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 (3^rd person), describing what Sophie was going through, and then start speaking in 1^st 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

The Dream

Short film progress

At the very beginning, Rachael and I couldn't agree on what genre to base our short film on. I wanted to do a 'pseudo-surrealist-shock-nightmare' story, and Rachael wanted to do a thriller about a guy who gets bullied and ends up being a werewolf and killing his bully.
After having a chat with Emma, we agreed on making a short film about kleptomania and how it affects the protagonist up to the point where she tries to cut her hands off. This story came along after Rachael and I accepted that we wouldn't be able to agree on a story that both of us liked, so we had to do one that neither did, so it wouldn't be unfair for one of us.
After I drew the complete storyboard for the film, and after a few failed attempts to get together with Rachael and film, I realised that, if there wasn't an extreme change in our strategy, we would get nowhere.
After Christmas passed, and we still didn't even have some footage good enough to use, I decided that I couldn't risk failing film because I couldn't agree with Rachael. So I decided to do my own story, use codes and conventions of the surrealist genre, but also of horror films, such as the tilted angles and dark lighting filters to create tension within the audience. I made a point of not using any of the work we had done previously. I didn't want it to seem like we tried to make a drama short film, and when it didn't make sense decided to call it surrealism. I didn't want this to happen because it's been my idea to make this short film since last year (see AS coursework), and none of the work I've done has been 'improvised'.
Currently I have filmed on three different occasions, have edited all the footage, and have a last filming session scheduled for this coming weekend. I have had to ask another friend to help me with camera work, and I will mark all the scenes she does as hers.
Apart from these few shots, I take credit for all the work that has been done regarding the film up to now, and am still waiting for Rachael to participate while it's still possible to.
I will make very clear distinctions between the work that I have done and the work that she has, mainly because I don't think it's fair that we both get marked for something that only one of us did. Making a short film is hard work, and specially if you're doing it on your own. But failing to produce a short film was out of the question, since I want to study film at university, I couldn't let something like what has happened to I don't want anyone to take credit for it if they didn't help.

Firstly, I had to check the weather for Sunday, the original plan was to film on Saturday but as I started work at 4pm, I wouldn't have had as much time to film whereas I knew I had the full day free on Sunday. On the weather report it says that there will be a chance of rain; this was ok for us as some shots will be done in doors, therefore if it does start raining we will move our location from outside to inside.
-Rachael  

Filming after party

Change of plans

After having a word with Jon, Rachel and I came to the conclusion the project would be easier to finish if it was filmed in my house, instead of Rachael's. The storyboard might have to be modified slightly, but apart from that I think everythig should start falling itno place from now on.

Problems with our main actress

Our creative project was put on hold, since our main actor (Beth) has not been able to attend the filming sessions in the past weeks.
Due to this problem, Rachael and I have been obligated to get another actress.

The end

After reading out the possible endings to random people, and asking for their opinion, I have come to the conclusion that the 'blender story' is better for our creative project for several reasons. One, it is an interesting ending, all shorts need a twist, or something to get the audience's attention, and Rachael and I believe that cutting her hands off works very well for that. Also, it is an ending relatively simple to achieve, and fun to make.

Second thoughts...

Rachael and I are planning to start filming on this coming weekend (15th-17th of November). The filming will be done in Rachael's house and garden.

But after having a chat with Jon Towson, we aren't sure anymore if our project will be an extract from a full length film, or a short film in itself.
If it was to become an extract, the synopsis and action plan would have to be completely re-done, which is why I think it's a better idea to stick with a short film.

An idea I had, if our creative project were to be a short film ,was to make it as though there would be a happy ending, with the main character and her friend (who, we've found out, also has a problem with stealing) getting on a bus to go to a clinic and get expert help. On the way there, they pass a clothes and accessories shop. They both see the shop, and then they look at each other. The screen goes black, and we hear a "beeeeep" (the sound the bus makes when you press the STOP button). We never know if the girls were the ones who pressed the button, and became stealing partners, or if they ended up getting help.
personally, I don't really like this plot, because I feel it won't have the desired impact on the audience. With this in mind, I thought of another possible ending:

The objective is to make it seem like the main character was sick of stealing, and, unable to get help from outside, she decides the only way she can stop her hands from grabbing anything they can reach, is to get rid of them. This ending, itself has two 'conclusions':

1. She finds this huge pressure press (I've looked for anything remotely similar on the internet, and it doesn't seem to exist, so it'll be hard to do this ending, but it'll be worth it if we do). The press goes up and down, once, say, every five seconds, making a horrendous noise every time it goes down. The main character observes the press for a while, plays with her hands, anxious and afraid, while the loud noises sound in intervals. In the end, we see her trembling hands (CU) moving closer to the press. just before the press goes down again, we see her nervous face (ECU, focusing on the eyes). Then, just when we hear the loud noise again, the screen goes black.
2. She gets a blending machine, and, using the same principals used in Reservoir Dogs (Q. Tarantino), when a police officer gets his ear cut off, we only see her turning on the machine, and slowly moving her hands towards it. The camera then looks away, and the audience is left with only the sound of the blender destroying her hands. This works nicely in two ways: one, the impact on the spectator is much greater if the he/she can't see what's going on, but is left with his/her imagination, which is normally a lot more gruesome, and the sound to guide it. And secondly, it means that the scene would be a lot easier to achieve, given that we don't have to actually blend somebody's hand, or even worse, try to fake it well enough to make it realistic. 

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.

Synopsis

Short film project --> Rachael & Maia Rose

Genre- drama

Synopsis: 
A teenage girl suffering from Kleptomania; whenever something catches her eye, even something with no value, she can’t resist the urge to steal it. Once she has stolen something her mood changes and she feels satisfied at first. This feeling of satisfaction begins to disappear, the teenage girl starts to believe she doesn’t have enough and begins to steal more to try to regain the feeling she once had. Unfortunately, she can't see how much she actually owns from all the stealing, but we as an audience can. There is a voice inside her head that is telling her that she needs more. It is a violent addiction which she cannot overcome. The addiction begins to take over who she is and she slowly becomes panicked, isolated and depressed. She fears admitting to people that she has stolen which is why she doesn’t seek advice or help about her condition. But she can’t handle the effect it has on her by herself.

25 word pitch

A girl has Kleptomania, the more she steals, the less she thinks she has. Eventually, this idea takes over her life, she slowly becomes insane.

Initial ideas

Our initial ideas: 

Rachael and I first came up with an idea to make the narrative about a teenage boy being bullied at school. The secret behind it was he was a werewolf and he manages to get the main bully when he is alone and kill him. This narrative wouldn't just end with him dying though. The end would be a shot of more bullies abusing him and the guy being bullied silently waits until the next full moon to strike again. 

However, after a 1-1 meeting, it was decided that this idea was too complicated and after looking at other videos and getting more ideas, we chose to base or narrative on Kleptomania.