Short Film Exegesis

A Lying Smile Exegesis

SHORT FILM

A Lying Smile

  A young woman traps herself within a marriage that begins to spiral out of control on her wedding day.

         When first approaching this darkly dramatic script ideas of Quinton Tarentino, Kill Bill style were quickly bought to the table. However due to time, budget and skill restraints this idea did not come to light. We instead decided to follow a more naturalistic, realistic, linear approach. This new approach changed the feel for both the cast and crew, halting the flow of the production schedule. Although the linear approach led to a seemingly easier shoot the communication between crew was often misinterpreted and old ideas were still be followed by some.  This led to a change in the editing that had not being planned. Similarly the sound design was changed very last minute. Overall this uncertainty led to the quality of the final piece to drop considerably.

          The challenges faced when developing the script into a feasible film were numerous. Foremost was the locations and time of days. An instant decision was to move the wedding from afternoon to morning and the photo shoot from sunset to midday. This allowed for complete accessibility to locations and natural light ability.

          What worked well in the film - I feel out cinematography was very well done and the approach and style that the director was trying to take was followed by the camera operator. Furthermore I am extremely impressed with the opening wedding day footage and editing. The stylistic choice to have this part in black and white is reminiscent of a wedding video and I feel sets the mood to be picture perfect. The change in flowing edits to harsh cuts enables the audience to understand the shift in tension.  

          What didn’t work about this film - Most significantly the lack of creative options to create a linear narrative stopped the natural flow of progression. The options in terms of angles were limited for the editor and this could have been fixed by a clearer storyboard. The sound design in A Lying Smile is fairly disjointed. It would have been advantages for both the director and sound designer to have the same clear idea from the beginning. Or when the direction change a clearer communication of what was required was needed.

          What I have learnt from working on this film- Through my role as producer I have come to understand the creative differences that can stall a projects success. I have also learnt that the time and commitment that is needed from a producer cannot waver. I feel the producer must keep the whole process moving along according to schedule. Creatively I feel A Lying Smile perhaps did not do its script justice and for this reason I am disappointed. However I am proud that we were able to produce a finished product that we can be happy with. The process of making A Lying smile was a largely enjoyable one. 

Short Film

A Lying Smile

By Mia Edmunds, Keith Kim, Mohini Herse, Sarah-Jane Knight and Yvonne Kral

Documentary Exegesis

DOCOUMENTARY PROJECT

Exegesis

Len

This documentary focused on a Vietnam War veteran Leonard Shultz. It features his first hand experience of the conflicts he endured, the treatment of soldiers upon their return and the importance of ANZAC day.

The original concept for this documentary was to interview various war veterans and get their views on the current conflicts. This however altered, due to the availability of talent to become a one man’s story within the mess that was the Vietnam War. Another altering factor to our original outline was to include imagery shot at the 2012 ANZAC day marches within Sydney. This in turn was the basis of our documentary.

After collecting the interview and ANZAC footage we decided that the most visually effective piece would encompass Vietnam War footage and the welcome home parade. We also decided to undertone the piece with the instrumental version of He Was Only Nineteen.

A major difficulty with our process was the introduction and establishing the topic. While Len was a very open and honest character he often forgot to relay the question despite our reminders. This led to difficulties when editing the piece down to under 5mins as we wanted the audience to get an overall feel for the topic yet we had little dialogue to work with.

The editing process for this piece was highly educational. Although I am inexperienced at the editing process I feel I managed to put together a fluid documentary. The cuts that I chose and how they are pieced together runs smoothly and follows a linear narrative. The final section in which starts “My own personal opinion...” was originally not going to make the final cut but I feel that this adds an extra level of humanity and personality. 

This process was very enjoyable and highly informative. I would definitely be interested in perusing more interviews with veterans as I feel they each have a unique and interesting story to tell. Furthermore I do not feel that individuals are given the time and arena to openly reflect on their past experiences and apply it to the future. I would have loved to make this piece into a 20 minute documentary as Len delved into some very deeply emotional topics that we would not have been able to do justice to in the allocated time period.

In the future I would aim to go in to a documentary process prepared to making the most out of our talent. I would also aim to allow more time for the pre-production stage so too clearly understand and source out the talent that was required. I would love to have been able to get varying points of view from veterans ranging outside of the Vietnam War. However as an individual piece I think LEN works quite nicely.

Documentary - Len

By Hoss Ghertassi and Mia Edmunds

Zombie Editing

Zombie Editing Chase scene - Given short clips and asked to arrange them in whatever progression told our story. Some technical issues arose but the general edit is effective.

Editing by Mia, Jana and Sharm

Lighting Exercise

Three Point Lighting assignment - Interview

Light Change assignment

Mexican Stand off - Natural light change

Lighting projects - By Jana, Sonia, Yvonne and Mia

Script Exegesis

SCRIPT
Exegesis

            The script aims to depict the uncertain nature of dreams and how quickly good can go bad. The feel of the script is a bit of Alice in Wonderland meets the Wizard of Oz, the dreams allow a character to escape from their life however not all dreams are magical.

           The script is inspired by an Alana Grace song "Black Roses Red", thus the character name and script title. The flow of the script goes through varying levels of intensity much like a song. The haunting nature of the script ultimately cultivates into an uplifting climax.

           The first scene on the beach is aimed to establish the characters loving relationship. This scene allows for the audience to understand the love that the two characters share and why Rosie is desperate to stay in contact with the YOUNG MAN.

           The initial bedroom scene was created with the intension to establish a change from the ideal dream sequence to confusion. It also aimed to show Rosie's desperation in returning to the image of her loved one.

           Throughout the dream sequence in the forest/field there is an air of the unknown. Although not always negative the aim of these scenes are that we are in Rosie's nightmare.

          The main action is placed in an ambiguous setting off a field, beach or forest. Although generic settings these lay a ground work for the non specific nature of dreams. The simplicity of the settings allows for the audience to focus on the action whist the background still provides the basis of the mood. It remains unknown if Rosie has been to her surroundings before as it does not actively effect her actions or interests.

            Through ROSIE's desperation and spoken lines and screams the audience will come to understand that the YOUNG MAN has left her alone in the real world. Furthermore the pictures in her bedroom indicate that not only are they in a relationship but he is no longer there. Whether he is dead or merely at war is left up to the audience to decide. 

            The last scene where by which Rosie discovers that a rose petal is with her when she is awake surrounds the whole piece with mystery. The intention is to leave the audience wondering how blurred the lines between reality and dreams really are or if they exist at all.

           Through the critique that has been given I was able to better establish the couple's relationship and furthermore intensify the climax. Similarly I extended Rosie's breakdown so that the final scene in the field happened during the day time to give a peaceful and tranquil mood to the scene.