WEEK III
"Who Are You?"
Create a narrative of someone being followed.
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Ideation
Ideation
Writing Exercise
GOAL: With an action-based short film, I wanted to focus on timing the cuts to look natural, focusing on cutting on the action.
Fun stylistic choices!
Transitioning a close up into a wide angle shot, creating the illusion that Forester is being watched from being the wall.
Cutting on action again to transition back into the close-up, implying Forester's belief that no one is behind him.
Using the same change in angle to focus on Forester's facial expressions as he sees the stalker.
I created suspense by using a vignette every instance the antagonist was seen on screen.
Forester was also cloaked in a hoodie so his face would not be seen.
The final two shots of Forester standing, face shrouded, then face revealed on the stairs (as if overlooking his other self) were meant to match cut - but the difference in angle and zoom meant that they did not. Rather than trying to digitally zoom them for a transition, which looked very unnatural and broke the tension, I overlayed the shot that revealed his face on top of the one where it is covered. This created a ghost-like effect that maintained the horror-like tone when conducting the grand reveal.
The final two shots of Forester standing, face shrouded, then face revealed on the stairs (as if overlooking his other self) were meant to match cut - but the difference in angle and zoom meant that they did not. Rather than trying to digitally zoom them for a transition, which looked very unnatural and broke the tension, I overlayed the shot that revealed his face on top of the one where it is covered. This created a ghost-like effect that maintained the horror-like tone when conducting the grand reveal.
I wanted to make this week's video seem dark and dramatic. I included horror ambience that only comes in when the antagonist is seen on screen - evoking terror.
To ensure the contrast is best reflected, I used a room tone sound effect at the start, where Forester walks in. The normal room ambience accentuates the horror themed music.
CUTTING ON ACTION (EXAMPLE TWO)
CUTTING ON ACTION (EXAMPLE TWO)
CUTTING ON ACTION (EXAMPLE THREE)
Editing process
A family homage:
My grandfather on my dad's side was always there: At every family dinner, at every dim sum outing, at every point in my childhood where my brother and I fought over plush toys, and pretended to be superheroes.
He didn't say much - possibly because the chatter of us children bumbled in English, a language he didn't understand - but he still watched us with a wrinkled smile and a relaxed chuckle. 'Wow, they've all grown up', he'd say to my dad. Or, 'They're still kids' - situationally.
I hear his voice through the jumble of political talk that happened at the dinner table, a direct comment to the news he made sure we turned on each night. When I came to Australia, and he stayed in Hong Kong, the dining tables I resided at felt void of all the life he had brought us. The gossip, and occasional judgement that floated around the tables at my boarding school were nothing like the conversations my grandfather struck with us.
He was endlessly patient: he would speak to us in Cantonese, yet wouldn't get mad at us when we spoke Mandarin back, because though this was a language he wasn't as comfortable with, being able to speak to us meant that speaking a different dialect would be worth it. He'd sometimes chime in to help me with my maths homework, guiding me slowly but surely. He'd listen to the music I played, even if he didn't understand the lyrics that were fully in Korean - because, well, neither did I - but the most important part was that we were there, experiencing it together, in a peaceful nice at my house.
When I speak to strangers, in a soft-spoken yet extroverted way, and when I listen to my friends ramble on about all the new things that have happened in their lives, I am unconsciously channeling the persona my grandfather was, and who he'd want me to be.
My grandfather was the pinnacle of my childhood, and someone who I will continue to emulate for the rest of my life.
Last week, we took a more subtle approach to exploring the themes of surveillance. This time, we wanted to directly show Forester's reaction to be stalked through fast-paced action shots. We also thought it would be more meaningful to put a twist on traditional 'stalking' by suggesting that the stalker was really Forester's internal persona - a metaphor for anxiety.
(Very rough) Storyboard:
