Screenshots of the Editing Process

Link to: the Screenshots of the Editing Process.

Creative Journey

ESSENCE

Creative Journey

My initial idea for ‘Essence’ came after reading the quotation, ‘existence precedes essence’, by Jean-Paul Sartre, and seeing Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic, ‘Blade Runner’. I watched it in preparation for 2017’s ‘Blade Runner 2049’, and was inspired very heavily by it’s themes and universe - this was in September 2017.

When I realised after watching that I wanted to do a dark sci-fi in the spirit of Blade Runner, I quickly took to my laptop to write down as many notes and ideas as I could. Eventually I landed on the idea of Essence, involving human clones (in the place of Blade Runner’s ‘replicant’ characters), and setting it mostly in the confines of a house; this was due to having limited resources at my disposal. I wanted to make it as small-scale as possible without making it dull or boring. Because of my decision of the house setting, I initially thought of Essence as a sci-fi / horror film - it could be tense and dark, as the clone protagonist attempts to escape his life of servitude, and his abusive master. However, I decided to drop the horror aspects of the film in the screenwriting stage as these parts of the film took too much away from the plot, and didn’t quite work within the overall product.

So instead, I decided to bring the science fiction back to the forefront, and focus on making Essence as dramatic and emotional as possible. This lead to me developing the characters more, and fleshing out their motivations and reasons for doing what they do in the short film. For example, ‘Ben #38’ (the protagonist) is quite complacent at the beginning of Essence, and is fully accepting of his role as a clone. It is only until his best friend (another clone) is needlessly killed that the character begins going through a change, and decides that he will forge his own destiny. At this point, I was able to give Ben #38 a beginning, a middle, and an end; and goal to strive towards to show the progression of his character.

From the outset, even before the screenwriting stage, I decided that I would not go for the typical ‘Hollywood ending’ in my short film. I knew that I didn’t want Ben #38’s plan to be successful and that he would be ‘decommissioned’ by the end of Essence. I wanted to do this to fully cement to the audience what the world of my short film is truly like, and that what happens to Ben #38 is what happens to countless other clones everyday in this universe.

When I was done with the screenwriting, I produced the storyboards for Essence; where I decided how the short film would be visualised. I decided I would use a lot of tight and close-up shots to create a claustrophobic, almost suffocating feeling for the majority of Essence. Despite this, I still wanted to make room for more grandiose shots that were a bit more kinetic; so I applied a few of these more impressive shots when necessary to make the cinematography more varied.

The shooting for Essence lasted the span of nearly two months but was really only the work of around five days in total. As previously mentioned, most of the shoot was set in the house, but for some scenes it was necessary to be outdoors. This was the most challenging part of the overall shoot, as you have to try and film around the public and the noise of the outdoors. Filming indoors posed a different problem. Most of the time the lighting was artificial, and so it was nearly impossible to make it suit the scene the way I wanted it to - this had to be rectified in post-production.

Once filming was complete, it was straight to editing, which I left until the end instead of editing bit-by-bit as I filmed. Using Adobe After Effects CS6, I edited each scene in a separate tab to make it a little bit easier for me as an editor. Having each single element in one tab - of what resulted in a nearly seven minute short film - would have been far too overwhelming. The visual editing process took about a week to complete, taking me from late December to early January (this was the result of re-shoots I had to complete after I thought my initial filming was complete). In the editing, I tried to remain conscious of the pace of Essence, as well as continuity. Moreover, it allowed for me to apply colour-correction (affecting the hue, brightness, and saturation of each frame), and effects like the zoom and depth-of-field; all only when necessary to the shot, when it had a purpose. It was also here where I edited certain aspects of both diegetic and non-diegetic sound, including voice-over. Finally, I added credits to Essence.

After the lengthy editing process, I composed and performed the music for Essence myself. I decided to go for a simple piano score, as the instrument is versatile and suits many types of genre of film. However I still wanted it to feel like a classic film score, so I have various motifs that run through the film, such as the villain’s theme (belonging to ‘Original Ben’).

Once the score was applied, I then decided to add the song ‘Dear God’, performed by Lawless to the end credits of Essence, as I thought contents of the song could almost be from Ben #38’s point of view, and so it fit my short film perfectly. After doing so, I constructed an email to Virgin Records requesting permission to use the song. At this point, the short film was all complete; what remained now were the remaining print products, such as the poster and a magazine review in the style of Empire magazine. I wanted to keep the poster design quite minimalistic, and nothing too over-the-top, as this wouldn’t be representative of the slower pace of Essence. I took inspiration from posters for films such as Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’, and Doug Jones’ ‘Moon’.

Intertextuality

ESSENCE

Intertextuality

In my short film I make both visual and sound references to Richard Donner’s ‘Superman: The Movie’. This is because I feel the journey Clark Kent is similar to that of my main character, Ben #38. He begins as someone who is not truly at home in the world he lives in, but strives to find purpose. Similar to Superman: The Movie, the inciting incident is also that of a loved one dying.

There are two instances where Superman: The Movie is referenced in my short film: at the beginning of the film, Ben #38 is watching the film on an iPad, and this is where we first hear the line from Pa Kent, ‘you are here for a reason’. Later on in the short, Ben #38 finds a Superman-themed backpack in the bedroom, which he picks up. At this moment, my own original score ceases for a moment and we hear the Superman theme softly on piano; and Pa Kent’s voiceover returns once more to tell Ben #38 that ‘[he is] here for a reason’. This gives him the strength he needs to search out his purpose in life.

I find intertextuality to be important because it gives a wider context for Ben #38’s feeling and emotions, and it reinforces his motivations by comparing them to something else that the audience can recognise.

Print Research

Link to: the Print Research.

Avoiding Copyright Infringement

Link to: the Avoidance of Copyright Infringement.

Original Soundtrack

Link to: the Original Soundtrack.

Lighting Tests

ESSENCE

Lighting Tests

Due to a lack of much technical equipment, I had to rely on natural light for much of the shoot. In the pre-title sequence, it was cloudy so the sun wasn’t out. This meant the lighting for this particular moment in the short film was very balanced, not over / under-exposed - just right; so relying on natural light for this scene was the right decision. I also relied on natural light in the second and final scenes. Again, it was quite a cloudy day for scene two so the lighting was suitable for the scene. Where using natural light did become a problem was in the final scene, where it was pitch-black night. I had to wait until it was this dark because there were certain images I wanted to capture that involved back-lighting a dark frame. However for the remainder of the scene, it left the frame’s visibility very low.

When I was using artificial light, I usually just had to rely on whatever light was already pre-installed in the room; like in the bedroom and in the kitchen where my only source of light was the main overhead electrical light. This often limited how I could alter the aesthetic of the frame in post-production, and I feel the light needed to be defused more to stop it looking so over-exposed. The only instance in the short film where I feel light was really used effectively was at the end of the second scene where I solely relied on the lava lamp for light - it created the mood and gave the colour I really wanted for the shot.

Equipment

ESSENCE

Equipment

The equipment I used for my short film was limited. On the technical side of things, I used an iPhone 5s for the high-quality camera, a tripod (with a phone attachment), and a flashlight in some instances to increase visibility at certain points.

In terms of props, I used a wide array of things like: a fold-out chair in the first scene, as well as headphones, and an iPad. In the third scene, the lava lamp plays a prominent role for the visuals, and in the fourth scene I use a mobile phone. Finally in the final scene, I use a knife with ultimately puts an end to the protagonist.

Locations

ESSENCE

Locations

In the pre-titles sequence, it was important to find an area that - through editing - could appear both utopian and dystopian, without actually altering it in-camera. So, I chose a small forested area, that by simply changing the contrast and saturation of the colours, appeared quite lush and full of life, and then the complete opposite of that. This area was a  simple pathway surrounded by grass and trees; the pathway connotes that in this world, people have somewhere to go - someone like our protagonist has a future ahead of him, even in dark times (the time of year, that being autumn, also helps illustrate this with the falling leaves and such); but as the setting becomes more and more dull and dystopian as expositional text appears on the screen, the audience is subtly told that in this world, that might not be the case.

For the second scene, a different, larger but similarly forested area was chosen. I wanted to shoot this scene outside in a pleasant environment to contrast it from the rest of the short film, which takes place entirely in the house. To maintain this feeling, I chose to present this scene in black and white so that the audience didn’t notice the time of year, as it was important to keep the tone of the scene light and summery. The time of day was important, too - the daylight helped capture the warmness of the environment and of the two friends. The area is surrounded by trees, to create an isolated feeling; but one that was opposite to the house. This is isolation by their own choice. It’s private and intimate - a place where they can be free.

The remaining scenes all take place in Original Ben’s house, to create that claustrophobic, trapped feeling. The sets within the house are small, which only accentuates this; and this is especially noticeable in the primary set in the house - the bedroom. It’s tight, which helps elevate the threat of Original Ben in the opening scene. Similarly, the kitchen was a versatile environment that allowed for different moods to be created just by the filter is shown through. When we eventually reach the garden, the use of natural light (or lack there of) allowed to capture certain visuals to again paint Original Ben as a viable threat to Ben #38. It also retained the through-line of isolation and entrapment with the bolted gate and fences all around.