It is important that all of the reality sequences are filmed in the same day for continuity of how the main character looks in terms of hair, makeup and costume. The first dream sequence will have the students looking the same as how they do in reality but the main girl looking different. In order to have continuity I plan on doing a mock version of the dream sequence after filming the reality sequence at college in order to get reaction shots of the other students so that they will look the same as they do in the previous scene. On a separate day, I will go back and film the main character’s part of the dream sequence with the new costume, hair and makeup. This will be possible because the students will not be in any of the shots with the main character as they will be across the room and I may use split screen editing because of the ‘Carrie’ influence which will make it look like they are all there at the same time. I will also use a shot, reverse shot structure to make it seem as if they are reacting to what has been filmed at a later date. 

After filming the reality scenes of the first section, I will film the reality scenes of the second section later in the day so that the main character looks the same, these will have no other visible characters as her parents will only be heard. The dream sequence for this section will be filmed in an entirely different location as it mimics what the main character sees when she closes her eyes. Therefore, it can be filmed at a later date as the main character will need to have different hair, costume and makeup and the other character in this scene is not seen elsewhere in the film.

After filming the reality scenes of the middle section, I will then film all of the reality scenes of the final section at night. As these will be the final scenes filmed where the main character needs to look the same, I will film the dream sequence of this section straight after with a change of costume from both her and the extras in the church as they will go from wearing normal clothes to wearing all white.

The film is split into three sections each with a key colour. Each colour is simultaneously symbolic of how the main character is feeling at that time, but also how she wishes to feel. The negative emotions she feels build up and are caused by the different situations she finds herself in.

• Section 1: Blue
  • The main character will wear a blue top in the initial ‘reality’ scene. The negative connotations of the colour blue are that it shows sadness. This is how I intend to use this colour in this scene as the character appears lonely.
  • In the ‘dream’ scene she will be wearing a light blue dress which is a colour associated with the sky. This symbolises her aspirations and longing for a sense of freedom as the sky represents endless possibilities. She has aspirations to be above the people in her class, which relates literally to the idea of the sky as she wants to be ‘higher up’ than them. The outfit for this scene will also include rainbow coloured elements which show her desire for self-expression and the fact that she wishes she could stand out.
  • As a transition between the colours and therefore the emotions shown in sections 1 and 2, there will be a close up shot of the main character’s face at the end of the ‘dream’ scene with red lighting to show her anger. She will then put on a red jacket to leave which will lead into the next section.

• Section 2: Red
  • The main character will return home and keep her red jacket on from the previous scene. The negative connotations of the colour red are that it represents anger which is a strong feeling for her as she is ignored by her parents who are arguing. Therefore, showing anger themselves and demonstrating how the emotions that parents express around their children can have an effect on the child’s emotions, whether positive or negative. In this case, the effect is negative. This will be shown through red decorations and items in the house, showing how the feeling of anger has consumed the household and has seeped into the daughter’s emotions.
  • In this ‘dream’ scene she will be wearing a red dress. The positive connotations of the colour red are that it symbolises love. In her imagination she is making up for the absence of love that she feels when she is with her parents because it is never felt towards her, therefore, she has never felt it herself as she learns these kinds of emotions from her parents but all they express is anger.
  • As the next transition between colours and sections of the film, the main character is given a yellow flower during her dream sequence to show the joy that she would feel if this construct of her own imagination was the reality of her life as yellow is seen as a joyful colour. She puts on a yellow coat as she leaves the house for the third and final section.

• Section 3: Yellow
  • The main character enters the church and the lights at the front are yellow. The negative connotations of the colour yellow are that it represents cowardice. This reflects how she feels entering the church, she is out of her comfort zone. It also reflects the overall themes of the film as she is too cowardly to make the real-life changes that she needs in order to improve her life and her mental and emotional state of being.
  • In the final ‘dream’ sequence, she will be wearing a yellow dress. The positive connotations of the colour yellow are that it symbolises happiness. This represents how she wishes she could find happiness and be content in a firm understanding of what to believe. Yellow is also similar to gold which symbolises the amazing promises made by religions which she wishes she was able to comprehend. The people around her in her imagination are now all wearing white. This represents peace and tranquillity which is what she longs to find in a community.
  • When she returns to reality a final time, the lights in the church are now blue. This would hypothetically transition into the beginning sequence again. Therefore, symbolising the cycle of her life and how nothing is changing because she makes no changes herself in her real life, only in her imagination. This implies that nothing will change or improve for her if all she does is sits and wishes for a better life because she cannot change the life she was given and has to make an effort to work with what she has in order to avoid becoming trapped in this cycle forever which will ultimately destroy her.

The colour transitions between the three sections of the film foreshadow the emotions that are to come. The adding of layers with the blue top then the red jacket and the yellow coat which end up all being worn at once symbolises her emotions quickly building up and how the inner layers become more difficult to get to and remove as more layers are added. 

My ideas for the first sequence of my short film have been influenced by the film Carrie (De Palma, 1976). One of the ways in which this has influenced my own ideas is Sissy Spacek’s performance which I intend to take inspiration from in the way the girl will act during the first imagination sequence which takes place in a classroom. Her body language, facial expressions and eye movement in the climax of the film have inspired how I want the girl in my film to be portrayed in this scene. She has a very serious and unchanging facial expression and remains very still only moving her eyes to use her telekinesis. This has been used in to create tension and a contrast between how little it would appear that Carrie is doing and the destruction she is actually causing. In my film I intend to use this to exaggerate the main character’s over-reaction to the situation as the sequence reflects her internal over-reaction despite the fact that, in reality, she doesn’t react at all. Therefore, what she imagines will appear extremely over the top as the cause is only a minor inconvenience which will be made clear when she returns to reality and continues to deal with the situation by simply ignoring them. There is no destruction like in Carrie, however, by having the performance reflect this scene, her disliking for her peers will become emphasised as she wishes to stand up to them on a more ‘realistic’ scale by simply being able to confidently express herself and her emotions.

One of the main messages behind my film is that nothing will change in a person’s life if they don’t actively try to improve things. However, this sequence also shows that in some situations, it is better to do nothing. In Carrie, her reactions to situations lead to far worse consequences for herself than if she had done nothing at all. Therefore, with this sequence I intend to show how nothing can be done to resolve some situations and sometimes reacting can make a person worse than the person who wronged them in the first place, so things work out better for the main character of my film by her not reacting. It may seem like things are bad, however there is an argument that they would be even worse if she had truly reacted how she did in her dream state.

A teenage girl struggles to come to terms with reality and uses her imagination as a form of escapism when she cannot cope with being present in the real world. A lack of positive relationships means that she wishes she could improve things for herself but simply doesn’t know how.

She is sat alone at school when her classmates begin throwing pens at her from across the classroom. Not knowing how to properly deal with the situation, she turns to her thoughts and imagines being strong enough both emotionally and physically to stand up to her bullies in a way which would make them never bother her again. She dreams of overreacting to the whole situation, shocking them greatly and being able to put a stop to the torment once and for all. The harsh reality sets in as she realises that she will never be capable of such revenge.

The girl returns home to find her parents arguing, they don’t acknowledge her presence. She quickly runs up the stairs and into her room where she can still hear shouting from downstairs. Covering her ears and closing her eyes she imagines dancing alone in a dark room, allowing her to isolate herself from reality and what is going on around her. A shadowy figure joins her in dancing and she begins to look much more at ease as she has the safety of her newfound company. Reality once again sets in and she leaves the house and begins walking through the dim streets. A concerned girl approaches her but her vivid imagination causes her to only see a dangerous individual.

She arrives at a church and enters to find a mixed ages group of people quietly praying, she looks visibly out of her comfort zone. Silently sitting at the back she hears only a woman begin to speak about a vision of god when she needed it most, the talking seems distant and she appears far removed from their way of life and their experiences. Her thoughts see a goddess approach her and anoint her as a special individual. The people around her begin to celebrate her presence. She soon realises that this is a complete creation of her mind and returns to reality to find that nothing has changed.

• David Lynch Auteur signature: Lynch uses surreal and dark visuals which is something that has influenced my ideas for the mise-en-scène of my short film. I will use the dark mise-en-scène to reflect the main character’s emotions during certain parts of the short film. David Lynch’s films also often have a sense of claustrophobia which has influenced my own ideas for my short film as it will be centred around one character. This character will be presented in a way which makes her appear isolated and alone through the cinematography. For example, I will use close ups to show her emotions and make the audience focus on her but also show little space around her in order to create a sense of claustrophobia as her face will fill the frame.
• Hitchcock’s Auteur signature: Disorientating visuals such as Dutch angles, dolly zooms and spirals. I can incorporate the surrealist elements of cinematography and mise-en-scène of Hitchcock’s Auteur into my own short film as I intend to make it more surreal rather than socially realistic. Hitchcock also uses a lot of POV shots which makes the audience connect with the main character in his films. This has influenced my ideas for my own short film as it is important that the audience empathise with the character. Therefore, I will use POV shots to create a connection between them and the audience.

The thematic ideas of the short film Connect (Abrahams, UK, 2010) have influenced my own ideas for my short film. For example, the binary opposition (Claude Lévi-Strauss) between what is real and what she is imagining. This presents the idea that she is oblivious to the real world and wants to escape the monotony. Connect also demonstrates themes of boredom as she has to occupy her mind by imagining things which is something that I would like to incorporate into the themes and narrative of my own short film by using the idea of what someone wishes would happen juxtaposed with what is actually happening. Her isolation despite being surrounded by people is also shown through a number of close up shots of her face which tells the audience that she feels alone because nobody is interacting with each other despite all being so physically close. I would like to incorporate close ups into my own short film as this helps to show the emotion of the characters and tell the audience what they are thinking without the need for any dialogue.

The use of sound in The Grandmother (Lynch, US, 1970) has influenced my own ideas in a number of ways. One way that this has influenced is that it features almost no dialogue and the story is told only through the visuals. This is something that I would like to incorporate as it will mean that the audience has to focus on what they see in order to understand the narrative. The lack of dialogue that the audience hear despite the fact that the characters are evidently speaking also makes the audience feel as if they don’t know everything that there is to know because of the fact that they don’t know exactly what is being said. This also makes it more surreal because we are not hearing the diegetic sounds that would usually be present. This is something that I may incorporate into my own short film because I intend to make it surrealist rather than based in social realism. It also helps to focus on the score to build up suspense which could be utilised in my own short film.

The editing in La Jetée (Marker, France, 1962) makes use of montage to show a direct connection between shots in order to create meaning through juxtaposition. This is something that is important, especially in surrealist films because the order in which the shots are compiled affects the audience response and the way in which they understand the narrative. The way that itmakes use of a non-linear structure has also influenced my ideas as I may use non-continuity editing to give an impression of no clear or linear time line. Another editing technique used in La Jetée is jump cuts which shows the passage of time and misses out things that are unimportant or that the audience don’t need to see. This is something that I will make use of in my own short film because it has to be between four and five minutes. Therefore, it will be important that every shot develops the narrative or expands on the themes as it will have to fit into a short time frame.

About a Girl (Percival, UK, 2001) also makes use of jump cuts and non-linear editing techniques such as cutaways. It uses jump cuts to make sure there is no time when the girl isn’t talking, or something isn’t happening. While I don’t intend on using dialogue, this technique will be useful for cutting out moments where nothing is happening visually. I may also use cutaways to show things that have happened previously or will happen in the future. In addition, I intend to use cutaways to show what the main character is thinking or imagining. These cutaways will be used to develop the character, much like how the cutaways in About A Girl allow the audience to get an insight into what her life is like and her relationship with her parents.