Thursday, 24 November 2016

Experimental film research

Experimental film research 

Here are the links to the short films we watched on YouTube for some inspiration to create Insight. 

Schizophrenia; Short film 

All in your mind

Experimental movie; Schizophrenia

Bedlam; an experimental short film



















































Credited to Charlotte French and Laura Briscoe

Inspirational images

Inspirational images 


These images inspired us to make insight as they show the darker side to schizophrenia and how the illness is centred in the brain with the voices inside the head. This is clearly displayed in Figure 3. 
Figure 4 also inspired us and gave us the idea to show the voices as actual people outside the head so that the audience can see them. 
We also got this idea from a YouTube video we watched where in it was explained that people with schizophrenia often visualise the voices as different people, being adamant that it was a particular person/voice and not themselves. 
Figure 1


Figure 2 
Figure 3






Figure 4


















Figure 6
Figure 5













Credited to Charlotte French and Laura Briscoe

Sunday, 20 November 2016

Scripts

Jake's:

Eurgh he's awake now

Don't you dare answer

They hate you

They'll know your alive, you won't be safe here

Don't answer

Who does he think he is?

I'm not a dick! How dare you think that

What did you just say?

Why's he so small?

What is he wearing?

Danger

Alex:

You can't stay silent

You're suffocating me!

You don't understand...

She needs to go.

She's lying.

It wasn't us!

What's she looking at?

You're worthless!

Stupid, so stupid!

We hate you!

Waste of space.

Worthless.

Waste of time.

The argument:

Josh:

It's all lies

Nick:

I'm telling the truth

Josh:

They're not coming for you, you've done nothing wrong.

Nick:

They are! ignore him you punched him in the face that's it now

Josh:

No you didn't Nick did it, it wasn't you Emily you won't be blamed for it!

Nick:

 I did not, why would i do that? You're the only reason he's mad at you, the reason why everyone is mad at you.

Josh:

What would make them mad at you?

Nick:

Everything you do makes people mad, you should never leave your house

Josh:

Stop saying these things to her, he's not telling you the truth ignore him. He's hated not you, don't hide away

Nick:

Ignore what he's saying, I'm correct I'm always correct you've created this mess not me you're the reason we're alone with no-one around us.You're the reason why we need to stay inside in our room!

Josh:

No you can't do that you need to go out and be with friends and

Nick:

You have no friends other than us


Sophie: 

Just shut up

Who do i believe? I don't know who to trust

Argghhh

Did I do that?

Was it me?

Why would I do this?

Maybe I shouldn't leave my room?, I'm a danger to everyone

I'm sorry

I'm scared, I can't do this anymore

Someone help me

I can't take this

I'm never leaving my room again

Just stop talking please

There's too many voices

why do i keep doing this

I've hurt so many people

I'm scared

This is all my fault

This isn't me

Make it stop

Stop just stop

Voices:


  • scared/panic
  • normal
  • upset
  • confused
  • irritated
  • angry
  • Whispered
Credited to Charlotte French and Laura Briscoe

Friday, 18 November 2016

Pitch

Our pitch 

Point of View

Our idea is that we see how schizophrenia never disappears


We start with point of view and it will change between point of view of the person out and about with other people and then you'll switch to inside her head.

We'll show that you're inside her head because we'll have a specific noise in the background when you're inside her head and also the voices will be in spotlights which are quite dim.

We will have flashing images of thoughts that come in to their head because of the voices telling them what to, this will specifically relate to the two voices who have arguments in her head. The images will only be shown when we're filming inside her head.


We will have multiple shots of random objects/subjects e.g close ups of eyes freaking out and dilating, some of the images can be her beating someone up, holding a knife, her sat on her own in a corner of a blank room.

At the end we will have a fast edit between inside her head and point of view you will have her freaking out in the point of view because she's had enough and can't cope anymore, then inside you will have the voices multiplying and getting worse. Right at the end we'll switch the point of view to show how everyone else reacts to it.

Everything will get louder and louder and then it will just cut to pitch black have the same sound we used to show its in her head and then cut to silence.

Credited to Charlotte French and Laura Briscoe

Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Experimental Film - Shooting Schedule

Sound list

  • Alex speaking      --
  • Jake Speaking        -- 
  • Sophie speaking      --  ( These are all scripted pieces)
  • Nick speaking        --
  • Josh speaking       --
  • Beeping sound - from the traffic light signal.
  • Traffic - atmos sound from the road sound
  • Ding - Recorded from the receiving of a text message
  • Atmos sound - from the cafe in Owen building
  • Under water - Lake in Grindleford
  • Cattle grid 
  • Silence 
  • Sigh  
  • Ball against wall 
  • Ball against ceiling
  • Door slamming
  • Truck engine
  • Crisp packet opening 
  • Crisp packet scrunching 
  • Dairy lee packet opening 
  • Hitting table leg with a cricket bat 
  • Jars swirled around on the table
  • Alarm on the kitchen door
  • Dropping a scrubber into water 
  • Closing of the outside gate
  • Closing the freezer draw 
  • Laughing 

Equipment list for audio piece

  • Zoom H5
  • Audio technica AT8015 Rifle Microphone 
  • Under water microphone 
  • Direct microphone  

Shooting schedule for audio

Wednesday 26th October - Book out the Zoom H5 and the Audio Technica, check all the equipment there and then to make sure everything is working and that there's nothing missing. Check that there are batteries in the kit but also that there are spare ones in case the originals run out.

Thursday 27th October - Recording in the city centre

  • The pedestrian crossing, record 5 times.
  • The receiving of a text, record 5 times.
  • Traffic, standing at the side of the road record the traffic as it drives by, record 5 times.
  • Atmosphere in the cafe, record 5 times.
Record each of these sounds with the direct microphone and the Audio Technica.

Monday 31st - Re-record some of the sounds from Thursday

  • Atmosphere in the cafe, record during main lunch hour to guarantee a busier area with high quality sound.
  • Traffic, record standing slightly further away from the road and use a cap on the sound level if needed to make sure its not peaking this time. 
Still record using both microphones.

Tuesday 18th October - Book out and check equipment for Grindleford

  • Audio Technica Rifle Microphone 
  • Aquarian Audio H2A Hydrophone 
  • At8004 Microphone 
  • Zoom H5

Wednesday 19th October - Grindleford

  • Underwater sound, film in the stream at different locations where the ebb and flow is different therefore giving us a different effect, record this 5 times whilst moving the microphone around. 
  • Cattle grid, using branches and an iron rod clang against and run along the rungs of the cattle grid
  • Branches snapping, create this using both your hands and by jumping on them, record numerous times to get a variety of sounds. 
Tuesday 1st November - Book out, collect and check equipment
  • Zoom H5 
  • Audio Technica Rifle Microphone 
  • AT8004 Microphone 
Wednesday 2nd November - Record Jake and Alex's scripts 
  • Record Jake, record the script 5 times in different voices, one a whisper, one in a loud sharp tone, one in a bitchy voice, one in an angry voice and finally in his normal voice. 
  • Record Alex, this is the most prominent voice inside the protagonists head, record the script 5 times in different voices, one a whisper, one in a loud sharp tone, one in a bitchy voice, one in an angry voice and finally in his normal voice.
We will use whichever voice sounds the best or a mixture of them. 

Thursday 3rd November - Record the final scripts. 
  • Record Sophie, she is the protagonists voice, we will record her scrip 5 times in different voices. One a whisper, one in a loud sharp tone, one in a bitchy voice, one in an angry voice and finally in his normal voice.
  • Record Nick, he makes up one of the voices that is having an argument with another voice, we will record his script in three different voices, his normal voice, an angry one and finally in a whisper.
  • Record Josh, he makes up the other half of the argument. We will record his script in three different voices, his normal voice, an angry one and finally in a whisper.

Equipment list for experimental film

  • Canon xf 100
  • Camera tripod
  • Dedo lights 
  • Camera light (find out name) 
  • Workstation 101 
  • Green screen

Shot list

  • Close up and mid shot of Sophie 
  • Close up and mid shot of Alex 
  • Close up and mid shot of Jake 
  • Close up and mid shot of Nick 
  • Close up and mid shot of Josh 
  • Long shot and mid shot of boys in formation around Sophie, Sophie positioned in the centre on the floor. 
  • Mid shot of the formation, camera spinning around them, taken from the outside and Sophie's Point Of View 
  • Close up of Sophie's eyes, moving around and dilating
  • Close up of Sophie behind bars 
  • Mid shot of Sophie behind bars 
  • Over the shoulder shot of Nick and Josh arguing 
  • Long shot as each spot light turns on individually, Sophie's being the most dim and turning on last  
  • Long shot as each spot light turns off individually, leaving Sophie alone in dim lighting until eventually her's is the last to turn off  enveloping her in darkness
  •  Close up of Sophie intertwining her fingers through her hair 
  • Park sequence 
  • Close up of Sophie on swings 
  • Medium close up of Sophie on swings 
  • Long shot of Sophie on swings 
  • The above park scenes including all the "voices" appearing one by one and moving closer to surround her
Shots are going to be shown in a split screen with one side running the footage forwards and one side playing it in reverse. If this idea doesn't work as well as we had planned we will run the footage forward then use a rippling effect for it to then run backwards hopefully giving the effect that she is trapped and this mental state is never ending.
This was our original idea however due to some shooting issues and trouble with locations we were unable to create some of the shots listed above. Therefore we changed our location and rather than using a park we filmed in the amphitheater as we didn't require two cars to get all seven of us to this location.
Here are the shots we were able to create:
  • Close up of Sophie sat on the steps of the amphitheater 
  • Wide shot of Sophie sat on the steps of the amphitheatre 
  • Long shot of Sophie sat on the steps of the amphitheater
  • Wide shot of Sophie and all the "voices" on the steps of the amphitheater 
  • Long shot of Sophie sat on the steps of the amphitheater as the "voices" enter one by one and moving on closer to surround her. 
  • Long shot as the "voices" surround Sophie and crouch down close to her on the steps of the amphitheatre
  • Close up of Sophie sat on the steps of the amphitheater as the "voices" are crouched around her
  • Close up of each "voice" from the side and face on in the workstation
  • Close up of Sophie's face in the workstation 
  • Close up of Sophie's eyes going crazy and dilating in the workstation 
  • Shot from Sophie's perspective as the "voices" stand around her, motion shot as the camera spins round. 
  • Over the shoulder shot from each of the "voices" looking down at Sophie. 
  • Long shot of all the "voices" stood around Sophie
  • Long shot as the "voices" walk in towards Sophie 
  • Long shot as the "voices" walk in and crouch around Sophie
  • Close up as the "voices" crouch around Sophie 

Shooting schedule for film

Tuesday 29th November - Book out the workstation and equipment, pick it up and check it ready for filming on Wednesday 
  • Canon xf 100
  • Camera tripod
  • Dedo lights 
  • Camera light (find out name) 
  • Workstation 101 

Wednesday 30th November - Filming in workstation 101
  • Long shot of Alex, Jake, Sophie, Nick and Josh in formation looking towards the camera, film each of them saying their lines. Straight faces looking ahead. Each person in their own spot light with Sophie's the most dim to express that her voice is the hardest to hear. She is also positioned furthest away from the camera to fully imply that idea. 
  • Long shot of Alex, Jake, Sophie, Nick and Josh as they move to crowed around Sophie, this shot is used to show how intimidating the voices are and how she is constantly trapped by them with no escape. 
This was used as a trail run. The footage I recorder was unsuitable due to some technical difficulties. I had booked out workstation 101 but there had been an error and the space was double booked. Therefore I had to use 102. This meant working without a green screen, This make it awfully difficult when setting up shots using the Dedo lights as the light up the background and there was very little I could do about that. When reviewing the footage I had managed to i realised that not only did it look bad as the background was lit up but also that the footage was grainy and therefore unusable. However, we have managed to rearrange filming for Monday the 5th and Tuesday the 6th of December and luckily everyone is available on these two days.

Tuesday 6th December - Filming at the amphitheatre


  • Close up as Sophie sits on the steps looking down expressing her feelings of depression and loneliness
  • Wide shot as Sophie sits on the steps, this shot is used to show just how alone she is as there are no other people in shot, no one around, no one to turn to.
  • Wide shot as  Sophie is joined by the "voices" showing how she is constantly with them and no matter how alone she looks she never really is, she has no escape. 
  • Long shot as the "voices" surround Sophie and crouch down close to her showing just how intrusive they are, constantly around, Sophie has no space. 
  • Close up of Sophie as the "voices" are crouched around her reinforcing the uncomfortable feeling and fully showing how she isn't really ever alone.


Tuesday 6th December - Filming in the workstation
  • Close up of each "voice" from the side and face on used to give each voice a different identity as she views them as different people.
  • Close up of Sophie's face used to fully show her emotions and her depression as the schizophrenia takes over.
  • Close up of Sophie's eyes going crazy and dilating Used to show the paranoia that she must feel constantly feeling like someone is watching you even when there is nobody there. 
  • Shot from Sophie's perspective as the "voices" stand around her, motion shot as the camera spins round. Used to give the audience and idea of how she feels constantly surrounded, shot from a low angle looking up at the "voices"giving them a higher status than her. 
  • Over the shoulder shot from each of the "voices" looking down at Sophie. Reinforcing the status gap between Sophie and the "voices" 
  • Long shot of all the "voices" stood around Sophie showing their constant presence 
  • Long shot as the "voices" walk in towards Sophie implying how intrusive and repetitive they are, constantly moving in and getting harder to ignore. 
  • Long shot as the "voices" walk in and crouch around Sophie, getting even closer and more intrusive, gives the audience an uneasy feeling. 
  • Close up as the "voices" crouch around Sophie reinforcing the idea of no escape and the physical representation create the barrier she is trapped behind, enclosing her. There is no escape, also reinforcing the uncomfortable feeling for both Sophie and the audience.

Credited to Charlotte French and Laura Briscoe

Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Personal view- Fisticuffs

Personal view

  • Identify ways in which the film chosen corresponds to the form in question
  • What effect do the creative choices made by the filmmaker have on the viewer
  • Make reference to the Bordwell and Thompson film art extract discussed in the session

Fisticuffs by Miranda Pennell
Personal view

Fisticuffs is a short film that uses a personal view approach to tell the story. Fisticuffs corresponds to this form as the story shows the events taking place with the main character at the centre. Although the film doesn't use a Point Of View shot we can tell the story is still being told through this character and from his point of view. At the start of the film he enters the pub, due to one action he makes a fight breaks out between the protagonist and another character. We then see the main character enter the pub again, he makes sure the previous action does not occur and moves further into the pub. This time some other incident occurs causing a fight to break out between the protagonist and a different character in the pub. This implies that the story is being told from the protagonists point of view as we see the different attempts he make to prevent a fight, however he fails, and starts again. It shows the protagonists interpretation of these events and the uses cause effect for the narrative to progress. However fisticuffs does include some formal elements due to it's repetition. Therefore i believe this is a good film for me to look at as I am hoping to make a film with a personal view approach but also include some formal elements, such as the repetitions of a sequence, to imply repetition in life but also in the voices and how she can never escape them.
Looking at the Bordwell and Thompson Film Art Extract it discusses how "the film maker may wish to express personal experiences or view points in ways that would seem eccentric in a mainstream context." I feel that this is what Miranda Pennell is doing with Fisticuffs as it shows the events taking place without POV shots yet as an audience we still know we are following the protagonist and that we are watching from his Point Of View.
The creative choices made by the film maker makes the audience question themselves. The repetition used throughout implies that how no matter how hard you try to stop it the inevitable will still occur. As your watching the protagonist going round and round repeating himself and getting no where you start to question yourself and whether or not your getting anywhere and where all this is leading. It takes you quite deep without really realising as you overthink every move. Just because that person dropped a glass did i need to react in that way, was there a purpose to that?



Citations:
  • Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2004). Film art: An introduction. Boston: McGraw-Hill.