A2 Short Film - The Sound of Your Voice [Genre Analysis 1]

The first film I have decided to analyse is a short film found on critiquing website Short of the Week.

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2018/03/07/the-sound-of-your-voice/

The Sound of Your Voice chronicles a young voice-over actress who becomes haunted by a past relationship, tormented in the sound book.
I have decided to analyse how:


1. Cinematography is used to amplify the emotional intensity.

A series of close up shots showing very personal areas of the woman, the lips and hair give us the image already from the opening shots that this film is a very personal experience to her as we as the viewer are given insight into these very delicate areas.



2. Sound is used.

The film focuses heavily on sound, and makes use of a lot of sound cuts - It is given a surround sound effect, with the audio edited to give a 3D effect whilst the main character is in on the phone. Sound even cuts out at some points to reflect the white noise of the main protagonist's mind and, similarly to what we aim for our film to achieve sound effects and diegetic noise is used rather than dialogue to create an unsettling tone.

3. Ambiguity is used.

The film is not overly ambiguous, and it is evident what the general story is about, so this cannot be terribly applicable to the movie. I would, however like to know as to why the woman broke up with her partner in the first place as, it seemed that from the clips we saw of their relationship it was happy and I would like to know what occurred for their relationship to devolve so dramatically. 

A2 Short Film - Storyboards

Today the production team and I finished the final storyboards of our short film. Although messy and crudely drawn, this storyboard is the first step on the production process and from this we will create a shot list.

A2 Short Film - Genre Analysis Preparation

Our short film is a psychological thriller.

This is a hybrid model of the thriller and psychological genres.

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Therefore, in preparation for making the films, I have decided to analyse two short films of similar genres to give me a rounded vision of the genre how to appropriately make it.

I have decided to analyse how:
1. Cinematography is used to amplify the emotional intensity.
2. Sound is used.
3. Ambiguity is used.
I will be analysing the following two films, sourced from online service Short of the Week.
Please be noted that all of the films are being used in fair use for educational and reference purposes, and all films belong to their rightful creators with no infringement of property intended.

The Sound of Your Voice - By Hunt Beaty

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2018/03/07/the-sound-of-your-voice/

Intrusion - By Jack Michel

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2014/10/27/intrusion/

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A2 Short Film- Psycho-Thriller Genre Points

Some conventions of Psycho-Thriller films fall heavily on the cinematography, characterisation and mise-en-scene. 
The genre is a hybrid of Psychological films and Thriller films
Some of these common points include:

• Low lighting used to generate empathy and highlight the severity of the situation, usually coupled with back lights to create extreme shadows.
• The makeup is generally neutral for most characters, however some can be painted with darker or with brighter makeup depending on their role in the story. For example, red lipstick can be a sign of seduction.
• Extreme close up shots and similar shots are used to amplify emotion.
• Sound can vary. It can be created from diegetic and non-diegetic sources, and there is no set convention for it, which grants artistic liberty. Although sound always amplifies the situation, especially when tension is to be created.
• Ambiguity.

A2 Short Film - Actors

Our short film has  a very minimal cast, with the characters only being one man and one woman, it means that we will only have two actors, which will benefit us as there will be less to organise and organising what we do have will be easier.

I attend a secondary school that places a heavy emphasis on the drama department, therefore finding suitable people our age to fit the characters will not be hard. My team and I have decided to ask our friends that have drama experience before moving onto strangers, as not only will we be comfortable with our friends working in our project, but the actors themselves will have preexisting chemistry.

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Actor Profiles:

Name: Eamonn
Role: The male protagonist.
Profile: 6'3, black naturally curled hair and brown-green eyes, tall and decently built. Natural facial hair.
Experience: B in Drama GCSE.

Name: Ribh
Role: The female protagonist.
Profile: 5'1, brown curled hair, lithe and small build, green-amber eyes, soft and delicate features.
Experience: B in Drama GCSE.

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There will also be minor nonspeaking cameos seen in still photographs that will be filled by myself and the rest of our team for the sake of convenience.

A2 Short Film - Initial Idea and Origins

In preparation for our A2 coursework, the production team I work with decided to come up with two ideas to choose from. This would limit the amount of confusion and give us each ample time to write the logistics of each of the ideas, the pros and cons and which would be more realistic to pull off.

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We pondered between a lighthearted romantic-comedy similar to our last year's project, and a more melancholy silent film.

And eventually after much deliberation chose the latter option as a breath of fresh air.

Our film is being loosely adapted from a short story written Irish called ''A Windy Night'' written by pen name Peggy Rose.

It follows a young, nameless man, mourning and reminiscing in silence about his lover, whom is coming home the very next day. It is a poignant idea focused on the emotions of the character and a strong cinematography aspect, a narrative of drama rather than events focused on making the audience sympathise with the everyday plight of the everyman: missing someone important to you.

The film itself will contain no dialogue, so our actors will have to work very hard to communicate the tone of film through facial expressions and nonverbal sounds alone.