Between the devil and the deep blue
The reasoning behind our short film's title is rather straight forward. We took the predicament of our main character and tried to think of a good way of articulating it. In the end we settled for 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue' as it is a synonym for stuck between a rock and hard place. This effectively reflects the characters predicament. He is stuck between the devil in the form of his mother and the deep blue, which normally would mean an equally hard place but in our film it can also represent the unknown world without his mother that the boy is setting off to.
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Before I set about creating the poster for the short film I think I ought to break down what makes a successful short film poster, specifically what makes a good short film poster for the psychological genre.
This concept movie poster is focused around the protagonist, The Boy, he is centered on the left side of the poster, typicaly in movie posters this is where the protagonists are placed. As we see in many films the "good guys" move left to right and the "bad guys" move right to left. This poster also has the title font of the film in order to tie it in closer and allow the audience some degree of recognition between the two pieces of media. The second draft of the poster changes the focus to the two females in the film. These two are of course, The Mother and The Girl. As above we have followed the convention of movie posters having the protagonists on the left side of the poster and the antagonist on the right. Futhermore this dualality could tempt people into comming to see the film as it establishes the strange and psychological nature of the film.
This is the initial layout for the magazine review, we hope that the large image and bold title text will help to rope in an audience. The image will likely be the same image that we will use in our review. The three coloums to the review will reflect the three parts of the review to allow for an easier flow. The first will be general impressions and plot overview, the second will be impressions of the character and opinions on how the story was delivered. The third and final will be rounding out the impressions of the film and making comparisons to other films.
Short film reviews and movie posters are very rare and only the most successful short films merit the reviews and posters. Despite this we hope that our short film review and poster would feature across a a double page spread in empire magazine. We would like this because empire magazine is prestigious in the film world and would help to boost the visibility of our short film. Furthermore the magazine is well know as a film reviewer so our poster and review would not be out of the ordinary on this platform. Finally the magazine is global allowing our film to become far more than it otherwise would have been.
Music is a key element of many films as it helps to establish the tone of the film. We will conform to this convention in our short film by using music that is traditionally associated with the psychological genre. This tends to be dark and foreboding music often paired off against lighter music to create an uneasy atmosphere. We will be using a mix of synth 70's style music for the intro then shifting to more modern and traditional music as the film progresses. Intro music - 'Dance of deathThe intro music of the short film will be a song called "dance of death" this is a royalty free sound track from a website called purple planet, a link will be provided at the bottom. This song is inspired by 70's horror films this style of sound track has come back into popularity with the hit TV show stranger things which used a similar style of intro track and is also the TV show we drew a lot of inspiration from. The high pitch synth music is off putting and uncomfortable and establishes the theme and tone of our psychological film as uneasy. Forest music -'of elias dream'The second track we hear in the film is a song called 'of Elias dream' which is far lighter and ethereal this is meant to represent the characters exploration of the forest and to represent the happy and kind nature of The Friend who is introduced in this scene. Ensuring that the audience associates the friend with this lighter sound is vital to properly establishing the developing her character quickly. This music persists with the friend into the school scene but is quickly cut off with the arrival of the mother. The lighter tones give the audience a sense of security because the music is not explicitly suggesting that danger is imminent. School music-'INTIMIDATION'The music is only present for a relatively short period of time in the middle of the film where The Boy and The Friend are confronted by The Mother and proceed to have an argument. The music is low, deep, and intimidating as the title might suggest. This will represent The Mother as dark and intimidating and help to establish her as an unlikable character. Beach music-'Shadow lands'This music is slow and reflective, lots of piano and gentle notes that hang in the back ground for long periods of time. This softness helps to round out the film and provide a suitable juxtaposition to the opening music. The rejection of the real Mother and The Boy walking away to his new life away from her is supported by the optimistic feel of this piece and allows us to end the film on a high note but leaving questions unanswered which is a common theme in the psychological genre.
Scene 1: Bedroom
The Mother: Sleep now, make sure you take the pills The boy: [grunts] The Mother: Okay deary make sure you have them in the morning The boy: [louder grunt] Scene 2: The Forest The Friend: HEY, what are you doing here [the boy recoils and backs away] The Friend:[she circles him as she talks at him swinging arms wide and talking in a loud simple voice] I haven’t seen you in AAAAAAAAGEEEEEEES where have you been? The Boy: I haven’t gone anywhere I’ve lived here all my life, who are you, how did i get here? The Friend: Oh i suppose it may have been me that left, I don’t really recall. Besides its good to see you again do you want to walk with me for a little while, catch up ya know. The Boy: No, enough of this where am I? Who are you. The friend: Your friend silly now can we walk please I really can’t believe that you’re back. [The boy seeing that he has little choice in the matter walks along side the girl as she leads him down the wooded lane we follow them in silence for a bit before the friend lets out a sight and stops] The friend: I know you’re anti-social but this is something else, what’s happened to you? The Boy: Nothing maybe something has happened to you, maybe you’ve changed. I don’t even remember who you are. The friend: I remember you and that’s all that matters. Now why is your hand in your pocket fiddling with something it’s very off putting. [surprised the boy pulls his hand out of his pocket to reveal the pill pot. Not even realising that he had been holding it this whole time. Realising quickly that this ‘friend’ can see it he pushes back into the pocket and walks quickly away] The friend: hey no wait what was that? The boy: Nothing The friend: I nah ha that was definitely something and I wanna know what! Are you ill or something? [The boy turns there is anger in his voice now and pulling the pot from his jacket he holds it out at arm’s length] The boy: Yes i’m ill okay, I suffering with some mental bull crap and I don’t need you, whoever you are, interrogating me in a forest about it! The friend: Thought as much, well i knew as much. The boy: How you couldn’t possible have known, only me and my mother knows. The friend: and me, i knew too. You're suffering from [she pauses and squints and looks upwards and to the right] residual schizophrenia? The boy: How … The friend: I told you I knew more than you think winking she walks around a tree and disappears. The boy: What the actual fuck was that? [he whispers to himself turning up the collar on his coat he turns and walks away down the path, we follow him for 10 seconds before he turns back to the camera looks are nervously and then walks away again looking back the music builds and he breaks into a run we follow and he runs around a tree we close up on his face as he crouches down and closes his eyes we cut to black as he closes his eyes and when he re opens them we are in the school] Scene 3: The school The boy: Thank god [standing he walks across to his locker and opening it pulls out a bag from a doorway appears the friend] The friend: Awfully quiet around here isn't it? The boy: You again, you don’t even go to this school The friend: Maybe not but it’s a school and i’m young i just slipped right on in to tell you that i’m all read up on you. I’m sorry about all of this it must be hard. The boy: I don’t like people reading up on me, anyway where did you even find this out. The friend: no matter where i found it out it, i have something very important to show you. [from down the hall a door swings shut and produces a great bang] The friend: well shes caught up finally we need to get going. [looking worried she turns on her heel she pulls the boy back through the door she came through. They make it halfway up the stairs before he pulls his hand free and turns to face the door. Stood there is the friend but this time garbed in black and she laughs cruelly and lets the door close behind her] The friend: She’s there isn’t she? The boy: You’re there and there The mother: HA, I am not her boy I am your master The boy: I don’t understand The mother: I am here for you, you see you haven’t taken your pills yet [letting his hand drift to his side he slips his hand into his pocket] The friend: NO WAIT! Don’t you dare put those in your mouth The boy: I don’t understand why not? The Mother: Don’t listen to her son The boy: SON? The mother: [cocking her head] you don’t recognise your own mother? The boy: you’re not my mother The friend:[pleading] Put down the pills and come with me please The boy:[angry and defiant] NO tell me what is happening right now both of you The mother: Were making you better The friend: She’s trying to kill you! I discovered this life insurance papers made you for you in the event that you die she gets a massive pay out. Two days later you receive a prescription for an incredibly potent pill? This isn’t a coincidence. [during this the mother has advanced on the boy] The mother: She is trying to corrupt you son, we got rid of her years ago remember? The boy: No i don’t remember her or you my mother doesn’t look anything like you! [the friend too has advanced and gives the boy the papers] The friend: read them yourself you’ll see that i’m not lying to you. [the boy back towards the stairs with the friend looks as if he has come to a sudden realisation he backs away up the stairs and goes through a door with the friend the mother lets out a howl and beings clawing at the door from the other side] The friend: go now i have done my lot for you I’ll see you soon friend [the boy turns and runs we follow him as he swiftly turns a corner and finds himself alone on a beach retching he drops to his knees and vomits up many pills] Scene 4: The Beach [after spitting out the last of the pills, the boy look around for the friend. After looking all around him once, he sees her sat next to him the second time he looks] Friend: hey, you okay? I told you not to take those pills. Boy: I..I don’t know, I thought they were making me better, but I feel worse than ever before. Friend: Told yooouu. Boy: No, you can’t be right though, my mother wouldn’t poison me, she’s my mother for God’s sake! Friend: She is poisoning you though, and I think you know that now. Please, for both our sakes, you have to get away from her. Ever since you’ve been on these new meds, you’ve gotten worse, that’s why we hadn’t seen each other in ages. I’m the sign you’re not doing good anymore. [the sound of footsteps crunching on the pebbled beach interrupt their conversation. The friend glances behind her and turns back to the boy] Friend: The real one’s here now, you had better deal with her. [the boy takes a deep breath and stands up, and turns to look at the mother] Mother: Sweetheart? I’ve been looking for you, have you been taking enough pills? Boy: More than enough, I know what you’re trying to do to me mum, and I won’t allow it anymore. I won’t allow you to poison me anymore! [he lets the pill bottle drop from one hand, and takes the paper out of his pocket and scrunches them up and lets them drop too] Mother: I don’t know what you’re talking about, you’ve clearly gotten worse, pick that medicine up and have some more. Boy: No. Mother: Excuse me?! You will not refuse me! I brought you into this world, and while you’re in it, you listen to me! Boy: No. I won’t. It’s not just the medicine that’s poisonous, you are too and I don’t want to be around you anymore. Don’t try to find me, goodbye mum. [the mother is frozen in disbelief, as the boy walks up the beach and straight past her, the friend is nowhere to be seen, film ends on a shot from the side as the boy walks past her] END. |