A Girls Best Friend is their Bedroom from Media Factory on Vimeo.

A Girl’s Best Friend is their Bedroom

Featuring

Isabella Murray

Brooke Gagiero

Niamh Fox

A film by

Jasmin Gould

Music

‘Shimmering Object 3’
Composed by Opticaillusions www.freesound.org

‘Spray Bottle’
Composed by OwlStorm www.freesound.org

‘Pencil on Paper Scribble’
Composed by Toddcircle www.freesound.org

‘McDonalds’
Composed by Islabonita www.freesound.org

‘Heartbeat 2’
Composed by Newlocknew www.freesound.org

With thanks to

Sebastian Bertoli

Rohan Spong

Cameron Powell

Studio instructor

Rohan Spong

Created as part of 

HEADS WON’T ROLL.

School of Media and Communication

RMIT University

2023

Watch it here!

Reflection

Taking inspiration from Frederick Wiseman’s observational filming style, I chose to include long, drawn-out takes to bookmark both ends of my work. This included my favourite shot no. 2 in which I included a man walking into the frame and out of it completely. Whilst I kept in the establishing shot of the long walkway up to the fountain, I believe it is not as strong as the following shot. I arranged the longer shots at the beginning and the end of the edit whilst utilising shorter shots in the middle. I did this in order to portray the change in wind from calm enough for a picnic to windy enough for a jumper. By having the shorter shots in succession I aimed to convey a sense of urgency and to change the mood of the piece.  The rhythm of the edit says both that the garden is a scenic place filled with people and a space open to the elements.

If I had the opportunity to reshoot I would film more close-ups and would try to feel less awkward about filming people. Some of my favourite shots were those of the park-goers. I would also focus on my framing. Whilst most were straight, the areas they captured felt a bit unintentional.

During the editing, I struggled most with the sound mixing. I was a bit unsure about sound levels and struggled to make the transitions between audio seamless. I would love to continue practicing this and gain a theoretical understanding of sound levels as well.

1. 1. Pre-Production link
2. 2. Production link
3. 3. Post-Production link
4. 4. Final Reflection link

The Newsroom short film link here

Google Drive link 

I hope my film displays my understanding of post-horror. Over the course of this studio, I have learnt so many things. To be specific however, I can now define the key makings of a post-horror style film. The Newsroom not only holds some of the characteristics of post horror style and aesthetic but also explores social issues on a deeper thematic level. Having researched other post-horror films over our 12 weeks in the studio we understood that having a deeper meaning in a horror film is the crux of the genre. It is this key learning which I believe I have carried across into my own main work.

If I could have my time over working on my short film, I would do so many things differently. So many things I may as well put them in a list.

• – I would work on my script more and take on more of the feedback Tim gave me. I believe it was a mix of ego and laziness that dissuaded me from originally doing this. However, I can now see that it would’ve made for a stronger end product and perhaps an easier production and pre-production.
• – I would make sure my crew members were across everything their role entailed.
• – I would try to look after my health a bit better so that I could be present duing all aspects of the making process.
• – I would over organise everything. I would make sure everyone was on the same page.
• – I would shoot for longer. Every single one of our shoot days finished early. I know now that that was because we weren’t getting enough coverage. Next time I would not try to be a people pleaser and get the shots I need. I felt bad for taking up too much time.
• – I would have done a rehearsal/table read for the actors and ensure continuity sheet were being done correctly. A lot of the time in the editing process there was just places we couldn’t cut around due to dialogue.
• – I would make sure the sound that was being recorded was clear and free from handling sounds.

All of these I would have done differently and they were all a challenge. These all bubble done to being challenges in organisation and communication. I’m not sure I overcame them per say, more just pushed through. This meant improvising and creatively thinking on the spot. An example of this was the loaning and caring of equipment. Through not communicating and assumptions, the team and I had to create a last-minute plan at the end of shoot day 1.  This ended in me taking home the equipment and managing all the bookings of the loans. Whilst this was not ideal, it worked out ok in then end.

I believe a main strength of the film is the sound design. Having done the final edit I am quite proud of the sound design I created. Although the composers ghosted us I feel we have a layered and appropriate soundscape to make up for it. Another key strength is the acting by Raymond (Richard) and charlotte (Sarah). I couldn’t have asked for two more lovely, talented and professional actors to be in my short film.

A disappointing weakness of the film for me is the narrative. I feel that in between shooting and editing some of the meaning got muddled. I hope this only feels this way to me because I watched it so many times. I don’t want my short film to just be about another abused and broken woman. Fingers crossed.

Production, aka hell. Production for me may have been one of the most stressful times of my life thus far. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat… maybe I’m being a little dramatic. But it truly was hard. I’m writing this on the day I finished editing the short film and I cannot believe I can say that. Whilst this whole experience has been hard, I am so unbelievably proud I got through it and have come out the other side with a completed film. I know now that any other assignments other teachers fling at me, I will be able to do it.

My main issue with the production stage was the unknown. Will my actors show up? Will the footage still be on my SD card tomorrow? A lesson I’ve learnt from this is to have faith and to have done the organisational work to back it up.

There were things that inhibited me from truly leaning into my role as director during shooting and has possibly meant that my artistic vision was not fully realised. But I’m not going to name names. As my first time directing, I am going to be proud of myself and what I have made.

I am proud of the relationships I built with the actors on the shoots. By creating a safe and welcoming space I was able to direct the actors to get the acting I needed for the scene. I am particularly proud of the acting Charlotte (Sarah) did and am very grateful that she decided to be a part of it all.

I found it difficult to communicate my desired camera angles and movements to Christina because we were both new to cameras in general. To get around this, I would physically show Christina how I wanted to shoot a scene as showing is sometimes easier that telling. I am happy with how this went and I feel that we achieved this to the best of our shared ability.

In my next short film I know I will definitely be less stressed due to my recent knowledge of how short films, specifically the production of short films work. I also now understand the importance of a good support structure. Be that the crew, cast, friends or family.

Post-production started with a few days respite. The filming process was a huge task that me and my team smashed so we all took a few days to rest and recharge for the next step. Editing. Since we accidentally left the camera mic off of the camera for all shooting on Monday, Ben and I knew we had to manually sync up the footage to audio. Whilst this loomed over us, although not ideal, we managed to do this in record breaking time. I have also learnt to always, always, always check that you are recording on both the camera and the zoom recorder.

Once we had synced up the audio we started to edit. For me, it made the most sense to edit scene by scene. It was hard to know where to start. Then, when it came to the stage where we should’ve had our rough cut done, I got sick. This meant I was unable to come in and use the edit suites for fear of infecting my classmates. This put us back MASSIVELY. Luckily for us, Tim granted us an extension. This meant I could be a lot more present in the editing process. Towards the end of the edit I was given control. I find it best to edit solo, it’s hard to have two chefs in the kitchen. Whilst I didn’t expect to be doing the bulk of the editing, I did enjoy it.

A few of the scenes (because of filming boo boos) had to rely heavily on editing to carry the narrative. A key example of this would be the bathroom scene. As we did not have control over the lights, I had to edit it to look like they had been switched off. Although there are still light reflections on the tiles in the dark moments (something I tried to get rid of in After Effects but didn’t have enough time), I feel like the creative editing improved the scene massively.

Whilst a lot went wrong in the post-production I felt that what I learnt was invaluable. I now know Premier Pro better than ever and I am excited to take what I’ve learnt and use it in my next short film.

The first thing I did once I knew my short film was going into production was revise the script. A lot of the changes I made were to the dialogue, some felt a bit cringe or too obvious. I also got some feedback from the actors, which guided some of the changes. I understood that some of the dialogue I had written could sound unnatural (and not in a good spooky way), so I worked with my actors to find what sounded better.

To ensure the filming process was as easy and stress-free as possible, I also changed the location of the murder to an alleyway instead of the Yarra River to avoid a litany of stressors such as people in the area, noise, and council permits. Speaking of the alleyway shoot, on our planned shoot day it started to rain. We had originally chosen an alleyway in the city but I didn’t want to risk getting the camera equipment wet. So Giorgio and I did some quick location scouting and thought the old Melbourne gaol at Rmit would work well. Despite this challenge, I feel like it possibly made the scene better.

Another priority for me was to meet my team and start planning our shoots. I organised production meetings and took minutes. It was very important for me to know who was doing what, and by what deadline. However, In hindsight, there were some big gaps in our organisation. Specifically the booking and collection of equipment. We had not planned this out, so during our shoot days, I had to think on the spot. Unfortunately, the responsibility of booking, moving, and taking care of the equipment fell on me. Luckily, I had friends and family I could get to pick me up and drop me off with the equipment.

Amongst revising the script, booking studios and equipment, and creating the shot list, I also focused on casting. I posted casting calls on seven Facebook pages, called two acting schools, and bought a subscription to StarNow to find actors.

This was probably the most stressful part for me because without actors there would be no short film. A few days before shooting we had an actor drop out so I did the whole process again. Something that I felt was very important was a good relationship with my actors. The week before shooting I met up with a few of them at The Oxford Scholar. I also held Zoom meetings and made myself available over text, email, and phone. I think our lead actress saying that she would work with us again and thanking us for creating a fun set atmosphere shows we did this well.

REFLECTION

When writing my script, I knew I wanted most of it filmed at RMIT. By locating the story within the university, I ensured that production is not burdened by location scouting and the organisational struggles of shooting elsewhere. Despite this I had no firm idea of the story itself. I did know that I didn’t want it to look and feel like it was shot at RMIT so I had to get creative. To kickstart my creative process I went for a stroll around campus and remembered about the news studio the media department has. This was where I decided my short film should be shot. Furthermore, a trip to the bathroom during class gave me the idea for where Sarah will first be visited by the ghost of her attacker. I was inspired by the space and new it would be a strong addition to my screenplay.

The initial idea consisted of a teleprompter gone wild, from there I started building my story around it. I began by mind mapping in a notebook, getting suggestions from my housemates. I had my general idea but couldn’t figure out what the main conflict would be. I knew that my protagonist would be haunted by guilt with it all building up to that on-air moment. I played around with various controversies; war-crimes, affairs perhaps even murder. Although none of them seemed right. I didn’t want my protagonist to be a villain, but I struggled to find a motive that would fit.

It wasn’t until my screenwriting began that I figured out what it would be. It was as if the story was already formed and was waiting for me to find out. I settled on my main character being attacked by a man, an overarching theme of victim-blaming and gaslighting in the script. Once I figured this out, the story became clearer and started coming together.

RESEARCH

Shock! A New Horror- Blog Post #2A

Shock! A New Horror- Blog Post #2B

Shock! A New Horror- Blog Post #3

Shock! A New Horror- Blog Post #1

A reflection on class activities

POST-HORROR EXAMPLES

What is post-horror and how do we define it? This was the question posed in class in week 1. I had minimal understanding of what makes a film post-horror besides knowing Hereditary and Get Out fell under that category. When we split up into groups to find a specific example I proposed The Witch but sadly one of our group mates hadn’t seen it. It was actually quite hard to find common ground with such a loose definition. Ultimately we decided on The Lighthouse, directed by Robert Eggers and staring one of my favourite actors Willem Dafoe.

We defined The Lighthouse as post-horror mainly through its use of unconventional artistic choices. Firstly, the decision to film in black and white is one you don’t see in a-lot of contemporary horror films. The lack of colour heightened the moody tone and intensified the use of shadows. The storyline itself is one of the main reasons we felt the film can be classified as post-horror, exploring themes of isolation and a descent to madness. Choosing an example far removed from the look and feel of horrors like Get out or A Quiet Place helped me understand that this sub genre can look a lot of different ways.

Through watching clips or trailers of other groups examples I further understood the necessary conventions a horror must have in order to be labeled post-horror. I found the choice of The Joker particularly interesting. Whilst I personally would describe the film as a horror I agreed that it had some characteristics of other post-horror films. I appreciate that you can take inspiration from a non-horror like The joker. Especially is commentary on social justice issues and the current climate of the world.

I understand now that post-horror can look a lot of different ways and that while there are similar tropes and conventions, it is a very diverse sub genre.