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