Visual Aesthetics, Mood & Tone

The house that we our filming the entire short in is quite a white washed house and gives quite a cold appearance due to its high ceilings, large rooms, white walls and cold colour palette. Because of this the visual tone that will come across will also be quite cold and almost bland. This is similar to in the film Silver Linings Playbook, filmed in a normal American neighbourhood, a lot of the backgrounds are quite plain and and bland. This film is an example of how a film can have these kinds of locations yet not come across as a very cold and depressing film.

An idea taken from Jacques Audiard's Rust and Bone is from the sequence where Marion Cotillard's character finally comes out of her house and the sun breaks through the clouds. The use of flares is very heavy meaning that the frame is filled with light, so much that is blinds the audience. This exaggerates the feeling that she has finally got out of the house and she's overcome by it all. This is an idea we could take for when Emma leaves the house towards the end of the film. She comes outside to take a break from it all and to enhance the difference between her life inside the house and outside it could work well to use flares as if her going outside is like a new beginning. This also helps make the audience believe that she may be walking out for good. This filming idea does require it to be sunny on one of the days that we film and since we have to film in October (or later in the year) it is quite possible this won't be the case. If is isn't sunny we will experiment with the exposure and other techniques to give a similar effect.

 

TB

Colour Design in Film

COLOUR DESIGN IN FILM

Colour in film is not all about style and aesthetic, it is also often used in such a way that symbolises different things, a director who is known for doing this very successfully is M. Night Shyamalan. His most famous film for doing this is The Sixth Sense, in this film the colour red is used to warn the audience that something ominous was about to happen. The audience however is not so aware of this until it is explained to them, it isn't obvious when watching the film yet subconsciously the audience will associate the colour with bad things. Shyamalan uses the colour red to indicate a connection with the world of the dead.

The film Lady in the Water, also a Shyamalan film, uses the colour of the heart-shaped swimming pool that changes from blue to black as the mood in the film changes. This is also a recurring theme through the film using the bright blue colour to invoke certain moods.

An idea for a recurring theme we could use in our short film was not a colour but an object - the rubiks cube. We had an idea where the boy could always have the rubiks cube in his hand throughout the film and then when he has his meltdown he loses it, however it could also be a device his mum uses to calm him down.
TB

Narrative Audience Feedback

We spoke to some potential audience members, a 30yr old, female actress and a 34yr old, male, director.  We chose to speak to these two individuals because they are part of our target audience and obviously have experience in casting and acting. In the interview we asked them about our narrative.

They thought;

"I like the narrative, it's simple but effective which is imperative for a short film. I think you need to get clearer ideas and structure, at the moment it's a bit … hazy"

"if you make the motifs like the cereal or something clearer you'll have a better continuity"

"My favourite thing is the simplicity, I just think it's really sad, the poor mother, it makes you want to know what has happened and what happens next, it's great!"

From this we've taken that they liked the simplicity and that to make the narrative better the clarity of images and scenes needs to improve. We will make the 'motifs' like the Rubik's cube more obvious and symbolic.

2| So Far

So far, we've managed to interview a focus group and summarise our plot, characters and overall locations.

We have a clear idea of how it'll look and how we want to put it together. The storyline is very simple and hopefully will create tense atmosphere throughout the film. We should feel at the end of the film like this circumstance is an everyday occasion that the mother cannot escape and that Jack simply can't help his emotion and has a mind far younger than his actual age.

Theo & I are continuing with locations and recce's this week. We plan to summarise our audience research and create a summary of information and how we have adapted our film to it.

By the 30th October we plan to start filming, and do the whole film within a few days as it's all filmed in the same house.

HH

The Narrative

ACT1

1. Child (Jack) on stairs bumping down like young children do when learning to walk, at each step his clothes change, showing that this is a daily routine.
2. His mum (Emma) is setting up the kitchen table, aligning cereal boxes and neatly setting a place for Jack to sit at.
3. He is sitting at the Kitchen table surrounded by 7 very neatly organised cereal boxes, meticulously he picks a certain amount of grains per box and places them in his bowl. He then pours the bowl until it reaches exactly half full. He stirs twice clockwise with his spoon and thrice anti-clockwise then licks the spoon to check its ok. Then he begins eating.
4. All the time Emma has been moving around him doing her own morning activities. The scene is played at an increased speed but filmed in two motions, it will seem that the boy is eating at a normal speed but that Emma is moving far faster around him, appearing in and out of the shot. Wearing a dressing gown. This is to show how long it takes him to eat his cereal.
5. Now Jack is standing staring at something out of shot of the camera, the camera rotates 180* to show a large lego sculpture that the boy walks towards and begins to add more pieces, slowly picking the pieces from a colour coded box and adding them precisely, not forcing them on but placing them definitively in their correct location. 
6. Emma leaves the kitchen in background (out of focus) and goes upstairs, Jack is on the living room sofa, and pulls a Rubik's Cube out of the cabinet. There is a close up on his hands and the Rubik's cube is completed in 20 seconds. 

ACT2

1. Jack is sitting on the sofa watching TV, (discovery channel). Mum, Emma is in the office at the front of the house, busy taking a conference call. We see photos on the windowsill of her and jack, her at work and her with friends and just of jack. 
2. Jack sees the cube beside him on the sofa and smiles, he gets up and the camera follows him out of the kitchen and to the office. 
3. He tries to show Emma the cube but she pushes him away briefly, trying to focus on the call, she types whilst speaking. 
4. Jack starts to freak out and Emma realises, sighing she hurriedly to calm him but is busy talking.
5. The voice on the phone asks 'Sorry is this a bad time' She has to switch between Jack & conference call but can't handle both.
6. Jack pushes the phone out of her hand and it falls down the small stairs. She gives up and focuses on him to calm him down. She takes the cube and tells him how impressive it is. 
7. She puts the planet earth DVD in the DVD player and the TV rises out of the cabinet. She sits him in-front of the TV and makes sure everything is working.
8. She goes to her desk and looks over photos, chooses photo of her in her youth with friends and work colleagues. Picks it up and goes out to the front of the house. Leaves the front door on latch.
9. She lights a cigarette and leans by the front door,  just holds the photo to her chest. 
10. As she goes back into the house she picks up the milk bottles from outside the house and closes the door. 

HH

Alternative Graphics

In the film Black Balloon graphics are used in the first few opening shots of the film for added affect, and to tie in with the credits. They seem to reflect the views and behaviour of an autistic child, seeing everything simply as it literally is. This is a common symptom of autism for example they often struggle to understand metaphors (e.g. its raining cats and dogs) as they tend to understand them literally.

These graphics are very subtle but add another dimension to the film and highlight the main topic of autism.

TB

Locations

These are photos of the house that are the areas that we would use in our film. The first photo is of the kitchen table where the boy would eat his breakfast, the stairs would be used in the opening sequence, and the sitting room for where the boy would have his meltdown.

The style of these spaces are very minimalist and open which will help when we are trying to set up simple, open and well composed shots in act 1. The more colourful sitting room will also work well for the boy to have his meltdown in, as we hope to use colour to help show the boys confusion and anxiety.

We aim to show through our film the life of a normal middle class family, who happen to have an autistic child. This is important as we don't want this family to be seen as a "special case", but rather that they are the same as any other family but they have the difficulties added on of having to look after an autistic child. I think that using this house and these rooms will help to give the feel of an average middle class family.

Overall I feel that these locations will work well because they will make it easier rather than harder to film, and they will help set the tone of the film.

TB

Emma, the Mother

HH

Narrative Ideas

ACT 1

1. Child on stairs bumping down like young children do when learning to walk, at each step his clothes change, showing that this is a daily routine.
2. He is sitting at the Kitchen table surrounded by 7 very neatly organised cereal boxes, meticulously he picks a certain amount of grains per box and places them in his bowl. He then pours the bowl until it reaches exactly half full. He stirs twice clockwise with his spoon and thrice anti-clockwise then licks the spoon to check its ok. Then he begins eating
3. All the time his parents have been moving around him doing their own morning activities. The scene is played at an increased speed but filmed in two motions, it will seem that the boy is eating at a normal speed but that the parents are moving far faster around him, appearing in and out of the shot wearing a dressing gown then a suit etc. To show how long it takes him to eat his cereal
4. Now the boy is standing staring at something out of shot of the camera, the camera rotates 180* to show a large lego sculpture that the boy walks towards and begins to add more pieces, slowly picking the pieces from a colour coded box and adding them precisely, not forcing them on but placing them definitively in their correct location. 

ACT2

1. It's now been established that the boy has some kind of OCD or mild form of autism from the meticulous acts we've seen in ACT1, in this first scene we see a young babysitter enter through the front door, roughly age 18/20, but noticeably younger than his parents. The child awkwardly greets the babysitter, and watches his parents leave. It's apparent that he has become tense from the babysitters presence and her overly friendly, patronising tone. 
2. He sits very still at the central isle of his kitchen, watching the babysitter made his lunch. She is a very messy cook, she leaves everything out on the sides and re-uses the pan for several different foods. Each time she creates more mess, he twitches slightly. 
3. Finally he can no longer handle it and gets up abruptly, moving away from the kitchen, to the living room where he sits crossed legged in-front of Planet Earth or some other wildlife show. 
4. Moments later the babysitter brings over a messy plate of food, the couscous is mixed in with everything and the plate is simply a pile of mush. She leaves the plate in-front of him and goes back to the kitchen to tidy up.
5. The child stares astonished, and then recoils slowly away from the plate, we can see the babysitter out of focus in the kitchen, moving around pans and occasionally taking a sip of juice or shoving bread in her mouth. 
6. The child slowly starts to whimper and cry, only quietly at first. He then starts squirming and screaming. Gradually this becomes more violent until every muscle in his body is tensed and he is almost paralytic in upset on the floor of the living room
7. The babysitter comes running over and is clearly distraught, she has know idea what to do or how to help. She calls his mother, whilst trying to comfort him and rubbing his back. 
8. He is slightly calmer now and the babysitter is hurriedly getting a glass of water for him to drink. She has used tap water in a dirty looking glass cup. 
9. As he sees her approaching with the glass his episode heightens and he begins to return to the fit he had previously been having.
10. His mother rushes in through the door and seeing the plate of food on the floor and glass gets the babysitter to move it and then holds her son. 
11. It takes a good five minutes for the child to finally calm down. At which point the mother puts back on the wildlife program crosses his legs for him. The mother goes over to the kitchen where the babysitter is sitting and clearly looks very upset. 
12. The mother tries to pay her and comfort her, but the babysitter refuses the money and hurries out, apologising profusely all the time. 
13. The boy is now relaxed again and in the final shot we see the opposite of the opening sequence, him climbing the stairs in a different set of clothes each step. 

HH

Focus Group

We gathered a focus group of 6 people to get their views on a short film I had already researched, and to ask a few questions on the plans for our short film.

The short film I showed was An Ordinary Day. Their response to the short was that it had quite a depressing storyline, and this is despite the fact that the short does try to have a happy ending. The group were taken aback by how sad the narrative was at the start, that they walked away from the film remembering this, not the happy ending at all. I deliberately chose this short film to compare their reactions to both happy and sad parts to see which parts they remembered best at the end of the film, and which parts they liked/disliked. They said that they liked the montage sequence at the beginning of the short and that the montage idea worked well for short films. We also discussed the soundtrack of the short and they said that though they thought it was a cheesy piano track it was the only type of music they think would have worked for the film, and the short was cheesy enough by itself so the soundtrack suited it well.

I also asked them about the plans we had in place for our short film. They said that at the end of the film they would prefer to feel uplifted than depressed due to the topic of the short as they wouldn't want to leave the film thinking badly about autism. However if they felt too uplifted and happy about it then it would be far too corny, they suggested the ideal would be a balance.

Overall having the focus group was extremely useful as it highlighted that the feeling that our audience is left with at the end of the film is more vital than I had realised.

tb

Jack, the Boy

This is a mood board of different autistic children in films including:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Black Balloon

Autism: The Musical

Silent Fall

David' Mother

This mood board is simply to get a feel for the kind of look we want to go for in our character, the facial expressions are key, as shown in these photos, to defining the character and showing that they have a disability without actually saying it.

Jack is a child with a mild form of autism, he is around 13 years old but his condition means that the age he acts is far below that. However as is quite common in autistic children his intelligence is above average when it comes to problem solving, his main problem being that he struggles to communicate his ideas with other people.

He does understand that he is autistic and it is clear that he is very aware of his condition, occasionally wishing quietly that he didn't suffer from autism.

In terms of appearance he is a fairly normal looking child except that he is a little on the crazy side, such as crazy hair or wide eyes.

It is obvious that he does love his mother but since he himself struggles to interact with others, he doesn't particularly like it when she does. This is especially when it comes to work as he feels she sometimes puts work ahead of him and he likes to have her always watching over him even if she doesn't get involved in what he is doing.

He prefers his own company to the company of others as he finds it difficult to conform to social standards, because of this he doesn't really have many friends. This actually doesn't bother him much at all except on occasion, however it does really bother his mother.

HH

1| So Far

So far, we've done a fair amount of research and exploration into the short film genre. We've taken a survey of nearly 70 people including some industry experts and decided to create a socially realistic film about an autistic child.

The next step for us is to write a script and mark up a clear narrative through the film. Because we are working in a pair, we need to make sure we are both clear about what's happening and how we want the film to look and sound.

In the next couple of weeks we are going to be talking to a small focus group and looking further into marketing techniques as our survey showed that the most common reason for not watching a short film is lack of advertising. Further on from this we will be beginning to look at locations, actors and recce some locations.

HH

Autism

Autism is often described as the mystery condition. It has a huge spectrum from disabled children who are physically impaired by the disease and at the other end extreme ability in some areas, a classic example is photographic memory. Several side effects of autism are lack of attention and concentration, sudden outbursts of rage or anger, internalised 'fits' that cause muscle spasms and vomiting in severe cases. 

This is taken from the British Government Statement about the understanding of autism:

"People with autism have said that their world can often seem like a mass of people, places and events which they struggle to make sense of, and which can cause them considerable anxiety. In particular, understanding and relating to other people, and taking part in everyday family and social life may be harder for them. Other people appear to know, intuitively, how to communicate and interact with each other, and some people with autism may wonder why they are different."

The National Autistic Society suggests that individuals considering the autism scale should study the following facts: http://www.autism.org.uk

"Individuals who are considered to be on the autism spectrum are in many ways very different from each other. The range of intellectual ability extends from the severely learning disabled range right up to normal or even superior levels of intellect. Similarly, linguistic skills range from those who are mute to those who display complex, grammatically correct speech. All such individuals have difficulties in three main areas. Different authors have used slightly different terminology to describe this cluster of symptoms, but the concept of the 'triad of impairments' is widely used."

The autistic child in our film is at the Above average IQ of the spectrum, he has an incredible intellect and brain power but very limited vocabulary. He can solve a Rubik's cube in almost 10 seconds.

HH

Little White Lies Article Analysis & Marketing Research

HH

Audience Summary and Research

TB & HH

Joining Forces

My colleague Theodora Beck, another media student at Alleyn's, and I have decided to work together from this point onwards. The reason being that we both have similar ideas and understandings of how we perceive short films, we both are looking to make a simplistic socially realistic short film and because of this we are working together from here on in.

The work that we have both done previously is going to be beneficial as we can both now explore new ideas and continue researching but at a more indepth level, hopefully resulting in a more successful and exciting product at the end of the course.

The link to her blog: http://alleynsmedia-beck.blogspot.co.uk/

We plan to make a short film about a child with mild Autism and focus not on specific events but more of a day in the life of an autistic child, showing the often comedic sides as well as displaying the upsetting situations that autistic children can be involved in.

All posts from this point on will be labelled with initials TB or HH depending on who wrote/compiled the post. All posts before this point were done by myself. 

Survey Responses

When asked the question, What would you say is the biggest difference between short films and full-length films? (e.g. because of the time constraints a short film can afford to make less sense and look cool whereas a feature film should have a very obvious message and story)

our surveyors said made the following comments.

Little time for a complicated narrative

12/9/2013 11:19View Responses

Short narrative has more impact

12/9/2013 11:18View Responses

Concise, gets the point across

12/9/2013 11:17View Responses

There is less time for a narrative

12/9/2013 11:14View Responses

short has more impact narrative

12/9/2013 11:13View Responses

Narrative is more direct Cheaper to make

12/9/2013 11:10View Responses

timing, a short film has to be brief and to the point, simple

12/9/2013 11:10View Responses

a short film is concentrated into a short space so more happens without long lulls in the drama.

28/8/2013 12:20View Responses

Short films tend to have a more cult following because they are more difficult to access and are seen through word of mouth. Now more a thing for young people who access through new forms of social media which have a younger following.

28/8/2013 8:12View Responses

No funding for short films

28/8/2013 0:42View Responses

If anything I think short films are the type with the most obvious message - you have a short period of time to make an impact, true, but then the audience leaves with that message fresh in their mind. It is certainly difficult to connect the audience emotionally, but with skill it should still be easier to pack a punch. Short and snappy

27/8/2013 22:00View Responses

Short films tend to be more indie and stylised. Feature length have lots of advertising etc. Short films are less social there is no cinema that shows only short films, wouldn't invite a friend over to watch a short film.

27/8/2013 17:25View Responses

The budget spent on them

27/8/2013 16:36View Responses

Well there's a difference in length

27/8/2013 16:16View Responses

short films provide a lasting impact and a clearer overall impression of a situation, whereas long films provide a narrative whereby the viewer becomes emotionally attached to, and farmiliar with the main protagonists.

27/8/2013 16:08View Responses

a short film shows an idea, a long film a plot

27/8/2013 15:49View Responses

Short films can present a powerful idea despite their short length. Long films require a storyline or developement of ideas otherwise they are sometimes boring. With a short film, it is important to get a point across without being confusing, so very well chosen (often cool looking) shots are needed.

27/8/2013 15:12View Responses

It's hard to create a background for the story and tell you about characters before you begin the story as there's a time constraint so they would need to be fairly straightforward

27/8/2013 15:08View Responses

understanding characters, sending messages and morals, grabbing the audiences attention (its so easy to click off a short film if its boring you.)

27/8/2013 14:59View Responses

full length films are often stretched out and not as interesting to watch but short films are generally more interesting and less commercial

27/8/2013 14:45View Responses

the budget

27/8/2013 14:24View Responses

Less character development and people generally have less access to short films

27/8/2013 14:15View Responses

In a short film, you have much less time to get the point of your short film across to the audience so you're quite limited as to what material you can put into it (most short films i have seen have been to send a message/spread awareness to the audience about a current problem/ongoing issue in society)

27/8/2013 14:10View Responses

not sure

27/8/2013 14:06View Responses

the artistic freedom that comes with a short film; long films tend to be more stuck to a specific style due to their genre

27/8/2013 14:03View Responses

It's hard to have a good a story crammed into a short film, whereas full-length films have longer to explore ideas and plots

15/8/2013 18:38View Responses

There is less time for the story to develop so yeah, obviously there are limits and the film cant rely on the acting/emotions of the actors because the audience doesnt have time to connect with them in an empathetic way, so the audience care less about the film, are less affected.

15/8/2013 9:16View Responses

From the ones I've seen they try to do less given time constraints and focus on one issue / style throughout whereas feature films can experiment more with styles / issues

14/8/2013 17:59View Responses

time means they can make less sense

14/8/2013 16:23View Responses

short films have the ability to be charismatic and sometimes make more of an impact because they're quite intense, whereas full-length can tire you out and be more strenuous

14/8/2013 12:31View Responses

i think a short should change your mood, either by making you laugh or making you think about what it was trying to say - a feature length film is more of an 'experience' but a short can be more powerful if done well. It should convey the personality of the director/DOP more directly and give them an opportunity to try new ideas and worry less about what a wider audience will appreciate

14/8/2013 11:20View Responses

Short films can not really have a point unlike feature films. They can just be kookie and interesting

14/8/2013 9:35View Responses

Budget

14/8/2013 9:13View Responses

simplified stroylines

14/8/2013 6:24View Responses

Short films are more arty and more powerful

14/8/2013 0:16View Responses

Lack of developped plot with twists & turns

14/8/2013 0:15View Responses

short films can be more random and interesting, and can be made about anything at all.

14/8/2013 0:02View Responses

the short films are more strange but tend to have a subliminal message

13/8/2013 23:32View Responses

Short films don't include famous actors unlike most feature films.

13/8/2013 20:44View Responses

Less advertising and attention- but still needs to look good and make sense!

13/8/2013 18:52View Responses

A long film gives you more time to become involved with the characters and storyline so you appreciate and enjoy the film more, whereas a short film does not give you enough time to get into the mood of the movie.

13/8/2013 18:28View Responses

it's hard to progress a short film as in build up the characters and relationships so there has to be a short plot with less characters

13/8/2013 17:35View Responses

Less character development in short films

13/8/2013 17:04View Responses

Short films generally have less character development or plot development or else focus on one particular character or event rather than a series of events.

13/8/2013 16:52View Responses

Short films need to engage audience straight away whereas feature films can have more of a build up

13/8/2013 16:10View Responses

short films have the ability to get across a powerful message in less time, so concentration is still at full

13/8/2013 15:54View Responses

Short films are often a purer expression of art, as opposed to a money making/entertainment tool

13/8/2013 15:49View Responses

short films can afford to be more abstract and visually focused as they do not need to capture the audience attention for as long.. short films are better at portraying an idea or concept whereas often (although not always) a long film focuses on a story (which may then have an underlying idea or concept however a short film can focus more purely on this)

13/8/2013 15:46View Responses

Emotional impact

13/8/2013 15:43

Short Film Conventions