Evaluation:

Aims and context:
The aims and context must be made clear. Aim of the extract/short film and the context of the production


A creative product (a short film or film extract) (45 marks):This is a film extract or a complete short film (3-5 minutes) which engages with the issues raised in the production of meaning and the study of film stylistics and theory


And a reflective analysis (15 marks including aims and context):
The reflective analysis should select key features of the creative product and reflect critically on both the creative process and the product

Figure 1

My Film Studies coursework consisted of the pre-production, production and post-production of a short film which consisted of me researching my chosen genre’s conventions, planning my product, highlighting what I wanted to achieve and then creating the product using what I had learnt in pre-production. I decided to work alone, giving myself the role of director, cinematographer and editor, however, I chose actors to play the parts of my characters. All of my work was placed on a blog, using Blogger; the URL of which is www.arronbassfilm.blogspot.com,  My aim was to turn the audience into voyeur-spectators, placing them in the shoes of antagonist, subjecting them to a particular point of view. In addition to this, I also aimed to use stylistics of the psychological thriller genre, and to put the audience in to a state of suspense, through restricting the narrative, in this instance by restricting the audience from seeing whose eyes they’re looking through (the antagonist) creating a mystery which is slowly resolved through the flashback sequences.

                         I began my project by first outlining my genre (psychological thriller) and narrative style (The Spider and The Fly (in which the antagonist would prey on the protagonist by setting a trap for her, through a series of intricately designed events). After this, I began researching my chosen genre, looking for key features and the conventional macro features which would need to be found in my film. The narrative, I found, was often non-linear, either starting at the end, or ending at the beginning, or featuring flashback sequences. For example, ‘Memento’ (Christopher Nolan, 2001, US), a psychological thriller, begins at the end and continues to reveal the narrative backwards, with black & white scenes intercut between the colour scenes, which take place in the past. The film eventually ends at the beginning. I opted to use flashbacks in my short film, making a linear narrative with non-linear features (so to conform to the conventions of the chosen genre), such as flashbacks; creating a sepia look in post-production to allow my audience to recognise that it wasn’t in present time (see figure 1). I also found that a narrative feature of the psychological thriller was the preying of men on women, the outcome usually being the death of the female protagonist. This allowed me to define my characters as a male antagonist and female protagonist, who would eventually be killed, as the conventions called for this conclusion. The antagonist usually has sexual motives, however, I found this subject uncomfortable to deal with, and so the motive of my killer, who is psychotic, is to merely take revenge on a former lover, which is found in some psychological thrillers. The madness is his motivation, rather than sexual motivation. My narrative consists of a female college student walking home through a forest, a shortcut, only to be hunted down by her ex-lover. The realistic setting and back-story gives the feeling of the possible, striking fear in to the audience as this could easily, hypothetically, happen to them. It became apparent that voyeurism was a large theme found in psychological thrillers, created through the use of cinematography. This is especially found in Alfred Hitchcock films (Psycho, 1960, USA, for example, in which the use of POV shots place the audience as the voyeur director, looking through the eyes of the killer). To achieve this voyeuristic feel, I used extreme long-shots and pans, the latter mimicking the movement of the head as the protagonist walks by, as well as adding the diegetic sound of heavy breathing which would enhance the voyeurism.

Figure 2

I aimed to create an alignment with the protagonist, who is represented through the antagonist’s point of view, by making the audience feel worried for her. This preferred reading is seen throughout my short film, as the restricted narrative means that we are bothered about someone watching her from a distance. Towards the end of my film this preferred reading changes, as I want the audience, when she is about to be killed, to be distanced from her. This is shown through cinematography and mise en scene, with the pan to a low angled medium close-up of the antagonist taking our attention from Holly’s distressed body language. Furthermore, the usage of a cut edit, to an extreme long-shot creates distance between the audience and the two characters, making what the antagonist does less shocking. However, audience feedback contradicts this aim, with one audience member, who was filmed in an interview, said “especially when she was killed, I was absolutely gutted for her, because it just wasn’t what I expected at all”. I decided to distance the audience from Holly, after the revelation that she broke his heart, to create a negotiated reading. The audience would have to choose their alignment; having to negotiate the morality of John, the antagonist, being violent towards Holly and the morality of Holly breaking John’s heart because “it just isn’t working” – the only reason given in the narrative, with no mentioning of domestic violence beforehand. My narrative style, as aforementioned, consisted of a linear structure interrupted by brief flashbacks. Was it successful? I believe so. I say this because one setting, the present day, was set entirely in the woods, where the antagonist would stalk Holly, the protagonist. I chose a forestry setting because it is secluded, connoting that the protagonist will not easily escape the antagonist, but it is also a setting which features in the audience’s everyday lives, as the location I filmed at was just down the road from me, making the setting very real for the audience, and therefore very scary. However, conventionally the protagonist and the antagonist would have had a previous love encounter, so taking note of this, it became obvious that the past needed to be brought up in order for the present to clearly make sense. However, at some points in the film, the narrative doesn’t convey itself clearly to the audience, such as at 00:02:00 where Holly sits down, she is supposedly disorientated by the finding of her keys (shown through the use of slow-motion) but audience feedback, in the form of a filmed interview, has revealed that it is unclear as to why she sits down, with one audience member stating “yeah it did get unclear, like, when she was sitting down against a tree; I didn’t quite understand why and what effect it was meant to have”, when asked if the narrative became unclear at any point. In addition, the climax where she is sat down again, following another flashback, was intended to show that she had given up, she was being submissive. However, some audience feedback suggests that this wasn’t made clear enough, stating on a feedback form “she (referring to Holly) sits down twice, randomly, and I didn’t know why”; although some understood this, the majority of the target audience had guessed this conclusion, such as another audience member on a feedback form who stated “she sat down at the end but I’m guessing she was giving herself up”. With a passive audience in mind, rather than an active audience, it is clear that these plot holes needed to be made clear, perhaps through re-shoots, which simply wasn’t a possibility. Overall, however, I believe the narrative flows nicely with props being found in the mise en scene triggering a flashback to John and Holly’s relationship and the significance of that item to the relationship. A cause and effect pattern. This brings up another narrative flaw, which, when taking audience feedback, didn’t come up. The items found in the forest, by the protagonist, were intended to be placed by the antagonist, as he planned to lead her where he wanted her, whilst also bringing back memories of the two together. However, I believe that this is not obvious enough to the audience. The audience, however, did seem unaware that they were looking through the eyes of the antagonist, at the beginning. I showed Holly walking in to the forest, through a POV shot, but even with the diegetic sound of heavy breathing, the audience took a little while to realise it was a POV shot. Taking this in to account, I don’t possibly know how I could have made it more obvious, without physically showing the antagonist first, something which I didn’t want to do. As the camera pans to follow her, the heavy breathing getting deeper, Holly goes from a clearing in to thick forestry, obscuring the view of the voyeur-director audience (see Figure 2). This connotes that she is getting tangled in a web, a trap set by the antagonist, and is a metaphor as the person who is laying the web (the trap) is the spider, the antagonist, and the prey gets caught up in the web; in this case Holly is the fly. This refers back to the narrative style of my film – ‘the spider and the fly’.

Figure 3

I initially aimed to use lots of quick-cut edits, but decided to change this aim and use lengthy shots, to create suspense. My other aims, such as turning the audience in to voyeur-spectators were successful, in my opinion. The use of extreme long shots and the protagonist looking in the direction of the camera at the hearing of a branch snapping, coupled with the diegetic sound of heavy breathing, turn these shots in to POV shots, and because most of the short film is shot through the antagonist’s POV, the audience become complicit and are forced in to the particular viewpoint of the antagonist. The first scene in which the antagonist is shown is near the end, after a series of match-cut on actions with Dutch angles (see Figure 3), connoting that Holly is disorientated. She is disorientated because she doesn’t know why she’s finding her possessions in the forest, which constantly remind her of John, the antagonist, and her ex-boyfriend. When she comes out of the thick forestry, the Dutch angles are juxtaposed with a steady over-the-shoulder shot, with the antagonist in the background. The narrative is restricted, as the audience only know what Holly knows, which isn’t a lot as she is confused and scared. So, when the audience are finally shown the antagonist, we ask ourselves questions; who is he? What is he doing there? What are his intentions? However, if the audience was to look further in to the semiotic landscape, they would realise that the character in the distance is the antagonist, due to the dubbed in diegetic sound of an eagle, which connotes that he is a predator; Holly being the prey. This particular feature was influenced by ‘Psycho’, were there is an eagle constantly looking over Norman’s shoulder, in an attacking pose, before he kills Marion. The diegetic sound of an eagle, in my short film, was simply an aesthetic choice to show that the male in the distance isn’t a saviour, but an antagonist. The eagle was also influenced from the final scene in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, in which an eagle can be heard during the final duel in the Western.



Figure 4

                        My main aim was to create suspense, a convention of a psychological thriller. I believe I achieved this aim, with 20% of my target audience stating, through digital feedback forms, that the film was “very suspenseful” and 60% thinking it was “suspenseful”. Furthermore, 30% said they were scared (with 40% saying they were a “little scared”). The horror aspect, according to my audience feedback, came from the final scene (see Figure 4), as they didn’t expect the protagonist to die, and ultimately shocked and frightened them. It became obvious that some re-shoots had to be done, to clarify parts of the narrative in certain parts. However, this could not be achieved because I shot my footage in autumn, and a week later the leaves were gone and snow covered the ground. I decided to leave my film as it was, as I liked it, although some narrative clarification was needed, continuity was much more important. My locations, however, were perfect. I believe I got the setting and mise en scene just right as prior to the main shooting schedule, I went to possible locations, taking photographs and linking them to my narrative and the micro features that I wanted to use; creating dutch angles (the final dutch angle was inspired by this image, taken from 'The Blair Witch Project', Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez, 1999,US) to see if they looked good, for example. Furthermore, the post-production went smoothly for the simple fact that I had made a storyboard and animatic, which helped me to put together the pieces of my short film. The pre-production phase made my post-production work much easier. Another of my aims was to use the stylistics and conventions of the psychological thriller genre, which included extreme long-shots and POV shots, both of which played a large role in my short film, as the point of view of the antagonist was key to creating suspense, another of my aims, and the extreme long-shots put distance between the audience and the protagonist, creating the impression that the audience, as voyeur-spectators, were stalking the protagonist; following her and looking at her when we shouldn’t be.

                It appears, from audience feedback such as digital feedback forms, print feedback forms and video feedback interviews, that my film was enjoyable to watch. The audience were interpolated into the film, with them wanting to know what would happen to the characters, and what would happen at the narrative resolution. I am very happy with the finished product, as I believe it fulfils the majority of its aims, minus the usage of quick-cut editing which I later decided not to widely use. However, I am aware that some shots look shaky, as some were hand-held tracking shots, for example, making it difficult to focus on the protagonist who is running. Unfortunately, as previously stated, re-shoots could not be done, due to the seasonal changes which would disrupt continuity.

Word Count: 2,310

Completed Short Film:

Coursework Completed:

I have completed my FM3 Creative Project, and will now upload my short film and evaluation.

Re-Shoots:

It is evident that I can't do any rushes, at all, because of the seasonal changes. I previously had problems with re-shoots because I filmed the majority of my film in summer-like conditions, with the sun blaring and next to no wind whatsoever. When I intended to do re-shoots, the weather changed and there was lots of snowfall, even meaning college was cancelled for a short period of time. The snow, as you may know, stuck around all the way to the Christmas holidays and beyond, and afterwards there is heavy rainfall and because autumn has come and gone, there are no leaves on the trees and the sun barely ever shines like it did in my footage. Despite this, I hoped that I'd be able to do some re-shoots in the forest; hoping that the leaves would grow back before the deadline (I don't usually pay attention to changes in the amount of leaves/colour on the trees). However, it has come to my attention that more snowfall is expected in February and the leaves, as I expected, aren't around. I can now clarify that I will be doing no re-shoots because of continuity, but I am extremely happy with the footage I have got from last year.

Furthermore, I have handed in the second draft of my evaluation, and I am waiting for it to be marked and returned to me so changes, if any, can be made.

Update:

My evaluation has been handed in an marked. There are lots of changes that need to be made, and I will publish it on here as soon as I have perfected it.

Update:

I have been working on my evaluation over the holidays, whilst also looking at some issues with my production. I have found that I really need to re-shoot some of my footage, in some instances, because of camera shake, plot holes in which Holly, the protagonist, sits down and the reason doesn't quite come across to the audience as well as the ending, which I believe looks good, but I would like to try different endings and camera angles, also, so that I can choose which one's better.

Feedback 3:

Below are a collection of audience feedback forms, which are similar to my 'genre convention forms', but relate to my own production rather than what the audience would expect.

The form below was my original audience feedback form. However, I changed it in order to make the questions more open, as the one shown below features 'closed questions' which lead the audience to an answer. Something I didn't intend to happen, and won't be of any use to my post-production.

Below are the revised feedback forms, where the questions are more open and don't lead the focus group to a certain answer. I got a group of 5 people, from my target audience, in a classroom, where I showed them my short film. These people acted as my focus group, and their feedback is shown below:

PERSON 1:

PERSON 2:

PERSON 3:

PERSON 4:

Person 5 didn't hand in his/her feedback form, but from the feedback I have already gathered, I can assume that he/she would've put the same.

Update:

I have finished my production, and I am now working on my first drafts of my evaluation. I will be working on this over the christmas holidays so that a draft can be published to this blog.

Audience Feedback 2

I have gained more audience feedback, shown below:

Audience Feedback 1:

I have finished my short film, and have shown it to my audience. My short film will be published at a later date, but as at the moment I am focussing on my audience feedback videos. The video is shown below:

My finished Short Film: ANALYSIS

I have finished my short film, and I will now analyse it, like I did with my textual analysis', so I can highlight the micro-features of my project and fully reveal the creativity found in my short film. Also, the beginning part which is found on trailers was just me messing around with possible beginnings, and won't be in my final uploaded version. There will also be music in the ending credits, which I mention in my analysis.

Throughout the short film, continuity editing is seen as to allow a cause and effect pattern to take place. The beginning consists of the title credits, featuring the production company and director name and title of the film. The font used looks prestigious and well-written, as opposed to Comic Sans, for example. This makes it look professional. The non-diegetic dubbed sound of music, which is called ‘Une année sans lumière’, a song by Arcade Fire. The song is calm and quite, which creates a gloomy mood, but not a scary one, which again lulls the audience in to a false sense of security. The atmosphere soon changes however, as Holly believes she sees something in the forest she is about to enter. I thought about mise en scene a lot, in the production of my short film. I wanted to create Holly as a stereotypical geek; therefore the costume she wore was intended to reflect this. The checked shirt, buttoned to the top and sleeves rolled down, is iconic of ‘geeky’ attire. This was to reflect her personality as being reserved and shy as opposed to outgoing. This is contrasted by the antagonist’s costume, with him wearing a tracksuit with sport attire such as ‘Nike’, which is iconic of the ‘chav’ subculture, who are stereotypically violent and unfriendly. The first scene in the short film consists of Holly walking along a narrow piece of grassy land. At a straight angle and medium close-up, the camera backward tracks her as she walks toward the audience, who aren’t aware of the place she’s going, as her destination is behind the camera. The camera, still in the same shot (so no edit), pans left as Holly seems to see something in the distance, behind the camera, already creating some mystery. The camera pans to an extreme long-shot of the forest, which is the setting in which the diegesis is set. The setting itself, a forest, is iconic of psychological thriller/horror films as it is the perfect setting to hide antagonist’s in, including monsters, ghosts amongst others; it is also a place which a fear is built in to us, due to the mystery behind them, and how travellers in the past would report strange sounds (such as an owl, for example). It connotes mystery, something which scares us. Furthermore, forests can also be disorientating which not only means that it’s easy for the protagonist to get lost there, it is also a place which would be hard to escape from.

From the previous backwards tracking shot, and then pan to reveal what the protagonist was looking at, the camera then cuts to an extreme-long, low angled POV shot. This reveals that Holly had seen something in the trees, and sparks concern in the audience as well as fear and mystery. The angle was low to denote the posture of the antagonist, whose eyes the audience are looking through, as being crouched down, trying to stay hidden, highlighting the fact that he’s stalking her, basically. To enhance the POV, the diegetic sound of heavy breathing has been dubbed on, as well as the non-diegetic background music, which is intentionally disturbing and abnormal, in order to create an uncomfortable atmosphere. Holly walks right past the antagonist, with this scene utilising continuity editing from the last, and she is thereafter represented in a low angled long shot as she becomes closer to the antagonist, whose head movements are denoted through a pan to the right, to show that he is staring at Holly. Furthermore, as you can see in figure 1, the narrative style is depicted on-screen, as well as the revelation of the antagonist’s plans, through the mise en scene. As the antagonist moves his head to follow Holly’s movements, we can see that there are lots of leaves and foliage in the way, which Holly is about to “walk in to”. The foliage is intentionally web-like, connoting that she is walking in to the antagonist’s trap, so already, deconstructing the short film, the audience know that the antagonist wants to harm the protagonist.

The camera then dissolves, depicting a lapse in time since the last shot. Holly can be seen, in a LA LS, to have her phone out, as she is talking to her mother about her taking a short cut and that she will “be alright”, an example of ironic playfulness with the audience realising the antagonist’s plans understanding it. It also puts the audience in to a false sense of security as Holly has contact with someone who could help her, and that she genuinely believes that she will be safe. Throughout these scenes, to make the diegesis believable and realistic, ambient sound has been left in, such as the sound of birds and the wind swaying the trees, thereafter shaking leaves. Other ambient sound has been added, such as bird songs to sections where in one scene there may be birds making lots of diegetic ambient sound, where the next scene may not, which, if placed together, the two scenes would detach the audience from the short film because there is a sudden drop of a certain sound, unexpectedly. As the camera pans to follow Holly’s actions, the camera fades to white, again to depict a time lapse. She is now putting her phone away. In the next shot, following a cut edit, there is a straight-angled ELS of Holly, who walks towards the camera until she is at a long-shot range. Noticing something to her left (right of the screen, for the audience), the camera then pans right, revealing a set of keys hanging from a branch at a LA close-up. The pan creates the keys the focus of attention, because they are key to the narrative, as they help to progress the narrative further. The camera then pans, whilst slightly tilting, to show Holly’s face as she has picked up the pair of keys. This is because the look of confusion on her face is also key to character development as it creates the sense of her not knowing what is going on.

Thereafter, the conventional use of a fade to white, with the dubbed non-diegetic “woosh”-ing sound reveals a flashback sequence; connoting that she is thinking back to the past. To emphasise the fact that it’s in the past, there is a sepia effect added to the flashback sequence to highlight it’s movement away from reality. The shot thereafter is a straight-angled long-shot, showing the antagonist and protagonist on the bed, with the protagonist handing John some keys. This is significant as it reveals that they are close and that she trusts him, with their closeness seen in the frame, as they are close to one another, it is hinting that they are in a relationship. The mise en scene suggests that they are in the bedroom, due to the bed, which is significant because it is a personal place which suggests that the two are close. Afterwards, there is a fade to white once again, allowing the audience to recognise that the flashback is now ending. There is now a mid-shot at a high angle (the angle shows Holly’s weakness in the situation) of Holly looking distressed and looking around in fear. This is shown through a series of cuts – match-cut-on action’s to be precise. The hectic use of cutting, whilst also following continuity editing, creates a hectic atmosphere to highlight Holly’s confusion, terror and anxiety, as she feels like she’s being watched and therefore swinging around to look in all different directions. Thereafter, she walks hastily away, her body language suggesting that she’s still self-conscious about being watched. This is shown through a pan, at a LA/MS to show that she is leaving the setting. There is a fade to black in to the next scene where Holly is represented at a straight angled extreme long shot, with the time slowed down by half. This connotes the protagonist’s disorientation, and is emphasised when a twig snaps (diegetic sound) where she quickly looks in the direction of where the sound came from, when the camera also suddenly cuts to that general area. This is now a POV shot and startles her out of her trance-like state as well as the audience’s, who have been given a calm slowed down atmosphere where it doesn’t seem likely that anything will happen – lulling them in to a false sense of security. The quick cut edit, basically, startles the audience as it would the protagonist. Ensuing this shot, Holly then runs out of shot, where a cut edit follows. This shows that no considerable amount of time has passed since the last shot, and a hand-held tracking shot, of Holly running away, follows. This is up to interpretation as to whether it is a POV shot, as it doesn’t really look like one. However, it was intended to be a POV shot as the diegetic sound of heavy breathing can be heard over the shot.

Another fade to black follows this shot, as Holly, represented at LS/SA comes to a halt, slowly, as she sees something off-screen. The camera is situated so that it can see behind the protagonist, also, to reveal that she is no longer being chased, and is therefore safe for the moment. The camera slowly pans to track Holly’s movement to the right of the camera frame, which creates suspense as the audience is delayed in seeing what she seems so worried and confused about seeing. The camera continues to pan, revealing a shirt hanging from a tree branch, similar to the one she is wearing. As Holly goes to pick it up, the camera cuts to a low angled mid-shot to allow a closer look at the shirt, as it is important to the cause and effect narrative development, and Holly’s face. The camera begins to pan-in to her face, and a flashback follows. Again, the fade to white is used, and the bleached sepia effect is seen to allow the audience to recognise that it is a flashback. There is a low angled mid-shot of John, who speaks diegetically. He hands over a bag, and a cut follows, now showing Holly at a HA MS, who takes out the shirt, which is the same as the one she found hanging from the tree in the present. This is an example of conventional stylistic usage of conversations, when the two characters are detached emotionally from one another. Although they go out, I wished to make it so that they weren’t really all that close, as it is later revealed that Holly was often beaten by John.

After yet another fade to white, Holly is in the present day. Time, however, has progressed during the flashback, as she’s moved to a different setting in the diegesis whilst remembering the past. She is represented in a high angle, again to connote that she is weak and powerless against the antagonist and her fate. Another diegetic sound of a twig snapping can be heard, which is followed by Holly getting up and instead of running away, she runs towards the sound. This is a sudden change in her personality as she is now willing to confront the problem, and not run away from it. She runs in to the thick forestry, where match-cut-on actions can be seen to continue the continuity editing. There is an extreme long shot at a Dutch angle, as Holly runs towards the camera, to a LA MS, and runs off screen. The camera cuts to another Dutch angle at a mid-shot, as she looks around looking for a way out. The Dutch angle connotes that, once again, she is disorientated, but this time it’s due to the thick forestry limiting her movement and vision, not fear. Another cut follows at a normal angle, HA MS. The camera pans right to follow her movement, as she manages to find her way out of the bush to a path, where the shot ends with a long shot, straight angled and over-the-shoulder. The antagonist can be seen in the background. However, for all the audience know he could be someone to save her. However, the fact that he has a baseball bat and the diegetic dubbed sound of an eagle flying overhead connotes that he is a predator and that he is eventually going to kill her. She is the prey. The camera cuts to a medium close-up, at a straight angle, of Holly’s face, to reveal emotion, which is fear, on her face. The camera then cuts to a medium shot of John, the antagonist, at a low angle. The baseball bat, a prop within the mise en scene, can be seen clearly, backing up his violent tendencies, as well as him spitting, which is a vulgar act that is frowned upon in modern society. This act of spitting on the floor was intended to show that he, basically, isn’t a very nice person. Because of problems faced with re-shoots, I initially filmed it wrong and couldn’t re-shoot it. Basically the scene looked odd, because when the camera cut from Holly to John, they where both in the centre, when really they needed to be on opposing sides. In the end, I ended up reversing the footage of John, so that I could place him on the left hand side, opposing Holly who was on the right. This was because, during filming, I failed to take in account the 180 degree rule, and I had to salvage it in post-production. You can see, by the top the antagonist is wearing, that the shot has been reversed. As you can see, the ‘AIR’ (for ‘Nike AIR’ brand) logo is backwards, which is odd if it is noticed. However, it is not easily noticed, and even I sometimes forget that I reversed it, and I bet even you didn’t notice that it had been reversed, until I mentioned it. This is why I decided to leave it in the final film, because it worked, and was too subtle to notice.

Following the previous shot, the camera cuts to a close up of Holly’s face, still staring at John from a distance. There is then the usual fade to white, where the past is represented through the use of a Sepia effect. The conventional non-diegetic “whooshing” can be heard again, as the audience will be familiar with this sound when being confronted by a flashback sequence. There is a long-shot of Holly, who is in the background but also the centre of focus, with John occupying the foreground at the outer limit of the frame to the left, at a low angled medium close up. They exchange diegetic dialogue where Holly breaks up with John, and it is shown that John is upset and angry, also, at this. To show that time has progressed in the flashback since she tried to break up with him, I decided to add another fade to white edit, but still continued with the flashback sequence. In this shot, it is revealed that Holly suffers domestic violence from John as, when she tries to leave, he grabs her and throws her to the couch. A cut follows (for continuity purposes a cut has been used to show no significant amount of time has passed) this to represent John, with Holly off-screen, at a low angled mid-shot, as he punches Holly. This violence, however, is implied violence as the camera also fades to white as the act is happening, and Holly is actually off-screen (she was actually behind the camera, behind the scenes, and John punched a pillow). However, the diegetic sound of Holly screaming and pleading with John connotes that she has been hit by him.

After the fade to white to the present time, Holly is seen to have sat down at a tree. She has submitted to him, as she knows she can’t win. She is represented at a high angled long shot and the camera then pans left to reveal John walking on-screen. He is shown at a medium close-up at a low angle to reveal his power in the current situation. After all, he had planned this eventuality and has the weapon, so is in control of the situation and the power is in his hands. Following this, he begins to talk (diegetic sound) whilst swinging his bat, which is significant as it connotes that he’s impatient and truly wants to harm the protagonist. He begins talking about killing her, in a cliché sort of way, but it is cut short as he states “and now I’m going to kill you”. The camera then cuts away from this as he begins to approach Holly, to give a wider view of the diegesis. Holly can be heard to be pleading with him to “not do this”, which he doesn’t listen to. He can be heard to say “I love you” before he kills her, which highlights his madness, that he’d kill someone he loves. Thereafter, as he swings the baseball bat to attack Holly, the camera pans to the right, again to leave the violence to the audience’s imaginations. It is, once again, implied violence. The diegetic sound of Holly’s scream again connotes that he’s hit her, as well as with the sound of the baseball bat hitting something hard, which emphasises this. The camera slowly fades to black, where a quick cut to a baseball bat, with a bit of camera shake, is shown at a straight angled close-up. It is covered in blood, and the camera is supposed to represent a POV shot of Holly, as she has just hit the floor (hence the camera shake) and the bat has been dropped by John, who has fled the scene. Following this is the end credits, which at this stage feature no music, but the final version will most likely feature happy, up-beat music. This will be inspired by the Reservoir Dogs’ ‘ear scene’ in which happy music is played during a harsh, violent scene. This will leave the audience with many emotions. The music will make them feel happiness, but the events that happened prior to the ending credits, such as the killing of the protagonist, will also leave them feeling shocked, horrified, scared and in despair. This will confuse them, and the music, hopefully, will make them feel like the antagonist – happy at the death of the protagonist. I aim to play with the audience’s emotions.

Word Count: 3,081

Update:

I have been editing; adding the title and end credits to my short film. I am almost at an end of my production, and my finished short film will be added on a later date. Because the main part of my film has been completed, I will now also be gathering audience feedback in the coming weeks.