Ideas for Titles

The list below details some ideas which I have had for the title of my short film. I wanted to create a title that I thought would hint to my theme whilst also leaving it somewhat ambiguous as to what will actually happen in the film. I wanted my film title to be short and straight to the point so that it could grab the attention of the audience and get straight to the point which I took into consideration when brainstorming different ideas. I also wanted the combination of the body image genre and the element of thriller to be apparent in my poster, film review and in the title so that I would be able to effectively engage my 12-25 audience, the age which I believe are most effected by my chosen theme. I believe the title is key for gaining the attention of the audience.

• Indisposed
• Fragmented
• Disconnected
• Contorted
• Obsession
• Impulsion
• Disposition

After talking to my target audience I have come to the conclusion that “Fragmented” should be the title for my film as its gripping and best relates to my film. All of these titles relate to my body image theme because the message behind my film is that societies beauty ideals are unrealistic which causes people to become obsessed with an ideal that is far fetched and unhealthy. The title “Fragmented” reflects how this obsession can cause people to loose their grip on reality which is shown by my main character who has become obsessed with perfection. This also makes a link to the post modern genre by blurring the line between reality and fiction.

Changing my Character Profiles and Narrative

When filming for the first time I encountered several difficulties due to problems with my actors, the equipment and in post production which meant that I had to make some changes with regards to my actors and storyline. Initially my narrative progressed as the main character struggles with self perception which is made more apparent by her friend who is actually a figment of her imagination. The actors were Anna Perry who played the part of the main character and Sarah Spence who played the part of the imaginary character.

My actress Sarah Spence was only available to do one filming session which meant that I had to film all of her scenes in one day. This was problematic as it was too much of an ambitious goal and my actors were getting tired when we still had scenes to film. Also, the cameras ran out of charge twice when filming which also set us back a couple of hours. When watching the footage back, I was generally unhappy with the lighting, shot types and how the narrative was unfolding therefore I decided that the only way to get around this problem would be to re film, alter my narrative and change my characters because my film was looking very generic and lacked variation.

My new narrative includes the same female protagonist played by Anna Perry and still shows how her struggling with self perception. Rather than having a friend/imaginary character there will be a therapist played by Ellis Appleton (picture above) and jump cutting between the two characters so that the audience will be unsure as to whether the therapist is real or if he’s just a figment of the her imagination.

Character Costumes

The female protagonist in my film will be wearing fairly casual clothing consisting of black leggings and a white top in the scenes where she is conversing with the therapist. The colour white is commonly used to signify innocence and vulnerability therefore by dressing my female protagonist in white I was able to convey to the audience her fragile metal state and make the post modern theme apparent by creating a visual representation of her thoughts. In the scenes where the main character is exercising and the body image theme starts to become apparent, the main character will be wearing workout clothing.

For my other character, the therapist, I wanted the costume to be more formal to make his profession apparent to the audience. I also wanted to make it look as though he was more mentally stable although the two characters are never shown together in the same shot therefore the viewer isn’t sure as to whether the therapist is real or if he’s just a figment of the main characters imagination.

Risk Assessment

Hazard	Who is in danger?	How to prevent it?
Lighting-hot glass it light could fall and potentially injure actors	Everyone involved	Make sure the light stays upright at all times
Terrain	Everyone involved	Make sure that people are careful, and equipment is not left around to trip over
Lake	Everyone involved	When filming scene at Danbury lakes, make sure no one is too close to the edge of the water and check for a buoy
Gym	Actress	When filming the scene where the character is at the gym, make sure she stays clear of heavy weights

Animatic

Audience Research Questionnaire

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The above presentation shows the results from some paper based questionnaires about short films which I gave to people of a variety of ages, both  male and female to get some feedback for what conventions they’d like to see and a short film and make a decision about who my target audience will be.

Most people said that they weren’t very familiar with short films which I will use to my advantage by being as unique and creative as possible. The majority of people also said they like plot twists in short films which links to the post modern genre therefore I am going to create a plot twist regarding my second character. Thriller was a particularly popular choice of genre so I will try to include aspects of thriller in my film by building tension through short edits and foregrounded sound. There were slightly mixed responses for the last two questions consequently I will decide which option will be the best when I come to filming.

Final Shot List

Below is the shot list I created for my short film. I created several preliminary shot lists before this one as I was unsure of what scenes and shot types I wanted to include in my film. I have already attempted to film using my preliminary shot list although I was unhappy with the lighting, framing and dialogue therefore I have decided to refilm using this new shot list. This list contains less shots that my previous list therefore I think the quality of my work will be better as I won’t be so rushed.

To view in higher quality: https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive

Visual Influences

The link below is to a presentation showing screen shots from the short films Break Free, Indentity and Empty which are films that I have analysed in light of my chosen theme of body image. I will use these images for inspiration when creating my story board and by attempting to mirror the following shots I will be creating a film which is post modern.

Results of Survey

The following screen shots show the responses I received from my audience research about the narrative for my short film. I didn’t collect as many responses as I had wanted because some people didn’t reciece the link I sent although I am going to create a paper based questionnaire where I ask my audience more specific questions.

In this first question I asked my target audience “which narrative do you find more interesting? Please watch the link to help with your answer”. The link which I attached to the questionnaire was to a short film featuring Ruby Rose called Break Free. This was one of my favourite films to analyse and inspired me to create something similar consequently by getting my audience to watch this film I was able to gauge whether this premise was interesting to them. The description of the first narrative doesn’t directly link to Break Free and focuses more on the pressure of conformity in society and the criticisms we receive from others. Although, I was surprised to find that 100% of people I asked said they would prefer to see a short film inspired by the Ruby Rose film. Consequently I began to develop my narrative around this idea.

In the next question I asked my audience “would you prefer to see a film that focuses on one character and their story or a few characters?” and 66% of people said that they would prefer a film with 1 character whilst the other 33% said they would rather see a film with a few characters. I found this interesting as I had initially wanted to include only one character although I later found that my narrative would only work with two characters.

This final question asks “do you have any suggestions for key issues you’d like to see covered, general ideas for the narrative or creative input?” and the ideas my target audience had listed were all fairly similar although I will try to include them as much as possible. One of my respondents suggested that the way the character rebels could be different and unexpected so that the film ends on a twist. I thought this was a good idea as it would allow me to be more creative and post modern therefore I tried to use this.

Collecting Audience Research-Survey Monkey

Before I had decided on the final narrative for my film I was unsure of what subject matter my audience would relate to most and find interesting, what my influences would be to create a post modern film and generally what events could lead up to the climax. To help me decide on a main premise for my short film I decided to create a survey on survey monkey, reaching out to my target audience for inspiration. The results of the survey helped me to finalize my narrative which then allowed me to experiment with different ideas in my practice film using a preliminary shot list. Below are the screen shots of the questions I asked my audience.