Film Studies – FM3 Creative Project – Reflective Analysis/Evaluation Adam Amini
For my creative project, my brief was to create either a short film (3-5 minutes in length) or a 3-5 minute scene from an imagined film. I chose to do the short film brief, as I was looking forwards to the opportunity to develop and create a full film, considering genre, narrative audience and stylistics. The development of this project is shown through my online blog: http://adam-amini-filma2.blogspot.com/.
I decided to make a film within the psychological horror genre, as I have always been a fan of horror films and I enjoy the more discreet and subtle style of horror present in psychological horror. The initial steps of my research and planning was to research the conventions of Psychological Horror, which I did in the ‘Genre Conventions’ blog posts (brief conventions post: http://adam-amini-filma2.blogspot.com/2010/09/genre-and-outline-of-conventions.html, in depth conventions post: http://adam-amini-filma2.blogspot.com/2010/10/genre-and-conventions-in-depth.html/) . These helped me to later decide on stylistic elements of my film based on the genre conventions (such as low volume, ambient music full of bass to build suspense, making the audience feel uneasy and scenes with a blue/grey hue to reflect the negative emotions of the characters).
Before starting the bulk of my research, I had to define the aims and context of my film. The context of my film is that it is a 3-5 minute short film production of the psychological horror genre, called ‘Forget Me Not’. The audience of my film (being the same as the audience for psychological horror,) consists of both men and women within the age range of 15-30. My main purposes were to progress the narrative of the film while inciting tension and fear in the audience, and to reflect the character’s fears. The stylistics I decided to use most effectively were editing and mise-en-scene, as I thought they would allow me to fulfil the purposes of my film, and they would be useful for incorporating the conventions of psychological horror found in my research (such as the editing feature of flashbacks, and mise-en-scene hinting at characters emotions (i.e. cramped mise-en-scene showing entrapment). Stylistic inspirations for my film included many modern films which fall under the genre of psychological horror, such as Silent Hill, (Christoph Gans, 2006, U.S.) and The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002, U.S.).
In my genre research, two of the main recurring themes I encountered in psychological horror were Religion and the possibility of the evil being an imagined result of the character’s paranoia or mental issues. As the idea of vengeance and people being punished for the evil they have committed can be seen as representative of religious ideas, the narrative of my film itself adheres to the two themes. The fact that the protagonist (an anti-hero to a certain extent,) who murdered his wife a year ago, is being haunted by her ghost (her form of vengeance,) as punishment for what he did until he himself dies, reflects the idea of Peter suffering for the sins he had committed. The idea of the evil being imagined by the protagonist is also present in my film, as the many occurrences in which we see ghostly activity, (the mirror scene and the blood on the floor, for example,) are only witnessed by Peter, and given his evidently unstable lifestyle (the mise-en-scene of empty bottles signifies his heavy drinking,) coupled with his guilt and fears that someone knows of the murder, means it could be possible that the ghost isn’t real, only in his head. This is also implied by the fact that in the final shot of the film, when Peter is about to kill himself, none of the blood is visible, implying that now he is paying for what he has done he isn’t being ‘haunted’ (whether it was by his own mind or his wife’s spirit).
Textual analysis of other psychological horror films influenced many of the stylistic decision present in my film. For example, the colour of the film was heavily influenced by contemporary psychological horror films, such as the aforementioned Silent Hill and The Ring. Both of these films have a very saturated, blue/grey hue to them, which is used in my film. This is a convention of psychological horror, as it gives the footage a very cold and eerie look, building the mood needed to make the audience feel uneasy and susceptible to the subtle horror. The saturation, taking away most of the colour of my film, also distances the audience from the character of Peter, as the lack of any bright colours leads the audience to feel no passionate emotions, preventing them from aligning positively with Peter.
The contrasting editing was also found to be a convention in psychological horror, whether it was the slow paced shots in the ‘Nurse’ scene from Silent Hill (http://adam-amini-filma2.blogspot.com/2010/10/textual-analysis-03.html) or the faster paced editing used in the ‘Se7en’ title sequences (http://adam-amini-filma2.blogspot.com/2010/10/textual-analysis-02.html). The slower editing makes the audience feel uneasy and builds tension, often allowing for a sudden release of fear to have more of an effect on the audience (this style of editing is used in my film when Peter is in the bathroom, and the very slow-paced shot while he is opening the cupboard makes the apparition in the mirror seem even more shocking). The faster-paced editing can be used in many different ways in psychological horror; in my film it is used in the flashback shots to make them more sudden and make the violence depicted more shocking, and in the climax of my film when Peter is cleaning the blooded floor to disorientate the audience and reflect the fear and confusion of Peter.
My research also influenced my use of music, as in the genre, music is usually slow and low pitched music, to build tension and suspense and make the audience feel nervous or expectant. The music then usually builds up in moments of horror and the climax of the film. This is similar to how music is used in my films, as it is initially slow paced and quiet music, (such as the piano song in the opening credits) and then builds up towards the films climax, adding to the emotion of the audience.
Initial stages of production involved deciding on the storyline and writing a script. To help me develop the story I had to think about the story type my film would follow. It is a combination of the ‘Faust’ and ‘Fatal Flaw’ story types. Peter’s fatal flaw is the fact that he got away with the murder due to his manipulative ways, in doing so, he ‘sold his soul’ and abiding by the conventions of the Faust story-type, he pays the price when he is haunted and subsequently commits suicide. After writing and developing the script (providing dialogue and a clear sense of narrative in my film,) I roughly drafted a storyboard to get a vague idea of how the film would look visually.
The two factors which influenced my decisions on props, costume and settings (the main factors in the mise-en-scene) were the representation of characters, and the implications each decision would have for the narrative. For example, the location of the film is an average family home. This connotes the idea of marriage and love, as they are the tradition basis of a happy family life, therefore the connotations of my location contrast with the fact that the marriage of Peter and Maria clearly wasn’t happy, as he was an abusive husband. Also, the idea of the horrific events (the murder and haunting) taking place in a family home, therefore a familiar setting, adds to the horror generated in the audience when they witness the film. The costumes of characters represent how the audience should feel towards them. Peter is wearing a dirty grey t-shirt; the grey colour complements the saturated colour, and has negative connotations as grey connotes unhappiness and the lack of bright colour makes the character less appealing to audiences, which reflects how he himself is an evil man, and the fact that the t-shirt is dirty signifies how Peter’s life has gone downhill since he murdered his wife. In the flashbacks Maria was wearing blue to connote how she was unhappy in her life, and her ghost, while frightening in appearance due to the special effects make up, was wearing a white dress which connotes the fact that she was innocent and was initially a victim.
Other props such as empty alcohol bottles on the coffee table and floor were used to imply the negative sides of Peter’s personality, as he was shown to be an alcoholic. In the opening shot (when Peter is asleep on the sofa,) the focus pull brings Peter in line with the empty alcohol bottles. This juxtaposition of character and prop is an effective combination of mise-en-scene and editing (the focus pull) to give insight into the life of the protagonist, thereby affecting how audiences view him. Maria’s ring is also important, as within the narrative it acts as the key signifier which starts Peter’s guilt, leading to his suicide. This is also combined with editing to progress the narrative, as the shot of Peter looking at the ring is juxtaposed with a flashback shot of the ring on Maria’s hand, making the link obvious to the audience.
Another important part of the editing was some of the different effects I used on the footage. For example, to distinguish that they were flashbacks I used a feature found on Adobe Premier Pro called ‘Matrox Shine’, which added the harsh lighting and hazy quality to the flashback shots. The effect of this was that it made it evident that the shots were in the past (due to the lack of colour) and the whiteness of the image is similar to the conventional dip-to-white for flashbacks, which would have been too slow paced for my film. I also used double layering of shots to signify how Peter is disorientated and possibly intoxicated, as seen when he is leaving the bathroom in the point of view handheld tracking shots.
In the climax of my film, the editing and mise-en-scene are combined to provide an effective ending. The red blood on the floor contrasts with the white tiles to imply how Peter is an evil man and his murder of his wife was a horrific event. It also foreshadows his death as in the following scenes he kills himself and his blood is in a similar place on the floor. The shots in which Peter is cleaning the blood are also echoing earlier flashbacks of him cleaning up after his wife’s murder. As he is cleaning up the blood the shots are fast paced and lack continuity (the hundred and eighty degree rule is broken and shots are taken from both sides of Peter,) which is effective in confusing/disorientating the audience and implying Peter’s disorientation, and double layering of footage is also used in the point of view shots which are edited in. The fast-paced editing stops and there is slow-paced continuity editing, as Peter looks at and there is a point of view close up shot of the knife used to kill Maria, still covered in blood (representing Peter’s crimes). The slow paced editing and close-up of the knife signify the importance of Peter’s decision to end his life and give Maria her justice. The dip to black then reveals a sobbing peter, devoid of the murderous rage he showed in the flashbacks, ready to end his life. His death is signified by the cut to black.
The final shots of my film switch between the ‘real’ world (Peter’s corpse in the mess he lived in) and the ‘spirit’ world (Maria, now the ‘head’ of her own tidier yet devoid of colour (representing her death) home, centrally framed in the living room where, ironically, Peter was at the start of the film). The slow-paced tracking shot adds a sense of finality to the film, signifying how Maria is ‘at peace’ and the horror is over, and towards the end of the shot the fast-paced cuts imply how Maria’s spirit (being revealed by the cuts,) has enacted her swift revenge on Peter, and now has her place in her own home. Some of the footage of Maria on the sofa was reversed and jump cuts are used to give her an even more eerie and ghostly appearance in the way she moved, adding to the feelings of horror in the audience. There is a final cut to black, as the audience are left in contemplation of whether the haunting was in Peter’s mind, or whether the ghost was, as the ending implied, real and seeking vengeance.
The stylistic element of music, while not one of my main focuses, was also used effectively in my film, particularly at the end, when the crescendos in music represent the heightened emotions of characters, (Peter’s remorse and Maria’s anger). The decrescendos in music are coupled with the slower-paced editing when Peter sees the knife, reinforcing the significance of the knife, and also coupled with the final cut to black, signifying the finality of Peter’s actions, and Maria’s victory.
As my film was uploaded to You Tube for the purpose of uploading it to my blog, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL8nJv5KkeA), I decided to use Social Networking sites such as YouTube as a basis to get audience feedback, as they are used mostly by males and females within the mainstream 15-30 audience (i.e. the target audience of my chosen genre). Criticisms of the film included the fact that one audience member felt that the opening title sequences were too long and distracted audiences from the film itself, as they made the opening slow-paced, and another criticism regarding mise-en-scene was that the colour in some scenes was not continuous. I agree with both of these criticisms, as looking back, there were even shots other than the titles which are perhaps longer-paced than they should have been, such as when Peter is opening the ring. There are also several shots, i.e. when Peter is leaving the bathroom, in which the colour differs from other shots within the same sequence. This is mainly due to the lighting on different days of filming and the artificial lighting needed due to the darkness of the room. Positive comments were made, however, about the music choice and how, combined with the edits it adds to the overall creepiness of the film, and also about the editing of the flashbacks and the contrast between the flashbacks and Peter asleep on the sofa in the opening scenes.
Overall, I believe I adhered to my aims and context and used the main stylistics of editing and mise-en-scene (as well as cinematography and music) to make an effective psychological horror film aimed at the mainstream (male/female 15-30) audience. Examples of how I used my main stylistics are slow paced editing to build tension in the mirror scene and the fast paced, non-continuous editing of the climax to disorientate the audience. Mise-en-scene was utilized when I juxtaposed props in the shot next to Peter to imply aspects of his character (i.e. the alcohol bottles) and the use of colour (the conventional blue/grey hue, and the red blood connoting the violence of Peter and his previous crime).
