We drew 2 rough ideas on Photoshop to help us decide how we wanted to lay out our poster and what we wanted to include. We had 2 main ideas. From comparing these drawings we decided as a group that we wanted to layout the our poster like our second design.
In order to fully begin to visualise the mis-en-scene of our short film, I decided to brainstorm some typical key props used in films of the horror genre; in particular ones we are interested in using or are relevant to our story line.
![]() Due to how a common code and convention of 'horror' is blood and gore, weapons are often used as a prop in part of the narrative, as they impend not only pain and injury but fear to both victims and audiences. They are an interesting prop to feature as they can clarify either the 'bad guy'/villain trying to do wrong, or the innocent victim trying to defend themselves. Unsure of how to make a weapon relevant to our idea for our narrative, we are going to definitely include some degree of pain or injury, whether it be cause by a weapon or not, as the connotations of blood and gore will fulfil the criteria of typical horror films.
![]() A very simple, yet fear invoking prop often used in horror films are ringing phones. Often with a shrill and loud ring, phones can fill both the characters and the audience with dread and fear, particularly when there is a mystery as to who is on the other end. This is a particularly relevant prop we can feature in our story line, as our idea involves a baby sitter. Therefore the mother of the child needing babysitting can call our protagonist; thus we can utilise the element of a phone ringing. However, a typical convention of horror films is old fashion phones ringing, therefore we will challenge this by modernising it using a mobile phone, preferably an iPhone, and still try create tension with it.
![]() A prop we are particularly interested in incorporating into the mis-en-scene of our short film is old, vintage style mysterious toys. Due to how different old toys from a few years ago seem in contrast to modern toys children play with today, featuring old toys will appear unusual, eery and odd to audiences. We are keen to use old toys in shots at particularly angles and times of the plot to enhance the scare factor and even shock audiences, for example we had an idea of using a jack-in-a-box as a jump scare. This suits our narrative ideas that we have had so far particularly well, as the babysitter can be walking round the mysterious house she's never been to that she is baby sitting at and find the toys lying around, for example stepping on a squeaky toy.
![]() Along with the old fashion aesthetic mentioned prior to this about old toys, we had thoughts about how old books are often used in horror themed scenarios, as when they look worn out and dusty it heightens a sense of mystery. In horror films, the mis-en-scene often shows old books to give the impression that the location they are in is mysterious and old. As we are trying to use old toys in our narrative, we should be able to pair this with old books to emphasise the fear we are trying to inflict.
![]() Another typical feature that pairs well with old books and old toys is old photographs. They can portray mystery if they audience or characters are unsure/unaware of what is happening in the photos or who is in them, however they can also reveal things that have happened in that past that the audience or characters may not have known before. We will be able to incorporate photos into our narrative as they can be placed around the house the protagonist is babysitting at. An old, burnt or decaying/damaged nature to the photo will heighten factors of fear also as it increases the tension of why the photo is in that state - has someone tried to destroy it?
![]() Another rather effective convention of horror films is a clock ticking, particularly old fashioned 'Grandfather clocks' as they tend to appear more striking due to their larger size and louder pounding ticking sounds. These clocks are often coated with dust to increase the old, mysterious element. We thought that this would be interesting to incorporate during our narrative, as it can signify when the parents that the protagonist is baby sitting for should be home - midnight being the most 'scary' time for the clock to strike at. This is the first draft of our short film, it has a basic outline as to what the footage will look like and the storyline of the short. It's not the complete story, but we have an idea of how to improve after showing it to our peers. We received feedback, stating that the camera work was alright but some shots needed reshooting and to framed better. The lighting and colours in the shots were good and muse-en-scene was appropriate. We decided to make a list of the parts that needed tightening up and reshooting. Our short horror film, yet to be entitled, centres a teenage girl attending a house to babysit a young child, however this no ordinary baby... Below, I have written a detailed synopsis of the short film in it's entirety. We thought this important as our choices and ideas regarding the narrative have changed several times, and now this is our definitive story.
A regular, naive teenage girl named Rose, around the age of 17, checks her voice mail to hear an eery woman's voice. The voice belongs to a mother, requesting Rose to babysit for her that night. The mother states that she is a friend of Rose's parents and has been told of her baby sitting duties. The mother asks Rose to arrive at 9pm and that her and her husband shall leave a key under the doormat for her. 'Mercy-Violet', the baby, will already be asleep so the mother informs Rose not to disturb her under any circumstances. Rose arrives at the strange house, confused as to why the parents would leave their baby unattended before their babysitter, whom they have never met, arrives. As she enters the house she is immediately startled as she trips on a rattle. She walks around the house, slightly bewildered at the weird interior, however goes to sit on the sofa and watch television. The television will only show a disturbing children's program, so she turns it off again and chooses a dusty book from the bookshelf. She begins reading the book and falls asleep, however is woken to the sound of crawling. Worried that the child has awoken, she gets up and rushes upstairs to check on it. Peering into it's room, she finds the child is not in it's bed; instead there is just a doll lying in it's place. Confused, Rose picks up the doll and calls out 'Mercy? Mercy?', believing the child to have escaped from her bed leaving her doll behind. Starting to panic more as the child cannot be found, Rose heads towards the phone to try and ring the parents in worry, however as she is walking down the stairs she notices something disturbing that she missed before when she rushed upstairs. There are several frames of 'family photos' - in which there is the mother, the father... and the doll that Rose is holding. No sign of an actual baby. In shock, Rose drops/throws the doll and jumps backwards in fear. Blood starts to appear around the baby and it turns its head to look at Rose. She screams and runs to grab her belongings to try and escape, however it is at that exact moment that the clock strikes midnight and the parents arrive home. When deciding on the target audience that we are creating our short film for and the type of people it is being aimed at, an important factor that comes into consideration is the age specification rating. In the UK, this is know as BBFC, standing for the British Board of Film Classification. It is a non-governmental organization purely founded by the film industry. It is responsible for the censorship of films in cinemas and sold in shops in the UK. ![]() When deciding which category our film fit most in to we had to consider three things: 1. What kind of people will enjoy the narrative ideas we have had so far 2. What type of protagonist are we looking at - it would be suitable to aim our film at an audience of similar age to the protagonist so they can identify with them 3. What themes will we have, eg violence, that could determine which age rating it can and cannot fit in to The ideas we have had so far towards the kind of narrative and plot line we want seem most suitable for teenage to young adult, perhaps ranging 13 year olds to 25 year olds. The protagonist we were considering creating would be around 17 years old, therefore this will be the age group most likely to identify with her. Looking at the themes we want to incorporate, the three ratings our film should categorise in to could be 12A, 12 and 15. 12A/12 Category Criteria: -Mature themes treated suitably for young teenagers -Rare and justified swearing -Nudity but brief and discreet sexual content, sex may be implied -Brief violence without much detail, no blood, injury or weapon emphasis -Occasional gore -Brief 'soft' drug references ![]() 15 Category Criteria: -Frequent use of strong language is allowed, however continued use and sexual abuse is not -No constraints on nudity in a non sexual or educational context -Sexual activity is allowed but without heavy detail, responsible depiction of casual sex and occasional strong verbal references to sex -Strong violence allowed however not heavy detail on infliction of pain or injuries, sexual violence must be brief -No emphasis on easily accessible weapons eg knives -Drug taking is allowed however clear instructive detail is not When initially comparing the two age ratings we thought our film could be considered in either, however looking in more detail we have realised our film does not quite fulfil enough of the age 15 criteria. The 12/12a rating however is much more fitting. The themes we may incorporate that cause the rating to be 12/12a are brief swearing, one element of blood/gore, slight violence and the overall storyline being too mature to be rated the age category below (PG).
Our film would be rated as a 12 by the BBFC, and we think the most likely audience age range we are targeting it towards is 16-25 year olds. To help us decide what genre our short film is going to be, we decided to conduct a survey, showing 3 different short films from 3 different potential genres we are interested in doing, the genres being horror, comedy and romance. We showed the films to group of teenage girls, a target audience we are interested on focusing on and asked them a series of questions on their opinions of the three films. Romance Genre: Horror Genre: Comedy Genre: Our Voxpop Survey:Conclusion:From this survey, we found the horror film was profoundly the most popular of all three genres, having the most effect on the viewers. The comedy short film was seen as the least popular out of the three. These results have helped contribute to our decision as to what genre we are going to make our short film. As a result we have decided to rule out the option of using a comedy genre as these answers from this group of our potential target audience has highlighted the difficulty a comedy genre brings to actually make it funny, compared to the horror genre, which seems to have the most effect on audiences.
To educate ourselves fully on the technique used to create the male gaze, we decided to try experiment creating an example of our own. The camera zooms in on the lady's body so she fills the screen, panning upwards slowly from her feet in order to slowly reveal her body and present her as an object of lust. We see her body in parts (as objects) rather than her as a whole person, therefore objectifying her, based on her outward appearance.
Sometimes the objectification of women still takes place despite the fact it has nothing to do with the product being sold. Above we see Nicole Scherzinger advertising yoghurt by flirting with it and making sex noises. "If you have to use sexism to sell your products then your product isn't good enough" In order to try defy the male gaze theory, we decided to experiment using the same technique used to create a typical male gaze shot however try make the woman appear powerful rather than an object of lust and desire. We did so through the use of her stance, facial expression and the choice of music. After a theory lesson learning about Laura Mulvey and her Male Gaze theory, we formed a hypothesis that the audience would be influenced by the perspective of the video and there attention would be focused on the lady in the film and wanted to test this theory. 'Office Space' is a 5 minute short created by the YouTuber 'KickThePJ', who also plays the main character. The film's plot surrounds a typical 'white collar worker' slacking off at his desk, daydreaming and getting scolded for doing so by his boss. As the short progresses audiences eventually see him proceed to create a rocket to escape the earth and his responsibilities. This narrative clarifies the genre as fantasy/fiction. The title itself 'Office Space' is a clever pun due to the rocket at the end taking him to actual space and away from his office space where his problems are. This lack of job satisfaction represents the protagonist as a typical young office worker, as boredom at work is a common trait of people in his position. Furthermore, he has a heavy workload which is mundane and repetitive, causing his lack of productivity, much to his boss' chagrin. The boss himself is represented typically, due to his stress induced nature and the fact he refers to the protagonist by his surname 'Jones', like a teacher, showing his superiority and adding to Jones' unhappiness.
The audience this film is targeted at would be able to relate to this overall idea of 'wanting to escape' everyday life, as the audience would be young adults at school, college or possibly work and uni who would know the feeling of tedium he is portraying. The narrative is linear, starting with the protagonist at his workplace, proceeding to show his lack of enjoyment at his job, his bosses anger and his imagination running away, ending with the climax of him blasting off into space. However, if this film had been created by an institution with a large budget, this last scene would have been extravagant and high quality, but because the creator is a Youtube content creator he clearly has low resources, therefore the rocket is a shabby design made purely of cardboard and the blast off is a shaky camera and a torch shining from underneath the cardboard. This signifies the low budget of a typical YouTube content creator, which in comparison to professional institutions seems basic and self-produced. Furthermore, the acting is of a lower standard than professionally produced shorts, again showing the lack of budget and access to good actors and contacts. The camerawork is particularly effective and of a good quality, with interesting angles to convey an accurate recording of the storyline whilst also being unusual enough to still infer a sense of mystery. The sound quality is strong however the dialog of the boss is obviously pre-recorded and dubbed in over the footage which brings the film's quality down as the volume is slightly amiss. The editing is smooth and the cuts are well timed thanks to the creator being well experienced in editing videos for his job. The music is synchronous to the setting and helps build anticipation up to the climax. The use of sound effects are relevant and draw the audience's attention to the points of the narrative which are significant to the story. The mise-en-scene is all round well done and effective at keeping audiences involved in what is happening, for example the dull atmosphere in the office emphasises his boredom, making it relatable to his audience who are well aware of the dullness a work environment can induce. The lighting is always clear and suitable, for example in the at home scenes the desk lamp highlights the desk and focuses the audience's attention to what Jones' is doing. This 6 minute short, Room 8, is of the Thriller/Suspense genre. It's set in a prison and focuses on a new prisoner meeting his creepy, stoic jail mate. These immediately has connotations of mystery as the audience as prisons and criminals have negative connotations which are typical of Thrillers.
Dialog represents the main character as cocky and risky as he 'takes his chances' with the ominous box. Whereas the antagonist is an older man shown to be reserved and knowledgable which is typical of older prison mates. The content is quite mature, it's not aimed at children, as it has a dreary atmosphere, includes a disturbing ending and is set in an unsettling location with matching characters. Therefore it is most likely aimed at young adults as the genre's codes and conventions appeal most to the 16-25 age group. Theres a linear narrative as we find out information along with the main character as the story progresses, however the first scene foreshadows the ending, in which case it could be considered as circular considering the stories surreal nature. The short was produced by Bombay Sapphire's Imagination Series in 2013 and then the film went on to win the BAFTA for Best Short Film 2014. As they're a popular company they were able to contribute a large budget to the film and production. As we found last year, a large budget means higher quality equipment and production team, therefore the overall result is award winning quality. Bombay Sapphire benefits from The Imagination Series as they're able to aid budding film makers and involve themselves in the creative industry. So by doing this they're able to get their brand name on a renowned, televised, national award. The audience can tell that the film is made by with a bigger budget and by trained film makers as the storyline is more ambitious and they use technical editing with professional technology to realistically portray the contents of the box and the miniaturisation of the main character. College students may be able to have a plot as ambitious but the technology is not available to them ands the production may not come together and be executed as well as this one. First stage of researchThe first step of our research towards short films is for us to look at various short films created by different production teams, in order to assimilate the differences between high production quality and lower skill sets. Taking one each, we are looking into a film created by an amateur creator of our age, for example a school student, a current university student creator, a postgraduate level creator, and lastly a professional institution.
As a group, we collectively predict that the professional institution will be the most qualified and have the highest budgets, therefore their film will be the most advanced and effective, whereas the creator of our age shall be the least developed and technical. This means we think the high institution will be best at drawing in and keeping audiences attentions. Overview Through this blog portfolio, we intend to be documenting the process of the creation of a short film. This shall be separated into three sections. The first section shall be the 'Research' towards short film; us researching short films in general, the production of them, different genres we are interested in making our film, target audiences we are interested in aiming it at, etc.
After we have down our research, we can begin to start the 'Planning' of the actual film - looking into who shall be responsible for different key areas of production; camerawork, editing, lighting, mis-en-scene, sound etc. We also shall plan locations, costumes, specific details of the characters etc. Finally, after creating our film, we shall complete an 'Ancillary Task' - creating a poster for the film and a magazine film review. |
AuthorsMolly Broad Archives
February 2016
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