Recently Brittany and I have been looking into what types of ideas we want to look at, due to our AS level film opening we looked at mental health and the representations surrounding the mentally unwell. Although we enjoyed making the film opening we felt we could only relate to a minority of people we wanted to open our film up to a broader spectrum of people and hit a mass audience to make a significant impact upon society, through the movement of media and using cinematography to convey this idea.
ReMoved
To try to read around this subject I have been watching short films that I feel could inspire our film, one of the most emotional short films I have watched is called “ReMoved” which is about a young girl who comes from an abusive home who was raised to take care of her little brother, the short film shows the progression she makes throughout her journey.
They did make a part 2 to this short film but I felt that “ReMoved” speaks the loudest and inflicts the most emotion onto the audience. The cinematography throughout this short film is outstanding, the mise-en-scene is perfect in every way and the different representations throughout the short film is inspiring. Although this film relates to a minority of people, it is made in a way that we all understand her pain and mistrust. I highly recommended you watch this short film.
The other part of this short film that I found inspiring was the actual storyline, how it flowed from one scene to the next, there was no jumpiness in the film it softly moved from one part of the storyline to the next. There was also a gripping message to the film, it wasn’t her receiving materialistic things or living in a big house with pretty things, every home she moved to didn’t understand the simple thing she needed, her brother. Her brother held familiarity, it made her feel purposeful like there was a requirement for her to be there.
Let Her Eat Cake
This short film is about a Body Dysmorphic Disorder and the consequence and influence it can have. There are many realities about this short film. the storyline enquire a teenage girl who suffers with a Body Dysmorphic Disorder and on her sister’s birthday, they all sit down to ear cake, the teenage girl says maybe she will have something later, as a result her younger sister follows in the same way. Her mother starts to blame the older sister, she then proceeds to cut a large piece of cake and starts eating to show her sister that she should eat, at this point of the film we believe this is the end and she has overcome her disorder (I know bullsh*t) but then we see her go up to the bathroom to do extreme exercises, from this we start to get an idea that perhaps she has bulimia.
The directing within this short film is not at the same level of “ReMoved” although it is similar in the ways it has a moving storyline with an emotional connection. It highlights the limited understanding her parents know about her disorder, and that she can just overcome it whenever she likes. The director talks about that this is her personal experience.
‘I suffered from Body Dysmorphic Disorder since I was 7, and I made this film based on the relationship between me and my mother, whom ingrained in me the value of being skinny since I was a child… To quite a terrible consequence.’
Short films with a personal element give it a different edge as they place all their emotion into the film and you can feel it when you watch the film.
Identity
This short film is cleverly done with the use of masks disguising everyone’s face, it pulls the reality that we don’t really know who we are talking to, most people wear a mask and this short film pulls this to the extreme. The storyline includes trying to escape from the mask but the mask always pulling it back, it connotes that we don’t need the mask the mask needs us, this doesn’t make much sense but you can begin to see the message behind this short film.
One of the most brilliant things in this short film is the mise-en-scene, everyone in this short film wears a mask, all in different colours, some with cracks and some with perfectly painted masks. By doing this it makes the film more realistic and inclusive. It drives the message home that you don’t know the person behind the mask.
Although these are not in-depth looks at the short films made, I wanted to set the scene for the ways in which I interpret films. I also enjoy looking at the meaning behind the short films, what the producer of the short film is trying to convey to us.
For our film we went to carry on with our concepts from last year invisible illnesses, however not about the same idea but the same message, we hide the truth
This year for our short film, we want to hone in on that message and try to take away the confusion from our opening titles and focussing on to many different emotions and try to pick one to convey
That emotion is still undecided…
Tamsin Rachel Media A2 