9, The Short

The 9 short film starts with a close up on 9’s hand holding a hammer as he hits a metal bar. The close up draws significance to the action which can be recognized later. Immediately I noticed that the setting was quite dark and deserted. I also noticed different effects that contributed to a post-apocalyptic feel in the film such as the fog rolling across the ground, or the singular light source in the opening scene. The first time we see the antagonist it is shot from a low angle, indicating their dominance over the other characters in the movie, nearly every time following this continues to be true. Something else I noticed in particular was that although there weren’t any human characters to compare anyone to. However, the objects in the film helped the audience to realize that compared to them, the robots are quite small. There are certain things they do or use that emphasize their miniature size. Another small detail I noticed, I’m not sure if it carries any importance or not, but there were certain props that resembled some trademark Pixar items. These included the dirty, broken baby from Toy Story, and the signature lamp in their logo. The short goes on to begin with a flashback experienced by 9. In this flashback, 9 remembers when his friend, 5, was killed by the evil, cat-looking robot when trying to protect him. The robot tried to steal the special light source that warned and indicated their presence to 9 and 5. The antagonist proceeded to capture 5 and suck out the life that was left in him until he fell limp and died. 9 made his reluctant and horrified escape and the flashback ends. In present times, 9 is sitting alone and sees the light source, this sort of orb looking thing, glow which indicates the proximity of the evil character. 9 proceeds to trick the antagonist into falling to their death from a tall platform. During this scene 9, who was previously quite frightful and hesitant in his actions, all of a sudden senses a sliver of fear within his enemy which gives him a boost of courage. This is enough to push him to defend himself and defeat the beast. This is the first time in the movie that the antagonist is not being shown from a low camera angle, instead he is even with 9 which could in a way represent it meeting it's match. This character development in 9 seems to be important because he started out so weak and defenseless and ended up killing the thing that took his friend, and presumably others. Later, we see 9 combine the two glowing pieces and when he does, the ghosts of others (most likely 1-4 and 6-8 at least) walk out and towards their designated graves around the fire. 5’s ghost specifically turns around to look at 9. This shows the audience that these are not random people, these are people 9 once knew. The ghosts fade and then there is a close up of 9’s face as the camera zooms out and shows 9 walking into the sunset all alone with a staff. The lack of dialogue in this film contributes to the mystery and intensity of whats going on and, in my opinion, allows the viewer to feel as lonely and confused as 9 is. The overall directorial style contributed to the film immensely as a whole, Shane Acker created a well-developed storyline within seven minutes and successfully established protagonists and antagonists. The animation style made everything all the more eerie as well and definitely set the tone.