You’re on Your Own, Kid | Horror Short Film (Award Winning)

Thank you so much to everyone who watched my short film. This film is based on my true childhood experiences but with what I like to call a very Craven/old-school Spielberg twist. Not that I am that as great as either of those Directors, but they were a huge inspiration for my direction. Another film in the festival circuit is coming soon, connect with me! -Mike Matsui

2:04 In the next few seconds you can notice a dollhouse, three dolls – a little girl, a "mother" and a "father", and two police cars. The "mother" doll is laying on the floor and it looks like she's crying, while the "father" is in something like a cell a little bit further from the "house". My theory, is that the father was abusive and/or a criminal. Someone reported him and he was put in prison. In 2:15 you can even see one of Sophia's drawings of her with a person way taller than her, who is crossed out. Now, this could be eather one of her parents, but I have reasons to believe that it's her father. First, he's wearing a blue shirt, which in kids drawings usually means that the person is a man. Also, in the drawing he has ginger hair while the little girl is blond. Both Sophia and her mother are blond, so the figure in the drawing can't be the mother, therefor it's the father. I think he was abusive towards his wife and child and after he was taken away Sophia tried to forget about him and what he did, leading to her crossing him out.

Because of her trauma, the mother turned to drugs and alcohol and she might have even suffered from a mental illness. Because of all this, and because she was afread od "losing" her daughter she also became abusive, controling and even possesive. She told Sophia that the cops were monster, because they took away her father and that they would take her too. At the end you can see that as the cops take the kid away she's slowlly realising who the real monster is.

I missed the implications of abusing narcotics, but the personal behaviors i DID recognize. Those im very familiar with.
As soon as I heard the way she talked to her daughter later, mainly after I heard her fight with someone off screen, I immediately thought that she seems abusive and/or manipulative to her daughter.
I was immediately on defense when i heard her talk like that.

If you guys have time to read this, this is for Deformed Lunchbox. This is definitely one of the best short films I've ever seen on youtube. People don't appreciate good quality shots, writing, and composition. This nailed it all. Horror short films these days don't ever have a story, they don't mean anything, they give no value to the watcher. It's always just a build up and then a cheap pointless jumpscare at the end that basically just wasted 5 minutes of my life. They buy stock music and all they do is put the camera on the floor with the subject in the middle of the frame and don't give a moments thought to being conscious about what else is in your shot and how it is gonna make the watcher feel or how it makes their eyes move on the screen. The soundtrack you guys put together really really matched very well with all of your shots and deepened the feeling greatly for each scene or scenario. For example, at around 2:40, the mother shining the flashlight in into the dark closet, and putting the camera inside of the closet, with any other kind of sinister or just baritone music would have given the impression that there is something really bad inside of the closet that is going to jump out at her, even if the words the mom is speaking are reassuring. But putting that lighthearted kind of whimsical childhood music it makes it much more reassuring and makes the viewer far more at ease. (Which is perfect for complete destroying that ease wink wink). Many directors and just filmmakers in general have said this but I want to point it out again and give you guys props for executing this perfectly. When making a film, you want to make it to where when the viewer finishes it and clicks off the video, you want them to be thinking about that film for the rest of the day into the night as they fall asleep. Having a story that is deep enough, or has some sort of a twist (similar to what you guys did) Is such a fantastic and smart way to portray your story to your audience. I mean hell, I'm writing this whole damn thing about this film so obviously you guys did something right. Anyways, if Lunchbox read this, js wanted to let you guys know that this is hella rad.