Sweet Dreams evaluation

Creative Media (Film & Television)

Evaluation

 Our DepicT! Short follows a father as he wards off “monsters” from his sleepy daughter.

We wanted to experiment with different methods of transition and camera shots during this piece, and tried to imitate certain shots we’d seen in films which carry the same themes as our short does.

 It opens with a continuous shot of a side view of the daughter’s bedroom door, where the father comes in from the right and enters the bedroom. The length of this shot draws out the scene, and gives an immediate sense of loneliness on part of the father with the walls being bare and the doors being closed. There is an abrupt sense that not all is right on this shot, like a vacant sense of being as we enter the daughter’s white and pastel pink room.

 Alongside this, through following behind the father and keeping at waist height, it gives him power over the scene, directly hinting towards his intended actions towards the “monster” behind the wall.

 Throughout the duration of the piece, but more predominantly in the opening scene, the camera is shaky and jittery, giving the scene a more “realistic” atmosphere. This wasn’t actually intentional in our planning, but we had to incorporate it due to the lack of equipment we had. Additional to this, we had the change the positioning of the camera from being a front-facing view of the door to a side-view as the location we had to work with was small, and we were unable to get the shot we wanted.

 The same applies to a lot of our shots: they don’t look as effective as we imagined, some of the angling could have been done better if we had taken more time to do them and reviewed them straight after filming, instead of waiting until we got to school to analyse the clips during lesson.

 However, the shots do still represent the feeling we were trying to create to a certain degree. For instance, the over-the-shoulders give the impression he’s conversing with someone, which adds to the effect of the twist where we find out the bed is empty, making the insanity rapidly progress and the reality of the scene settle for the viewer.

 The side-shot of the bed is blank and bare, with the wideness making it appear even more vacant – like a detached sense of childhood. With the bare dialogue in the background, this time not accompanied by banging or scratching on the wall, the scene becomes saddened as we realise this father has lost something dear to him –a young girl, as detailed through the bright pink colours and floral patterns. Highlights the bed as an important “object” in the scene due to the symbol of a lost life.

 A large bulk of our shots were used in order to represent a sense of madness within the father, such as the point-of-view shots in place of the daughter used in order to represent the former soul of a child who would lay there and look up at their father – now gone, murdered.

 The birds-eye was inspired by The Shining, representing his anger towards the “monster” behind the wall, and, having previously seen the split-shot in between the piece where we a hand is knocking against the wall, the viewer’s already have a sense that what’s behind the wall isn’t just a young girls imaginary monsters, but something more sinister.

 Once the twist has happened, there’s a slow zoom into the hostage’s face which gives the character a lack of hope and freedom, and an expression of guilt pairs with this to slowly conclude his realisation of defeat.

 The transitions we used are cuts/fades. Cuts move the piece along quickly and fades usually denote a passing of time. In this instance, the fade signifies the revelation of a hidden secret on part of the father. A hostage, trapped behind a wooden door in his home.

 Mise-en-scene

 The room is almost overly childish and girly – pale pastel walls, floral, colourful patterns to contrast with the misery behind the context of the environment.

 The curtains being closed despite it being daytime can connote that he’s locked in from the outside world, and every door in the scene being closed is also a symbol of hidden secrets.

 Throughout the scene, the father maintains a possessive, bland expression in order to portray his current mind state.

 The lighting is dark when the shot is of the girls bed, whilst almost overtly bright and intrusive at the beginning to portray the façade of happiness the father puts on.

 Alongside this, the lighting in the last scene has a slight orange tinge from the candle which shadows the victims face, giving him a sense of defeat and anger; regret and repentance.

 In this final shot, there are stone walls, and a closed lock on the door, making it feel cold and trapped, and uncomfortable.  

 The background music that plays is a childish melody which we had to get through royalty free websites, scratching, banging, and there’s the dialogue - everything contrasts with one another to make the scene uncomfortable and more obviously unpleasant.

 The angles of the camera connote a sense of power in the father, whilst still portraying his insanity due to the situation. The close up is intrusive and a symbol of his undeniable craziness caused by the loss of his daughter, whom he now remembers through mentally placing her in her bed. Whilst the angles of the hostage are a presentation of his entrapment.

 The mise-en-scene works together in order to create an atmosphere to the scene.