Creative Project Storyboard

Audience's expectations questionnaire

What does the word GREED mean to you?

Take the word greed, what would you expect a short film film to include just by this title?

What does this word mean to you?

What do you think about when you hear this word?

Do you think greed is completely negative?

What type of person would you think of when you hear the word greed?

Just because someone is portrayed as 'greedy' does this make them a bad person?

Do you think there is a positive element to greed?

Do you think people have control over greed?

Does greed necessarily mean having 'a lot' of materialistic things? 

Short film analysis by Rachael

The editing in this short film is key; it has all been slowed down to indicate the slow passing of time. This is because the woman is desperately waiting and trying to win over the 'rock monster' to gain food, therefore time is passing so slowly because his decision could go one way or another. It also creates tension when she walks over to the 'rock monster'. It is a strange looking beast and therefore the audience doesn't really know what to expect. It also enhances greater concentration on her movement, showing us how she is desperately trying to get food. Not only then, as the food falls down into her basket in slow motion, it almost makes it appear like a dream, it is as though she can't believe it has actually happened. 
The low angle of rock monster dominates the screen and indicates who has the power in the scene, indicating that the woman looks up to the rock monster and worships it. The panning shots and zooms in enable the audience to focus on the movements of the character and also her surrounding; indicating the poor conditions of her lifestyle which makes the struggle for food appear more detrimental. 
Her performance compliments how poor she actually is, it shows her desperation for food and shows us as an audience the struggle she is going through. Her facial expressions enhance the conditions which she lives in; connoting the desperation, this suggest how important it is that she gains food from the rock monster. That then creates more tension on whether or not she will actually get food or whether the rock monster will send her away. 
Using natural, warm colours within the mise-en-scene may suggest that the conditions which she lives in is overheated and abandoned; it could be why she is desperate for food. Along with the handmade clothes it suggests that she lives in a poorer country that can't afford food to feed their families which is why she becomes so desperate to get food from the rock monster. 
Creating tension is also done by the music, more tension is made when the non-diegetic sound becomes louder and deeper. It co-insides with how the main character is feeling as a decision from the rock monster is about to be made and therefore she becomes more paniced and nervous. 
All of this being done follows the conventions of the genre, Drama. Even though, like pencil face, it has fantasy eliments, it still indicates real life struggle of povety in 3rd world countries. It then creates an emtional response from the audience as we form an allegience with the character, hoping she will get the food she deserves. It also teaches us how difficult it is for some people to get food, whereas we as an audience can get food easily from a shop. 

-Rachael

Audience's expectations - questionnaire

What does the word GREED mean to you?

1. Take the word greed, what would you expect a short film film to include just by this title? 
2. What does this word mean to you?
3. What do you think about when you hear this word? 
4. How would you portray greed? 
5. Do you think greed is completely negative?  
6. What type of person would you think of when you hear the word greed? 
7. Just because someone is portrayed as 'greedy' does this make them a bad person?
8. Do you think there is a positive element to greed? 
9. Do you think people have control over greed?
10. Does greed necessarily mean having 'a lot' of materialistic things? 

Story, setting, character & genre

Story, setting, character and genre

There would be one main character, she dresses in fancy clothes to show she already has a lot of money, but she has Kleptomania and cannot stop herself from stealing things, even if they don't have any value. Her room slowly becomes more and more full with materialistic things, unfortunately, she cannot see how much she actually has. "The more you get, the less you see" is the moral behind this story. The genre would be a drama as it is a real life situation. It will meet the conventions, hence gaining an emotional response from the audience. The objective is to tell the audience a story, to explore the themes and experiment with the micro features of film and conventions of a short film.

Creative Project Action Plan

For our FM3 creative project (short film), Rachael and I will focus on the micro features cinematography and editing, to help structure our storyline and let the audience/viewer relate to how the main character is feeling (alone, ashamed, isolated).
To achieve this, we will be incorporating shots of how she (the main character) sees the world and herself, and shots of how she looks like from outside. This is where editing comes in, as, to have a clear division of the two situations, and to add to the theme of loneliness and isolation, we will use a black and white filter over the point of view shots of the main character.

Based on the nature of kleptomania (see my kleptomania post here), and how kleptomaniacs act and feel like before, during and after the act of stealing, we will be using cinematography to show the anxiety and rush, followed by the sense of relief and pleasure after the act of stealing has been accomplished. Using the hands and eyes as a focal point, using close and extreme close up shots, we hope to show to the spectatorship just how our main character feels during the events she experiences throughout the short film.

After looking at documentaries (find links bellow) and articles about how kleptomania works, I have found, among other things, that victims of this psychologic issue unconsciously fiddle about with anything they have in their hands, bite their nails, play with their hair, etc., before stealing something. All symptoms anybody will experience while feeling nervous and/or anxious.

After looking at a number of short films on YouTube, and considering the themes of greed, isolation and loneliness, I have chosen a few to use as reference to construct our own short film, based on how the micro features are used in each one to create the effect desired, and communicate to the audience whatever message each communicates.

Bellow are some examples:

"The Black Hole" is a short film which explores the themes mainly of greed and even depression. The use of light in the film and the props used give the viewer the impression of the type of life the main character lives: a boring, gray, exhausting square life.

"Piracy - it's a crime"

Although not being a short film itself, focuses on the topic of stealing, which is what our short film will explore, among other topics. In relation to cinematography and mise-en-scène, this clip is very similar to what Rachael and I would like to achieve on our own creative project.
For example, the close up shot of a man stealing a film (0:20-0:22), where the viewer can only see the man's hand taking a DVD from a shop and hiding it inside his jacket, is a shot we would like to reproduce in our short film, as it shows the act of stealing, but not the subject's face, which reflects kleptomania being superior to the individual, taking control of the actions of the thief, instead of the person being in command.

In this shot (0:10-0:14), unlike the first one, the audience does get a glimpse of the thief's face, but, again, it is blurred, which reinforces the idea of the problem being larger, more important than the individual.

Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUuNv3W_bKU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PnYb_ZvMzU
http://mental.healthguru.com/video/kleptomania-when-stealing-is-an-addiction

How kleptomania works

This article can be found here. 

How kleptomania works

While shoplifting has been a problem for centuries, kleptomania was first described as a psychological disorder in the early 1800s and has been only intermittently recognized by the American Psychiatric Article System Association as a type of mental illness since the 1950s. Psychiatrists continue to debate whether kleptomania is a distinct mental illness or a manifestation of some other psychological disorder. Although there has been little research on the neurobiology of kleptomania, some studies have provided biological clues, and some have attempted pharmacological treatment of this condition.

There are many reasons for shoplifting: resale, supporting a drug habit, personal use and "just for the thrill of it." However, most of these reasons fit stealing, but not kleptomania. Kleptomania is characterized by an impulsive need to steal, and many kleptomaniacs are first discovered in the act of shoplifting. The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) has outlined the following criteria for a diagnosis:

1. The individual repeatedly fails to resist the impulse to steal items that are not needed for personal use or monetary value.
2. The individual experiences tension before stealing.
3. The individual's tension is relieved or gratified by the act of the theft.
4. The theft is not due to anger, revenge, delusions, hallucinations or impaired judgment (dementia, mental retardation, alcohol intoxication, drug intoxication).
5. Other psychological disorders can't account for the individual's stealing behavior (like manic episodes and antisocial behaviors).

Often, the stealing behavior of kleptomania occurs along with other psychological disorders, like obsessive-compulsive, personality and mood disorders. This observation has led some psychiatrists to question whether kleptomania is indeed a true psychological disorder or a manifestation of some other psychological disorder. Generally, kleptomania has been classed with other impulse control disorders, such as pathological gambling, pyromania and trichotillomania (chronic hair-pulling). Impulse control disorders are those where the individuals cannot resist the impulse to commit some behavior, criminal or otherwise.

Pencil Face

Looking at other short films on Youtube, I came across Pencil Face. This is a drama with morals in the narrative. The caption for this video was "He'll help you draw, he'll help you erase, waste not want not, he is pencil face". This short video basically shows the audience how you should not take things for granted. The girl thinks that know that she has this magic pencil, she can get everything she wants and throw it away when she is done; this is what you see when she draws the kite. However, there is a sense of karma in the plot and she gets sucked into a black hole when Pencil Face notices that she has discarded the kite.
Watching this helped me come up with ideas for my narrative. I wanted to make my plot as realistic as possible, so instead of going for the fantasy approach with something magic happening, I based the plot around someone with a mental condition. Therefore, there will still be a moral in what my short film is portraying, but it will also educate my target audience about the mental condition and what the effects are. Moreover, the slogan for my film would be "the more she gets, the less she see's" basically implying how greed can make you take things for granted and that you never realize what you actually have until you stop to appreciate it.