The Silence Between Us - ID# 508

Homewood-Flossmoor
Dramatic Narrative
Entry Description

This silent film explores the emotional struggles of suddenly losing your hearing. Through visual storytelling, it follows the strain that miscommunication places on friendships, highlighting both the isolation and the resilience needed to reconnect in a newly quiet world.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 4/30 7:54 pm - Really nice work here. Anytime you can tell a compelling story without dialogue means you are using all the tools of cinema effectively. This is not an easy story to convey, but your visual choices were clearly well thought out and executed. I did like the moment when the sound cuts out completely at 1:07. I think there could be an opportunity to play around with sound a little more in this film as you switch back and forth between the friends POVS. The time constraint makes it difficult, but I think building up the conflict of communication could help with clarity. For example, instead of seeing this in just the dinner scene, maybe there could be a montage of repeated frustration that builds to the moment where the character leaves. Overall, I really enjoyed this film. Nice work. Keep making movies.
  • 4/29 11:27 am - Emotionally compelling - the script is strong. The performance is believable. The attention to detail is exceptional- from the shot-list to the choice of props, this film is very well crafted. The atmosphere of the film feels like a hallmark movie. I am impressed by the risk your team took by having zero dialogue but still able to give these characters a voice and a sense of conversation throughout the film. I would've liked to stay more in the house at the beginning to get to know more about this friendship. How can you draw us in even more, so we sympathize with this connection between them, making the big blow up scene towards the end much more intense, without the actors having to perform it as much. I really wanted to feel that hit in the guts when our protagonist storms out of the house. Maybe this has to do with how you setup the scenes prior to this moment in the film.
  • 4/28 10:41 am - Strengths: I loved the opening montage; there was a softness to it in the lighting, music, and performances that drew me in. You created a lovely connection between the two characters in that opening, without words. The storytelling was very gentle (in a positive way). I liked the close-ups on different words on the flashcards. A wonderfully human story. Improvements: Some of the bursts of frustration didn't feel the most realistic - may have been a pacing or performance thing. How does the conflict build/grow? What is the main turning point? A bit of the middle felt stagnant, story/pacing wise. Some of the audio cuts (3:35) were a bit abrupt.
Judge 1

Positives: The framing throughout the film was good, I could tell they were thought out and they all had a purpose. I thought the story was great and flowed really well throughout. I think it could have maybe even extended a longer period of time as they made progress communicating.

Improvements: The coloring throughout the film could be more saturated and still fit the mood. The music cut in and out a few times, I think you could have kept it going in the background very subtly. The frame of black was a little too long in the middle and the shot of the cars flying out could have been better thought out.

Judge 2

Positives: Excellent use of hanging silences, and the flash cards to get across the story! This was also a complete narrative front to back, with a satisfying ending, including a super sick end credit card. Kudos to you! I also loved the score-- was it made for this? The twinkling piano and music throughout helped elevate what could be a long, hard watch to something that, once finished, feels complete and heartwarming.

Improvements: Your camera work could use a little more love. There were a couple unfocused shots, you broke the 180 degree rule during the dinner table scene, and you lost head room a decent amount of times. With a little more focus in that area, that would elevate this already strong short to the next level.

Judge 3

Positives: Okay, first things first, this is my favorite title card out of all the films, very creative and feels natural to the story so well done thinking of that. I also think the cinematography was mostly good. Well, I didn't like the lighting which I'll talk about later, I think all of the compositions were very strong. I think you did a very good job at covering the "dialogue" scenes and I never felt like a shot didn't belong, especially the one of the piano when our main character leans down into it. Lots of great foreground elements throughout the entire film. And also really love the subject matter and approaching the story without having the crutch of dialogue.

Improvements: To talk on the lighting, I think that might be the weakest aspect of the film, often times your characters are in un flattering top light that's hard or backlight against all of the Christmas lights without a key light on them so they end up feeling flat. It's not a consistent problem, but it happened enough that it distracted me from the story. And my other issue with this film is the acting. There are moments where our main character really has to pull out that frustration and anger, but it feels held back and restrained. I get that you don't wanna go punching holes in walls, but I would've liked to see a bit more emotion from our main character. And as a little footnote, a lot of things felt convenient, like the cards, often times they would pull out the exact card they were looking for or they fell in a way that was like VTV Magically appears (deep cut) so I would've appreciated a bit more challenge in the story resolving itself. One more note, the score felt a bit aimless.

Judge 4

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Judge 5

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