Evaluation: Question 1

·         How does this piece conform to short film codes and conventions; think both in terms of technique and content?

We decided to use friends as our actors and Roisin was the seductress. In keeping the cast small, we were enabled to retain Raine’s simplicity as a character and also the effectiveness of the visual despite its complicated and confusing structure. We also don’t have much speech or diegetic sound, rather relying on non-diegetic sounds to create the tone we need. The music is an integral component as it is the audience’s direct link to Raine’s emotions. The frequent use of handheld shots juxtaposed with static ones creates a gritty, realistic look and each shot is important and moves the narrative forward, so therefore, we have kept shots short or overlapped them so that we can show two emotions at once.
Overall, the short is determined to be outside of the box. During our idea generation sessions, we had problems creating one idea. The film is unique, because it explores the different states of the human mind, which we did by treading the tenuous line between dreams and nightmares using colours, overlaps and music. The shock ending by leaving it on a question (which is a similarity to some shorts, such as Mud Boy), encourages the audience to think for themselves, which is quite interesting because everyone’s interpretations are different. It does not conform to the boundaries of any particular genre (although the bright yellowy colouring might suggest a fantasy world), which keeps it engaging for the audience and makes it visually interesting.