Short Film Research: Across the Hall - Short Vs Feature

Across the Hall is a short film with a running time of 25 minutes, it was written and directed by Alex Merkin and was released in 2006 as a download in two parts. The Film is now accessable on YouTube.
It is a thriller that takes place in a seedy, mysterious hotel room where Terry is stalking his unfaithful fiancee, June, from 'across the hall' a loaded gun ready in his hand. Whilst soaking in the bath, Julian - played by Adrian Grenier recieves a phonecall from his friend Terry informing him of his plans to confront June and her lover, unfortunately it is soon established that Julian is in fact the man June is being unfaithful with: both appear trapped and as Julian attempts to comfort and persuade his friend Terry over the phone time begins to run out.

The success of the film became apparent when director Merkin converted it into a 93 minute feature film in 2009 starring Brittany Murphy. This shows how Short films act as the 'first platform' for directors, as they gain more attention and praise for smaller work they can amplify their talents on bigger budget films with more established Hollywood casts, reaching out to mainstream audiences.

Short Vs Feature Film



For a feature film more marketing has been constructed for the movie to appeal to a mainstream audience as made apparent with the trailer.

The film is considerably longer and has therefore incorporated more characters including a sinister hotel worker who adds a further edge of creepiness.

Being longer in running time has also caused the narrative to change: the film no longer takes places in a simple chronological order but skips from different times and from different peoples perspectives, this can be be viewed through the choppy cuts in the trailer, creating a heightening tone of suspense and also making the narrative slightly more complex and intriging for a sophisticated audience of the thriller genre.
The music is also more dramatic and louder than that of the Short: increasing the tension and projecting the action within the film.
I believe the lighting is less effective for the feature version of the film: it is more natural and typical with few instances of shadows whereas the short had a creepy atmospheric tone of contrasting green and red creating an artistic appearence perhaps more associated with short, indie films.

The Film posters also highlight the generic differences between Short and Feature films. The bottom poster is for the original short and uses the actor Adrian Grenier as the main focus as he plays the main protagonist. It is a simplistic image using an ordinary yellow corridor with no significance yet perhaps for the red floor connoting danger.

In stark contrast the feature film poster uses the most famous actress as the central focus: Brittany Murphy thus attracting a wider audience of her predominantly female fans whilst the male audience is attracted through the use of sex appeal the poster hints at. It's a far more glamorous image, signifying the higher budget of the Hollywood film and also uses colour in a far visually superior way contrasting the glamorous white lighting of the central, almost angelic-like female character with the opposing dark vertical shadows of the male characters, establishing it as a mysterious thriller with an edge of danger and action.