Film Coursework

My production is going to be a screenplay with an accompanying story board for (INSERT NAME HERE)- for the brief, establish an enigma. At the beginning of my screenplay i am going to use the opening scene to establish an enigma that intrigues the audience and makes them want to keep watching. My screen play will begin with a body in an alley and then it will cut to a girl getting ready and going to work, the enigma won't be referenced until right at the end where the final scene shows to girl walking up to the body and seeing her own body lay on the surgery slab. I'm aiming for this to be a slice of life style with the enigma making it like a mystery where the audience needs to make their own answers to the enigma and for them to unravel the story themselves.

When I watched the gunfighter, a comedic short film that used the voice over to provide narrative to an otherwise generic scene I decided that I was going to use this technique in my work. I wanted to provide my character with some sort of voice and inner monologues, by using a voice over I am able to give a sense of comedy relief to my otherwise very serious plot line.

After watching the curfew I was really inspired by the use of enigma and the camera work throughout the movie. In order to establish enigma the director uses close ups on different important factors in order for the audience to understand that it is significant but they never specifically address the things they establish and this is to create curiosity in the audience. A good example of this is when he is sat in a bath clearly surrounded by blood with a blade next to him, he clearly wants to kill himself however he also has a phone next to him as if he wants someone to stop him. All of these things create an enigma and in the audiences mind we wonder if he truly wants to due or whether he wants someone to stop him however this is never answered in its entirety and instead we just watch him get back out and leave the bath. I'm really inspired by the way that the enigma creates interest in the plot. I want to implement this in my own work. Specifically I want to use this at the beginning when a body is discovered but it won't get acknowledged till the very end of the short film. I want the audience to solve the enigmas themselves rather than providing them with the answers.

Another movie that provided me with inspiration was About A Girl, I really liked the way that the short film has a twist at the end in order to create a shock ending. By drawing the audience in and then creating a shock at the end the director makes the audience think. Throughout the movie the girl is carrying a plastic bag and goes about her normal day, it doesn't seem strange and the audience wouldn't really question why she is carrying it just like the people in the scene however just as the short film ends the girl throws a dead baby into the river creating a shock ending. The director drew the audience in to give them a shock and create questions. The realist element of this movie doesn't make you question the girl and when you see this it really is meant to shock the audience.

The aesthetic of INSERT Name really inspired my movie as the low-key lighting and dark tones really created an intimate and warm feeling despite the rather dark topic of the short film. At the beginning short, fast close ups were used in order to establish the scene and to give the audience a brief understanding of the scene but the plot could become confusing for a passive audience. I really like the way that the warm candle light creates a sense of intimacy between the couple highlighting the fact its meant to be cozy and happy but the long table depicts a different idea, expressing to the audience a great distance between the couple. By using mise-en-scene the director let's the audience read the couple rather than explicitly saying that they aren't close and I want to take inspiration from this in my short film where I will establish the mise-en-scene but I'll let the audience read into it.

Alfred Hitchcock Presentation Lesson

In this class i produced and presented a power point. When I was presenting a fellow classmate gave me some feedback on my presentation.

She said that my presentation needed to be more interactive which i agree with as i could have improved the way the my presentation looked and it needed more visuals because it was way too bland and uninteresting in presentation. Not only this but I needed to write down a little more and re-search from multiple different places. I also should have added my locations where i got my research from the end.

However even though i had some bad things my classmate still learnt something from me even if it wasn't interactive. She said that I actually told the information really well and the way that i spoke was very engaging and when i was speaking she listened and i told her the information really well she managed to learn.