Production Process

Filming Objective
I want to create a melodrama which will leave the audience feeling emotionally heightened due to the emotional rollercoaster they will experience. I want to use mise-en-scene and filming techniques to produce a film of optimum quality and of significance. People should be able to follow the plot along simply and understand what has happened by the end of the movie, I will achieve this by carefully selecting which scenes I keep in the movie, what order I place them in, where I decide to put my soundtracks and voice-over and how I portray the key themes of love, happiness, sadness and loss in the film.






Choosing Actresses

Elyse

Elyse is the main character and needed to have the right look and acting skills to be able to achieve the sadder parts of the film well. 

I chose Gemma for the role of Elyse because she is tall and mature looking,this is important as Elyse is between the ages of 18-22 and is legal guardian of her younger sister Annabel. Gemma studies Drama at A Level and so she fulfills the requirements of being able to portray emotions well.

Annabel

Annabel was an easier role to fill as the child only has to be loveable and able to smile in the right places. 

For the role of Annabel, I chose Lauren. I chose her for obvious reasons such as she's a very smiley and fun-loving the same as Annabel is portrayed to be. Other aspects also contributed to my choice of Lauren, she is actually 12 but is very small and petite for her age, therefore she looks a lot younger, enabling her to look Annabel's age but will understand what to do a lot clearer and won't misbehave like a young child could.

I had to establish a bond between the two actresses before we began filming so that they would look like sisters and not strangers, like they actually were. I got them to sit together and talk about things which they both like to do and due to both of their loving natures they were comfortable around each other in no time at all.

Filming & Editing

Throughout filming I used a tripod, enabling me to keep the camcorder that I was using steady and level at all times. To upload footage to the computers I used a USB cable directly from the camera to the computer and then captured the footage into Serif MoviePlus x5, the software that I used to edit my footage into clips and then the clips into the scenes of my film. It is also where I edited and applied my sound to my film. My film include two forms of non-diegetic sound: the soundtrack and the voice over, whenever the voice over is audible I edited the soundtrack to become a lot quiter so that it isn't overpowering the voice over. I recorded the voice-over on the camcorder and then uploaded this from the camera via a USB cable directly capturing it into Serif MoviePlus x5. 

Letters To Annabel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrUWyWAckaM&feature=youtu.be

My film opens with a black colour fade in of a long shot of Elyse walking towards the camera. It is set in a tree-surrounded lake area and I have used natural lighting for this scene as it was evening and the sun was setting in the horizon casting a gorgeous hue over the lake. Elyse is dressed in casual attire as this is appropriate for this scene, I decided to have her wearing a black hooded top as black has negative connotations of death and depression, reflecting the unknown context of this scene to the viewer. At this moment there is no sound. The surroundings of the trees etc. were chosen because they are still orange and bare, having connotations of winter, cold and generally looks quite dreary.

The music, which was sourced from http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ begins to fade in slowly just before this medium shot-reverse-shot is visible. I chose to place the first beat of the music right where you first see Elyse in the medium shot-reverse-shot as it then replicates her movements and is in keeping with the film. 

The non-diegetic soundtrack for this opening scene was chosen because it is slow and has very emotive rhythm and beats to it. It is not directly a sad song but it is very mellow and when placed alongside sad events heightens the sense of empathy.

As Elyse approaches the edge of the lake, I have used a long panning shot to show her walking towards the water and then the panning shot moves away from Elyse and pans across the lake where the sunset is reflecting on the water.

The sunset across the water has connotations of peace and tranquility, which unknown to the audience at this point, foreshadows Annabel's state after she has passed away, it is to signify that she has been laid to rest and is now at peace. 

It is here where I decided to bring in my title credits, as the panning shot pans across the lake (I timed it to be able to get the Swan to move across at just the right moment as Swans have connotations of beauty and grace, this is a representation of Annabel's characteristics too), the title of the film begins to appear, I applied this afterwards in Serif MoviePlus x5 by selecting the text tool, writing the title where I would like it to appear and then selecting an appropriate transition, I decided to use the swipe transition and decrease the speed to 3/4 seconds so that each letter gently flowed onto the scene after each other, by using a cursive font type and using the slow swipe transition, I was able to replicate a handwriting style of title credits, which is relevant to the concept of the letters in my film. However, at first the title credits weren't easily readable at the top of the scene because it is so light, so I applied an effect to my text of a drop-shadow, this was a preset effect in Serif MoviePlus x5and it just helps define the title credits, making them stand out against the sunset.

Because of the transition used on the title credits, it enables you enough time to read what the title says before it moves onto the next part of the scene.

Area of improvement for future reference: It would be helpful to use something to shield the camera lens from any rain that may hit it as is visible in the top left-hand corner of this medium shot of Elyse ripping the letter up by the side of the water. 

I edited the placement of the sound to enable the sad tones of the music to begin again as this medium shot becomes visible and to continue as Elyse is ripping up the letter. The music signifies a sad context to this scene in the film but it still remains unknown to the audience as to why it is a sad scene, this has been done purposefully so that it is a great twist at the end when they realise this was actually the ending to the film and they finally understand why it is so heart wrenching.

This is a transitional match-on-action shot of Elyse in a medium shot turning to the water and then a close-up of her hand sprinkling the paper gently into the water. I created the small transition by placing the second shot slightly overlapping the first, it creates a gentle progression into the match-on-action. 

 

The close-up of her hand then develops into a close-up panning shot of the reflection of the trees on the water and then a piece of the paper comes into shot as it floats away. The floating away of the paper is significant as it represents the loss of Annabel. As the shot is panning across the water the non-diegetic voice-over is audible for the first time. This is the first piece of information as to the context of the film that the audience recieves and it says "My mother died last year." now the audience know that indeed it is meant to be a sad scene, however they will assume that it is because of the loss of Elyse and Annabel's mother not in fact the loss of Annabel herself.

The non-diegetic voice-over is kept to small basic sentences in this first scene as by doing this it still maintains its simplicity and this is what makes the heartfelt sadness so heightened and effective. I have placed the voice-over sections in very specific places, between intricate sections of the music where there is a natural pause or decrease in volume. By doing this it makes the intricate beats of the music which follow seem a lot more dramatically saddening and creates a euphoric sense of sympathy from the audience.

As the camera slowly pans up to the tree reflections again a slow transition of the two clips is visible and the clip changes to a panning shot, stopping at a medium shot of Elyse looking out over the water reflectively. As she is visibly looking out over the water and thinking another small piece of non-diegetic voice-over is audible, "And now.. Now I look after my sister Annabel." The dramatic pause was used as a sign of Elyse taking a breath, accepting what her life is now like. again, the voice-over has specifically been placed so that following it, there is a piece of intricate melody that makes the words all the more meaningful. 

The clip then changes via a slow transition of the two over-lapping clips to a panning long shot of Elyse walking away from the water and back towards the camera. As this transition is visible, another piece of voice-over is audible, "I'm not going to lie, it's hard" the emphasis has been placed on the word 'hard' to push empathy on the viewer and make them feel how hard it is for Elyse now that her mother has died.

As the voice-over then continues with "Sometimes, I feel down.." Elyse visibly hangs her head low.

By using this body language it visibly represents the phrase "feel down" in the voice-over making it a lot more effective on the audience. As Elyse gets closer to the camera turning it into a close-up shot, a shot-reverse-shot is used as a mirror to her walking to the lake to show her leaving the lake. 

As the second part of the shot-reverse-shot goes from a close-up to a long shot as Elyse is walking away, she visibly stops and turns to the lake, looking at it one last time in a reflective manner, as this is occurring the non-diegetic soundtrack begins to intensify. This creates a sense that the lake is very important and represents the lake's great significance in film's plot.

I then used a long panning shot to show Elyse's departure and to signify the end of the scene, as it pans back across the sunset lit lake and settles on the shadows of ducks swimming in the lake, it is a lot more darker an image than the first panning shot of the lake when the title credits roll, this is because the context of the film is unknown then and can be lighthearted, now after the audience has found out the sadness of the story that is unfolding, the places seems a lot darker and sadder and after a couple of seconds the music is faded out and the screen fades to black.

There is a long pause where the screen remains black, this has been used purposefully to signify the time lapse that has happened because of the fact that the beginning scene is actually the end scene. It is in place to show that the scene is now going back to when the voice-over was actually being thought (as the voice-over is actually meant to be an audible portrayal of Elyse's thoughts as she writes in her diary) and before the beginning scene had ever actually happened. The first thing to change in the time that the screen is black, is that a new piece of non-diegetic soundtrack is faded in. This new piece of music is lighthearted and fun, in  contrast to the dark, somber music that was played previously, it is another transitional mechanism that I have used to signify that this was back in a much happier time when Elyse wasn't feeling depressed and sad, it signifies the change between the two times.

The black screen then fades to a long shot of Elyse sat on her bed, writing in a book, the shot then zooms in to a close-up of her happy expression as the voice-over continues to say positive things about Annabel in the present tense to signify that at this point in the film she is alive. I decided to dress Gemma, who plays Elyse, in casual clothing for this scene, it is very similar to the first scene, however the hooded top is white which represents her happiness and helps aid the juxtaposition of the atmosphere in both this scene and the one previous. I dressed the location (a girl's bedroom) itself quite maturely for example, the headboard and the minimalist features. However, I then decided to incorporate the prop of a giant stuffed monkey cuddly teddy in the corner, I used this for a specific reason as I don't want the audience to feel like Elyse is defined as just an adult, she is meant to still be youthful and this helps to portray the young characteristics of her, as that is what makes this story all that more emotionally heightened, it is terrible that at a young age she will lose the two most important people in her life, it's tragic. 

I asked the actress to portray happy emotions but to also include everyday body language such as scratching her head, brushing her hair away form her eyes etc. to make the scenes look less staged and more realistic. In this scene I lit the setting by using an overhead light and some set-up lighting coming from the left hand side. However, it still seemed very dark so whilst editing I chose to make the scene brighter and more contrasted to make it look less dark and dismal, therefore reflecting the happy atmosphere. 

To show the progression to the 'memories' section of the film, the part where she recalls all of the things that her and Annabel do together I used a colour transition but instead of black which signified time lapse between scenes, I used white to keep all of the memories in the same time frame as the scene previously and to show that they are all memories. 

< The transition

The first of the memories scenes opens to a medium shot of the two sisters sat at the table, drawing together, as it is explained on the voice-over which is audible at this moment. For lighting I used very bright overhead lights to make this scene look very bright and cheerful. I decided use the location of a kitchen and use certain props such as paper, pencil cases and coloured crayons to represent the fact that they are drawing pictures.

There is then a cut to an over-the-shoulder shot of Elyse watching Annabel drawing a picture for her. The voice-over clearly states that there are silly, humorous pictures that Annabel draws. By introducing humor to these scenes, it helps make them light-hearted and fun to watch, the audience can feel a real connection with the sisters' bond and this will increase the heightened sad emotions at the end when it contrasts with these happier emotions. The camera then zooms into an extreme close-up of the picture which Annabel has drawn for Elyse. The non-diegetic light hearted music is still playing throughout and again I have specifically chosen where the voice-over has been placed to make the music when it is intricate stand out, thus enabling the happy melody to affect the audience's perception of this scene. The clip then has a white screen transition to the next memory.

This is an over-the-shoulder low angled shot of Annabel stood in a powerful stance at the top of the stairs, 

Elyse shaking her head gently at the bottom, the reason why I chose this camera angle was to reflect the voice-over which is heard throughout stating that Annabel has the power in this scene, she controls Elyse and makes her do what she wants her to. That is why I chose a low-angled shot, it reinforces Annabel's authority in this scene and Elyse's weakness. Because of the fact that Annabel is meant to be off school ill in this scene, I chose for Annabel to be wearing her pyjamas and the setting to be on the stairs, to make it look like she has gotten out of bed, whilst Elyse has been downstairs taking care of things. I used natural lighting coming through the window at the top of the stairs so that only Annabel was in direct light and this places attention on her and her body language.

It then cuts to a medium low-angled shot of Annabel stood at the top of the stairs, with an unhappy expression, this is to refer to the voice-over stating that Annabel sulks until Elyse gives in, it is still low-angled to show that Annabel is manipulating Elyse into giving her what she wants, however seeing as it is a cuddle, it is light-hearted and people will see this as a cute thing, again feeling the closeness between the two sisters.

It then cuts to this high-angled over-the-shoulder shot of Annabel still stood arms crossed but with Elyse slowly climbing the stairs to comfort her. By showing the juxtaposition between the low and then the high-angled shots, it is clearly visible that Annabel is taking control of the situation but then by using the high-angled shot it shows just how small she is and makes her appear vulnerable, this would be effective on the audience as they would suddenly feel sympathy for the child and be glad that she's going to get a hug off of her sister. 

I wanted Elyse to kneel down to hug her sister not only to remain in shot but by bringing Elyse down to Annabel's level it shows their equality and Elyse's real love for her little sister. The scene then fades to a white screen which will then fade out to the next memory.

The scene opens with a medium long shot of Annabel sat reading whilst Elyse sits behind her plaiting her hair. Again, Elyse is just in casual clothing, however Annabel is meant to be getting ready for school and so this is why she is dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. For lighting, I used bright overhead lights to signify it's daytime. Throughout this shot, they both act very casually, with true-to life body language. Annabel does things such as turning the page over to make her reading the book believable and Elyse responds as anybody would, she occasionally glances happily down to see what Annabel is currently looking at, it makes for a very pleasant, content scene. 

I chose for this to be in a living room setting and I used the book as a prop because it is relevant to what is audible on the voice-over. There is also a reference to their mother in the voice-over, this was used specifically just as a little reminder to the audience that this was their mother's home and Elyse has now taken over that role. 

It then cuts to a medium over-the-shoulder shot of the scene, I then zoomed in to create an extreme close-up of the plait itself. In the background I placed a comical beer mat as a prop, this is not in the main focus, however I placed it there to signify Elyse's age and what she has given up to look after her sister, it is to represent her lack of going out like a normal 18-22 year old girl and staying in and looking after her sister instead. The shot the fades to a white screen which will then fade to the next scene.

The next scene opens with a medium shot of the two sisters sat at the table again, however this time Annabel is in her uniform, I lowered the lighting slightly so that it looks more evening time in the setting of the kitchen. for props, I used a calculator, pens, homework diary, book and pencil to signify that Annabel is being helped with her maths homework. 

Because the voice-over then states that Elyse is helping Annabel's math improve, I decided to use an over-the shoulder shot of Elyse marking Annabel's work correct. At the end of the scene Gemma (Elyse) pokes Lauren (Annabel) lightly with the pencil and Lauren began to giggle, this wasn't planned, however the improvisation helped lighten the scene and she the fun alongside the work between the two girls. Again, this scene fades out to a white screen which then fades to the next scene. 

I decided to add in another piece of the close-up footage where Elyse is sat on her bed writing in her diary, I did this to just remind the audience that all of these scenes that include Annabel are Elyse's thought and memories. I have placed the beginning of the voice over for the next scene into this scene, to show that they are all linked to her sat here writing. This fades to a white screen which then fades to the next scene, which has already been introduced.

Here is a long shot of Elyse and Annabel sat by the lake as described in the voice-over. I used natural lighting as it was a bright clear afternoon and the lighting didn't need to be adjusted. I brought along a picnic blanket so that they could sit on it and it look like they had been here all afternoon, probably eating a picnic. I chose to dress Elyse in the pale hooded top as it has connotations of happiness and it juxtaposes to the black one she wears when she revisits the lake later on. I wanted Annabel to also wear casual clothes to refer to the fact that on the voice-over it states that they go to the lake at the weekends. During this shot Annabel is sat in Elyse's arms and Elyse tickles her playfully, Annabel responds by kicking her legs and then they carry on with the embrace. By incorporating these little happy moments between the two sisters it encourages the audience to feel happy that they have each other and grow an attachment to their relationship.

The shot then cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of both girls looking out across the water, the calm waters have connotations of happiness, tranquility and peace, this is symbolic of their relationship at this moment in time. There is a very crucial piece of information audible on the voice-over at this moment it states that Annabel doesn't know how to swim so they sit away from the edge, it is said in a light-hearted manner and so the audience will subconsciously make note of it but will not actually pay attention to it, until later on in the film when they realise that it was actually significant to the plot development, this is also why I placed this memory at the end, so that it would be fresh in the audience's mind for the ending. At the end of this scene the happy music fades away and the clip fades to a black screen signalling the end of the thoughts and memories.

This scene opens with a medium shot of Elyse sat in her bedroom once again, however her clothing has changed to darker colour which connotations of sadness, bad events and depression. I have also made the lighting in this scene darker than the one in which she's happily writing to signify her depressive mood. I also chose to keep the monkey teddy out of this shot as it symbolises the loss of her happiness and youth to the tragic events which have occurred. The shot then zooms in to focus on Elyse's facial expressions which are melancholy and reflective. Throughout this scene there is no soundtrack, only the voice-over is audible of her voice, quiet and deprived of any happy emotions. The voice over states that it has been a while since she was down at the lake, this is significant in symbolising the passing of time and instantly foreshadows a sense of dread that the audience is going to find out that something bad has occurred. Again, this fades to a black screen to show the passing of the day and then fades in to the loop of the first scene. 

The footage and music throughout the final scene is an exact replica of the beginning scene of the film, this is why it is called a loop. However the voice-over is now her thoughts being written into the letter as seen in the previous scene it is true to this moment in time and isn't just the thoughts that Elyse had, from when the audience discovered it was her writing happily in her diary at the beginning.

The first noticeable difference is that the title credits don't begin to roll on this clip. This is obviously because it isn't needed as it isn't the beginning of the film, however it is quite effective as from an audience's point of view they will expect to see them as they did before and when they don't appear it becomes more obvious that this is the revealing of what finally brought Elyse down to the lake and why Annabel isn't with her. It starts to provoke questions such as where is Annabel? Questions which the audience wouldn't have thought at the beginning due to the fact that they didn't know the context of the film.

It is then as the scene where Elyse is ripping up the letter that the first piece of unheard voice-over is audible. "I'm sorry Annabel, I let you down." The slow and heartfelt way that the voice-over now sounds make the sadness of the scene become very apparent. Another part of the voice over is audible in this shot too "I tried to save you, I really did but I failed."  The sentences have been organised in a way so that the audience will have to wonder for a while why she has let Annabel down? What couldn't she save her from? etc. It is building dramatic tension. This shot finishes with "I tried to be the best sister, I could be." and this used e sentence isn't finished for another few moments into the next shot, the dramatic tension is used to heighten the sad and worried emotions of the audience.

It's in the next shot of the paper floating away and the voice-over stating that Elyse's best wasn't good enough that realisation will start to dawn on the audience, that yes, something terrible has actually happened.

It is as Elyse is reflectively looking out across the water that I chose to place the I love you part of the voice-over, I chose to place it here because of how it fits with the beat of the music and the water being visible in the background. It is because of the fact that Elyse is staring across the water that the audience will suddenly realise the water has something to do with what happened to Annabel and it is in the next few moments that they will recall the fact that Annabel cannot swim, they will use the two to build up the knowledge of what happened instead of just being told, this is what make it so effective.

The ending where Elyse stops walking away and stares out at the water one last time with the non-diagetic music intensifying in the background becomes such a euphoric and important moment where the audience suddenly feel raw, heightened empathy for Elyse.

It is only as Elyse is finally walking away that the audience are eventually told of what has happened to Annabel. The voice-over states "My sister died last month. I couldn't save her." It is short and direct, exactly how she said that her mother had died last year, it shows the repetition of events and I did that for on purpose to make it hit the audience with an impact. 

Finally, as the camera pans across the water, the voice over repeats "And now... Now..." but this time instead of say ' I look after my sister Annabel' it changes to 'I'm alone' and it is in this moment that the sadness takes over that this poor young girl has had to deal with so much at such a young age and now has nobody. 

And it is, as the audience are left feeling emotional and speechless that the music begins to face and the end credits start to roll in the same size, font type and swipe transition with the same drop-shadow as the title credits.