My main roles within the project were the script writer, actor and editor. This enabled me to have experience in all aspects of the project – from the planning, to the production and finally the post production. Along with the director we had similar views of how we imagined the images and frames to look like and so the pre-production was an easy task when creating the storyboard.
One main aim of the opening sequence of a film is to draw the attention of the audience and keep them engaged to the action/storyline. I believe that we succeeded in this by creating mystery that would engage the audience and make them ask questions and become curious to watch more. By showing the murder, the audience would want to find out the motive and watch more, which is human nature, to be nosey in others domestic issues. Audiences will only give the film a couple of minutes to interest them before disregarding it, and so I found it important to create enigma. However I realized that by puzzling the audience with situations and making them ask questions would mean we would have to set the scene out explicitly.
To approach our documentary style I had to ensure that the set and costumes were all realistic and fitted with our over-all colour scheme. Like many horror films the action takes place at night and so to follow the trend we concluded that this scene should take place at night in the dark – this then set out our colour scheme of dull dark colours. The dark colour scheme and surroundings also symbolises the gloomy action and atmosphere created. I realized quite early on that darkness creates shadows and that we could create interesting shots. The costume of both characters were of dark colours to merge into the scheme, however, I wanted the audience to feel more sympathic with Nicole, the protagonist (who was the fiancé - victim). In this opening scene, as the limited knowledge of the storyline means that she is seen as the victim, I dressed her with a white top underneath my jumper to symbolise innocence. It would be later exposed in the film that she had deserved it and the audience should change views when more information is revealed.
The story is set in the suburbs of London and the audience shall notice this from the accents and clear vocal delivery used by both characters. To emphasize the issues that are apparent between Nicole and Beth, any dialogue/ interaction between the couple are edgy and uncomfortable so as to give a subtle hint e.g. lack of direct eye contact, snatching etc.
Even though we were keeping to a documentary style, I wanted to show a range of camera shots and compositions. We used both a hand held and static camera to achieve the shots however we found that some of the jolty handheld camera movements were effective and were purposely used to symbolise Beth’s’ panic after murdering Nicole. Our camera-work inspirations came from ‘Paranormal Activity directed by Oren Peli and ‘City of God’ by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, where fast montage shots are demonstrated often. It was effective how we used only the one light in the sitting room location as it created shadows instead of bringing additional lighting. One of my favourite shots is when the camera shoots from behind a window to make the audience feel like an outsider looking in on the action. Also the frame is made up of a double view as the window was ridged; this allows the audience to experience Nicole’s state of drowsiness and moves in and out of focus rapidly to add in a special effect.
In the post-production stages, I found the editing fun and considering that it was the first time I had ever used the software, I believe that I coped rather well. Unfortunately we didn’t shoot the scene in chronological order and so we had to re-organise it first which took a lot of time. As we had chosen a documentary style I felt as though special effects weren’t required. However I used montage editing in some places along with shot quick cuts when showing a state of panic or quick thought process and I also used continual editing to highlight the documentary manner.
From the very beginning the decision was made that there wouldn’t be much non-diegetic sound to accompany the action so that it is seen as realistic as possible. However, during the later stages of post-production, we listened to a selection of instrumental accompaniments and then came to the joint agreement that we shall have it playing throughout the whole of the opening section. In hind-sight it makes our opening sequence different to any others that we have seen and creates a new influential style. The small amount of diegetic dialogue can still be heard above the accompaniment; however the music amazingly fits with the story and enhances the action.
I used titles and credits at the end of the opening sequence not merely as a source of information but to create a sense of genre and meaning. The font that we have used showcases and highlights the mysterious mood and atmosphere experienced within the sequence.
I believe that this media product would be distributed for recreational viewing in cinemas as well as educational as it should attract many audiences covering social groups suffering with similar domestic issues.
I have enjoyed producing this product and have learned a lot of new and interesting elements in film making that shall help me for future projects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film
