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

When developing ideas for a short film, I initially wanted it to be based on the apocalyptic zombie survival genre, which was influenced by films and television such as Mad Max (1979), The Road (2009), Evil Dead (1981), 28 Days Later (2002) and The Walking Dead (2010 – Present). The narrative would have been based on a man searching for food in an abandoned flat finding ‘the undead’ present. This then developed into the protagonist killing ‘the dead’ in the house and it later being revealed as his family. However, I found that the ideas I wanted to create became too difficult to film when creating test shots as a lot of effects (blood, cuts and bites) were involved. After realising this, I decided to revise the idea and make it a bit more challenging in terms of narrative.

In order to finalise my idea, I drew inspiration from different genres and different directors. The genre that became my main focus was the psychological thriller genre, and I took inspiration mostly from Memento (2000) and Inception (2010), directed by Christopher Nolan. Other films that influenced my idea were The Invisible Man (1933), The Shining (1980), American Psycho (2000) and The Machinist (2004). The original idea was replaced with a more realistic and similar narrative that raises real issues in the world such as murder, hallucinations, and more interesting themes such as reality, perception, identity and the mind. Although it is never stated in the film, the protagonists’ symptoms are heavily based on the illness schizophrenia.

When coming up with ideas for locations, it was obvious I would have to film the main part of the sequence at home. However another location was needed for a flashback sequence. I decided it be best at Hampstead heath as it visually created an evocative atmosphere. The reason for choosing such a simple narrative with an easy use of location was because it allowed me to develop and focus on ideas within that story and ways of tormenting the protagonist in his flat. I also believe that some things that are ‘simple’ can often be better and more interesting than a film that has a big budget and uses a variety of locations etc. I got this inspiration from Reservoir Dogs (1994) as it uses very few locations and is mainly based in one big room. This is a similar idea I wanted to use in my film and although it may seem simple and effortless it can also be a good direction for a film.

For the costumes, I wanted the protagonist to look plain. This is so that the audience aren’t distracted by any of the clothing. The white t-shirt and black trousers go with the idea that the characters mind is blank and desensitized, which is a good representation for the narrative I have created. Other clothing was used in the film, for example the flashback scene shows the protagonist wearing a jean jacket, which gives him a sense of style and personality and shows a difference between the two sides of the person we are seeing. Lastly the hangman is wearing a silk shirt, which can represent 70/80s Americana and connote a western/Texas style. I did this purposely to reference common stereotypes of murderers in America. I got this idea from films such as Kalifornia (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994).

When creating the music on Logic Pro X, I originally wanted dark subtle church organs to be used, which was influenced by Hans Zimmer’s piece ‘Mountains’ (Interstellar soundtrack). However, this became difficult, as there were not many of these sounds to use. I decided to change the style of music to electronic sounds like the film It Follows (2014), however I was more influenced by 80s soundtracks composed by John Carpenter for the films Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Escape from New York (1981) and The Thing (1982). This led me to create a more of an intense soundtrack with electronic tones and low humming bass notes. Lastly, after viewing a music video on YouTube I was inspired to use the same editing techniques. This video was ‘Yonkers’ by Tyler, the Creator. It used in and out of focus shots in the video and I thought this would be effective for my film, as it would give the impression of the characters unstable and fragile mind. Later in the editing process I became more aware of the types of editing I wanted to do.

The first edit that was completed was nearly ten minutes long but was cut down due to irrelevant shots and I wanted the film to be short and punchy. During the editing process, I decided to pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) by making the film black and white. I also experimented with speeds when editing, for example, some shots are slow motion and immediately after it would have fast motion and then go back to normal. This shows his unbalanced state of mind.

Overall, I think I have created an effective short film as it has a beginning, middle and an end as well as signalling the thriller genre conventions. I also think the story is a lot more satisfying than the initial idea and creates many impressions such as the hangman foreshadowing the protagonists death, even though there is no dialogue. The audience is immediately brought into the film story as we see the protagonist enter the home, this can create questions such as ‘who is he and where did he come from?’ I decided to do this as it leaves this part of the story up to the audience’s own interpretation and can create many other ideas for them personally.