Our last assignment is to make another short film. I’ll be breaking the process into three steps.

pre-production:

Firstly, I had to pitch my idea to the class. Thankfully, it was not as nerve-wrecking since I’d done it a few times.

In “Just a Minute”, i really liked the concept of Dakota Johnson talking to this mysterious figure who we can’t see but only hear. The camera only shoots the door, when the man outside is speaking, giving us as an audience all the freedom to visualise the man of our imagination. I was also inspired by the unsteadiness of the camera. I find it unique as it gives the film a character.

“Listen To Me” is a narrative based movie about a girl attempting a suicide but was talked out by a guy. I love both the concept and message of the film. There are only one conversation scenes and that’s all it needs as it was powerful, especially in the form of sign language. It inspires me to create a movie that touches on a sensitive subject while having a nice dialogue scene as the climax.

Thus, my idea was a combination of these two movies. In summary:

• Elena attempts suicide
• her sister appears on the other side of the door as a ‘voice’.
• conversation between two characters.

After the pitch, everyone had different ideas so finding someone to team up with was a struggle. I was almost ready to give up my idea and go with Chi Kay’s, when Jonah suggested we work together. To be honest, apart from the theme of suicide, our vision for the movie were pretty different. He said he was happy to go with my idea with some revision. However, James thought the modified version was amateur, and liked my original idea the way it was. It was surprising, because I was so close to tossing my idea and just work on whatever. He told me “never do what you don’t want to do” which really boosted my confidence and made me believe in myself.

At the end, I ended up on my own, with Ben kindly offering a hand. During my consultation with James, he gave me some feedback which were helpful.

I have never written a proper script before, so it was my research topic. I learned the basic formatting, with the help of Ben, which were pretty tough at first. The most important in writing a script was to write visually and not otherwise. For example, instead of writing she is in a sad mood now, it’s better to write she wipes her tears gently. Once i got the hang of it, I just poured what I visualised into words. It definitely sounds easier than it really was however, as it took a lot of thinking and re-writing till the script was finalised. And then I decided to name this project The Other Side.

Dialogues were the highlight of the script, so I tried my best to make it engaging and sounds natural. The lines for Rachel and Elena are pretty contrast. Elena is in a state of anger and disappointment thus her lines are longer. Rachel on the other hand has shorter lines, as she was mainly taking Elena’s anger and was apologetic. However, near the end of the conversation, Rachel will burst out and have a long line, which will give the conversation a nice twist. More details about the learning process of scripting is in another blog post.

I was inspired by The Breakfast Club and Waiting for Godot, as they were definitely great examples. The former had really clever and natural dialogues, and I even did a scripting exercise on one of the scenes. While as the latter was basically a play which is super dialogue-heavy, but they’re well written so it was enjoyable. Below is my finalised script.

 

Last steps before the shoot was deciding the location of the shoot, which is my friend’s (Terry) house and the actress who’s my friend, Niki. I also borrowed  an LED panel, a stand, and a lapel mic. I have my own tripod, and I used Terry’s canon 7d mark ii. Unlike last project, this time it was so much easier to schedule a time to shoot as I’m working on my own and only had to match my schedule with Terry and Niki.

The shoot:

The first shoot was on the 3rd of October. There were still sunlight, as I wanted natural lighting for the opening scene. I had to do most things myself, but since it was a very small set, it wasn’t bad. I even enjoyed not having to keep telling others how I want to do it and save time.

We had a short dinner after, as it’s important to have everyone in a good mood so the shoot can go smoothly. At 7, Ben came to help to shoot the next scenes. The shoot went pretty smooth, we exchanged ideas on what to do and he helped me with the lights. However, we had a problem getting the lapel mic to work, so I decided to just record the audio separately.

The set was completely dark, with only the LED lights switched on. This way, I had complete control of the lighting. I layered it with a few orange diffuser panels to create a strong orange-y tone as it looked really nice on the camera. I experimented on the lights positions, mostly trying to create shadows to make the shots look mysterious. I liked Ben’s idea of blinking the lights for the door to give the impression that it’s really speaking and to give more depth to the character.

I decided to do another shot on Saturday, so I booked the lights again and this time a zoom h4n recorder. The shoot was shorter as it was a bit of re-shots and some extras. This time it was only me and Terry helping with the lights. Since i had the recorder, I also recorded Niki’s lines in a quiet bedroom. I recorded my part at home when it was quiet.

editing:

Unlike my last project, this time I am editing on my own. Thus, I have more freedom and control throughout the whole process.

Editing for this movie is an interesting process, as it’s a combination of experimental and narrative. It’s also considered a thriller, so sound is very important. Baker explained how “[a] perfect use of sound effect can make your audience squirm and trigger reactions they’ve never felt, expanding their imagination and immersing them completely.” Freesound.org is a great free audio archive where I found the sounds I used in this project. I looked for ambient sounds that could enhance the visual experience by evoking feelings of thrill and suspense, as well as some sfx (e.g footsteps). I’m not a fan of horror/suspense but I really enjoyed Brian de Palma’s Carrie.

Some interesting edits were the jump cuts in the opening scene which were cut according to the a ticking clock sound to evoke tension. The wide shot juxtaposes Elena to her spacious environment, which Kroll believes is a great way to show the isolation of the character. From the feedback, . There’s an abrupt transition from the natural sunlight scene to dark artificial light scene as a surprise. There was also superimposition of the girl’s close up and the tracking shot of the door inspired by movies such as The Shining and The Last Detail for a gripping effect.

 

For the conversation part, I had to match the audio recorded with the visual. Also for the door, I had to make the sound realistic as it is from the other side of the door. I found the tutorial which I elaborated in this post. It was important to make the conversation sounds natural and not awkward, so I had to cut them at the right timing. After experimenting, I used appropriate background music for the conversation as it supports the mood.

To polish things off, I made sure that the colours and volume are consistent, and added a credit roll at the end which I learned to do here. Then, it’s pretty much done. As a semi-thriller, editing for the sound effects are definitely my favourite part (alone at night especially), as it was rewarding how they enhance the visuals and bring the viewing experience into a whole new level.

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One more step after editing would be having everyone involved fill in release forms, a location form, and also to complete the safety checklist.

I was really thankful that it was a pretty smooth process. Scheduling wasn’t stressful, the equipment did their job, everyone was nice to work with, location was available at the right time. I really think the fact that I was working with my close friends really helped. Niki was easy to direct and had a really good attitude, and lastly Ben who was really kind to help out during the shoot. Overall, the film set was just a really great environment.

The only thing that was a little bit unfortunate is how Terry had to pick up and also drop back the equipment that i borrowed. It was too heavy for me to carry all the way home and it was more efficient to just leave it at his place, where we shoot. I would also love to work with a professional actress, because I really think that the film would be more impactful with better acting.

The whole process was as fun as it is challenging. I find it really interesting how my idea evolved from just a narrative based drama to actually ended up being an experimental suspense film. I guess this is what screen and sensation means! The same goes for my research topic, which was originally just scripting, has became much more than just that. Through this project was also an exploration of sound and lights as they turned out to be crucial elements. Thus, through producing, writing, directing and editing for this movie, I learned so much about film making and at the end it was a great and rewarding experience and I’m really proud of the end product.

Despite this project not being able to make it to the screening, I had the privilege to present my previous work with Pavina and Lyreca to a number of crowds and it was a really great experience. Lastly, I want to thanks James for a sensational semester!

I hope you enjoy The Other Side.