My short film is meant to be surrealist and
to challenge expectations and conventions we are used to seeing in mainstream
films.
During pre production, Rachael and I had
some trouble agreeing on a story we both liked. We also found it hard to meet outside
of college for planning, as she lived outside Hull.
Throughout the preproduction process
Rachael and I debated the storyline, threw away and made new drafts and in the
end settled for a storyline based around a girl with kleptomania.
During production it was even harder to get
together, as Rachael commonly worked every day after college and could not meet
me before dark.
We also had trouble involving our main
actress not showing up more than once, and ended up working with someone else.
During filming times, as Rachael could
never make it, I did all the practical work and left her to do the remaining
written work (Screen play and the second half of the storyboard). -> i did the other half
The main problem I faced throughout the
course was Rachael leaving college without telling anyone. This proved to be a
major issue, as I waited for her to submit the written work for too long, and
when I realized she was not coming back to college, it was too late to do it
all myself.
A positive outcome, however, was that I
directed my own film, and was able to focus on my own ideas.
As the short film I created is meant to be
surrealist, my main focus was on the editing and cinematography.
I feel editing was the most important and
relevant micro feature in my short film because the reactions and feelings I
sought to awake within the audience would have been impossible to achieve
without the extra editing work.
Editing
My main goal was to engage the viewer within the first few seconds of the short film. I feel I have achieved this by
using a horror music piano theme as non-diegetic sound and a voice over
describing in first person what the main character is feeling and what she’s
going through.
I used a black and white filter to
distinguish Sophie’s (main character) dreams from reality, and to help me
convey that she can no longer distinguish her dreams from the waking life.
Another technique I used to create a sense
of dreaming was overlapping shots and fixing the opacity of each piece of
footage, some in black and white and some in colour. This creates confusion and
makes the experience of watching the final product more interesting.
I also spent time reordering the shots
(juxtaposition) in order to make the short film more shocking in parts. I also
had to find transitions that would match both the previous shot and the shot that followed.
Another factor I paid extra attention to
when editing was the sound, and specifically the voice over. The voice over in
this short film is essential, as it helps develop the narrative, which would
otherwise be confusing and boring. My aim was to write the voice over as if the
narrator was separate from the story (3rd person), describing what
Sophie was going through, and then start speaking in 1st person so
the spectator knows it’s the character speaking about herself. I think in the
end, it seemed like there were two people narrating the film. This was a criticism made by several people I showed the film to for feedback. I liked the idea of
people not being sure who is narrating the film, so I kept the original script
I wrote. I also repeated the line “when we dream, we are nearly always
convinced we are, in fact awake. Even when we dream, we will be doubtful
whether our dream was reality or not”, but distorted the voice the second time.
This helps make the audience wonder if the line was repeated, and submerge them
more into the state of mind of my main character.
A factor I had trouble with was getting the
music, sound effects and footage to come together in harmony, and not clashing.
Most of the cuts are in time with the music, and this took a lot of practicing
and getting it wrong before I was satisfied.
Lastly, to make the viewing of the film
memorable I decided to cut 10 or more bits of footage that were similar to each
other (two shots of the same part of the script) and juxtaposition them so
every shot lasted <0.3s (2:32-2:40 and 2:54-3:00). -> interspersed
Cinematography
To fulfill the loose conventions of
surrealism, I tried several techniques. These included:
Hand held shots- I used hand held shots or
moved the tripod and camera to create a sense of disorientation and confusion.
Zoom in\out- The use of the zoom, like the
handheld shots was to slightly baffle the spectator as to what is going on in
the film. I also used the zoom to enhance the impact of Sophie’s facial
expressions.
High-angle shots- The use of high angle
shots was to suggest that someone ‘higher’ was watching Sophie, and to make her
seem small and helpless. After all, we humans are most helpless when we are
sleeping.
POV shots- This type of shot is very
important in my short film, as it helps the audience empathize with Sophie, but
also draws attention to the entity that is watching her.
I think the final product is of good
quality; I have learnt many techniques in editing that I will definitely use
again in future projects, as well as all the work
That is involved in creating a short film.
After Rachael left. I took the roles of
director, producer, writer, cinematographer and editor. This proved to be a
great challenge, especially considering the small amount of time I had left
