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