FLASHBACK SEQUENCE LOCATIONS - Ella Ponting (EP)
In order to assess the suitability and practicality of our desired locations as well as potential hazards that may arise, we discussed locations we could use in our local area that would best match our film genre. Doing so helped us to finalize our plotline and aided us to gain a better understanding into some of the visual styles we would incorporate to make best use of the space which allowed us to obtain a better idea of what the outcome of our film may turn out like. For our Psychological Thriller/ Semi-Biopic film about sleep paralysis, we decided to use 3/4 central locations mainly consisting of indoor environments to allow the build up in tension. As our film is about sleep and is set at night we felt it appropriate to have the main location as being the protagonist's bedroom as this is where most of the motions and actions of the film will occur. Our other locations will include a typical family room with a kitchen, dining, living room area where the protagonist will spend a lot of her time growing increasingly uneasy as the night progresses. A lot of films in the Psychological Thriller/ Horror genre include conventions of Woods and Vast Landscapes to mirror a character's sense of isolation and acts as a foreboding and ominous setting. Therefore, after researching more into our film's genre we decided to incorporate this into our final project by using a dark woody area in the protagonist's garden as a key place where she experiences hallucinations. Finally, our last location will be the counsellor's office, this location will provide a stark contrast to the dimly lit rooms of the house and will add a sense of realism into our plotline. We decided it would be sensible to use a small area of our media classroom as this location as we will have more access to sound and camera equipment as well as assistance from the teachers if necessary.
1. Protagonist's Bedroom
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| 1. High-Angle MS of Bed.
For this set we are using my own bedroom as we felt that it was a good environment to use in terms of space and lighting. The bright twinkle of the fairlights juxtaposes with the dark tone of the piece and allows them to stand out in comparison to the dark light. For this shot I took a high angle shot of the bed with a teddy bear in amongst the covers. I felt that this gives the set a more personal touch and makes it more believable that this could be somewhere that the protagonist would sleep. This type of shot may be used in our film as to provide a better look at the character and allows the audience to see more closely the character's expressions allowing them to have a more intimate understanding of the protagonist. I felt that after taking this shot that I could envision where the character may be and the bear provided me an idea of where the protagonist may come into the frame.
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| 2. Eye-Level Long Shots of Bed.
For this frame I used a long shot at eye-level with a shallow depth of field to illuminate the sense of distance between the bed and the door and to provide a unique and unusual perspective on the bedroom. This allows the audience to focus on the fairy lights whilst also being given an insight into what may be happening in the foreground. This shot may be effective to show the transition of the protagonist moving from her bed to lean over and press a switch on the alarm clock or possibly to show the protagonist moving towards the door. Shooting in an environment which I am familiar in will provide a big advantage whilst filming as I will have a better understanding of where to take the different shots and which angles to use that will best suit the film sequence.
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| 3. Bird's-Eye View CU I incorporated a Close-Up shot here as to allow the audience to gain a closer look into the small details of the set. For our filming, one idea I had was to include the protagonist's hand or a feature into this shot as to give the audience further information into how the protagonist is feeling allowing them to relate more to the character. I felt as though the colourful birds flying juxtaposes with the dark undertones of our film and provide stark imagery: birds represent freedom yet in our film the bed represents entrapment. The creases in the bedsheets add texture to the shot and makes the setting seem more realistic and imperfect, similar to a stereotypical young person's room. |
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| 4. CU of Bookshelf
Once again, this frame has a shallow depth of field and places more emphasis on the object closest to the character (i.e. the bookshelf) and thus the objects in the foreground are slightly blurred. This shot adds an artistic element to the film and may be used, for instance, when the protagonist is attempting to get to sleep and walks over to the bookshelf and pulls a book out of it. Including only a small section of the mirror in this shot may be effective, especially if we decide to reflect an image of a monster or demon in it and want it to be half concealed. This shot places more emphasis on the motions of the character rather than revealing her face, adding to the mystery and suspense of our short film piece.
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| 5. LS at a High Angle
This shot allows the audience to gain more of a feel for the room and environment that the character is in, it creates a chilling ambiance as only a small section of the room is lit up. I decided to drape the fairy lights around the bed primarily to add more emphasis to where a lot of the action will take place as well as reinforcing the main theme of our film (sleep paralysis). This high angle shots creates the illusion that the protagonist is being watched and elevates the watcher as being a more powerful force than the protagonist. A LS was used also to add to the sense of emptiness and isolation that the protagonist may be experiencing and creates a dark and unsettling atmosphere.
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| 1. LS at Eye-Level of Kitchen area
A long shot was used to indicate the space of the setting and so that the audience can gain a better idea of the environment that the protagonist will be in. The darkness seeping through the windows provides a stark contrast to the brightness of the fairy lights and the intricately lit room creating an unusual and chilling effect. The eye-level angle allows the audience to watch the action play out through the protagonist's eyes and makes the audience feel more connected to the characters in our film. The emptiness of the kitchen also adds to the the sense of isolation and indicates that she is alone in the house and trapped in her surroundings.
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| 2. MS at a High-Angle of Living room area
I took a Mid-Shot of the living room area at a slight high angle to capture the room's rustic effect. Conventions often associated with psychological thrillers/horror films are big old houses with a flickering fire and I felt as though this would be effective to re-create with our final piece. I felt as though the blackened fireplace and brickwork fitted into the dark, sinister undertones that we want our film to capture. The old brickwork also adds to the rustic, archaic feel of the room and alludes to the room being slightly decaying adding to the chilling effect of our film. A high angle was used to capture this frame to give the illusion of the audience looking down on the scene and watching the drama unfold.
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| 3. LS at Eye-Level of Dining room area
A Long-Shot was used here to reveal another section of the room and to show the large windows and doors at the far end of the room. The reflections in the glass panel of the room indicate to us that potentially we could play around with this convention to illustrate the character's sense of uneasiness and discontent as well as using this as a baseline to one of the character's hallucinations where she feels as though someone is watching her. I took this shot at eye-level to make the audience feel as if they are walking into the room alongside of the character, establishing a sense of connection between the audience and the characters and engaging them to continue watching our film.
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| 4. CU at a Low Angle
Close-Ups are often effective in providing the smaller details in a film and giving the audience a different perspective. Here, I incorporated a Close-Up shot as I found the darkness as the juxtaposition between light and dark here creates an unusual, chilling effect. Whilst the fairy-lights suggest an ascetically pleasing object normally found in a family home, they are also effective in providing reflections off the glass and creating an artistic effect in the process. The Low-Angle was once again used to reinforce the sense of connection between the audience and the film's characters. The angle indicates that the character is looking up and thus allows the camera lens to become the audience's eyes, allowing the audience to view the action from the eyes of the protagonist.
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POSSIBLE COUNCILLOR'S LOCATIONS - Ella Ponting (EP), Sara Avramovska (SA) and Monisha Roy (MR)
First Location by Ella Ponting
1. Councillor's Office ( Library Space - pictures taken by Monisha Roy (MR) )
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| 1. Over-The-Shoulder Shot of possible location for Counselor's Office
Monisha took this shot to demonstrate using a shot-reverse-shot technique, where OTS shots are used to establish who is speaking and to show the character's reactions and responses to one another. The misé-en-scene of this shot is very important as it creates the aura of a stereotypical Counselor's office adding to the realism of our film. For example, magazines and leaflets are scattered across the coffee table in between the two chairs, this is indicative of a Counselor's office who is using a series of leaflets to demonstrate to their patients what do to in their situation. Two comfy looking chairs are placed opposite each other showing that the layout of the room is designed to create a relaxed environment where the Counselor and their patient would sit.
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| 2. ELS of possible location for Counselor's Office
We decided to also take a look at different areas of the school library to try and find an environment that will best match our film and create the effect of a Counselor's Office. In this space, Monisha took an Extreme Long-Shot of an area in the library with a sofa and beanbags arranged round a corner of the room. The use of a comfortable sofa and beanbags also establishes an environment similar to that of a Counselor's office as these spaces are created to try and create a relaxed environment. A Extreme Long-Shot was used to indicate the size of the space and to give us a feel of the room and to establish the setting.
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| 3. LS of possible location for Counselor's Office
This shot includes two possible places for the Counselor and their patient to be seated and also allows the audience to gain a sense of the space and to establish the setting. The bright purple floor makes the place seem relaxed and welcoming yet the formality of the table and chair emphasises that this is a place where problems are taken to the surface and strategies are discussed. The brightness of the floor juxtaposes with the dull navy blue colours of the sofa, beanbag and chair providing an unusual and unique effect.
CONSTRUCTION - Possible Locations + Our Chosen Counsellor's Scene Location (PREZI BY SARA AVRAMOVSKA) |
(Sara Avramovska) NOTE: IN TERMS OF NARRATIVE THEORY, I HAVE INCLUDED THEORISTS THROUGHOUT THE BLOG IN RELATION TO MY WORK. I ALSO PREFER TO REVISE EXAM THEORISTS IN MY MEDIA BOOK RATHER THEN ON BLOGGER. DUE TO THIS, I HAVE NOT POSTED ANY THEORETICAL RESEARCH ON THIS PAGE.
TODOROV'S NARRATIVE THEORY - Ella Ponting (EP)
Tvetan Todorov suggested that there were 5 stages that are generally followed in conventional film structures:
1. State of equilibrium
2. Disruption to the equilibrium
3. Recognition of the disruption
4. Attempts to repair disruption
5. Establishment of a new equilibrium/ return to the old equilibrium
The state of equilibrium often acts as the 'calm before the storm' and occurs at the start of the film where everything as it should be, with the characters are happy and blissfully unaware of their impending doom. This occurs to establish a sense of normality to the character's lives and to provide stark juxtaposition between their lives prior to the disruption and after the disruption occurs. For our film, we will follow some of the elements of the narrative theory, however we don't want to completely stick to the conventional narrative structure as it removes the element of suspense and unpredictability. In our film, our protagonist's 'state of equilibrium' would be the start of the flashback sequence where our protagonist is getting ready to go to sleep and carrying out her bedtime routine.
The disruption to the equilibrium is often a main dramatic/tragic event in the film which, stereotypically, would be resolved by the end of the film. It is generally pieced together as an event destroying the protagonist/character's happiness, however the event is often depicted as fleeting and perfectly solvable. For our film, the disruption to the equilibrium occurs when she experiences her first episode of sleep paralysis in our 'demon scene' where the demons interrupt her night's sleep. Despite this, it is revealed in our counsellor's scene that her troubles with sleep paralysis have been an ongoing issue in her life and it isn't something tangible that can be immediately solves. This echoes the long ongoing struggles people with mental health issues face and how the road to recovery can be an extensive process.
The recognition of the disruption is often depicted as a moment/scene in which the protagonist/characters in the film acknowledge what has gone wrong. This is reminiscent of the structure of many modern day relationships: e.g relationship breaks down, denial, acknowledging what happened and moving on. For our film the counsellor's scene is indicative of our protagonist accepting that this is what she is dealing with, simply by arranging a meeting with the counsellor, the protagonist is admitting that there are issues that need to be dealt with.
The attempts to repair the disruption often act as the most suspenseful gripping moments of the film, often in action films where the heroic character, frequently a young muscular white male, attempts to save the world/ the object of his affection from a terrible evil force. However in our sub-genre of 'psychological thriller' the attempts to repair the disruption are also displayed in the counsellor's scene as our protagonist seeks advice and support from the counsellor in her time of need. Unlike most films that follow this conventional narrative structure, it is evident in our film that our protagonist's psychological problems won't simply disappear suddenly, and that it is more of a gradual process before she reaches her 'equilibrium'.
The establishment of a new equilibrium/ return to the new equilibrium act as the 'happy ending' for most films showing the characters returning to a more grounded, safe and happy place in their lives. For our film, as we are only constructing a five minute piece we do not reach a new equilibrium towards the end of the film. This is partly due to our wish to leave the film suspenseful and unresolved, a convention used frequently in psychological thrillers; to create this anticlimax, establishing a form of resolution to the protagonist's problems didn't seem to fit in with the dark ominous atmosphere we are attempting to create in our film.
Example of a psychological thriller following Todorov's Narrative Theory:-
Panic Room (2002)
The disruption to the equilibrium first transpires when the house is broken into with the aim of stealing $3 million dollars hidden away in a safe in the floor of the panic room. The house is broken into by the previous owner's grandson called Junior, an employee of the resident's security company and a gun-man whom Junior employed for this mission, Despite Burnham (the employee of the resident's security company) being apprehensive about continuing with the robbery after finding out that the house has been occupied earlier than anticipated, Junior convinces him to go ahead with the plan and the three emerge into the house.
The recognition of the disruption to the equilibrium first arises when Meg wakes up to see on the surveillance footage that a robbery is being taken place in their new house. Before the three robbers can reach them Meg and her daughter rush to the panic room and close the door behind them to attempt to create a distance from themselves and the intruders and reach help.
The attempts to repair the disruption first emerge when Meg attempts to reach help on the phone in the panic room, however this proves unsuccessful as Meg hadn't yet connected the phone-line. Numerous attempts follow to contact someone from the outside world, this includes flashing a torchlight through the ventilation pipe to signal to her neighbour, yet despite acknowledging it he chooses to ignore their pleas. Eventually Meg manages to connect to the mains telephone system and contacts her ex-husband Stephen before she is cut off by the burglars. Due to her child Sarah having diabetes and suffering a seizure, matters become more desperate and eventually after the remaining two robbers enter the panic room, Meg seizes their gun and forces them to inject her daughter with the emergency glucagon syringe. Ironically, the successful attempt to repair the disruption comes from one of the robbers himself, Burnham who kills Raoul and saves Meg and Sarah.
The establishment of a new equilibrium/ return to the old equilibrium occurs when once again Meg and Sarah are back to searching for a new home in the newspaper after the police turn up who capture Burnham
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