Conventions of film making:
In order to make our film a success we used a variety of conventions. We focused on cinematography and mise-en-scene to fulfil our film genre. For example to create a romantic-thriller, thriller being the main focus throughout the majority of the film, we focused on scenery, lighting, props and costumes. We filmed in a house, a high street and a park. The final scene was shot in a park which adds tension because it is full of trees where any body could be watching you. A lot of crimes such as rape and attacks, happen in parks where men often prey on women who are vulnerable and alone. We therefore thought this would go well with the storyline and would be a good place to film the final scene.
There was diegetic sound within our film such as dialogue but also sounds like footsteps, slamming doors, sirens ect. In the first scene a siren was playing in the background. We thought this worked well within that particular scene and therefore looped the sound using the software, Garage band and placed it into the scene using Final Cut Pro. We edited all of our clips and sounds using this professional software. This including cutting scenes and piecing them together where needed. We also added opening and closing credits to the film in order to make it appear more professional.
Short film narrative:
When conducting research before producing our short film, we looked at a number of theories and concepts which we could apply to our film. The film we produced fulfils two of Barthes Codes:
The Hermeneutic Code (HER)
-This code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.
Our short film uses the hermeneutic code because throughout each scene, the story is not fully explained. We see Peter (male character), acting very suspiciously. For example he is taking money out of a hidden jar, he is seen with a suspicious package in which he hides under the bed. It becomes apparent to the audience that something unusual and suspicious is happening but they cannot yet identify what, although they will begin to create ideas in their heads.
In the first scene we see a text message appear on Peter's phone reading, 'your parcel is ready to be collected'. To add to the suspicion the female actress (Kate/ me) walks into the room and says to Peter, 'you were in late last night'. This makes the audience begin to question what is going on. This is an example of 'snares' where there is an indication, yet the truth is avoided.
The Proairetic Code (ACT)
-This code builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
Our short film builds on tension throughout. We use non-diegetic sound (music) over some scenes following Peter acting suspiciously. The music track, 'beautiful tension' is played to add suspicion to Peters actions.
We used the technical code of camera work in order to tell the story. We used a variety of shots such a point of view, over the shoulder and close up when telling the story from the male character, Peters point of view. The use of these shots allowed the idea to form of a stalker which the audience could decode.
Encoding and decoding messages- Peter gets a text message on his mobile saying, 'Your package is ready to be collected'. He watches his girlfriend out of the window as she leaves the house. He takes money out of a jar hidden on the top shelf. He also hides a mystery item under the bed when his girlfriend returns home. All of these actions can be analysed by the audience who will identify that these common themes could hint towards him stalking her. We encoded messages into our film to be decoded by the audience.
Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. The medium close up shot of Kate in the final scene shows her facial expressions to show she is anxious and on edge. Without dialogue, this idea is presented to the audience.
Narrative:
We used a chronological structure within our film to follow certain events over five days. We filmed Peter (male actor) crossings days off a calendar and eventually circling the day the last day (the big twist at the end). We were influenced by the 2011 John Lewis Christmas advert where a young boy counts down the days and at the end we learn that he is waiting for Christmas Day to arrive so he can give gifts to his parents. We compressed this idea into our film by using the situation of a boyfriend and girlfriend. The boyfriend can be seen acting suspiciously over a number of days and acting obsessively towards his girlfriend which suggests he may harm her in some way. A 'stalker theme' is introduced. However on the last day he meets her in a park on her way home from work. This is suspicious and the perfect place to commit a crime. We get the impression Kate (actress) is being watched because she looks behind and around her. We then see her from a distance which is a point of view shot of Peter. As she continues to walk through a more wooded part of the park, Peter shows up. This is unusual because she had just been told he was at home when he was on the phone to her only minutes before. he drags her off and covers her eyes so she cannot see where he is taking her which adds to the tension. The big reveal comes from a point of view shot from Kate as Peter removes his hands from over her eyes. This is where the romantic element is introduced to the film, as she sees a lovely picnic and lights and tinsel hanging in the trees surrounding it. Peter then says, 'Happy Anniversary'. The twist at the end of the film is comes as a surprise to the audience and is unexpected.
Genre:
I carried out a variety of research tasks in order to find common themes for the hybrid genre 'romantic-thriller' that we hoped to achieve. This challenges the typical ideas of a thriller film because the two genres are complete opposites. I used Google search engine in order to find out what kinds of features were found in both romance and thriller genre films. This helped us decide on narrative, dialogue and sound as well as certain camera angles. For example thriller films often use over the shoulder and point of view shots whereas romantic films tend to use close ups and soft music. Nick Lacey said that genre can be identified via its conventions. A typical plot for a short film he said, was narrative with a twist, closure or resolution. I believe we achieved this structure.
The film poster I produced uses a central image to catch the attention of the audience. It is the first thing they will notice on the poster therefore I wanted it to stand out. I placed it in the centre of the page within a box with a thick black outline to help it stand out. It displays the main character of the film and presents him in a mysterious and suspicious sense which helps the audience to identify the genre of the film. This signifies his dominant role within the film as his body language is very suggestive and therefore is an example of a symbolic code. Another symbolisation of the genre is the use of colour. The image is black and white and the text is either black or red. Black has dark and mysterious connotations whilst the colour red connotes danger. This can be denoted by the audience.
The tagline, 'Tick Tock' can be analysed by the audience as it refers to time. The colour red is used for this text which suggests time and danger have a substantial role in the short film.
Conventions:
- image
- title
- tagline
- actors names
- blurb
- certificate
- ratings
- award won
- house colour scheme used
The double page spread I created uses the enigma code of a clock in the background. The audience should identify due to the film title 'Countdown' the tagline 'Tick Tock' and the image of the clock in the background, that the film has an element of time in relation to it. They will begin to internally question what the significance of time has to do with this film.
I focused on mise en scene when taking the photograph for my double page spread. I wanted to give a 'rough/ urban' sort of loo to the image so that it created a sense of expectation for something bad to happen. I made sure the character was wearing casual clothing much like he does within the film. His body language appears quite cold and unattached as he is not facing the camera. He looks as though he is waiting for someone or is watching them as he looks rather distracted with something in the direction that he is looking in.
Conventions:
- title
- subheading
- image (main image and background image)
- producers comments (with image of producers)
- article
- small font size
- columns
- page numbers
- film release date
- pull quote
- article producers name
- house colour scheme used
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