Meeeeeeeeedia Studies: Unravelling

Unravelling

Statement:
Our film explores the nature of teenage girls and the preassures that are placed upon them, both by their peers and by media, to conform to a certain aesthetic and way of life. It follows two friends in their every day life and examines the micro-universe and almost OCD-esque routines they have created in order to become what they believe is ‘perfect’.

Plot outline:
The film will open with the two friends sitting in a café (Starbucks or a similarly popular coffee chain). They leave the establishment and journey home, one by car, one by bus. Their narrative lines mirror each other to a degree. They enter their homes and shut the door, and as girl #2 (played by Holly) walks down her hallway the words; “Open your eyes, wide enough to see through all eyes at the same time” will be written on the floor.

She enters her bedroom and picks up a face wipe, then we switch to see girl #1 (played by Emma) wiping off her makeup. The camera moves behind her to an over-the-shoulder shot and “The multi-life is better than the one we live in” will be scrawling across the mirror in stopmotion.

The scene shifts back to girl #2 as she removes her coat and cardigan. As she pulls off the cardigan we again shift into stopmotion shots and the words ‘Subtleties, subtly unsee’ will be written on her arm. She moves to the bed, sits down, and leans backwards. Girl #1 is then shown falling backwards onto her bed. They each receive a text inviting them to a party, but only girl #1 decides to go. As she rolls over to get up, we see that the sentence; “If time could wake up, now would be the time” is written on her bedsheet in black marker.

Girl #1 moves to the mirror and begins reapplying her makeup. We switch to time-lapse as she put on her mascara, then switch to stop motion with the words; “Demise of the Beautiful” appearing down her cheek, and then “What is Beauty?” appearing on the opposite cheek of girl #2. We switch to regular time and she (girl #2) puts on her glasses and moves away from the camera.

The scene shifts again to girl #1 as she walks out of the door, dresses up, then switches back to girl #2 sitting in bed reading a book (Girl, Interrupted?), before returning to the final shot of girl #1 returning to the room and putting on lipgloss (in time lapse?) before walking out and closing the door.
Character bios and locations:

•Characters:

oGirl #1: Protagonist. Late teens, dressed predominantly in black – Introduced in
a black coat, black skirt and dolly top, then changes into darker coloured pajamas.

oGirl #2: Protagonist. Also late teens, dressed in lighter colours. Introduced in a grey coat and blue coloured shirt, pajamas also lighter coloured, final ‘going out’ outfit is black.

•Locations

oStarbucks or a similarly popular café

oTwo houses.

•Practical Details:

oTransportation – We have chosen locations that are easily accessible to our group.

oProps – Clothing and makeup which can be procured or is already owned by a group member, possibly will write to various makeup companies to ask for products in exchange for marketing.

oGear – Tripod and camera, rented from school

oResearch – Compiling clothing and accessories into a complete ‘image’ of stereotypical perfection

oWeather – weather does not feature, as the majority of our film is shot indoors, however rain would make it impossible to shoot the establishing scene and wind would also ruin the aesthetic.


TREATMENT:

For our film we intend to use a combination of longer shots, and extreme/close-ups. For the establishing scene of our film, longer shots will be used to take in their surroundings and two shots to show their companionship and similarities. When they enter their homes we will use tighter shots, focusing more on the girls themselves and their state of mind.

We will shoot in colour but intend to change the colour balance during the editing stage of the project. We will only mildly modulate the colour balance in the establishing scene to remove the ‘home video’ quality that comes from unbalanced lighting, and give it a greater sense of depth. For the scenes of the two girls at home, we plan on using a lower colour grade. When we switch to stop-motion we intent to heighten the colour balance slightly, to give it a surreal quality, grab the audience’s attention, and to show juxtaposition between these shots and the time lapsed ones.

Mise-en-scene will be used through the film in the form of props. The protagonists will utilise various makeup products and hair utilities such as mascara and hair straighteners, which will be used to further explain their obsession with appearance.

We will use editing to aid the tempo of the film through a combination of timelapse and stop-motion filming to portray the heady, almost surreal nature of these girl’s obsession with their appearance. Timelapse will show the swift tempo in which they live, and the stop motion will be used to represent the various facets of their mind, and show the various pertinent phrases we have compiled and plan to use in the film.


JUSTIFICATION:


The brief for this assignment was to create a short film suitable for viewing at the ‘Westlake Oscars’. This film is suitable to be shown at said event as it contains no inappropriate subject matter, controversial themes, or profanity – thereby making it appropriate for children.

‘Unravelling’ could be catagorised as an ‘Art Film’ due to it’s open-ended and rather ambiguous plotline. We intend to study the nature of the teenage mind and the affect media has on their image – the health of their body image and social-life.

Whilst the plot is ‘unusual’ it does not posture to be overly cerebral, and I do not think it would leave audience members confused as to its purpose. Thereby I believe our film would interest and stimulate the Westlake Oscars audience and ought to be shown.

Hmm careful with stop motion. it's a total bitch to get right. Usually looks stuttery because they don't take enough pictures per frame or what have you

I likeys. And I think it will be pretty. Although, my dear, it will in fact go whistling right over the heads of most people in our school. With a sound typically associated with a jet plane. That's how quickly it will woosh over their tiny, dull little heads.

Not that that's a bad thing, it just makes your justification a bit dodgy. But y'know, to make something that people of our school will enjoy/understand, it would have to be plainly shit, wouldn't it?

Maybe have an optional commentary for dumb shits and have tell them exactly what is happening every single fucking second

I chortle at your suggestion Images of the audience turning on their complimentry audio tapes when it's screen flit through the mind.

And yes, we're doing a gazillion tests for the stopmotion this week, 'cause of that. But hopefully each set will only be about ten, twenty seconds long, so we don't have quite as much room for error.

True. Just remember, 20 frames per second. 30 if you want it to look especially good. Nothing more wince-worthy than juddery stop mo.

No pressure

Ah, but juddery stop mo may not be so drastic when we take into account that this is shabby-chic student art film, I mean, it's almost a integral part of the aesthetic.

true..

that sounds cool

Lawl. Can you say STUDENT FILM!!!!??? Of course, most people no fucking one manages to acheive that in high school. So fucking well done.