Between the devil and the deep blue
Our film will be representing the psychological genre is several ways. The first of which is the core theme that being life and death. Many psychological films focus on the idea of life and death and it's finality and inevitability. Such as Donnie Darko. The film we're creating also focuses on death but in our case how death isn't inevitable and that to some extent one may choose when they die. Of course this is excluding old age that's going to happen no matter what. The second way our film reflect the psychological genre is the tone, we are looking towards having our film set mostly during dusk with the only scene during the day being the scene on the beach which is a form or redemption scene so it would make sense to have our character brought into the light, literally, the tone will be conveyed also through the juxtaposing of dialogue as one character will be very bright and enthusiastic and the other will be dark and dismissive and finally the last will be violent and rude. This is also reflected in the mannerisms of the character the mother having a closed posture while the friend will have an open one while the boy will maintain a neutral stance. Finally the last way we will be sticking to the psychological genre is through the story and the way we manipulate the characters, as it isn't clear if the boy is dreaming or hallucinating all these people we will have them disappear around trees and corners when we need them too. This is common from the mind bending genre and is also a very useful tool for telling a simple story quickly as we don't need to waste time travelling we can just have him appear there. These are the ways that we are going to stick to the genre of psychological drama.
There are many shot types to be found in the psychological genre of film as it is a wide and varied genre that focuses more on the characters and plot over the visual action and as a result we are treated to a wider range of shots. However there are some that are a mainstay of the genre such as the close up, this is most commonly added in order to show a character's fear or confusion, two emotions found a lot in the psychological genre. The close up can also be linked into a common edit that is used in the genre, that being the shot reverse shot, many interactions in the psychological genre are intense verbal standoffs and as a result a shot reverse shot that slowly gets closer and closer to the two parties faces is highly effective at conveying the emotions at play in the scene. Next is the establishing shot. The psychological genre can be a very slow paced genre that must give time for the audience to catch up on the plot so far. As a result there are many quiet moments and these are often filled with the use of an establishing shot, this might be a static frame of a natural landscape, or a fly over of the city where the film is set. Either way this shot type is common to the genre and is a simple one to implement. Finally the montages and smash cuts are used very frequently in the psychological genre in order to show a faster paced scene which is packed with tension or fear. This might be a chase scene or a hallucination scene. This edit is more common in the faster paced films in the genre and can be highly effective at not only displaying information to the audience but also to disorientate them. As of course disorienting visuals and confusing plots are highly common to the psychological genre. The example represent the cut the best. The bed roomThe bed room will be shown very briefly and will always be darkened, there will be a soft yellow light to represent warmth and home. This is meant to be our characters 'safe space' so to speak and this is where the film will open and close. The location specifically will be my bedroom as of course there are limits in budgets and time. The forestThe scenes in the forest will constitute about a third of the films run time. In this time we will be presented with the friend and the first dialogue where we are told that he is mentally ill. We will be filming at dusk in order to represent the growing darkness in the character. Specifically we are going to be filming around the wooded area close by to port marine. We chose this area because it has a high point without a forest canopy which will allow us to take advantage of the natural light that will be flowing in during the filming. The schoolThe school scenes will again make up about a third of the films run time as the friend returns to the boy just in time to aid in the confrontation with the mother. She will return with information about the boy's mental state and the fact that he's being poisoned. we wanted to give it a very clinical feeling so we have found a stair way in which the confrontation will take place allowing us to use low and high angle shots to present the friend as angelic and the mother as demonic. The location specifically will be Gordano school as it is where I go and therefore the easiest and cheapest option that will still serve our purposes well enough. The beachThe beach scene is the last scene in the boys 'dream sequence' and it will have him turning his back on the pills and his mother to start a new life without them. This scene will be filmed ideally at dawn. However the specifics of getting that to work are unlikely at best and impossible at worse so any time where there is a lot of light to make the scene feel optimistic will be enough. The beach we will be filming on is directly adjacent to the forest to allow us to perform much of the shoot in one day. The motherThe mother or the "devil" is the main antagonist of the film as she is the one that is subtlety attempting to poison and kill the antagonist the boy. As a result the representation of the mother in this film will be very negative. Her clothes will be dark and her demeanour dark and brooding. She wont shy away from swearing and shouting and screaming. She will be wearing mostly dark colours and any close ups of her will not feature her forehead to ensure that the audience understand that she is angry and vengeful. The boyThe boy is the antagonist of the short film so as a result we will be showing him as the "hero" and the film will focus on his point of view for the full duration. The representation of the character will be that of a mentally ill male teenager aged around 17-19 years. To represent this we will have him taking pills and the beginning and middle of the film in order to make it clear that he is ill. Further more will we have him scratch his ear and generally have a reserved demeanour. He will deflect questions back on to others and avoid them wherever possible only when cornered and pushed for an answer will he respond. His clothes will be dark blues and greys with small areas of colour to try and present some warmth. The friendThe representation of the friend will be simple. They are a friend and that's all the audience that needs to see. She is meant to be a mysterious helper that appears and disappears and she is simply a hallucination of the boy. She will be dressed in bright colours and will speak in loud and clears tones. She isn't a deep or complex character and doesn't need to be in order to push the story forward.
There are very few key props that will be used in the film. This was done to ensure that the film is affordable to make but also to make sure that when props are used that its something extraordinary and therefore draws the attention of the audience. The pill bottle
Opening bedroom:
Props:
Forest: Props:
School: Props:
The beach Props:
The introduction to the review follows standard form by outlining the critic's opinion on the film, that being that it is a strong film that over steps its boundaries a bit and causes the film to become muddled. However they quickly loop back and he then praises the film and says that its a strong first film for the writer-director. The end of the opening paragraph is often what the reader will remember the most because for many that's where they stop reading so as a result the whole review is boiled down to that one sentence. The second paragraph talks about the over arching themes of the film and the introduction to the plot. The exposition about the films plot continues into the second and third paragraphs and we see a rather in detail blow by blow lay out of the story. This may put of some reads as it would be considered spoiler territory but for others they might draw satisfaction from the detailed break down of the plot. After all the key goal of a film review is to be entertaining to the reader because many will just read the review and never watch the film. The reviewer concludes their break down of the plot and begins to break down the specific elements of the story such as the floaty camera work that makes the film feel dreamy and the music that is a call back to the nineties. They now begin the process of talking up the film by comparing it to other successful works and throwing in big directorial names. This name recognition is a big deal in film reviewing if you compare this film to a successful film by a big name then its more likely to get noticed. The final paragraphs focus in on the names of the film, in particular Gyllenhall and Robert Downey Jr. which are selling points for the film as I said before names can sell a film for some. Further more we get some background and light analysis of their performances all of which are positive. The final paragraph is a glowing review that praises the music the setting and technical work of the film that leaves the reader in a positive mind set about the film and leaving no doubt about whether the film is worth a watch or not.
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