Audience feedback and Final Screening

• What did you think was particularly successful about our film?
• What would you change?
• Who do you think the target audience is? Do you think we are reaching out target audience? Please comment.
• Where do you think you would find a film like ours? (websites, cinema, TV, etc)
• What do you about the performance of both actresses?
• Do you think that the message of despair is brought across clearly?

• 
  

Above is the version of our short film which we showed at our second screening. This version has the addition of the credits, title, music, voiceovers, effects and is also shorter in length than our original rough cut. We decided not to include our old iFlooky logo (from our AS opening) because we felt it didn't suit the sombre mood of our film; alternatively we used a simple spaced out font to show the seriousness of our short film. The title 'Bringing Back Hope' was created using using the 'Light Rays' video effect which began at 0 at the start and then was increased to create the blurring effect and finally a fade video transition was used to flow into the next scene.
The music for both the beginning and ending of our short film was a choice between Gymnopedie No 1 (which we found was copyrighted by Erik Satie), Feather Waltz and Sovereign. All three pieces of music (found on Incompetech) are on piano which we thought suited our film well-the piano can be used as an emotional device to bring across sorrow. Feather Waltz is a very calming song, which we initially thought could be used for the transitions into the flashback scenes but decided it didn't quite suit. This left us with our final choice of Sovereign which we thought suited our film perfectly.
Below is our final version of our short film Brinng Back Hope

Editing film on final cut

Priscilla and I were editing the film on final cut, and our editing had improved a considerable amount, when a friend asked to look at a bit of it, she commented that the cuts were done quite well and that the continuity editing was done very well as it flowed.

while editing we did a lot more things than we had done last year, such as using a soft focus effect on the flashbacks and changing the hue and saturation to brighten or dimming particular scenes such as the flashbacks, so that they contrasted with the scenes with hope in her bedroom.

Problems that we came across while editing was that it was still way over the 5 minute limit and deciding on what to cut out, even though certain shots were really well done, we had to sift through what exactly was necessary.

This is a screenshot from the film of the sister (priscilla) crying, I decided to put a black and white effect, plus a soft effect to connote the sadness of the sister, and how this was in particular a dark moment for Hope, it is only at this point that the flashbacks are no longer bright, as this was the last time that Hope remembers seeing her.

Choosing our poster design

A brainstorm showing out thoughts and ideas around our short film's poster

by Tosin Oluyadi

by Lorna Dean

We decided on two posters, for the promotion of our film. We picked a design from both Tosin and Lorna. The reason why we picked two poster designs was to have it promoted in different places such as bus stops and adverts for online promotion.

This is our main final poster for Bringing Back Hope. It was all designed on photoshop.

The way we designed the photograph was first, we took a couple of photographs of priscilla holding onto the journal. After that we picked 3 photos that we would definitely would like to use and picked 1 from all of them.

Above is our second final poster. It was compiled together using a small collection of photographs (table, necklace, journal, Hope holding teddy bear and finally the bedroom background) which were imposed together on Photoshop. The use of blue in this poster connotes the sadness and coldness that Hope is feeling. Although the bright purple and yellow is used to show a hint of happy times and underlying hope.

Naming Our Short Film

For our film there were a couple of names that Tosin came up with to suit the film.

• What We Were....
• Missing You
• Bringing Back Hope
• Once Upon A Time..

We decided to go with the name, Bringing Back Hope, as it rounded up the whole of the film. For bringing back hope, we meant it in the sense of bringing back the feeling of hope, as well as bringing back the character Hope from out of her despair and restoring her back to her former self. The name focuses on the character and reflects on despair in the sense that something has gone missing, which is hope, and the absence of Hope is despair, which is present in the film.

Missing you
We felt that the name missing you, was too bland to use and didn't sum up the film enough, besides the fact that it already hints at the fact that someone is gone, gives the audience too much of a clue into what it is about, whereas, bringing back hope, sums up the whole film and still provides a bit of mystery into the storyline.

What we were....
What we were... is too confusing and felt to sad to use, it made it seem that we were going to make a romance or a coming of age instead of a drama that focused on two sisters and also the resolve. It does heavily get the feeling of despair and was our second choice. The ellipses give the feeling of something incomplete.

Once upon a time....
Once upon a time felt too childish to use, however reflected the childish personality of the younger sister and how the story is told through her diary.

Pre-Production logistics

Shooting schedule

Date: Mon 15th Nov   
Filming Tasks: Stella- Equipment and props
                          Lorna- Co-directing and Camera
                          Priscilla- Acting
                          Tosin- Acting and Directing     
Scene: Birthday flashback scene                
Locations: Outside of House             
Equipment: Necklace, Balloons, Camera, Tripod, Camcorder  

Weather forecast for our shooting schedule

Date: Thursday 18th Nov
Filming tasks: Lorna- camera 1 and directing
                        Stella-Sound and lighting and camera 2
                        Priscila- Acting and Co-directing
                        Tosin- Acting and Equipment
Scene: Teddy bear flashback scene and Fight
Location: House- indoors- kitchen, room and stairs
Equipment: Camera 1 (Camcorder), Tripod, Teddy bear, Sound equipment, Camera 2 (digital camera)

Date: Friday 19th Nov
Filming tasks:Stella- Camera and equipment
                        Lorna- Camera and lighting
                        Priscilla- Sound and Acting
Scene: Sister assurance scene
Location: Room- at desk
Equipment: Camera, Tripod, Diary

Date: Sat 20th Nov
Filming tasks: Tosin- Acting and Co-directing
                         Lorna- Camera and Directing
                         Stella- Equipment and Lighting
                         Priscilla- Acting
Scene: Main scenes of girl in room reading diary
            Plus any other unfinished scenes
Location: Room
Equipment: Bear, Camera, Camcorder, Tripod, Diary

Shot list

As there were more things added to the storyboarding and certain things taken away, we need to update the shot list.

Shot list:
Mon-Birthday scene- Outdoors- In front of house- Daytime

• Shot 1: Sister sitting outside of House looks bored- Panning, Long shot, followed by close up
• Shot 2: Hope running towards destination- Close up of feet running
• Shot 3: Sister looking irritated and cold, looking around for sister Med shot taken in profile and again in side view
• Shot 4: Sister gets up, sees Hope approaching, Hope walks into shot- Long shot
• Shot 5: Shot reverse shot- sister complaining she is late, Hope complaining that sister is impatient.
• Shot 6: Hope hands sister necklace- Close up
• Shot 7: Close up of sister smiling and saying thank you

Thu-Teddy bear and Fight scene- Indoors- Afternoon/Evening

• Shot 1: Sister shouting- close up
• Shot 2: Hope cleaning up kitchen, making herself something to eat- Med shot
• Shot 3: Sister shouting downstairs to kitchen- Low angle shot
• Shot 4: Hope leaving kitchen- Med shot and tracking
• Shot 5: Hope at door way- Med shot, panning until sister can be seen
• Shot 6: Sister sitting on stairs asking for teddy bear back- Low angle med shot
• Shot 7: Hope complains back- High angle
• Shot 8: Sister sticks out tongue- Med shot
• Shot 9: Hope walks back into kitchen- High angle
• Shot 10: close up of hope smirking
• Shot 11: focus into sink
• Shot 11: close up of tap
• Shot 12: Tilt of camera into sink, teddy bear is seen
• Shot 13: Hope slapping sister
• Shot 14: Sister crying in corner
• Shot 15: Extreme close up of tear

Fri-Indoors-bedroom/entrance-Afternoon- Assurance scene

• Shot 1: Long shot- sister writingin diary
• Shot 2: Close up of diary, while it is being written in
• Shot 3: Close up of sister writing in diary
• Shot 4: Long shot of sister approaching door
• Shot 5: Sister turning around to look back
• Shot 6: Sister walking out
• Shot 7: long shot of door being closed

Sat-Diary scenes/main scenes- Bedroom-indoors

• Shot 1: Panning long shot- Hope on bed looks depressed
• Shot 2: Close up of picture of two sisters
• Shot 3: Close up of window area
• Shot 4: Med shot of Desk- Panning
• Shot 5: High angle down the stairs
• Shot 6: Close up of hand squezzing bed
• Shot 7: Close up of Hope looking sad
• Shot 8: Med shot of Hope getting up from bed
• Shot 9: Long shot of her walking towards window
• Shot 10: Long shot of her walking back towards her bed and sitting down
• Shot 11: Long shot of her lying on floor playing with a ball
• Shot 12: Long shot of her going towards desk
• Shot 13: Med shot of her opening drawer
• Shot 14: Low angle from inside drawer
• Shot 15: Over the shoulder of Hope looking through drawer
• Shot 16: High angle close up of diary in drawer
• Shot 17: Med shot of Hope pickingup diary
• Shot 18: Med shot of her examining diary
• Shot 19: Med shot of her walking away
• Shot 20: long angle of bed
• Shot 21: Long angle of Hope approaching bed and sitting down
• Shot 22: Med shot of Hope opening diary
• Shot 23: Close up of diary, Hope flicking through pages
• Shot 24: Extreme close up of Hope, smiling slightly
• Shot 25: Long shot, panning of Hope on bed
• Shot 26: close up of back of diary
• Shot 27: side view, med shot of hope flicking through pages
• Shot 29: Close up panning of diary page of doodle
• Shot 30: Over the shoulder shot, flicking to another page
• Shot 31: Med shot from behind Hope Putting down diary and walking away from bed towards desk
• Shot 32: Panning across bed to diary
• Shot 33: Close up of diary
• Shot 34: Panning across writng
• Shot 35: close up of behind Hope
• Shot 36: Hope holding teddy bear- Med shot
• Shot 37: Close up of teddy bear
• Shot 38: med shot hope walking out of shot
• Shot 39: Long shot of hope back on bed, and puts down teddy bear
• Shot 40: close up of diary and her picking it up
• Shot 41: Med hot of her reading another entry
• Shot 42: Close up of her looking upset and troubled
• Shot 43: Close up of word hate in diary
• Shot 44: close up of word Cruel in diary
• Shot 45: Med shot of Hope throwing diary
• Shot 46: Close up of diary being thrown on floor and it opening to last page
• Shot 47: Close up of diary and girl approaching it
• Shot 48: long shot of girl reading entry
• Shot 49: Low angle shot of girl crying
• Shot 50: Girl picking up diary -med shot
• Shot 51: Long shot, girl walking towards desk
• Shot 52: med shot of diary being placed on desk
• Shot 53: Long shot of door
• Shot 54: Close up of Hope looking towards window, looking happy
• Shot 55: Hope walks towards door and leaves room, shutting the door behind her

Script

Rough draft of script

We began to start up the script. With our film, and as a drama, we wanted to evoke more mood through the actions, emotions and music within it.

There isn't a lot of talking from the main girl Hope, and within the script she is often labelled as Girl, since at this point in time, we were still deciding on a name for her.

Changes to Our Narrative

The plot revolves around a story of a girl who overcomes despair after losing her best friend. The film deals with bereavement, death and acceptance.

Theme: Despair
Genre: Drama

Narrative: The story opens with a girl dressed in black clothes, she is sitting on a bed in a room, staring at the floor. It is quite evident that she is getting ready to go to a funeral. She begins to walk up and down in her room and begins to get bored and opens up the drawer, as she is looking through the drawer she spots a journal, and begins to read it, she skims through the first through pages and goes to an entry talking about her and her sister. This entry talks about the present the sister got for her birthday from her.

This then leads to a flashback of the time, the sister gave her sister her necklace for her birthday. Constantly throughout the rest of the film we are shown precious moments between the two sisters, the girl reaches a more recent entry of when the sister and her fought, just before her death. In the entry the sister is complaining about how she hated her sister for what happened and this puts the girl back in a mood of despair again, as she feels that the situation can never be reconciled. In rage she throws down the journal and it lands on the last journal entry, the girl goes to read it and the sister is saying sorry in it and gives her a sense of hope in the entry.

The girl is finally able to accept the death of her sister and feels reconciled. In the last shot she is seen leaving her room, and closing the door behind her.

The reason why we changed the friend to the sister, is because we felt it would have more of an emotional impact on the audience. The majority of the audience should have siblings, so straight away they have something to relate to and to put the main character in the situation of the death of her sibling, automatically makes the audience feel empathetic and attached to her as they begin to imagine themselves in the same situation.

We decided on the girl also to wear black formal clothes, to hint that she is getting ready to go to a funeral, so the idea of her sisters death, comes out straight away.

We kept the low lit room as it represents the girl's current state of mind and the condition of the room such as it being in a mess can be how she feels physically, with little light coming in to represent a dim sense of hope within her.

Instead of objects, we decided to just keep the journal and have the girl flick through the entries of different moments herself and her sister shared. Some objects such as the teddy bear and necklace would be kept for in the flashbacks, as things the sisters exchanged between themselves.

The final shot of her leaving the room and closing the door, represents a closure within herself and that she is finally leaving that state of mind and accepting the situation.

Moodboard - Despair, Loss and Isolation



Moodboard showing images which represent Despair, Loss and Isolation
 By Lorna

Despair, Loss and Isolation
Despair also known as hopelessness, is the feeling of no hope, that something can't be resolved or is inadequate and far beyond the point of optimism. The pattern of thinking is one of being in trapped misery.

Despair can take someone to a whole new place and level of depression. They don't feel any encouragement to go out or do something. Most people in despair will be in a place where they feel comfortable; for example their bedroom. More often than not people wish to be alone and away from the rest of the world.

The thing that can trigger despair is a trauma in someone’s life or an overwhelming loss of something close to a person.

A dark room is one of the most common signifiers for despair. The room has low key lighting and gives the feel of isolation. A small ray of light breaking through the curtains could signify hope. We are hoping to use this visual image in our short film.

About losing a loved one

Death and grief

*People react both emotionally and physically to death and grief. The feelings we usually associate to loss are sadness, worry, fear, shock, unprepared, confusion, anger and emptiness.

*Some people find they have trouble concentrating, sleeping and eating.

*People lose interest in activities they used to enjoy and often turn to alcohol.

*The intensity of grief may be related to how sudden the loss was and how you felt about the person.

Acceptance

*Acceptance is when a person agrees to experience a situation, to follow a process or condition without attempting to change it.

Bereavement

*The five stages of grief are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

*There is often a Numbness along with the mourning until finally the person lets go and accepts.

Treasuring Memories

*Treasuring the moments you shared with the person, for example remembering the places you went together with the person.

*You can remember a person by keeping items that belonged to them.

Personal Possessions which show the relationship between the two sisters could include:

Necklace - A heart shape to represent the love between the two sisters. Could be a necklace inscribed with their name(s).

Journal - Personal diary entries which could tell the story of the two sisters through one of their eyes. A note inside the journal apologising to the sister about a fight that they had.

Rose - Slowly withering and dying. Connotes the death of one of the sisters. No one lives forever.

Teddy bear - Sesisitive side of the lead character. She hasn't quite matured enough to accept her sister's death.

Camera -  This shows still moments of memories that are precious. It can connote the memory and the mind, by the things contained inside of it.

Good times in the past give you hope

*Past memories encourage the person of the good times they spent with their love one that’s passed away and it gives them the hope to carry on.


*Talking about the person can help accept the death of the person by avoiding the death of the person by not reflecting on them at all.

*Also, when a person loses someone they could consider looking up to the sky. This could represent the person looking towards brighter days despite the loss of a loved one.

1.     Alienation- Tend to close themselves off from everyone, since they fear further pain and rejection.

2.     Forsakenness- Individuals feeling alone in their time of greatest need.

3.     Uninspired- Unmotivated to do anything creative or enjoyable

4.     Powerlessness- One feels incapable of navigating one’s way toward desired goals.

5.     Oppression- The individual feels crushed or emotionally overwhelmed.

6.     Limitedness- Individual feels deficient, and lacks the right stuff to make it in the world.

7.     Doom- they feel as if their life is over.

8.     Captivity- can’t leave something because of the feeling of attachment.

9.     Helplessness- feels as if they can no longer live safely in the world.