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PLOT- We meet Emily, a 19 year old student, as she has just been faced with the news of her older sister Georgia's sudden death. She is abusing alcohol and drugs to numb the pain, skipping her classes and distancing herself from her friends and family. As the film progresses, she is constantly being reminded of her sisters presence in her life even though she is gone. The constant reminders help her get back on the right path and get back to her normal self and regain her love for the world despite the absence of the light in her life.

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I took inspiration from the song Habits by Tove Lo; the lyrics focus on using substance abuse to get through the loss of someone in your life. The chorus says "You're gone and I've gotta stay high all the time to get you off my mind"- I wanted to reflect this idea of numbing pain with alcohol and drugs, as my character Emily does in order to cope with the loss of her sister. The music video also inspired me in terms of cinematography choices as it displays disorientating angles and movement, perfectly capturing the drunk experience.

I also decided to use the song in the background of my bathroom shots, using a muffled effect as a way to create the effect of my character being at a party.

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Tove Lo - Habits (Stay High) - Hippie Sabotage Remix

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Through my film I want to communicate the strength of my characters relationship with each other and how Georgia's death has effected her sister. For the overall film, I would use contrasting lighting states to indicate the idea of Emily loosing the light in her life, also using coloured aperture lights to reflect Emily's emotional state.

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I wanted to create a greater understanding of the wider plot line and also the characters in order to be able to efficiently direct and produce my project- "The director must understand every character's intention in every scene. I directors do not understand why each character is in a given scene and what they want, then they cannot direct the scene." (Cohn, 2021). I decided to follow this idea by making character descriptions for both of my characters before writing my script for the scene in order for me to then put them into the scene knowing why they are there and what their aims and intentions would be throughout not only this scene, but also thinking about the plot as a whole.

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Emily- a 19 year old student who has always been quite shy but very kind and genuine, her sister is the most important thing in her life as well as her friends, she has a strained relationship with her mum and feels like she favours her sister; after experiencing the sudden loss of her older sister, she loses herself completely, struggling to cope with her grief as she discovers her sister was her main reason for living.

Georgia- Emily's 21 year old sister who is extremely bubbly and has a very colourful personality, she is always positive and helpful to those around her. She has a very close relationship with Emily as well as her mum, who does everything she can to support Georgia. She loves to perform and had just started her dream career in musical theatre before she sadly passed away suddenly.

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I decided to chose the scene where we see Emily coming back from a night out, clearly severely intoxicated and struggling to make her way home safely. I want to use the scene to display how it feels to be drunk, using disorientating camera movements and angles to create the effect that we are seeing the world through Emily's eyes in that moment and therefore we are aligned with the character. I also wanted to use the scene to display the relationship she had with her sister, using photos and videos to show the memories she holds of her sister.

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COSTUME:

clubbing outfit- short dress, heels, shoulder bag

MAKEUP/HAIR:

makeup inspired by looks from euphoria- purple glittery eyeshadow to mimic how Emily looked in the picture of her and Georgia- the audience can see the difference of what she looked like then vs now (her happiness is gone)

messy hair

she looks disheveled, clearly intoxicated, had a messy night

Her appearance is very messy and she seems to not be looking after herself- in this scene we can see the difference between how she looks in the pictures of her and Georgia in the past compared to now- emphasises her struggle to look after herself since loosing her sister

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COSTUME:

replicating what she wears in a video Emily watches of her- jeans and a top, looks ready to go out

MAKEUP/HAIR:

everyday makeup

perfectly styled hair

Georgia looks very well dressed and put together- Emily's memories of her are all perfect and she always saw her as perfect and so that is how we see her (seeing it from Emily's POV)

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I wanted to include a scene where Emily is in a bathroom of a party, replicating the common experience of walking into the bathroom when your drunk and realising just how drunk you are. I wanted to use swaying camera movement as Emily stumbles around the bathroom. I also wanted to include the use of coloured lights, taking inspiration from the TV show Euphoria, a show based on teen drug addict Rue and her friends. The cinematography in the show plays a big part in creating emotional realism (Provost,2022), even though the series' look wouldn't fall into realism. Sam Levinson, the showrunner, takes emotional realism as a way to make the internal external, which is what I want to achieve in my scene through the visual elements, supported by the absence of dialogue in my piece. The cinematographer for the show, Marcell Rev, has said that he mainly uses vibrant primary colours, using mainly reds and blues to translate that the character's are in a dreamlike state (Provost,2022), particularly in the scenes where character's are drunk. The use of the purple/pink tones in lighting is what I would am taking inspiration from and would be something I would use in the bathroom scene and maybe in Emily's bedroom, as she dreams that her sister is lying with her in her bed- dreamlike lighting would help communicate to the audience that it is a figment of her imagination.

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"[...] while darker shades can represent sadness and frustration. In some parts of Europe, purple is associated with death and mourning."

(Cherry, 2022)

In the scene where we see Emily in her room looking through pictures of her sister which then leads her to imagining her being in her room with her, I decided I wanted to use a purple lighting state in order to reflect not only a dreamlike effect, like in Euphoria, but to reflect the idea of Emily's mourning.

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An example of a scene from euphoria used to show the effect of Rue's substance abuse, showing us how she is seeing the world in that moment and creating a dreamlike sequence. I also wanted to replicate the way the glitter on her eyes reflects in the light and so took inspiration from the makeup that she has on in this scene as well as the cinematography.

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Euphoria (HBO) - Two Seconds Of Nothing Scene [HD] | Spotlight

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"Your visual approach provides important clues to the viewer [...] Elements such as

lighting, camera lenses and angles, video or film stock, wardrobe, makeup, props, and

set design all contribute to the overall visual aesthetics."

(Kellison, Morrow, D & Morrow, K, 2013)

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Directing and Producing Contributor Consent Form- Sophie

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- location release form

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- location release form

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- script breakdown

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- script breakdown

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Directing and Producing Contributor Consent Form- Holly copy

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"What we see on the screen is not free-functioning, autonomous truth such as we'd see on any street corner, but an artful construct filtered through a temperament- the storyteller/director's temperament."

(Rabiger & Hurbis-Cherrier, 2013)

emphasises the importance of creating a visual uniqueness as a director and the effectiveness of creating meaning through the aesthetic of the film, not just the narrative of what is happening on screen

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SCRIPTWRITING- THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING THE SCRIPT INSIDE AND OUT 

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SCRIPTWRITING- THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING THE SCRIPT INSIDE AND OUT 

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"Important decisions like these spring from a deep understanding and interpretation of the material. Understanding, memorizing, absorbing, and living the script are all part of the director’s homework."

(Irving & Rea, 2013)

Following my decision to have no dialogue in my scene, I made sure to make my descriptions of each shot as clear as possible, translating the visualisation of the scene I had in my head to paper. I felt this would not only help me to then further plan the shots, but also help my actors understand my vision and therefore give them a better understanding of my direction and improve their performance.

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- Participant Information Sheet

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- Participant Information Sheet

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Participant Info Sheet (Directing and Producing)

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- risk assessment (outside)

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- risk assessment (outside)

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- risk assessment (inside)

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PRE PRODUCTION PAPERWORK- risk assessment (inside)

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IMPORTANCE OF CINEMATOGRAPHY AND LIGHTING IN CREATING MOOD

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IMPORTANCE OF CINEMATOGRAPHY AND LIGHTING IN CREATING MOOD

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"Many tools affect the mood and tone of a scene: colour, framing, use of lens, frame rate, hand-held or mounted camera—in-deed everything we can do with camera and lighting can be used to affect the audience’s perception of the scene."

(Brown & Brown, 2018)

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"A confident and prepared director creates a tone, attitude, and pace that allow the team to respond to whatever problems and challenges arise."

(Irving & Rea, 2013)

I wanted to go into filming with confidence which I felt would therefore lead to an efficient and successful shoot. I made sure to prepare as much as possible by making myself familiar with the shot list, looking over my storyboards and floor plans and just making sure everything was ready before filming commenced.

I felt that I was successful during my filming in keeping my confidence throughout the shoot and making sure that my cast and crew were also confident with what I was directing them to do and also that they were comfortable with what they were required to do.

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After filming, I reviewed my footage and then noted down which take of each shot that I preferred on my shot list to then help me when I came to do my edit

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I wanted to make it clear to the audience how much Emily is struggling through more than just the performance. I decided to use bottles of alcohol, empty cans and boxes and dirty kitchen appliances to show how Emily is not coping well without the support of her sister and, now that she has to survive on her own, her environment reflects her state of mind.

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For the shots in Emily's bedroom, I had a similar approach as the kitchen in terms of using elements other than just the performance so made her room a visual representation of her state of mind.

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Originally, I planned to only use the aperture lights for the bathroom shot to create the idea carried out by Sam Levinson in Euphoria of the characters being in a "dreamlike" state, particularly when intoxicated. However, after filming the bathroom scenes and being very happy with the look of the purple lighting in there, I decided to use the same idea for the scenes in the bedroom. This section of the scene shows Emily looking through pictures of her sister, later hallucinating the image of Georgia lying next to her. I felt the idea of the dreamlike state therefore carried into this scene as well.

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I used two aperture lights to create the purple lighting state. I made sure to use different shades of purple in the bathroom compared to the bedroom- using a more pink tone in the bathroom to contrast with a darker purple shade in the bedroom as from my research I discovered dark purple often represents grief.

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I found the editing process quite difficult as some of the clips had gone out of sync with the sound and so I had to go back through and match each one back up again.

Apart from that, I enjoyed putting the film together and utilising the amount of different shots I gave myself to work with to create my desired outcome in my final cut.

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1. Brown, B., & Brown, B. (2018). Motion Picture and Video Lighting (3rd ed.). Routledge.

2. Cherry, K. (2022, November 24). The Color Psychology of Purple. Verywell Mind; Verywellmind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-purple-2795820

3. Cohn, L. M. (2021). Directing actors : A practical aesthetics approach. Taylor & Francis Group.

4. Irving, D. K., & Rea, P. W. (2013). Producing and directing the short film and video. Taylor & Francis Group.

5. Kellison, C. , Morrow, D. , & Morrow, K. (2013). The Plan: Pre-production. In Producing for TV and New Media. Burlington: Focal Press.

6. Provost, R. (2022, June 19). VIDEO: Euphoria’s Cinematography Explained — Light, Camera Movement, and Long Takes. StudioBinder. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/euphoria-cinematography-analysis/

7. Rabiger, M., & Hurbis-Cherrier, M. (2013). Directing : Film techniques and aesthetics. Taylor & Francis Group.

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The part I found quite difficult was adding the sound, as I wanted the music choices to match the narrative on the screen. I decided to use 'Habits' by Tove Lo for the first part of my scene showing Emily in the bathroom at a party- I used the parametric equalizer effect on premier pro to make it sound like the music was coming from the party outside the bathroom door.

For the last part of the scene, where we see Emily looking through pictures of her and Georgia, which then leads to them together in Emily's bed, I used the song 'I Don't Wanna Be Okay Without You' by Charlie Burg as I felt the lyrics and tone of the song matched with the ending of the scene perfectly. I also wanted to have a big contrast between the music I used in the beginning to the end of the scene as we are taken on a journey through Emily's emotions which is shown through this change in mood.

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I felt my aim to create an interesting visual style through the use of lighting and cinematography techniques was successful- particularly in the shots in Emily's bedroom as I felt the use of the lighting and the camera movements in the last few shots especially communicated to the audience how Emily feels in this scene, which is what I aimed to achieve. This final shot of Emily alone in her bed is a prime example of this, showing her loneliness now that her sisters gone through the use of the slow zoom out and the camera staying on her for a few seconds after the zoom out.

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I had to cut some of the shots out because I wasn't happy with the quality (e.g. shots of Emily's phone scrolling through her text messages was extremely blurry and therefore you couldn't read the texts). Due to the tight schedule with filming we couldn't find time to do reshoots for these shots so I will keep in mind next time to have a day scheduled for reshoots if needed as I definitely would've benefited from having a day to fix these shots.