'EMDR' opens with a montage of close up shots of the therapist's office , intertwined with a black screens displaying the title sequence. This creates a sense of mystery and unease as the sequence also contains a few medium over the shoulder shots and close ups of the protagonist, Grace Miller.
Films such as 'Before I Go To Sleep', and 'Room' which fit into the same genre, with a montage in the opening scene so i used this technique to meet this convention.
The title is in a typewriter font and is a shade of yellow to represent mental heath and included a distribution company, production company, writer , director, and list of actors. The text glitches and, matched with an eerie soundtrack, this creates a feeling of unease which sets up the tone for the rest of the short film. I did this instead of having credits at the end which would use up too much time and possibly exceed the time limit. This is often used in films as it is practical and saves time.
Lighting
I had to ensure that I used to colour balancing tool within editing so that I didn't have a varying white balance between shots. Had I not done this, the film would not have a professional look. I also added a filter to give the film more of a blue white balance which created a gloomy and dark effect. This will enhance emotions of loneliness and fear for the audience.
The colours of the film are generally cool toned to represent the cold and forbidding feeling of the film. This highlights the moments of isolation and harsh on screen action.
before:
after:
Sound
For the backing track I wanted tense and creepy music, preferably piano as this type of music is often used in psychological thrillers. However, the brief states that we should stray away from using copyright music so I had to use self sourced music. Due to this, Mr Vanzomerplaag composed a piece of music which builds in tension as it goes on and create suspense. This music recurs throughout the short film in moments of tension, such as when Grace begins the EMDR therapy, which allows the audience to instantly know when they should feel on edge.
Some sound effects included
-Footsteps
-Door opening
-Crashing
-Women breathing
This helped to intensify the fear of the female character, Grace, as the breaths were inconsistent due to the change in shot types. To overcome this, i muted the videos and added this sound effect along with the sound effect of different eerie room tones which i built in volume to create extra tension.
-Room tones
I also had to make adjustments to the volume as some scenes had a lot of background noise and dialogue sometimes differed too much between scenes.
Editing
I began the editing process by importing all the clips into Final Cut Pro X in a linear order so the narrative made sense. I then made sure the sound was balanced and that all shots were in focus and used the blade tool to cut the clips down and fit together from different shot types and angles. This enables emotion to be conveyed clearly.
I created a montage of fast paced editing when the EMDR therapy begins to build tensions by overwhelming viewers. The sequence includes close ups of the Therapist, POV shots of Grace running from the kidnapper, close ups of the pen and close ups of Grace from before and after she was kidnapped. This gives the viewers a small glimpse of the future events to follow and puts them on edge.
Finally, i added music, to create a tense mood, and sound effects to intensify the action, such as footsteps, a door opening and a loud crashing sound.
Camera
Shaky hand held shots are used during the second scene so the audience feel more involved in the film as it feels more realistic and less polished. This is reinforced when the camera changed to a hand held POV shot of Grace running down the path and when the kidnapper covers her mouth. The use of this shot allows the audience to feel as if they're experiencing the awful series of events, creating even more adrenaline for the audience.
Close ups are used frequently throughout the film to build tension as the audience can truly see how terrified Grace is and are put on edge as they can't see what Grace is reacting to. This is a common convention of Psychological Thrillers. The film finishes with an extreme close up and sharply cuts to black along with the sound a deep inhale. This leaves the film on a cliff hanger and creates suspense and anxiety for the viewer.
High angle over the shoulder shots are used when the Kidnapper visits Grace in the small room. This highlights the danger Grace is in due to her inferior prolixity to the kidnapper and also allows the audio to view the extreme fear on her face and understand how anxious she must have been in this moment.
During Grace's walk home, there is a medium close up with a hand held camera that tracks her down the path. From this angle, the kidnapper can be seen getting closer behind her. This builds suspense and allows the viewer to once again see her expressions growing in concern as the audience begin to worry about the angry man getting closer to her
After the kidnapper's face has been revealed for the first time, during his time visiting Grace in the room, there is a low angle shot of him to represent is power and figure as an antagonist. He looks directly into the camera in this POV shot which put the audience on edge and feeling uncomfortable.
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