Changeling

Changeling
I noticed that the recently released film Changeling, contains some thriller elements. It is set in 1920's America, a time in which gender was still an issue and women didn't have much of a say. The women in question goes against the typical representation of women in that time, as she is a single mother and divorce then was much rarer than it is now. She decides to go against the norm by releasing women from the horrific conditions of a psychological institution and taking a stand against the corrupt police system.
The setting of some scenes are in unglamarous, dark, deserted farmland and housing estates, and although they aren't strictly urban, they do contain thriller elements. They use chiaroscuro lighting, claustrophobic spaces (e.g. chicken coop) and many close ups.
The crime at the core of the narration is firstly kidnapping, but later discovered, the kidnapping, molesting and murder of several young boys. It is a shocking concept, as it is based on real events.
The main character, the single mother has quite a dark, mysterious exterior, her red lipstick is something that stands out against her sometimes dull and pale appearance. She could be seen as the femme fatale on appearance alone, as seen in the picture, however she is actually the victim, a single mother targeted for her son.

Preliminary Task: Continuity Filming

For out preliminary task, we were asked to film a piece that consisted of three techniques:
Match on Action shots
Shot Reverse Shot and
The 180 Degree Rule.

Here is the video we produced:




Match on Action:
This is where the action begins in one shot, and is continued in the next, showing the movement from different points of view. For example, Shot 1: a girl walking toward a door. Shot2: the girl coming through the other side of the door.

Shot Reverse Shot:
This is a technique used where it shows one characters face and immediately after shows their view, who or what they are looking at. This can be very effective within the drama genre.




180 Degree Rule:
The 180 degree rule is what must be followed when filming two people on screen. when the people are being filmed from one direction, they must always be filmed from that same direction between them on that side of the line,unless it is shown that the line is being crossed.





For our short film, we decided to film quite a dramatic piece between a mother and her apparent daughter, where the daughter finds out she is adopted and that the other character is her mother.

I was to play the mother, Lauren the daughter and Matt would do the filming. We wanted to film in a cafe, however there are limited cafe's that allow filming or camera's. So instead we filmed in the school canteen, to keep things easy and simple.
Here is the script we made:

Characters:



Emily- Lauren’s mother



Lauren- Daughter of Emily, adopted by someone else, Emily’s her real mother.



Emily: Hello

Lauren: Hey

Emily: [nervous] I got you a drink…

Lauren: Oh thanks, what did you want to talk to me about?

Emily: [nervous, faltering] Well, this isn’t easy for me…

Lauren: I don’t have long, I’m meeting mum in about 20minutes.

Emily: [exasperated, slightly shaky] That's the thing, she’s not your mother... I am!



[Cut]

Although we managed to include each of the previous features, I don't think we did so, very well. We only used one match on action sequence, of Lauren coming through the door, and then used it slightly when she sat down at the table. We kept to the 180 degree rule throughout the film, however didn't cross the line and just kept the camera on one side. We use a few shot reaction shots, to show the conversation progress and the reactions to the information that is given. We inserted a few transitions during editing as many of our cuts were very sharp and needed to be made much smoother. I think our film could have been slightly longer, with more match on action and shot reaction shot, perhaps we could have had Lauren leaving the room as well.