suspense scene: director's reflection

NAME: Brenna Empey

DATE: 10/3/2016

FILM: Suspense Scene

DP: Jeff Hein

TMA 285 DIRECTOR’S REFLECTION

SUSPENSE SCENE

Overall response (2-3 paragraphs):

In 2-3 paragraphs, write an overall response to your film: Were you successful at achieving what you set out to achieve? What are you proud of? What would you do differently if you could remake this piece? What did you learn? 

            The entire intent of this piece was to create something that would contrast the typical “suspense” scene – a scene that evokes feelings of fear, and generally is frightening or bad. I think suspense scenes work well if they have a twist at the end, though, or something that nobody expected. With all that in mind, I decided to make a scene with comical suspense rather than fearful suspense, and a story that was ambiguous enough to sell a lighthearted twist at the end. I think in that regard, my film was successful – I added music that fulfilled the comedy aspect, and dissipated tension that could’ve very easily overwhelmed the film. The twist at the end wasn’t as much of a surprise as I wanted it to be, but I think it was a nice conclusion to the comedic tension nonetheless. I can say I’m pretty proud of the story, although I did run into some obstacles during shooting, editing, and screening the film.

            If I could do anything differently, the first thing would definitely be to keep the lighting consistent. A lot of the motivation for my lighting didn’t make sense from shot to shot, especially when we went from flat/tight space to wide/deep space for the “twist” at the end. During the screening one of the biggest things mentioned by the audience was the inconsistency of lighting, so I wish the DP and I had paid more attention to that during shooting. Another thing I wish I’d done was add more to the narrative arc; there wasn’t much for the characters to do, and there was really only one point of tension. I learned that sometimes more is better, for instance I originally had about twice the number of shots/beats, but when we got to the location we discovered we had a time limit and hand to change a couple things about the shot list. I think the film would’ve worked better if we hadn’t deleted so many shots.

Briefly answer the following:

What, specifically, did you want to communicate? Were you successful? Why? Why not?

I think my main focus was to create some situational irony in this piece, where what actually happens to the characters is not what the audience anticipated. I knew that I would be screening this film amongst more frightening and intense films, and I wanted to contrast that by creating a situation where there’s tension but it’s relieved in a comedic way. This was an interesting process because I originally only wanted the audience to feel an ease of tension in the very end, but in the editing room I decided to make the comedic elements come into play much earlier than that. I think it worked well and actually made the twist at the end sell a lot better because the audience already knew something quirky was going on, but didn’t know exactly what it was until the very end.

How, specifically, did you try to say this? What visual elements, techniques, etc. did you use?

There were several ways I tried to communicate a gradual ease of tension – the idiosyncratic props, the music, and the framing. For each character, I gave them a prop that would sort of identify them and give them a visual to show their nervousness. One character had a lighter that he was constantly flipping on and off, another character had a watch she was constantly checking, and another character had a knife she wasn’t sure what to do with. The music was a choice that actually came in editing, but it works perfectly because it can either be perceived as creepy or happy – and we shift between those two feelings within the film. One moment, we’re feeling the tension and the music is adding another level of creepiness, and as soon as the girl with the knife joins the other two hiders behind the couch, the music becomes something comical. In the end, when the surprise birthday party is revealed, the music becomes happy. Lastly, the framing is really what created the tension in the film – I used a lot of flat space and tight shots to trap the characters, and contrastingly I widened out in the end to ease that tension.

What did you learn about storytelling:

I learned that you as the filmmaking control the audience’s emotions. You can’t always tell them exactly what to feel, but you can definitely put elements out there to try and make them feel something, like fear. That was my intention; to create feelings of fear, followed by comedic relief, and I think it worked pretty well. I also learned that depending on how you frame things, how you light things, and where you place the camera, you can make the audience either understand or misunderstand what’s going on or where the characters are. I kept the space of this film ambiguous, and thereby the situation of this film, ambiguous until the very end which added to the comedic vibe.

Working with actors and getting performance:

I found this to be pretty easy because all the actors I cast were my friends (don’t worry, they’re actual actors too) so I found them easy to talk to and easy to direct. The nice thing about this situation, too, is that my cast was interested in collaborating and talking about ideas with me before the shot. They had a lot of good suggestions, and took what I told them and made it their own. This was definitely an easier directing process for me than the evoking childhood film, firstly because this was a comedy, and secondly because I already had a comfortable working relationship with my cast.

Blocking — camera and actors:

I really tried to take advantage of what I know about visual and physical comedy in this piece. There’s this moment where a girl walks in with a knife, and you think she’s going to find and kill the people behind the couch, but in a successive shot she joins them behind the couch, creating a three-shot. They’re completely calm and it’s revealed that the audience’s fear had no merit; this murderous girl is a friend of theirs. That’s when I think it really shifts to become a clearly comedic piece, and a lot of the tension eases (hopefully for the audience too). That’s one moment of comedy caused by blocking that I’m pretty proud of.

Visuals — composition, framing, visual elements:

I wanted the entire film to have a trapped, constricted feel until the very end when it’s revealed that these people are hiding to throw a surprise birthday party. For that reason, I kept the space flat and the shots tight, which gave them a very small and scary world to exist in. I think that worked well to heighten the tension even though it was comedic tension. Then things widen out and become deeper when it’s revealed that it’s been a birthday part the whole time, which eases the trapped feeling. I do wish I’d made the spaces outside a little deeper to contrast what was going on inside – it would’ve been pretty easy, too, since we were filming a lot of streets with depth cues.

Design & Art Direction:  

I don’t have much of an art mind but I did want to have prominent props in this film, because it would help to give each character complexity even though we’re only with them for a brief amount of time. Those props ended up being a lighter, a watch, and a knife – all three were associated with a certain character, giving them a quirk that made them more interesting. I think that worked really well. If I had had more money, I likely would’ve made the birthday decorations more pronounced, just to add to the ridiculousness of the entire film. I especially wish I’d been able to afford a colorful birthday cake instead of a carrot cake, which was the cheapest cake I could find. Another thing I would go back and change if I could is the use of practicals, which likely would’ve cleared up any confusions about the lighting if I had paid more attention to what was going on in that regard.

The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the logistics of making this piece:

As I said before, this was a pretty easy directing process because I was already friends with my cast. It made it easier to collaborate and have discussions about upcoming shots and emotions with them. Rather than me just telling them what to do, we had conversations about what to do, which made the acting look more natural and the directing process less intimidating for me. We were also very lucky to get access to a location that worked perfectly for our needs, with a couch facing the door and no wall behind it (this location was Taylor Davis’s house). Overall the production process was really easy, especially when we started cutting shots and made the shoot go even faster. One hiccup we did run into, at least for me, was set dressing – birthday cakes aren’t cheap, but thankfully the decorations are. I ended up buying a few decorations and, rather than spending $12+ on a colorful birthday cake, I settled for a carrot cake. It looked find but I wish it had been more colorful to read more blatantly as a birthday cake.

                  

What was it like to watch your film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the point? Why did they respond the way they did?  

I think the response to my film was pretty great! I feel like people laughed at all the right times and felt fear/tension at the right times. The story is pretty straightforward so I don’t think there was any confusion on the narrative end of things, although some people did complain about not being able to see certain things – that’s the fault of the projector, which darkens images and makes low-exposure scenes pretty difficult to see. That’s something I need to keep in mind for the future and maybe brighten my films a bit more than usual. I think I met my two goals with the audience though: most people reacted positively, weren’t confused, and thought it was funny without taking away from the suspense theme.

Other observations:

I tried to make the lighting contrasty but not overwhelmingly so, but when we got to the screening it was way too contrasty. This is something I need to pay attention to in the future and make sure I don’t make the blacks too black, because a lot of information about the image was lost on the audience. I also need to make sure that my lighting makes sense in the future.