Eel Girl - Paul Campion (2008)

BBC Film Network - Eel Girl

• The scientist's working room is set to be dark and overcrowded with scientific props, illustrating a complex situation is to take place and the audience will not be able to predict it unless more is revealed.

• The mid close up, over the shoulder shots, held at eye level, tells the audience that the dialogue between the characters will be important, as well as their facial expressions helping along the way, to express what they feel.

• The facial expressions of the scientist shows once the policewoman shows he weapon conveys concern and urgency as if he has been caught in a tense act.

• It begins to become technical as the camera work has large close ups of what occurs on the monitor, and this is key as it informs the audience what the second scientist is getting involved in.
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• His action leads to introducing the main act of the film, which isn't in the norm as she is half eel and half human. Her type conveys a very creepy atmosphere due to her appearance.

• The camera pans from the man, down to the tub which is filled with an unknown substance and then back up to a door. That door symbolizes for something more to come and the red light flashing above is a typical symbol of danger and when it turns green, it instantly illustrates how the danger has been allowed to be revealed.

• Once the scientist realizes the door will be open, his facial expression shows how he still can't grasp how real the creature is.

• Once the door opens, Eel Girl is shown at a medium long shot but doesn't show herself entirely, only revealing half her face and a little of her body, leaving the audience with a little to witness and allowing them to imagine what the rest of the character look like. Her hand is webbed, this is a hint for not being socially normal, despite the distance, it's noticeable that her features are not in the norm either.

• A non diagetic, contrapuntal sound is introduced, it has a slight futuristic tone to it, relating the scientific aspect of the story. However, once he enters the premises where Eel girl is, the music completely changes to something softer, something which would typically relate to a love story.

• His feelings for her is firstly shown when he grabs his legs, licks his lips and pulls back his collar, this reveals sexual tension from the scientist. He gives in to the idea of walking into the room once he notices her hormone levels are beyond what was expected, this is told through the unknown substance she lays into. Plus, the way she is presented with no clothes on is a temptation for the scientist to take an unethical step.

• The acoustic music remains contrapuntal and continues playing to the end.

• When the creature eats the scientist, the horror theme, quite unexpectedly, merges in as it's very graphic with the eating and movement of his body inside of her stomach because the scientist believed she was fine, so the audience would instantly she was 'safe'.

• By the end of the movie, the audience have been informed that the scientist was the protagonist and the Eel Girl was the antagonist. Nevertheless, this may have not been so obvious at first impressions because when a person/people are experimenting or keeping someone stored, especially in an environment which is shown in the film, you would assume the scientists would be locking up against the person/people's wishes.

• The advantage of this plot being shown in only 5 minutes is how it remains mysterious and it doesn't reveal much as soon as the film begins, allowing some dialogue to interfere before the shock is shown. This might be a disadvantage for many as they wish lots more was shown, such as how the scientists found her and how the relationship between the scientist and Eel girl started.