In ‘I hate boys’ I think our narrative style works well as the audience are being guided through what is going on via the voiceover like a documentary. The protagonist’s voiceover is telling a story to the audience and gives the audience her past and present through the monologue. This narrative style instantly gives an insight into her character and because it is a short film, it is important for the audience to feel a connection with the protagonist from the beginning as there isn’t enough time to develop a relationship like in a feature length film.
Continuity is developed well in our production particularly in the beginning shots. We put the shots together in a way to visually entertain the audience. Due to the fact that the beginning of the production is simply the protagonist walking through the park we filmed these shots multiple times from different angles so that when editing we could use the different shots every few seconds so that the movement would keep the audience’s attention.
The handheld shots work well to show a documentary style and to also give the impression that we are watching the protagonist from the ex-boyfriend’s view.
The flashback shots in which the protagonist is talking about events that happened in the past are also effective. The use of the strobe effect and desaturation makes it clear to the audience that those shots are separate to the others and are from a previous time. Again, this important for producing a short film as the storyline needs to be executed to the audience clearly in a short space of time.
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| Flashback shot with effects |
During the shot where we see the protagonist screaming, we sped it up and used a blur. This made it seem like it was going on for a while as well as heightening the horror and bringing the disequilibrium to its climax. Also, the use of no sound or dialogue at this point makes the shot more dramatic and builds up tension as the audience can only go with what they are seeing and are able to imagine her screams for themselves.
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| Use of blur and speed |
We kept the audience entertained by making them feel a part of the film. We allowed them to see what would happen before it was shown. For example the shots where the audience can see that the protagonist is unaware her ex-boyfriend is standing behind the tree makes the audience think about what may happen next.
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| Protagonist is unaware that she is being watched |
To improve our short film we should have filmed the ending earlier on in the day so that the shots would be brighter. Although the dimness did work with what was going on in the scene, it would have been better to film it with the colour and brightness perfect so that if needed, it could be adjusted using Final Cut Pro, rather than us having to use the shots as they were. The tripod is in the last shot and although it wasn’t noticeable, it was unprofessional and common sense to make sure that it wasn’t in the shot.
I preferred working in a pair rather than a group because we were both able to come up with ideas and share roles during filming and editing. During the planning stages we split the work into two and I wrote the script, synopsis, research for location, props and actors and did half of the work for our PowerPoint pitch. I feel that I input a lot of individual work in the production as I organised who would be used as cast and set up the filming days to work with everyone. As I was going to be in some shots I filmed everything that I wasn’t in while Lucy filmed the shots with me. When Lucy was away one day during the early stages of editing, I completed our final sequence and changed it from our original idea of layering two shots because I felt that it didn’t work once in the editing process. I also created the majority of the titles using Photoshop, saving the files as multiple JPEGs so that it could be put together as a sequence.
Before we formed filming groups I was particularly influenced by the short films ‘About a Girl’ and ‘Prey’. The narrative structures of both pieces were done in a way in which the audience is able to connect to the protagonists, follow their story and then be shocked at the end when the climax was revealed. For example in ‘About a girl’ she walks through the park and tells the audience about her life, allowing us to get an insight into her life. However it isn’t until right at the end when she throws the dead baby in the river that we really see what kind of a character she is and things that she previously says start to make sense.
Our other influences for the short film include the range of T-Shirts by David & Goliath. The shirts feature childish-looking drawings with slogans such as 'Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them'. We felt something like this would fit in well for our opening titles as it would sum up the simple 'average girl' story in our short film as well as entertaining our target audience.
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| Title sequence inspired by David & Goliath |
I was also influenced by the TV show Hollyoaks which is mainly watched by teenagers. It has a light-hearted, comical feel to it and I wanted the protagonist’s character to be developed from that in order to reach our target audience.
‘I Hate Boys’ conforms to the codes and conventions of short film. It was low budget because we used our own props and only spent money to purchase big bags. We had a small cast and a main protagonist. Our short film is also controversial but realistic at the same time because shot in a documentary style and is about a common reality of bad breakups. The controversial part where she is murdered is a reality as there have been several reported cases where exes have killed.
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| Some of the younger Hollyoaks cast |
‘I Hate Boys’ conforms to the codes and conventions of short film. It was low budget because we used our own props and only spent money to purchase big bags. We had a small cast and a main protagonist. Our short film is also controversial but realistic at the same time because shot in a documentary style and is about a common reality of bad breakups. The controversial part where she is murdered is a reality as there have been several reported cases where exes have killed.
