• How do your products represent social groups or issues?
My short film is an allegorical film. It seeks to represent a pervading issue within Asian societies, where people glorify incessant working and equate achievements to “success”. Indeed, the mise en scene of the film involves many settings associated with working areas, such as “classroom”, “office” and “study area”. The dominance of imperative speech and disapprovals also create a serious mode of address.
In terms of social groups, the film seeks to portray common types of people under achievement-oriented societies, including authoritarian parents who display high expectations on children with little responsiveness; domineering teachers who equate academic achievements to hard work; and corporate leaders who expect employees to give their all. The film then conveys how the aforementioned groups create an impact on the main character – a collective representation of younger generations who live a suppressive and hectic life. Through these representations, the film pushes audiences to scrutinize the existence of such issues.
With a typical feel-good ending, the character in the film pursues her dream. This represents those who took risks to chase after their aspirations. Likewise, the postcard displaying a picture of the main character facing the sunlight creates an allegory, where the sunlight symbolizes hope and the overbearing shadows allude to all the suppression she endures. Here, the postcard resonates with the hidden moral of the film, where it hopes that audiences can keep their spirits up despite discouragements and pressure. These representations function as elements that allow audiences to seek solace and to have hope.
• How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
First, I have applied film titles on all my media products. In fact, the film title is used as a logo on my postcard and the social media account’s profile picture. Similarly, since the “turtle” animation is a recurring motif in the film, I have placed it at the back of my postcard; on my social media posts; as well as my film’s logo. The pictures of my social media are also existing scenes in the film. To echo the somber tone of my film, I have made my posts’ color palette dark green and light pink, with each background layered with a light, rough film to gloom the colors. I have also applied identical fonts and torn-paper like decorations throughout my social media page. These similarities in fonts, color and mood create coherence which establish a sense of branding.
• How do your products engage with the audience?
My products each engage with audiences in different ways.
In my postcard, it carries an intriguing, curt tagline that reads “it’s her, it’s you” which prompts audiences to watch the film. At the same time, the back of the film festival postcard also includes a QR code and the website link to which audiences can access to find out more about the film. The award signs and the film review quote on both the postcard and in the social media posts also prove its credentials that act as a motive for audiences to watch the film. While the film trailers in my social media page hook potential audiences, the post on the merchandise also further promotes the film through synergy. Ultimately, these updates prolong the duration to which audiences feel engaged.
• How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
According to my research, short films often include dialogues and are dominated by music. However, my film is dominated by silence. This manifests the repressive atmosphere in the high-handed society in which the main character lives. In addition, my film also harbors conventional, diegetic sounds such as ambient sound (added in post); along with conventional non-diegetic sounds like incidental music. Here, the ambient sound suggests the characters’ location, and highlights the character’s all-in-her-head condition through contrast. Like typical films, incidental music is used as a tool to suggest key moments, in this case the character’s inner thoughts.
Usually, main characters in a film are those who talk the most. However, in my film, the main character does not talk. In terms of film representation, this indicates her suppressive, introverted personality. Further, it seeks to challenge audiences’ usual consumption habit, where they watch in a third-person’s view or a god’s eyes view. Here, the silence assimilates audiences into the main character, where they adopt the character’s vision and feelings. The idea of “viewing” through the lens of the main character also explains the frequent use of eyeline-match cuts in the film – a conventional film technique that indicates vision.
Unlike conventional films that portray a character’s inner thoughts through voice overs, my film defies it by portraying them through animations. Those animations form an analogy to the well-known “hare and tortoise” story, serving as an “intertext” to which its values my film seeks to challenge. The intermittent appearance of the animations and its independent story flow allows the film to possess two parallel storylines, which not all short films have.
Similar to conventional films, my film’s camera composition strictly follows the rule of thirds. However, while many films abide by the rule for aesthetic reasons, my film adopts the rule to signify the rigid, dull and inflexible natures present in authoritative, achievement-oriented societies. My film also follows convention in the use of cold color tone and a bluish tint to convey a sense of bleakness and gloom. Likewise, my film’s mise en scene, both costume designs and set designs, also follow conventions (e.g school scenes shot in a classroom with people in uniform)
In terms of my postcard, it completely adheres to conventions, where it includes film logo, tag line, a picture from the film’s scene, awards and credentials, names of the cast and production company, an area for stamp, film’s website and/or QR code. Meanwhile, the miscellaneous posts in my social media also resemble film companies’ social media accounts, where they include trailers, credentials, props, and film stills with quotes. The profile description also includes hashtags and accounts of the actors. However, the fact that I connected the posts with shapes of turtles and torn papers is unconventional. This contributes to my film’s branding.
Room for Improvement
I think I could have dived deeper into the specific mechanisms and functions of my camera since I realized that in order for one to do color correction, one must use a log format in shooting. Similarly, I think my plot could have carried a more distinctive and palpable climax. Thus, it would have been better if I could plan my story with a 3-act structure. In terms of animation, I think it could have been more delicate in design, with its rough edges trimmed and its movements designed according to proportions.
Sharon A2 Media Studies 2022 