Textual Analysis of Tibs

Director: Sam Huntley

Narrative: 

The film is of a period over 3 days Monday-Wednesday. An elderly lady, who lives on her own treasures her cat and every day it brings her a dead animal; a mouse and a bird. On the third day however, it brings her something unexpected and horrific!
It’s meant to be a horror themed short film as it shows this cat, ‘Tibs’ as a killer cat!

Enigma Codes: 

What did the cat kill and bring to her on Wednesday?
Character Establishment: 

You see an elderly lady, either waking up in the morning or going about her day to day life. You can tell she is lonely as she dotes on her cat, Tibs and congratulates it whenever it brings her a ‘present’. She calls herself the cat’s ‘mummy’ which is why you can tell she is very fond of the cat.

Locations: It’s set in the elderly lady’s house, which has the characteristics of a conventional house for an elderly person living on their own as everything is very basic.

Editing: 

Mainly cuts throughout the film, with a variety of shots types. Close ups on the cat and its owner, the elderly lady. The camera has close ups on what the cat has killed and brought her. There is also a few clips, where she is doting on the cat and she is blurred into the background and the focus is pulled onto the cat. There is also a low angle shot, like it’s from the cats point of view, looking up at the elderly lady.

Sound: 

There is both diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound in this film. The non-diegetic sound is the soft piano music playing in the background. But in this film, it’s mainly diegetic as there is dialogue and the cat is purring a lot. You hear the purr of the cat and nothing else towards the end of the film, to make what the cat did more sinister and horrifying.

Titles: 

The titles are very simple and plain in the opening sequence; it’s just white coloured on a black background.