Research 9: The Short

The short film 9 was created by a student at UCLA named Shane Acker in 2005. From watching the film, the story is focused around a rag doll named 9. The story starts in the present, with 9 scavenging and then studying an artifact in his hand. The audience is also introduced to some type of monster in search of something or someone. Then, the story shifts back to 9 and the artifact. The next few scenes are a flashback of when 9 was first given the artifact (when 5, another rag doll, risked his life to save 9). The audience, as well as 9, learns that the glowing of the artifact signals that the monster is close and that it steals the souls of the rag dolls. The overall plot of this short film is clear after the flashback ends and 9 has to face the monster for the first time on his own. 

Plot: 9, the rag doll, figures out that a monster has been stealing the souls of others like him. He sees this when the souls appear out of the artifact he receives from 5. 9 knows he needs to confront the monster instead of run away. 

The film created/director uses different camera angles and movements along with editing, sound, lighting, music, and setting to convey the tone of the film. Acker often uses close ups and extreme close ups to show the emotions in the eyes of the rag dolls. There is no dialogue so this is one of the ways the audience knows what the characters are feeling. To go along with this, the creator uses a lot of eye line matches and shot reverse shots to see the rag dolls' eyes and the artifact or their surroundings. The setting seems to be a post-apocalyptic world where only the rag dolls and the monster exist. The lighting is dark and the surroundings look like ruins of a possible city. The music also gives the audience feeling. In the beginning, it's slow and ominous but when the monster is around, it is more fast-paced. Acker also uses diegetic sounds to emphasize the silence when it comes to dialogue. Some of these sounds include shuffling of feet and metal crashing or squeaking.