In the leadup to the pitch, I was concerned I would not be able to come up with an idea for a short film, particularly one where I could use a a tool for causing discomfort, because I’d been experiencing a slight creative block and was aware of deadlines for this final product.  

Luckily, though, once we got closer, I knew what films, songs and books I had been inspired by that all fell under a similar mood that I wanted to recreate in a film. For example, I wanted to pair the content of Paprika (2006) and the visual aspects of Wong Kar Wai’s Fallen Angels (1995). I think this made it clearer to me that I inform my ideas through inspiration from multiple media forms. I think being able to draw inspiration from different forms made it easier for me to figure out the type of audio I wanted to use in my short film as well. Although I didn’t mention it in my pitch, the strong drum beats in Fiona Apple’s ‘Sleep to Dream’ helped paint a picture of what I wanted my final product to feel like.

What I was then most worried about was being unable to put my ideas into fruition, especially as I knew I would have to depend a lot on editing to encapsulate a dreamlike and uncomfortable feeling. I don’t have a lot of experience with this style of editing, so I know that I’ll have to spend a lot of time using YouTube to teach myself how to achieve the visuals that I want.

This week I performed my pitch for my short film and received feedback. Personally, I think I could have used more eye contact and been less dependent on my script, as pitches are often used to sell your idea, but it was still a good experience. My aim with my pitch was to verbalise the feeling I wanted to evoke in my assignment. The feedback I received from the industry guest was to have a more clear narrative when describing my idea in my pitch, although my studio leader understood that this was going to be more mood-based rather than narrative-based.  Overall, I think I could have verbalised this more in my pitch to make it clearer, such as explaining my intention to capture the feeling of confusion, melancholy and dreaminess but to elevate the uncomfortable aspects of these emotions.