Daisy
Campbell
I would say that the genre of my short film would be a combination of a drama and a physiological thriller. The narrative (for the most part) follows a simple structure. It is a young girl’s birthday and nobody has shown up. Which would fall into the conventions of a drama as the character and situation is relatable, and even if some people can’t relate. They at least feel empathy towards her. Then as things get strange it turns into a psychological thriller. The box idea was a combination of the short film ‘Black Hole’ and the Schrödinger's cat theory which follows quantum mechanics.
Mise-en-Scene
The Mise en Scene of the short film should be two different juxtaposing theme. The normal and the strange. The setting should be a regular English terraced house. It should have normal modern objects such as a sofa, tables and a television. This should be the complete opposites of the characters outfit and makeup, which should be outrageous and over the top. The House should also be cluttered to externalises the birthday girls internal cluttered mindset.
Camera
The camera angels also convey the normality and abnormality of the film. Before the present arrives, normal angles are used such as mid shots, high angles and low angles. But when the box arrives, I will use more cantered angles, close ups, extreme close ups and worms eye view.
Sound
The majority of the film will have a non-diegetic soundtrack. More specifically I want to use Instrumental versions of songs by the artist Melanie Martinez, as her music sounds both childish and creepy. The specific track I want to use would be the instrumental versions of the songs ‘Dollhouse’ and ‘Training Wheels’.I do want some Diegetic sounds, such as the sounds of Party horns, party poppers, an alarm clock ringing and the door knocking. I hope to capture this sound by recording these sounds then deleting the visual, leaving only the visuals which I will layer of the visuals from another clip. This will make it easier to capture a crisper sound.
Editing
During the editing process I want to Mix different music and audio from different videos and layer them over each other. I also want my editing to be sharp, yet help the audience to feel uneasy and uncomfortable. At the beginning of my short film I hope to achieve longer cuts, but as the plot progresses the editing should pick up and become faster as to make the audience anticipate the climactic ending.
How have you challenged the Genre?
Whilst this film does contain horror elements such as suspense, and unusual visuals. It doesn’t have any gore. With the suspense built in my film it really want to give the audience a satisfying ending. However, the ending that shows the guest discovering the birthday girl’s pointy party hat will not be the ending they expected. Which is where I hope to surprise and interest the audience.
What is the Genre? Is it a Hybrid?
What themes have you included?
My short film has social undertones of loneliness, friendship and self-esteem. These themes are most prevalent in the character of the birthday girl. At first, when she finds out that nobody has arrived at her party she doesn’t feel bad. She throws a party herself. This shows that she has very high self-esteem, and doesn’t need anyone else to make her feel special. Later, when she is about to blow out her birthday cake (a single cupcake) we see that her makeup has run, meaning that she has been crying. She looks unsatisfied. It is at this point that the audience realises that the girl is saddened