Evaluation Question 1

1.      For our short film this year we decided that we wanted to incorporate the codes and conventions of a drama film, without fully conforming to them. We did this through our creation of characters which subvert expectations and a narrative with a twist at the end. Our film Aftermath follows the character Georgie who has returned from war and is trying to overcome her PTSD. The plot conformed to drama conventions as it handles an emotional and relatable issue which is commonplace in society. On the other hand our film has a sad and unexpected ending unlike a traditional drama which usually have happy endings. Our film also borrows aspects from other genres, such as the combat scene is borrowed from the war genre, and the fact that we have a large twist suggests aspects of a thriller.

Genre

An important part of what makes a genre is the setting. We were very aware of this during the planning of our film and this is why we agreed on the idea of Geordie returning from war and trying to return to her normal life. This gave us the opportunity to explore the themes of PTSD, loss and anxiety. All of which are very common within society but are often ignored in the media, especially PTSD. As PTSD is such an ignored topic we wanted to approach it in a realistic, respectful, and informative way. Our film does conform to the codes and conventions of the drama genre for the most part. One way it does this is the film focuses on the realistic struggles of a single main character. Due to the flashback at the beginning being set during a time of war our film could be considered a war-drama hybrid. However we focused more on the drama genre as we felt that the war part of the film was only a small part as the films main focus was the mental illness and not the war. Some of the main drama conventions we conformed to include; realistic characters and settings (Dr Sullivan and the house), the progression and development of the main character (Georgie’s realisation of Charlotte being a hallucination), and a characters internal conflict (Georgie trying to move on).

However our film also subverts the codes and conventions. One example of this is that drama films often star a couple, which we adhered to, however we didn’t conform full to this as the couples in drama films are often made up of a man and a woman whilst in our film the couple is two women. They both also subvert stereotypes of women as they were in the army which is a typically male profession. The ending also subverts the conventions of drama as it isn’t happy as we realise that Georgie is suffering and alone as her girlfriend Charlotte died in the war.

The use of using people who aren’t there as a personification of the main characters feelings was inspired by another short film called Growth by Elliot Gough in which the main character is going through a breakup and talks to versions of his past self and his ex-girlfriend who aren’t really there.

Continuity

This year we were more experienced with the concept of continuity, however we still had our issues. This was mainly because the film was longer so we had to spend longer filming meaning there was a greater chance of things changing between shoots.

One of the main continuity issues we had to deal with was Charlotte’s hair as during shooting Ellie’s hair kept changing. It started off pink, long and curly, at the next shoot it was less pink, shorter, and straight, it then went blue and ended the film brown. We managed to counteract this problem by re-shooting some of the first scenes and in later scenes covering up the hair with a scarf and a hood.

Another issue we had was house furnishings and lighting. When we originally filmed there were curtains on the window in the kitchen, however during a later filming session the curtains had become blinds sadly there was nothing we could do about this as it was too late in the filming process but if we had the time we would have re-shot the earlier scenes.

Examples of continuity errors in real life media products include in the Shawshank Redemption the scattered bullets on the head of the prisons desk become a neat pile in the next shot. Another example is in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in one shot Han Solo isn’t wearing a jacket however in the close up, he is.

Influences

One of the real media product inspirations of our film was Stray Dog by Bertie Gilbert. We decided that the title sequence within this short film would allow us to give a greater insight into the characters in a short amount of time. 

We used mise-en-scene, to provide this insight, by showing household objects such as flowers, an empty chair, and a purse with a photo in it. The empty chair is shown on the name of the actor who plays Charlotte as it hint’s that Charlotte isn’t real. The solitary nature and stillness of the items represents Georgie’s loneliness and the fact that she isn’t moving on. The purse with the photo shows the relationship between Georgie and Charlotte and shows that they’re close. We felt that this helped set up the tone of the film whilst also setting up a connection between the two characters and allowing the audience to understand what’s going on.

Another real media product I looked at was The Fleeting Little Life of Peter Wright. This helped to inspire the themes of mental health in our short film and the twist at the end. The Fleeting Little Life of Peter Wright is about a person trying to convince her friend to not kill himself, and at the end of the film some doubt is created about whether she was real or not. Despite our film making it much clear that Charlotte was dead I liked the idea of the possibility of the friend not being there and decided to put our groups own twist on it. We also wanted to explore mental health and this gave us in idea on how to tie that in to our film whilst also using a small amount of dark humour to engage our audience such as when Charlotte says “last time we went out you wouldn’t stop jumping at cars”.

Was our film entertaining?

Richard Dyer’s theory of entertainment states that people consume media to counteract feelings of loneliness, boredom, absence, inadequacy, discontentment, social tension and abstinence. The theory is split into five parts; energy, abundance, community, intensity, and transparency. He believes that film provides us with all five of these things and that they aid audiences to feel fulfilled with a film.

Energy

Dyer believes that Energy is important due to the pressures of modern society such as alienated labour and consistent hard work. Because of this Dyer believes that the energy in films allows for “escapism” by watching characters acting out their own desires that they are not able to fulfil. He believes films inspire audiences to increase their energy levels through characters showing their power, passion and physical activity. 

An example of this is Captain America (2011). This shows a skinny boy with a plethora of medical conditions becoming a hero and fighting against an evil regime and winning. Our film does this through fast paced editing in the flashback representing the dangers being faced and urgency of the matter, this is paired with music that builds tension to reflect the tenseness of the situation. We also allow the audience to connect with the main characters path to recovery through the use of close ups and point of view shots.

Abundance

Abundance is in reference to the want of material belongings and having enough to spare. Many people who watch films don’t have this luxury and therefore watch films to get a taste of it and fill the void. 

An example of this would be The Social Network. In The Social Network Jessie Eisenberg’s character creates a social media page for the university he is in which ends up going worldwide and he becomes rich. Jessie Eisenberg’s character is relatable as he is a reject among his peers which is something many people have experiences. Because of this the audience can use the character as a voyeur and imagine themselves in his shoes. Our film does this in a quite twisted kind of way by showing Georgie as an everyday relatable person, but instead of allowing the audience to feel luxury we allow them to feel what living with PTSD is like. As it isn’t often talked about this allows non-suffers to learn about the illness and to appreciate the fact they don’t have it. It also allows sufferers to relate to the main character and feel comfort in the fact they aren’t alone.

Community

Community brings audiences together through the films they watch creating a sense of togetherness by encouraging discussion. Community can also comfort individuals without active social lives or who have busy schedules and are unable to relax.  In our film we showed the sense of community through the therapist that supports Georgie through the recovery process. This also shows an audience that asking for help is okay. Charlotte’s existence also indicates that mental illness can take over and become a very powerful force within someone’s brain. 

An example of this in real media products would be Shutter Island (2010) in which we see Leonardo Dicaprio’s character create a whole alternate reality to avoid the pain of losing his wife and children before revealing at the end of the film it was all in his head.

Intensity

Wanting excitement is in human nature. Intensity creates this excitement that can’t be found in day to day life. People consume media full of thrills and adventure so that they can get an adrenaline rush they wouldn’t be able to usually get by watching situations they could never find themselves in. 

An example of this would be Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) which follows Peter Quill a lovable space rogue working together with a bunch of aliens to save the galaxy. The film is full of cgi, action and music which draws people in. Obviously the events of this film couldn’t happen as they are entirely fictional and impossible. Our film achieves this through the existence of Charlotte as she is a hallucination caused by grief and would not have a physical manifestation, because of this the audience would not be able to see Charlotte in real life. Intensity is also brought into our film through the flashback, as they provide action with hints of violence and the chaos of war, something most people haven’t experienced.

Transparency

Transparency is the act of being honest and effectively communicating with others to oppose the manipulation individuals experience through advertising and politics. Georgie constantly denies her PTSD until the end of the film causing the relationship between Charlotte and Georgie to be frayed. Charlotte’s presence is there to explain to the audience what is happening to Georgie, and to portray PTSD in a manner that is easy to understand to an unaware audience. We used Charlotte’s presence to avoid confusion within the audience so they wouldn’t just be witnessing Georgie talking to herself without an explanation whilst also showing PTSD from the point of view from the sufferer. We aimed to help explain away the stigma surrounding mental health by attaching the illness to a “strong” character one wouldn’t expect to suffer, showing that anyone can be affected. To ensure we were sensitive with the topic we researched heavily into the topic and detailed this on the blog.