Costumes

photographs for film magazine review and poster

In my research i found that the iconic scenery that gave the film its time and emotion were included in the background of the main focus which were the characters. So in the composition of my photographs, night time had to be utilised, as the darkness represents the feel of the film as it is mostly set at night.

The main character, Harriett, was the main focus in all of the shots due to her heavy feature in the film, her clothing style would attract the target audience as straight away they can relate to her and want to know what else they can relate to. I made Harriett wear iconic sports and street wear brands in order to gain the relation effect for the audience and also hint at what my film is about, as streetwear/sportswear in the darkness only means one thing... the rave. These are the clothing choices: 

 

Nike Air Max 95's are commonly worn in the rave and by drugs takers as these shoes are extremely "street". These shoes are quite expensive at £115 a pair so for the audience to see these shoes on my actress they know that this film os seriously representative and 'in the know' not just the same old film pretending to know about youth culture. 

A Sergio Tacchini shell suit jacket was also worn as mixed coloured jackets are extremely 90's, in my research as previously stated, photos of the film normally show the time that the film is trying to represent, this jacket automatically says 90's. 

The full costume may look unorganised and not colour co ordinated but every peice of clothing is over £60 and is respected by every member of the youth. 

The Photos

(i paid £8 to get these photos printed)

This photo was set in the same place were i filmed Harriett at the back of some flats in Walmley, Birmingham, i made her crouch down on a bin with the rails and flats in the background for the time and place effect, this photo shows that she is a street rat effectively. The fact that i took these photos on a camera from 1990 gives the effect of time and era aswell as the jacket.
This photo would be brilliantly used when talking in my film review about characters.

This photo again shows Harriett out, possibly waiting for a drug deal or just thinking about her hard life, the 90's feel of this photo is incredibly real, the shops in the distance at the end of the long spiralling street path give the contempory feel to the film.

These photos were set in the same palce as the smoking scene, the bars and boarded up windows show perfectly the life of the actor and the setting/feel of the film.

The Adidas raver jacket was a change in costume.

This was shot on my own flat balcony against the bars, in order to represent a prison aka trapped in by drugs.

This photo is my favourite picture as my technical skills came of a treat. As i took the photo i moved the camera during the flash in circular motions to create a whirl effect of colour, the colours now symbolise the lights at the rave and create a slow motion blur as would be seen through the eyes of someone on drugs. The bars also look like prison bars

better than the other pictures as the bars are extended to create a full trapped effect.

Sound

I recorded my own soundtrack in the school studio, Ben Holland was the pianist who I gave instructions to make the piano out-of-tune to create an eerie effect, I also instructed him the play the intro extremely slowly in order to fit in the film sequence of on the bus as it would have a stronger effect on the audience as mad world is a well known tune so for it to be made even sadder is hard hitting.

I have uploaded my soundtrack onto soundcloud as a way of getting feedback from my followers.

I received messages giving feedback on soundcloud, this one from 'caitlinmaynash';

Locations

Flat

My own flat was used as the inside of Harriett's flat in the film as by having her live in a flat makes the poverty she lives in a reality as the distinctive hallmarks of a flat are seen such as the high windows and the branched hall way. However, only the inside of my flat was used as the surrounding area of the flats are not low enough class, so I filmed another area for the outside portrayal of Harriett's flat. I travelled via bus and train to the 'Lyndhurst' estate in Erdington, Birmingham which has a reputation of being rough, so I used this area to film the blocks of flats to establish the setting and class of the character.

I effectively made up my own location as the establishing area I filmed the Lyndhurst estate in Erdington, for outside Harriett's flat I filmed at the back of shops and flats in Walmley, and the inside of her flat inside my flat.

In order to get across the deprived living conditions that Harriett faces I replaced the plasma TV with a 25 year old portable one and scattered beer bottles around the room.

 

Rainbow

Rainbow warehouse is the pinicle of raving in the UK, drugs are rife, the events i will go to in order to film will be Dj EZ and calibre. I chose these two event because alot of people will be attending, making the rave scene look more appealing and popular to show that alot of people can relate as they are doing the same thing. The lighting and music at these events will also be extremely effective on the audience creating a huge contrast of Harrietts home life and escape.


Bus

The average mode of transport for a working class girl, not the safest, shows that she is street wise and adapted to travelling on her own in the dark. Another relatable aspect of Harrietts life as my target audience would encounter the same travelling channels as Harriett.
I filmed the bus scene in chelmsley wood as the council flats there are extremely deprived.

Walmley

At the back of a row of shops in Walmley there are flats above these shops which means there were bins and graffiti, railed outdoor stairwells for the added 'rough estate' effect. This reflects my drama genre as Harrietts life is shown as deprived and lacking in many aspects and these locations help depict this portrayal. 

Actors/Actresses

My main actress was originally Niamh Grace, as she was totally unique in dress sense and quite introvert (Her gorgeous looks were a plus for my film as it would draw a larger audience in), this complimented the original story line of a girl who gets introduced to drugs and completely changes every aspect of herself including style and needs. Niamh's dark demeanor reflected by her pitch black, greasy hair and heavy dark, smokey eye make up and bright red lipstick created a mysterious character, however, looking back, she was not an actress who a wide range of people could relate to because she was so unique.

 

Me and Niamh are very close friends, so i know her characteristics include huge mood swings, this would automatically shine through in the film as the film would need my actress to be able to demonstrate different contrasting moods.

Niamh studies fashion at college and therefore doesn't take any inspiration from anywhere else when styling herself, she is her own blank canvas. This shines through via her outrageous outfits and make up, in the film i would of shown the dramatic change in style when the introduction of the rave scene and drugs became apparent, street wear would feature heavily.

This example of Niamh's style from her instagram page, the contrast between this and street wear would show the audience the huge influence of drugs, garage music and the social scene. 

Me and Niamh

However, Niamh due to college commitments and personal issues was unable to find time to arrange a schedule to film my project, after the 6th time of being let down I dropped her from the role and decided to get a real life rave scene girl who many of my audience could relate to.

Harriet Carolan-Orton was my chosen actress, I met her through going to raves myself and I know she is a good representation of the 'cool kid'. She is a natural beauty which makes her low maintenance in the composition of filming as I don't have to go for make up breaks, it enhances the reality of the film and actress, raw. She is a well known girl in the Birmingham rave scene, she promotes for events, which is a real coup as the actress is well conditioned for my film. 

Harriett has tattoo that she got when she was 13, this further shows the careless attitude and the sensation seeking characteristics of the actor.

She, aswell as niamh is a very crazy girl who loves to go out to the rave and get 'mashed', this immunity to the rave and the comfort-ability to the environment will enhance the reality of the acting and the film. She is an experienced veteran of the rave at the age of 18.

Harriett's style

Street wear and sports wear (e.g Fred Perry, Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Adidas) signifies the 90's scene and automatically creates judgement of Harriett being a raver/drug user. The clothes are not smart but quite expensive, this reflects the social group that Harriett is in. The social group's lives revolve around illegal substances and going out, so her style is a great real life representation. 

Adaptation of my film to my change of actress

Originally, the actress would of been introduced to drugs and the rave scene as Niamh's style was not that of the social group, so the change of style would of been a focus point in the film to show the drugs changing effects. Because Harriett does not dress like Nimah and would not suit those clothes as she would feel extremely uncomfortable in them, I had to change the fact that the actress gets introduced to drugs and instead an original street girl who has that lifestyle. So for added identity, Harrietts street wear will feature heavily in my film.

Planning my short film narrative and plot

Original plan

My original plan was to show how cocaine can quickly become introduced to someone's life as a way to escape the aspects of deprivation and trauma. I chose the perfect actress in Nimah Grace who was not involved in the underground scene and dressed completely different and not street/hip, in order to capture the change in her life as a result of cocaine and raving. I planned on showing the deterioration of the character through physical appearance (by bags under the eyes gradually and having an ever increased dishevelled appearance), and the knock on effect at school and work by being shown sniffing at school and becoming increasingly un organised. 

I started filming Niamh in the lyndhurst estate, capturing her excellent acting skills via facial expressions and body language. I gained some footage which was perfect for my film including a slow motion shot establishing the tower blocks panning to niamh smoking a fag and at that precise moment a police car went past in the background and the sirens in slow motion really enhance the deprivation aspect of my film and really created a tense atmosphere. The film ended with niamh completely encapsulated by the coke, she finally became negligant and left the cocaine lying around, her little brother would mistaken it for lemon sherbet and die, hitting the audience hard.

But, due to Niamhs commitments to college and personal problems, she kept letting me down until I took the decision to cut her from the role and alter my plot to accommodate my new actress... Harriett Carolan-Ortan. I had to consider that Harriett's style was already street and so the drugs shouldn't be introduced yet already apart of her lifestyle.

The scenes I had filmed with niamh in my original plan;

I filmed Niamh in 'The Fox' (a pub) toilets doing drugs to get her through her shift, i filmed it in slow motion just as her head goes back, this dramatises the whole episode. The costume was a white shirt and black trousers to get across that she was in work uniform.

I realised after i filmed scenes with Niamh that filming vertically with the iPhone was a mistake as the borders on the screen wasnt consistent with the horizontal view, which covered the whole screen and looked like a film. This shot is a prime example as i positioned myself to be the mirror but holding the phone vertically, making the shot un-usable.

My favourite shot when I filmed with Niamh was the shot when I filmed the establishing shot of her estate in slow motion and at that precise time a police car went past, giving the scene added reality and authenticity, the slow motion dragged out the sirens that were gradually getting louder. When the slow motion stopped, the sirens came back into real time, shocking the audience with its volume.

As these scenes where filmed around Christmas time I really wanted to get the festive season across to my audience as Christmas is a time for family and happiness so the depressing nature of my film would be enhanced by this notion. Another scene which was unusable thanks to my vertical positioning of my camera was this rave scene which was perfect to get across the Christmas vibe.

I made use of opportunities that threw themselves at my at the time of filming, for example there was some sick on the floor so I filmed Niamh over it like it was her sick, as a repercussion from drugs and ill health.

When filming Niamh working in the pub I put a time-lapsing effect of a pint being drunk as to show the passing of time/her shift.
I used a camera angle of a drinker in the pub to project how Niamh feels paranoid due to the drugs.

Due to Niamh's great acting skills, I used my knowledge from my research on the importance of facial expressions to transfer her feelings of her traumatic home life to the audience, telling the story through acting.

Original production

I used adobe elements as my platform for the production of my film on a Samsung desktop, as I was using it, I noticed the quality of the film was extremely poor and nothing like what it looked like on my retina display iPhone. I realised this was the result of emailing my shots instead of downloading them onto a memory stick, also the lack of technological convergence was to blame in the lack of consistency in my work and the quality of film. 

Outline of the adapted plot;

The youth culture theme is what my narrative will be based around, the typical student will do a film generically on drugs and crime, however my film will be about the real life of a girl who uses drugs as a way of escaping aspects of her life that are traumatic. The negligence of Harriett causes drastic consequences as her negligent father finds the cocaine and mistakes it for lemon sherbet which is constantly referenced throughout the film innocently as the fathers favourite sweet. The audience never finds out what happens to the father, which will surely hit home to the audience as Harriett is a representation of the average girl who goes out on the weekends experiments with drugs as other aspects of her life need escaping, this basic story applys to many young people and what my film does is warn the audience as to the damage drugs can do to the normal person if addiction gets a grip.

The storyline will follow a non linear narrative as it flows from beginning to end with one scene of rewinding/ going back in time, disrupting the narrative, Todorov's narrative is being followed apart from the fifth point - the restoration of equilibrium, as the audience don't know what happens to the father so no new equilibrium is established.So for my short film or trailer to induce messages of information or moral elements, I don’t have to rely on the audience being dominant because my message ‘drugs are bad’ essentially is pretty clear. The hypodermic needle theory would say that I am subconsciously persuading the audience not to drugs as there could be dramatic consequences. However, an element of dominance needs to be had as my actress takes drugs and is seen having the time of her life, therefore to prevent copycat theory the audience need to be dominant.
Adding theorys to my work, Blumler and Katz's uses and gratification theory would be manipulated in my film as my audience would be watching for the information gain;
INFORMATION

Finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world

Seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices

Satisfying curiosity and general interest          

The information on youth and drugs and the up to date state of the youth today would entice my audience to watch this film.

Storyboard

• The title of the film written in lemon sherbet on the pavement, scene see Harriett walk through the writing, camera follows Harriett's direction. Close up of the writing on the pavement, rotation tracking long shot of Harriett. The introduction of Harriett as the main character,walking to work in the dark. Establishing shot of her work place.

• Point of view shot of a drinker in the pub showing Harriett work encapsulating the audience as they feel they are spying on Harriett from inside her work. Time-lapse edit of a pint which signifies time passing by. 

• Going home on the bus, tired and sad, shot of the bus cctv of Harriett at the back of the bus staring out of the black window. 

• Get a shot of a bus moving with Harriett sitting by the window

• Establishing shots of the council estate
• Harriett smokes a cigarette behind the council flats, long shot with camera movement from top to bottom.

• Harriett walking along the path on the outside of the flats, entering the flat 

• Cupboard shot-camera placed in cupboard to the opening of the cupboards by Harriett to show the lack of food. Facial expressions are key. Walks past living room to see her dad passed out on the sofa surrounded by beer cans, the poverty and bad parenting should come across through these shots via props. E.g portable TV, no pillows.

• Scene of Harriett in her room getting ready to go out 

Reference to lemon sherbet throughout.

• Close up of calender being crossed off till Friday, showing repetitiveness of the week. Time lapse.

• Friday sees Harriett walk into her room still camera movement, cross off Friday on the calender, sit at her desk writing an essay, piled up work around her, phone on charge by the desk

• Texts are received asking her to come out, close up of screen, she tries to resist temptation but finally gives in, slamming her pen down, getting up to get ready.

• Clothing focused on in getting ready, close up of top to bottom.
• Use the camera as a mirror
• Drug use
• Scenes of the rave/slow motion/blurred 

• Shots of the dad placing down and empty container of lemon sherbet, constantly switching to the rave and sniffing to show the contrast in environments and aspects of her life, it also shows that the inclusion of lemon sherbet is important.
• Dad walks (filmed walk capturing the fact he is drunk) into the kitchen to find a bag of cocaine, thinking it is lemon sherbet because he is drunk.
• Harriett comes home from the rave taking her jacket off being extremely negligent, the drugs fall out her pocket and she goes to bed
• To find that in the morning the drugs have gone 
• The dads hand slowly fades in, relaxed, possibly dead, with 'lemon sherbet' everywhere.

Practice short film - Daydream

Daydreamer from Bishop Walsh on Vimeo.

The narrative of my short film is a girl at her desk slips into a daydream where she mysteriously finds a man she knows hiding in a cupboard.
The camera shots I used were tracking shots and two shots. These were not very adventurous shots as I could of taken many shots on the journey to the cupboard from different angles, however i wanted to capture the setting of a school by tracking the back of the actor I manage to show the attitude of the actor in the way she walked giving off a school girl vibe.
The location matched the clothing of the actor as she was wearing smart clothes which would pass for a school uniform, in a school environment. The make up was very minimum as to keep up with the careless attitude of the actor, this creates a character identity.
The editing was simple as I used a filter on the last scene to make it apparent she was in a dream, The one transition I inserted was a wobble effect to establish he fact the scene was changing into a dream.
There was no non diagetic sound in this film, only the sound in the scene and dialogue from the actors. My actor was an 18 year old girl in my class who is very capable in getting her emotions across in her facial expressions which I found through my research is an integral part of a short film.

Using the camera

Using a canon handheld camera I found it hard to make the scenes look professional as the movement of the camera was amateur as it was unstable, so gave off the sense that someone was following the actor, not corresponding with the storyline. The twisting LCD screen improved my ability to select certain frames instead of having to download them all onto the computer, so my efficiency improved with this camera. 

I found the small screen hard to view to make sure the lighting and props where in the frame, so in my actual project I will use a camera or device with a bigger screen to see what I am actually filming in detail.  

Analysis 

The opening establishing shot employs the setting of an office or school environment with the inclusion of a computer and plain walls to signify the boring theme which compliments the actors facial and body language. The medium shot allows facial expressions to be focused upon whilst still being able to establish the setting. The lack of sound in this scene adds to the boring element of the story as the reason the actor is bored is apparent.

The flip transition to the next frame connects the feeling of continuous boredom with the audience and creating sympathy for the actor as time has passed and she is still bored with nothing to do. I used adobe elements effects to add the transition, this was simple however the choices are limited and generic.

The next frame the camera is still a medium shot however the angle covers the front of the actors face in order to capture more facial expressions to tell the story.

The next scene enters via a wobbling transition to signify that the actor has entered a dream and is dreaming this scene, this transition plays a significant role in directing the audience to follow the storyline of the film.

The movement of the camera is following/tracking the actress in the dream which on second thought could be better by using different angles positioned in different places infront and to the side of the actress. A pink filter is put onto the scene to further show the dream-like state and get it away from reality, i did this again by using adobe effects.

An over the shoulder shot is used to portray the conversation between the actress and actor, it shows the story from the actress's point of view which the audience has had time to connect with so will sympathise with more.

A two shot is the final shot used to end this short film to capture the conversation of the two actors, the film also ends on a cliff hanger to keep the audience hanging on till the next instalment of the film.

Improvements/looking back;

Looking back, I could of used a variety of camera shots like a low angle to capture the feet walking along the corridor to extent the tension. I could of  told the actress not to look into the camera and laugh to make my film more professional. It could of been longer by adding a further dis equilibrium and i could of solved it. I could of used music in the background to emphasis the sleepiness of the character for example a soft lullaby. 

Adobe Elements was the platform on which I constructed my practice film, I noticed the slow fluidity of the scenes and the lack of pixel quality, in my real production i will look for a new platform in which to construct my production on.