A2 Short Film - Opening Title

Due to the importance, and the oddity of the name of our film we have decided to add a dictionary definition as the opening title of our film.

The presence of the different definitions allude to the number of interpretations that the audience can have of the film, for example, the phrase ''sickness for a person'' can be taken as both a positive and a negative thing.

The text is edited to have a 'type-writer' effect, with emphasis after each chunk of text so to allow the audience to focus on what is being said, we also though it best to include the fact that it was an untranslatable Irish word so that the audience would be aware that we are not making the term up.

Incidentally, on the dictionary site that we found the official dictionary definition for Cumha, www.teanglann.ie, it was placed into an example of a sentence that translated: ''Grief is memory's only friend.'' This is the tagline of the movie, found on the poster.

A2 Short Film - Filming: Completed!

Our filming went fantastically at the weekend, all of our shots were filmed smoothly and in general the entire process went swimmingly.

Our last minute actor change, Michael, did phenomenally and surpassed our expectations. We were very fortunate to be working with such a professional team who were happy to wait on us setting up our set.

Now that we are in the final stretch of creating our film, editing the footage, we have not long to go.


Our biggest difficulties by far were setting the clock at an angle so that the camera would not be visible in the the reflection of the plastic, and for that to also look realistic, as if pinned to a wall.


Due to the wintery season, it was difficult to achieve a summery and dreamlike atmosphere of the plants, due to their dead and decaying state due to the season. But, thankfully we were able to improvise, as shown below with some colourful flowers and different shots! This scene, with our main protagonist and the flowers will be visible at an extreme close up, and will have a dream-like filter applied to it.

A2 Short Film - Filming Schedule and ANOTHER Actor Change

Our final date to film is Sunday the 18th of March. One day of filming is not ideal as it therefore leaves no room for error, but unfortunately that is the only day that our actors can band together to be able to film. This can, of course, cause not only time restraints, but because all of the actors will be together for a long period of time, animosity and frustration may be generated.

Unfortunately our original actor for the secondary male character can no longer make the date, therefore we have had to make a third actor change. Below is the new profile of the actor who will be playing the character.

Name: Luke
Profile: 6'3, thin, dark cropped hair.
Experience: None

We have also made a final actor change to our main protagonist due to some.. unseen family trauma.

Name: Michael
Profile: 6'3, thin, brown hair.
Experience: None

A2 Short Film - Props

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As part of the Mise-En-Scene for our film, the male protagonist has a series of printed out photos on his wall of the female protagonist that are designed to show an intense desire for her. The photos have been printed using a free trial of the app: Free Prints. They will be of various angles, some selfies and some cropped to contain just the female protagonist to really sell that creep factor.

A clock is also going to be purchased to provide the main focus of the close up ticking - The clock must have a seconds hand to give further gravity to the booming sound of the ticking.

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A2 Short Film - Colour Palette

To keep in line with most modern Thriller movies, we have decided that we should keep the colourisation of our film mainly dark and desaturated. A good example of this is the colour palette to the right, which consists of greys, very saturated flesh tones and blues. This is the general feel of what we are going for, especially when the character is alone in their room during the solitary scenes.



This of course, differs with the palette of the fantastical 'dream' sequences that are present in the protagonist's head. To give them that more whimsical effect the colours will be desaturated, but rather than being dark in nature the shots will be given a golden tinge and their luminescence will be increased to give them a surreal effect. The shots will be given an almost Sepia effect, similar to the test footage shown in my post a few days ago.

Although both desaturated, the difference between the two types of environment will be the warmer tinge put on the shots to show that they are false / memories.

A2 Short Film - A Change in Actors

Due to scheduling issues, we have had to change one of our actors. The male protagonist has now changed. Below is the new profile:

Actor Profile:

Name: Calum
Role: The male protagonist.
Profile: 6'0(ish), black hair and brown-green eyes, tall and decently built.
Experience: None.

The lack of experience, although not ideal, can be easily overcome due to the lack of dialogue.

A2 Short Film - Final Name Choice

A final name has been decided for the short film.

We have decided on the name Cumha, (pronounced 'coo-ee') which is an Irish word that is practically untranslatable and has no definitive meaning, but some of the translation attempts are listed below.

''homesick'' ''nostalgia'' ''loneliness'' ''pining'' ''memory''

We chose this due to the amount of different options and outlooks that one can take and the different conclusions one can draw from it while watching the movie. Is the protagonist lonely? Pining for someone that isn't his? All of the meanings of the word 'Cumha' can apply to our piece in some way.

A2 Short Film - Poster Ideas

As part of our Coursework we have to come up with and produce a film poster, and therefore to prepare for this area of our task I have decided to take a number of posters for the Romantic-Thriller and Thriller genres to analyse the general codes and conventions for how they are displayed. This will help me get a broader idea for the poster, and a more accurate and realistic idea of what the poster should look like if the film was professionally done.


The first poster I am analysing is poster for the Thriller movie ''Dismissed'' which is about a murderous high school student.
I think that this poster is extremely effective in communicating the thrilling and tense mood of the film as a whole, the main focus is the actor, Dylan Sprouse's face and stoic expression. The extremely harsh front light creates extreme shadows on the face and hair, giving, in my opinion a feeling of mystery and danger as the protagonist's shirt and the side of his face blends into the background. This light also generates some very bright blue/green highlights along the nose and cheeks, this disconcerts and unsettles the viewer due to the unnatural colour and gives them the idea that, similarly to the light found in the poster there is something unusual and not quite right with the subject of the film.
The text of the title is displaced from the face of the character, the space given for both character and title allows both of them to stand out in their own regard without one overlapping the other. The lighter font colour awards it more presence and allows the words to be seen more easily than if the text was black, or blue, despite being in line with the overall pallet of the poster this would not suit and the title would be difficult to see.

The next poster I will be analysing is the poster for the War Crime Thriller Anthropoid. This poster was actually nominated for the Best Thriller Poster of 2017 from the Golden Trailer Awards. This, similarly to the last poster has two primary colours in its pallet, black and red. The side profile, done in shades of red and black has harsh shadows so that not much of the figure's features can be seen save for the Nazi uniform. The bold red connotes strongly with Nazism, which is the main theme of the film, but more obviously it is a dangerous colour: A colour that the audience normally associate with terror and danger. The figure contrasts very strongly with the red background, awarding more focus to it. As we continue to look at the poster we see that the bottom of the figure looks to be dripping like blood, but on closer inspection what is cut out of the silhouette is actually the cityscape of Prague in Czechoslovakia (Now the Czech Republic)
The block capital title is written in a rigid font, alluding to the strict nature of the war officer characters. Similarly to the Dismissed film the title is in a colour that contrasts with its black background to award it more significance.

The third poster I will be analysing is the poster for Thriller film Jason Bourne, similarly to Anthropoid this poster was nominated for Best Thriller Poster 2017. The main focus of the poster is the titular character, Jason Bourne, who permeates and takes up much of the poster. The light source coming from the top left of the poster shines bright light on the lefthand side of his face and, in conjunction shadows the righthand side of his face and neck. This gives an extremely dramatic look to it, and seems like he is almost peeking through a doorway or window for that light to shine on him in such a way. Jason Bourne, a fugitive in the film, is running from those who  want to find him and this light source is therefore cleverly placed to emulate this. The absence of colour, the poster being monochrome in nature
The text of the title is displaced from the face of the character, the space given for both character and title allows both of them to stand out in their own regard without one overlapping the other. The lighter font colour awards it more presence and allows the words to be seen more easily than if the text was black.


In conclusion, the average Thriller Genre poster places heavy emphasis on the main character, and makes use of heavy and dramatic lighting to highlight their face. They usually have a limited colour scheme, comprising of black, white, and any primary colour.
These conventions and information will  be very useful for us in the future when we come to create a poster of our own.