Premiering in 1894, silent movies were the first step in the long history of cinema that most closely resembles what we consider movies today. The "silent" part of the name refers to their lack of dialogue; while audio recording technology took a little longer to catch up with film, the movies were traditionally accompanied by a live musician or orchestra during their screening. In addition to the traditionally unsynchronized audio, silent films are characterized by the traditional black and white coloring (also a reflection of the filming technology available at the time), and exaggerated motions by actors to convey the narrative.

This particular short mimics the "silent" style with musical accompaniment, as well as the black and white coloring to emphasize shadow and light, which are technical as well as metaphorical elements in the narrative. The title MANIFESTATION refers to one of the stages of spiritual possession.