Thursday 5 February 2015
Mise en Scene-Monologue
Below you will see a video where I talk about some mise en scene elements to the first half of my opening; the monologue.
Sunday 1 February 2015
Monologue-Transitions, Timing and Editing
I edited the film under the monologue on iMovie, using the transitions they offer on it.
The first transition I used is called 'cross dissolve', it moves from the previous frame to the next by making the first clip dissolve into the next, I really like this transition because it is a very smooth one which can show change from one period to another.
I used it at 0:06 in the video immediately after the voiceover says 'thoughts'. I thought this was appropriate because the transition moves from the girl thinking about either throwing the book away or not to going down to throw it. I also really like the effect it gives the girls head as she is walking down as her body is in a slightly different and moving position to the previous frame therefore the dissolve emphasises the girls head is 'all over the place' as a metaphore.
There is also a transition a few seconds after this at 0:09 seconds as the voiceover says 'where you're going to be in a few years'. I used 'cross blur' for this to speed up the time it takes for the girl to walk down the hill to make it more interesting, i also thought this particular transition was appropriate because nobody knows where they'll be in a few years, people may have a rough idea but this idea is blurry, its unknown and due to this I thought the timing of this transition fitted nicely.
After this transition I made my camera slowly go out of focus, representing the way this book has blurred Hazels vision and how it has caused her to be so confused, however as she gets closer to the bottom of the hill (the lake) the focus is regained as she has regained sight of what is the right thing to do.
The third transition is from Hazel holding the book in her hands from a 'mid shot' to a close up side view of her opening the book and then quickly closing it. As the voiceover goes onto say life unfolds in ways you would never expect and the girl quickly shuts the book after being reminded of something bad, I have edited the clips so that the shot goes straight to the girls anxious face. This however is not a transition used from iMovie, I deliberately filmed this scene out of focus coming into focus and I believe this is more effective than what a cross dissolve/blur would have achieved because rather than two scenes merging smoothly - it shows sharp fear as its quick, and the girls worried face going from out of focus quickly into focus adds to the tense and mysterious atmosphere because its almost like a highlight of how the girl is feeling, emphasising the mood.
There is then a 'cross dissolve' transition from a side close up view of the girls face to a low angle shot of her, this is a very quick transition of 0.4 seconds whereas the majority are 1 second, i did this to add to the sharp movements which show emotion in a more raw sort of way rather than making things seem 'softer round the edges'.
The next transition was from the camera movement moving away from the girls face as the words "or you can hide from them" are used to the girls point of view of the lake - hence why the camera is shaky at this point, again I used cross dissolve because i wanted everything to be sharp for these shots rather than blurry. I will talk about camera movements in a later post; however, briefly, I think 'to hide' shows some kind of vulnerability and the fact the girl is scared which along with the shaky camera, helps to let the audience know how she is feeling at this point. There is then a transition between two shots of the girls point of view of the lake at 0:30 which is her looking at two parts of the lake, because this transition is smooth but also sharply focused this could also symbolise the girl blinking whilst moving to look at another part of the lake - which adds to the realism.
After we see the girls point of view theres a transition where the screen fades to black this symbolises an end, the end of her final decision making process where we then see her throw the book into the lake. I didn't include a transition from the girl throwing the book to the book falling into the water, or from the book falling into the water to the girls final look at it, this is because this is a big step in the story and i wanted to capture the immediate reaction from the girl after she had thrown the book in without anything fading in our out over the top of it or making it blurry - I felt it would be unnecessary.
As the girl looks away from the book for the last time there is then a 'cross dissolve' from her to the scenery behind her, going into a pan shot of the lake moving from dark to light with a final shot without a transition of the book floating away.
You will see, I only often included a transition if it made scenes of the film i wanted to be together, fit better, or if there was meaning behind it. From above you also will have seen that in some places i found it was more effective to have no transition or that i just didn't find it necessary.
The first transition I used is called 'cross dissolve', it moves from the previous frame to the next by making the first clip dissolve into the next, I really like this transition because it is a very smooth one which can show change from one period to another.
I used it at 0:06 in the video immediately after the voiceover says 'thoughts'. I thought this was appropriate because the transition moves from the girl thinking about either throwing the book away or not to going down to throw it. I also really like the effect it gives the girls head as she is walking down as her body is in a slightly different and moving position to the previous frame therefore the dissolve emphasises the girls head is 'all over the place' as a metaphore.
There is also a transition a few seconds after this at 0:09 seconds as the voiceover says 'where you're going to be in a few years'. I used 'cross blur' for this to speed up the time it takes for the girl to walk down the hill to make it more interesting, i also thought this particular transition was appropriate because nobody knows where they'll be in a few years, people may have a rough idea but this idea is blurry, its unknown and due to this I thought the timing of this transition fitted nicely.
After this transition I made my camera slowly go out of focus, representing the way this book has blurred Hazels vision and how it has caused her to be so confused, however as she gets closer to the bottom of the hill (the lake) the focus is regained as she has regained sight of what is the right thing to do.
The third transition is from Hazel holding the book in her hands from a 'mid shot' to a close up side view of her opening the book and then quickly closing it. As the voiceover goes onto say life unfolds in ways you would never expect and the girl quickly shuts the book after being reminded of something bad, I have edited the clips so that the shot goes straight to the girls anxious face. This however is not a transition used from iMovie, I deliberately filmed this scene out of focus coming into focus and I believe this is more effective than what a cross dissolve/blur would have achieved because rather than two scenes merging smoothly - it shows sharp fear as its quick, and the girls worried face going from out of focus quickly into focus adds to the tense and mysterious atmosphere because its almost like a highlight of how the girl is feeling, emphasising the mood.
There is then a 'cross dissolve' transition from a side close up view of the girls face to a low angle shot of her, this is a very quick transition of 0.4 seconds whereas the majority are 1 second, i did this to add to the sharp movements which show emotion in a more raw sort of way rather than making things seem 'softer round the edges'.
The next transition was from the camera movement moving away from the girls face as the words "or you can hide from them" are used to the girls point of view of the lake - hence why the camera is shaky at this point, again I used cross dissolve because i wanted everything to be sharp for these shots rather than blurry. I will talk about camera movements in a later post; however, briefly, I think 'to hide' shows some kind of vulnerability and the fact the girl is scared which along with the shaky camera, helps to let the audience know how she is feeling at this point. There is then a transition between two shots of the girls point of view of the lake at 0:30 which is her looking at two parts of the lake, because this transition is smooth but also sharply focused this could also symbolise the girl blinking whilst moving to look at another part of the lake - which adds to the realism.
After we see the girls point of view theres a transition where the screen fades to black this symbolises an end, the end of her final decision making process where we then see her throw the book into the lake. I didn't include a transition from the girl throwing the book to the book falling into the water, or from the book falling into the water to the girls final look at it, this is because this is a big step in the story and i wanted to capture the immediate reaction from the girl after she had thrown the book in without anything fading in our out over the top of it or making it blurry - I felt it would be unnecessary.
As the girl looks away from the book for the last time there is then a 'cross dissolve' from her to the scenery behind her, going into a pan shot of the lake moving from dark to light with a final shot without a transition of the book floating away.
You will see, I only often included a transition if it made scenes of the film i wanted to be together, fit better, or if there was meaning behind it. From above you also will have seen that in some places i found it was more effective to have no transition or that i just didn't find it necessary.
Monologue and Performance
Above you can watch the section of my opening covered by a monologue, here I will explain the reason behind each shot and the use of words.
Monologue
"Curiosity is the lust of the mind, it has the power to invade your thoughts making you wonder where you're going to be in a few years or who you may meet that will have the power to influence your life and the way you live it. Life unfolds in ways in which you would never expect, there are dreams and wishes, fears and nightmares... but the real question, how do you separate whats in your head from reality and how do you know when to stop?"
The underlying base of my storyline is about curiosity, without giving too much away in the monologue I wanted the audience to be introduced to this underlying base as curiosity is a common theme, and following the audience research I found people believe it is better to give a little bit of insight into the film rather than none or a lot.
The curiosity within Hazel (the main character) originated with her wanting to know where she was going to be and people she may meet in her life that could change it, for example bosses, managers, friends and lovers, this is why she couldn't put the book down, although the audience wouldn't fully understand this until later in the opening/film.
After reading the book Hazel found her future life unfolding in ways she hadn't expected, the majority of the reason being anything this evil book said that she read, would come true. Her dreams and wishes and hope of them coming true kept her reading the book whilst her fears and nightmares both coming true and still in her mind were causing her to stop.
If this opening was a real film the idea would be that Hazel can't really separate whats in her head due to what the book is telling her, from the real world and what life would be like without it. She can't tell if bad or good things are happening to her because of the book or because they would have anyway.
The reason I paired the girl throwing away this book with this monologue is because its symbolic, Hazel is talking about her past situation, she is throwing away the thing that caused the entire story to happen right at the beginning - they are opposites, yet the audience doesn't know it. I think it is a good twist. As well as this, I like the idea of the film being in reverse order just for the beginning as seeing the ending without knowing the beginning or middle is very enticing and boils up a lot of questions such as "why is she throwing the book away" "why is her tone apprehensive" "what happened".
This brings me onto the tone of the voiceover, it isn't jumpy or happy, instead it is "numb". Hazel has been through a lot over the course of the film and now she is uneasy but accepting, not happy, nor sad - almost dazzled and coming to the realisation she was sucked in by 'curiosity'. I aimed to lower the tone of my voice as I was talking about darker things "fears and nightmares". I have included some noticeable deep breaths in or out in the voiceover too in order to add to the tense atmosphere, this is another reason for there being short pauses between sentences for example "you can go for them...or you can hide from them" there is a breath out for the last bit because hiding seems more of a relief. There is also a very obvious breath in on the last line "..and how do you know when to stop?" this is because the idea of no longer reading the book makes the girl anxious because in a twisted way, it gave her a sense of security that she may know what will happen to her and be prepared for it, however at the word "stop" there is a breath out as it symbolises that she has stopped and that it has lifted a weight of her shoulders and there isn't as much tension - relief.
Performace
The first you can see the actress Kerry Hardesty (as Hazel) is at the first line of the monologue, as she looks into the book whilst standing near a lake and looks away at it and begins to make her journey down. She is thinking as she holds onto the book, looking up into mid air and trying to decide what to do. As she is looking into the book the wind blows in her hair and she pushes it out, this wasn't planned however I included it into the film as I believe it adds realism, the weathers mood can also symbolise hers and rather than the film opening being absolutely perfect with no hair or clothing out of place, I wanted it to be relatable and like I have said 'real'.
The idea was that the actress would slowly walk down this hill. showing her hesitation and the fact she wanted to take her time in the decision as to what she wanted to do with this book. As she reaches the bottom of the hill she looks down at the floor, showing a sense of insecurity, vulnerability and anxiousness but she looks up at the lake still thinking about what to do and then slowly looks back down at the book holding it tightly with both of her hands. This is to show the one way, twisted attachment she has developed with this book, due to the security and knowledge she thinks it has given her, and the fact she doesn't really want to let it go but she knows it is for the best - hence why she is at the lake.
Hazel opens the book for one last time to remind herself why she is throwing it away, opening it on a page that scares her the most and immediately shuts it. She then remembers some of the good things it tells her but knows if she follows her dreams in the way this evil book is telling her, it will only end badly. As the voiceover says "you can go for them" (the dreams) she very slightly smiles in a bittersweet way because even though she believed this book could make them come true for her - she knows its not the right way.
Finally, last but not least, Hazel finally throws the book away, after she has thrown it she looks at it for the last time for a couple of seconds and knows it is all over as she looks away from it with bittersweet emotions about what she just did, but overall relief.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)