FINAL EVALUATION

EVALUATION - RIGMAROLE

In this five-minute short film, I have represented an individual male who develops to become a deeply troubled psychopathic murderer who grows up and has still clearly not been caught. I chose to represent a distressed mind as I wanted to challenge myself into portraying a body that I have not physically seen in a short film that I had studied beforehand. Therefore taking the existing short films and challenging their conventions. Representation in my short film had been really important to me, and the film The Fly which focuses in on one actor who is shown to be a criminal had been one of the key elements of this, this is highlighted through the mise-en-scene, specifically through the clothing and the props. I made certain that he would be wearing dark colours and carry unsuspecting items similar to the way The Fly chose to represent the getaway driver. In The Fly the costume never changes, and consists of a shirt, jeans and a leather jacket for the main character, showing no individuality and therefore this is how I chose to portray the killer. Another important aspect had been the sound as this included mainly a narration of an older male speaking, during this he explains his life and his views on society. For part one, I chose to create a montage, similar to the opening sequence of the film Pride, which includes a speech by Margaret Thatcher. This helped to create a character who, over time, became more and more selfish and individualistic. Alongside the montage and narration, I found by also experimenting with other diegetic sounds such as the music, which had been a piano piece, it helped intensify how the killer had been suspicious and disturbing to begin with. I wanted the representation to change throughout, almost to create a polysemic reading and in the beginning, I wanted to portray the killer as a credulous and naïve individual, similar to the short movie Echo where she had pretended to be a victim but had instead been the culprit and criminal. Overall, the representation in my film had been less clear as others as I chose to not represent a specific group such as Tight Jeans where it is clear that a social group is being portrayed. My film shows how I have instead an individual, this had been quite challenging, but I did enjoy experimenting with how I wanted to portray a psychotic killer.

The genre of this film had been almost a psychological thriller; however, the genre itself is not too clear or distinct compared to other short films studied. The genre had been highlighted by the use of editing and sound which had both been really important to create an interesting final outcome where although the narrative and plot may not be clear, the genre would be. I chose to use the editing element most when creating the genre, so that I could experiment with how I wanted to portray the killer. I chose to do this by using quick editing, complimented against much longer takes such as the beginning of my film when the title appears similar to the editing in the short film The Fly. The quick editing ensured that the uncertainty of the plot had been built up and also a sense of confusion for the audience. This helped to create suspense and overall, I am pleased with how much editing amended the original shots taken to achieve this genre, unlike the short film Slap where there are long takes that highlight each new location as it had been a long 20 minute film, this created a much different genre. And this screen shot shows how I have specifically chosen to break up the scenes by using fast paced editing and also leaving a gap in between to show how much time is left, I had used this especially when the first victim had been kidnapped. 

I had also created this genre by using mise-en-scene, like all the short movies studied, to portray a specific genre. The key element being character expression and movement which signified how eerie the main character had been, both young and old. This had also been achieved by experimenting with cinematography, in that there are many close-ups of the characters to highlight how they are feeling at specific times in the film, such as when he is looking at his victim who is tied up. Similar to the extreme close ups used in the short film The Operator where it is seem to be filmed in one take, continuously uses this shot so to highlight the character expression which had been very important in my film.

The narrative is clearly structured into three acts but during this I also wanted to challenge the traditional conventions of filmmaking because although I have created a linear narrative they are separated by non-conventional flash backs, cuts to later points and montages to experiment with the representation of my character more. By creating many different storyboards and timelines before making the film had helped me to ensure that I understand the final narrative of my film, although this had still been slightly altered when editing in later stages. I chose to only use the Kuleshov Effect in the beginning of this short film when he is watching documentaries and playing video games, however there are no shots followed by reactions in the rest of the film as I wanted to keep the narrative quite unusual and confusing. Almost the same way Echo and Over chooses to experiment with an unusual storyline where it progresses in reverse, this helps the audience to remain excited and constantly questioning so that they watch it all, and the fact that I have used three acts they each end with more questions.

I chose to make this film with no target audience in mind, but I think it applies to the groups that watch short films most, those studying film and people who are likely to create their own short films. Overall, I would suggest that this short film would only be suitable for the ages of 15 and up who also like this genre, as there are quite disturbing. By using a younger group of actors I personally found that more people would be enticed in and the short films such as The Ellington Kid and Tight Jeans who both use a young cast. Most short films are made for talent finders and other short film makers I didn’t think of them as the audience as I made it, as I wanted to focus with the plot. The audience is very different from the spectator’s experience too, the individuals I’ve shown it to have all had different reactions. The film has several purposes, one is art, in that I would each shot to be interesting to look at so that it would be engaging to pull the audience in, personally the most aesthetically pleasing short film I had watched had been Arrival as although very simplistic all the elements such as editing and cinematography the final outcome had been very effective. This had been an important feature for my short film so that I could showcase how I can capture interesting shots to keep my final short film cinematically and aesthetically pleasing to watch Another is education, in that the narration literally explains the title, this being the world Rigmarole, as this is a word that many do not know, due to it being quite out of date. I chose this word as it had also connected well with my plot of a psychotic killer who likes order but his whole life had been one long Rigmarole a lengthy and complicated procedure. My preferred reading of my short is that perhaps you can’t completely trust an individual, and I had been influenced by the serial killer Ted Bundy who would often pretend to be a kind individual to lure in victims. But overall I had hoped to create a negotiated reading in that it had been up to the audience to decide what would happen next. As it had been polysemic I wanted each spectator to have differed readings, similarly to the film Over where we are left questioning what happens next. 

Overall, I am really pleased with my final short film as I have used multiple new techniques learnt throughout this film course, both digitally (editing) and cinematically (filming). I chose to experiment with all features of micro elements to ensure that representation, genre, narrative and audience had all been effective to create an interesting final outcome. The influences of the short films I watched they all allowed me to create an interesting story complimented by the experimental use of camera shots in Rigmarole.  Rigmarole is clearly a short film and I have avoided falling into the trap of it appearing more of an extended scene or even a trailer which some of the student made films I have researched have come across like.

Here are some stills of my final short film.