meowing sound from behind her. Plus the way she looks behind her to find nothing there just to turn back to have the ‘cat’ in her face was very well executed. Overall it was very enjoyable and surprising at times with something so innocent, the meow, becoming sinister.