Although with the option to work in a group throughout planning, I planned, produced, directed, filmed and edited my sequence as an individual, with the help of actors to play the characters in the sequence.
(All evidence of planning and preparation can be found on my blog, jennifilmstudies.blogspot.co.uk.)
(NOTE: Antagonist - Tristy, Protagonist - The Gang)
I set myself four main aims when planning my film, which are as follows:
1. Using my understanding of the Social Realist drama genre, I will use the conventions to create a shocking and emotional sequence that will leave an imprint on audiences after seeing the sequence.
2. To create a relatable protagonist character (Tristy) that the audience can warm to so that at the climax of the sequence the audience will be sitting on the edge of their seats due to the bond that I hope to create between the audience and the character.
3. In the same effect as aim number two, the audience should feel how Tristy feels towards the gang at all times. E.g. When she is betrayed by the gang, the audience should feel betrayed by the gang.
4. To create a sequence suitable for a mainstream audience.
My first aim drives the other aims to be achievable and without the first aim being achieved to some extent, I believe that the other aims are unachievable. This is because a social realist drama is based on shock value which is created by true-to-life characters, mise-en-scene, cinematography or narrative that the audience will relate to. To the same effect the shocking cinema element of Social Realist Drama genre is also a distinct convention from the Drama genre however, this genre consists of disruptions in the narrative that are unrealistic in comparison to real life events unlike social realist dramas. Films that have the drama genre usually feature true-to-life characters in, usually unrealistic, situations which are shocking and the narrative will be based on a fight/development morally, emotionally etc. that an individual or small/large groups have to struggle with. The plot will be based on how they arise better from the situation, examples of such films are ‘The Day After Tomorrow‘ and ‘Independence Day‘ which are apocalyptic blockbuster Science Fiction dramas that feature both character development and the planet’s struggle against the threat of life on earth, and although the narrative is unrealistic, the characters and decisions they make are plausible so the audience can relate to the characters rather than relating to the apocalyptic events themselves.
A social realist drama still follows the same drama conventions however, themes in narrative and disruptions will be much less significant and will only effect small groups of characters rather than, for example, the whole planet. The Social Realist drama features convincing battles in realistic characters lives such as relevant political issues, crime, drugs issues etc. and will be closer to home for an audience compared to some Drama films. A social realist drama tends to be very documentary-like in the cinematography, the hand-held camera is used frequently throughout scenes especially when a dramatic event has happened and the audience becomes part of the action which is achieved by using many eye-level angles, continuous shots and some over shoulder shots, these types of camera work and edits allow the audience to feel part of the action rather than just a spectator from afar or an audience member. Social realist dramas are effective when it comes to creating shock and making an audience uncomfortable because of the realistic characters, mise-en-scene, narrative, and the in-action edits and shots used to create documentary style footage. If an audience is engrossed in a piece of cinema and believes in the characters or narrative of the film, the shock and drama of the film will be more effective and will evoke the directors desired response. It is this response I wanted to see in those who watch my film, to find themselves rooting for the protagonist and wishing that her inevitable fate may not happen.
The cinematography of my sequence a vital part of getting the right spectator response. The POV shots in my sequence allows the audience to understand the reasons behind the protagonists desperation. POV shots become the up most importance as I wanted to use montage as a technique to show that the protagonist is almost walking back through time as she makes the choice to end her life, so in effect similar to her life ‘flashing before her eyes‘. The POV shots which are shown are specifically focusing on what the audience will assume are Tristy‘s social group, and this will then provide possible reasoning behind why she is making the decision to end her life. A key scene in my film is after Tristy leaves her own house to go to a venue in which a significant party had taken place in her past, when the gang were part of her life. The idea of her walking through the house and observing her surroundings, remembering episodes from the party, linked with the montages of POV shots of walking around socialising and drinking at a party represent the idea of her ‘walking through her past’. I used match on action shots in the film and graphic matches when editing so that the POV/flashback shots can be associated, without confusing the audience, with the present shots. To reiterate that the POV shots and flashbacks are in the past, I lowered the colour saturation in the footage to almost gray scale, but the colour red can still be identified in these shots to show that there is danger and negativity in Tristy’s past. The use of red is a significant part of mise-en-scene and film language in film when suggesting danger and negativity.
In my sequence, after a montage of memories, Tristy leaves the venue abruptly to then be seen walking to a cold seaside setting which shows she had made her decision. Preferably, a higher exposure and a high saturation of colour would have been ideal on the footage which is set in present time as the contrast of the effects edited on the past/present would reiterate the oppression Tristy felt when with the gang however, I had to film most of the outdoor (present time) shots during unanticipated weather conditions and therefore, this created a very dark and grey filter on the footage which is similar to the colour editing on the flashbacks meaning a definite contrast is not achieved how I planned. Despite this minor set-back I found that the cold and dismal conditions reflected how Tristy felt at that point in the sequence. Rainy conditions and dull mise-en-scene are some themes which are used to reflect depression and negativity in a film plot, and although these conditions became an effective addition to the mise-en-scene in my sequence, I hadn’t planned to use the weather as a device to portray a sense of desperation because the climate is something I cannot control.
In order to gather spectator feed back I provided questionnaires to people of a slightly a varied age to be completed during and after watching the film. The original feedback questionnaires were filled in by three people aged seventeen and eighteen and consisted of one male and two females. After they had watched the film and I studied their feedback and I realised the questions I had given were not quite suitable to help me come to a conclusion whether I fulfilled my aims as they were too vague and most of the questions were not relevant to my aims. I therefore recreated a new and slightly longer questionnaire which consisted of some vague questions based around spectatorship but I also included a number of questions specifically to relating to my aims.
The outcome of my questionnaires in relation to the effectiveness of cinematography and conventions of the Social Realist Drama showed that the techniques I used were effective in creating shock and emotion as a majority of the audience said they felt sad, emotional and sorry for the protagonist, and one spectator mentioned to me that the sequence almost made her cry due to the techniques I had used in my film to create emotion. In addition to the emotion evoked in my audience, many of them did mention that they noticed the cinematography used in the sequence however, all failed to make the link between the emotion and the cinematography so I can only assume that I have not achieved my first aim to the extend that I intended. This is because I aimed to use the conventions from the Social Realist Drama genre to evoke emotion and a key convention in the genre is the cinematography. I could assume that the editing was only subtle in evoking emotion and creating certain effects which could help add to what a spectator may feel whilst watching a clip as noticing the cinematography too much could draw attention away from the plot however, I was hoping this would have been picked up by an audience member to prove the effect the cinematography had on achieving my aim but because this evidence doesn’t exist I can conclude that I have only achieved my first aim to a point of creating the effect I wanted by using the social realist drama conventions however, the narrative and characters must have been a large contribute to this rather than the cinematography although, I cannot deny that many of my audience commented on how much they enjoyed the use of montage, POV and how the sound track linked perfectly to the footage and edits. I have achieved my first aim however, I would have liked to come to this conclusion based on more evidence.
My second aim was to make the protagonist realistic and appealing for the audience to relate to her and to feel how she does. Unfortunately, the audience feedback mainly focused on their confusion of who the protagonist was and why she found herself in such a state of helplessness. One person commented that they believed some viewers may not understand what is going on without the background knowledge she had been given about the narrative and characters pre-viewing the film and this comment reflected throughout the feedback. Many people stated that they were confused as to what was going on until the climax of the sequence and when asked to explain what they understood about the film, they had a completely different perspective of who the gang where, what effect they had on the protagonist and why she killed herself. Many thought the protagonist killed herself out of grief due to the loss of her friends (the gang in the film) and many suggested showing more shots of the gang being nasty to the protagonist rather than the protagonist merely stood observing them would allow better understanding. However, some feedback did mention that the use of cinematography (mainly in the edits) helping push the narrative and allow the audience relate with the protagonist and feel the sorrow she did, even if they were confused about some of the reasons behind events in the film. Although this confusion may seem negative and may reflect badly on my sequence, I believe that the fact that there was some misunderstandings about the characters and narrative upon reflection is irrelevant as the audience enjoyed many aspects of the sequence and generally all round enjoyed viewing my sequence. Many stated that the film could stand on it’s own with individual interpretations without it being a weakness.
I believe that despite the misunderstanding of the narrative and the relationship of the gang and the protagonist is irrelevant, and when gathering the statistics from the questionnaires it is clear that spectators did relate with the protagonist well and feel she was a realistic and effective character to the audience.
Unfortunately, a relationship between the gang and the protagonist was not built as desired and therefore, my third aim was not achieved. With the confusion in the audience of the narrative, the audience is unable to feel the spite they should have felt when the protagonist died, but instead may have related to the gang or felt nothing at all as most believed the gang were not bad people due to the way I had failed to portray the gang correctly. No one mentioned any emotion or key opinions evoked about gang apart from the commonly used phrase “Typical Teenagers”. They felt that the protagonist was an outcast and a loner who wouldn’t join in rather than the intended message of the gang pushing her out or luring her into a world of destruction. This misinterpretation of characters, and character relationship, meant the audience couldn’t relate to how Tristy is feeling towards the gang before her death. So although the audience felt sorrow towards the gang, they also felt this towards the gang do to the assumption something had happened to them.
A mainstream audience is an audience between the ages of 15-25 and many films created are aimed at this audience. This is because audiences of this age regularly attend cinema and are open to new film, whether it be blockbuster or niche films. My film was aimed at the younger bracket of the mainstream audience (15-19) as the realistic characters and simple plot were based on popular TV themes (such as abuse, fast lifestyles, working class people etc.) which are also aimed at teenagers. My audience gave my sequence (if turned into a feature length film) the 15 classification but some mentioned that a 12 classification would be more appropriate for the sequence due to the lack of inappropriate material. I believe that either classification would still fit my film into the mainstream category as it would be suitable for 15-19 year olds. It was clear from my audience feedback forms which age groups enjoyed different aspects of my sequence. Generally those aged 17-18 enjoyed the narrative, characters and the way it was presented, however those aged 20+ enjoyed the sequence for the way it the footage was presented and the way it was edited, rather than the narrative or the characters as it was clear that the film was too young for them.
Overall I am please with the final cut of my sequence. I believe that the edits really make the film effective as title sequence and audience feedback showed that the majority would carry on watching the film if it was created. This means that I have achieved an aim that I set myself to create an effective sequence, and therefore I am over-joyed with the successfulness of my sequence. If I could change anything I would have given myself much more time in editing my sequence so I could re-shoot and make sure there is no confusion of who the gang are and why Tristy commits suicide by adding shots of Tristy being bullied by the gang and having a hard time. But putting this aside I am confident that I created an effective sequence and achieved the more important aims I had set myself.
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