Magazine Review

Link to: the Magazine Review.

Evaluation Question #4

ESSENCE

How did you use media technologies in the construction and

research, planning and evaluation stages?

In the very early stages of planning my short film, I used YouGov profiles to establish my target audiences. I did this by searching for the typical audiences of similar properties: Blade Runner, HBO (home to Westworld), and Nineteen-Eighty-Four. This told me that the primary audience for Essence would be males around the age of twenty-five, and my secondary audience would older males around the age of fifty. Because of these results, throughout pre-productions stages I made sure to keep the tone of my short film consistent; always keeping in mind that I would be targeting an older audience. This meant that when writing the screenplay and organising the storyboards, I could tell a mature story that wasn’t totally censored, as it might be if the demographic was much younger.

        Upon conducting further research into the making of my short film, I used Google to access all the resources I needed; using the ‘drive’ app to store my research notes, including my screenplay and various schedules. Thanks to the online function of Google Drive, this meant I could access any and all of my files in any place where I had access to the internet. I also had access to a surplus of devices including PCs, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones – all of which I could utilise to plan the production of my short film.

        A later aspect of the planning stage of my short film was the inclusion of the intertextuality within my product. I chose make clear allusions to ‘Superman: The Movie’ when nearing the completion of the screenplay. I did this as there are clearly narrative similarities between the story of Superman and my short film; but it also remains consistent with what the target audiences will recognise, as it of a similar time and it shares the same genre.

When it came to finally filming Essence, I made sure as much of the framing, inclusion of props, colour, lighting, etc., all had some kind of purpose for being as it was, and that all of these aspects told their own story: in the pre-title sequence, we begin on an establishing shot of quite an obscure little street. I chose to show this instead of something comparatively larger like a cityscape to immediately introduce the audience to the idea that this is a small-scale, more personal story. Furthermore, the colouring of this landscape initially is very bright, but as the text appears (inspired by Blade Runner), detailing the decline of this world, the colour and lighting changes to something much darker and more ominous. We finish this first segment by hearing the gunshot that kills Cam #42.

Going into the first proper scene, this is where I first chose to set the seed of the Superman comparisons, by showing the footage of Richard Donner film on an iPad. The main character, Ben #38 is watching it, establishing his connection with this particular story. It is also in this scene that I first employ the split screen technology to show the same actor portraying two different characters at once - this was done in post-production, but during the shooting I did it by keeping the camera in a fixed position, and then getting the singular actor to perform both characters in the one single shot. Finally for this scene, I introduce the villain’s motif in my original score.

In the second scene, I chose to make it black and white in post-production to further cement to the audience that this sequence is a flashback. This also come into play later in the final scene - the colouring of this scene becomes an important visual cue for the audience as the film goes on.

Towards the end of the second scene, and then at the beginning of the third scene, I chose to show a lava lamp on the desk. I chose to focus on this prop, as the imagery it creates is something that the protagonist strives for; a lava lamp is very kinetic, free-moving, and random. On a very basic level, Ben #38 wants this, but instead he is stuck in a very uniform, repetitive life. Furthermore, I chose to show some shots in this scene that were quite blurry. This is to portray Ben #38’s internal struggle, as he feels he has no true identity - this is what he strives to find by the end of the short film.

In the following scene, I reintroduce the Superman comparison by playing the Superman theme in my own score. This is what pushes Ben #38 to finally act, finally cementing the intertextuality in my short films.

Finally, in the last scene of the film, I colour the kitchen setting in a very clinical, eerie way (done in post-production) to portray the true nature of the ending of the film. This is a direct contrast to how the kitchen is shown earlier in the short film, when it is coloured in a much warmer way (subtly convincing the audience that the ending might be a happy one). All editing for my short film was completed on Adobe After Effects CS6.

Evaluation Question #3

Link to: the Presentation.

Evaluation Question #2

Link to: the Presentation.

Evaluation Question #1

ESSENCE

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Before beginning the writing process of Essence, I looked into the various inspirations I had and noticed their shared theme of oppression, and what could be equated to the lower classes rising up. This includes the likes of ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Blade Runner 2049’, ‘Nineteen-Eighty-Four’, and HBO’s ‘Westworld’. As a result of these influences, I also incorporated genre elements from them too; like with the slow-burn, and dark noir feeling of the Blade Runner films.

    In terms of genre, Essence is pretty separate from the above media as it is simply a sci-fi drama; it lacks the straight-up film noir feeling of Blade Runner, and doesn’t lean totally into the dystopian aspects of something like ‘1984’ (instead simply implying it). This is the same again with the Westworld influence - there are no western elements, nor is it very action-packed. However I have taken the bare-bones elements of what makes these properties similar and applied it to my own short film, which takes the form of Essence. It’s really in terms of aesthetic that I wear the influences for Essence on my sleeve, with the Blade Runner-esque opening text, the sometimes synth-style score, and the opening shot (and extreme close-up on a character’s face).

    From a story point of view, the inspiration would not be quite as obvious had I not make direct reference to it in my short film. This being the story of Superman. I saw the two characters’ journeys to be very similar, in that they are simply trying to find their place in a world that they don’t truly belong. As a result, I included very clear visual references and sound reference to ‘Superman: The Movie’. However where I wished to differentiate my film from Superman: The Movie was with how the character’s journey actually pans out. Where Superman obviously becomes the hero we all know, Ben #38 (my protagonist) instead is simply killed. I wished to portray a dark world in which if a clone (which is essentially a tool) ceases to function effectively, then are disposed of, as any tool would be. This is where I refer back to my former influences for Essence; the darker, more mature media that inspired me initially.

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’.