Narrative form in portals - enigmas

The short film begins in media res, encouraging dramatisation as soon as it starts. This creates tension and suspense. With the lack of knowledge that the audience is presented with, we have to engage with the action that grounds the story's setting and situation. There is also no dialogue throughout the film so the audience has to embrace the visuals. At first, we assume she is in a prison but then we are given clues (the gun and the barcode on the back of the main characters neck) that give implications of an alternate reality, adding to the suspense as we are unaware of what is happening or what is going to happen. 

The sparsity of the room (in terms of its greys whites and blacks, little to no furniture etc) matches the sparsity of the music when we are introduced to the protagonist. The minimalistic music and setting create a feeling of ambiguity, which makes us empathise with the protagonist’s visible confusion. 

The behaviours of the main character also add to the sense of enigma - we are shown her routine of exercise and counting down the days in a montage - as if she is preparing for something that will require strength and agility. 

The music is used as set/change the pace of the film. Throughout the duration of the short  film, it conveys the emotions of the protagonist, seeing how it picks up during her escape after she obtains the portal gun, creating a sense of hope, also adding to the suspense as the audience is confused as to what her goal is and why up until this point. At the climax of the film, where the protagonist jumps from the building to sling herself onto another using the portal gun, the music adds tension and enigma to the scene, however it eventually becomes more solemn as she looks out onto the horizon of freedom - only to see realise that it is in fact a simulation/fake. The music in this short film is incredulously important as there is no dialogue, it conveys almost everything which adds to the sense of enigma as it encourages the audience to keep guessing and anticipating what's happening. The landscape and settings are very barren, even the landscape at the end which presumably implies some sort of freedom doesn’t look much more pleasant than the buildings she escape from so the audience is left wondering what the end goal is in this short film - is there a specific desires destination, or just an escape? There is an undertone of desolation throughout, which is helped by the music, and the colour pallet. Even when she does escape she is still trapped.

So altogether, the film executes a sense of enigma very successfully, through the overall mis en scene and diverse music.