Revision-Changing the Murder Weapon

Originally, we used a small kitchen knife as the prop for the murder weapon. As my co-director and I were editing, the knife looked fine, but after watching the film on screen we decided that the knife does not look authentic enough. My co director and I plan to re-film the scene with the knife and replace it with a new more believable looking one that my co director found. We both agree that overall this will be an important detail in the film.

Revision-Changing the Mother's Appearance

After showing our film to the class, a few people had questions afterwards regarding Kelli's role. We had intended her to be the mother, but because that's never explicitly stated (and due to the fact that she looks young), many people were confused as to who she was supposed to be. Some people assumed she is a sister or a friend to the main character. My co-director and I decided that we needed to make it clear that the role is a mother. We plan to re-shoot the scenes with the mother and put makeup on her to look like wrinkles and put some gray streaks in her hair. After making these plans, my co director and I asked Kelli if she would be able to shoot with us again, but her schedule is busy and she can no longer do it, so my co-director and I have decided to re cast the role of the mother. Fortunately, a fellow classmate Christine, is able to fill the role.

Feedback/Revisions

My co director and I presented our film to the class and we received feedback regarding strengths and areas of improvement. Our audience enjoyed the camera quality, camera technique, the acting, and the story line. A suggestion to improve the film was to shorten the length of the intro scene because it ran a little long considering it's only a two minute film. Other areas of improvement included clarifying the role of the mother. Our actor Kelli looks young and her role could be mistaken as being the friend instead of the mother since it's never explicitly stated.

As of now we plan to make the mother look older by adding wrinkles with makeup and gray streaks in her hair. We also plan to cut down on the amount of pans in the intro scene to make the opening shorter. We will also edit the audio in the film to make the voices and dialogue more audible and clear for the audience.

Use of Conventions

Our film challenges the conventions for a thriller genre and uses them as well. Throughout the film there is an-overlying sense of suspense and mystery which is a common theme in thriller movies. The film challenges thriller conventions because it goes back and forth between a normal light-hearted film showing the life of an average teenage girl and then goes back to a darker more suspenseful tone. The film represents social issues because it shows the power and influence a parental figure holds over their child. It also shows that when that power is abused, the child is left helpless and alone.

Midterm Submission

Shot list 9-12

  Two shot/Over the shoulder shot 

 

This shot shows the boyfriend and the daughter greeting 

each other. It appears to be a normal interaction and the 

daughter appears to be happy to see her boyfriend because 

it's all part of the act. The shot also captures the mother 

darkly looming in the background. 

                     Mid shot 

This shot captures the boyfriend looking back suspiciously 

at the mother. Even though he is oblivious to their plan

the shot shows that he senses something is off which fore-

shadows his fate. 

                           Close up

In this shot we show the mother standing in the doorway 

watching her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend 

get in his car. The close-up shows the mother's 

harsh and cold expression revealing her

malicious intent. 

                         Silhouette shot 

This shot captures the mother watching the couple back out 

of the driveway. We used her silhouette in the doorway 

because we wanted to show her dark presence looming 

in the background.