This week I continued to develop my ideas regarding my assessment 2 project. I found the class discussion on colour grading especially inspiring in my decision-making.

I noticed in my last assessment I didn’t really consider the impact of colour in mise-en-scene, or even the effects of colour grading too deeply. I’m not sure if I’ll have the resources to adequately express what I want to in my film, but I’d at least like to think about it more this time around and play.

In reference to my ‘lonely coffee break’ idea from last week’s post, I was looking into art for inspiration. I consider myself far more of an artist than a filmmaker (I predominantly partook in this degree to learn about different art forms as they pertain to a modern media landscape, rather than a passion for filmmaking) so I really appreciated the video Cat showed us in class encouraging us to use art as inspiration. Below are some possible inspirational pieces I’m considering replicating or taking visual inspiration from within my film.

At night, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, 1912, 95×87 cm

Female Artist, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, 1910

I also found upon studying the work of other cinematographers that I vastly prefer style over naturalism. I feel the whimsy of a Wes Anderson film is far more effective in emotive storytelling than an obsession with naturalism. This also comes back to my identity as an artist first, filmmaker second; film is an art form, and a method of storytelling, why waste the dullness of reality on an infinitely explorable medium?

Though I was sick this week so I wasn’t physically in class, I began work on my assessment 2. My primary goal this week was to cement an idea for the assessment, and to get the majority of pre-production done.

I looked into the concept of ‘in media res’, and wanted to really hone into the idea that my scene is taking place in the middle of a hypothetical film. What this entails in terms of my thinking, is that it can be lacking in as much context as needed, and that in order for it to make sense, audiences shouldn’t fully understand what’s going on (with the idea being they would watch the rest of the movie to gather the context in its application).

I’ve explored a few ideas, of which I’ve elaborated on below;

1. An artist painting a portrait, ending in an emotional climax. The audience doesn’t know who the subject is, and why the actor is so emotive about them.
2. An action chase sequence; upon watching some of the class’s assessment 1 videos, I was inspired to think about the possibility of something outside my comfort zone, and how I could utilize colour and shots to more effectively create an aesthetic.
3. An argument phone call: I wondered if this could be more realistically filmed without much hassle, and as it’s such a simple concept I could focus more on emotional depth and shot composition.
4. A lonely coffee break: I liked this idea as no dialogue is required, and because it’s an intimate and emotional concept, I could focus a lot more on shot composition and especially, colour grading and mise-en-scene.

I think number 4 would be the most effective to implement; I feel that an essence of loneliness could both be emphasized using colour and particular prop placements, as well as still work with naturalistic lighting as a plan B if I can’t use lighting how I wish to. while I would prefer to allow my creativity to be pursued, unfortunately realistically I need to consider where and how I can film with what materials I have available. Loneliness is often associated with blues and dull colours, I think this is the easiest to do with the lights I have and cellophane as an exploration of colour and visual stimuli within my films to ‘level up’ my filmmaking so to speak.

Onedrive link: s4003371_Matylda_O’Sullivan

What were you trying to achieve in terms of critically communicating about Framing in Film and explain the method in which the editing process was used to attempt this?

Throughout my film, I was primarily trying to communicate a semblance of insanity and overall thematic meaning of overconsumption. Upon reading Irshad Ahead’s ‘Shadows and Light: Exploring the Legacy of Golden Age Cinema’ (2024), I was heavily inspired to research modern internet sociocultural occurrences in the digital space, such as the phenomenon of ‘elsagate’ (Ishikawa, 2019) and the concept of ‘brainrot’ (Eberle, 2024). Irshad states, “The socio-cultural context within which these films were created significantly influenced their narratives and themes, reflecting the prevailing ideologies and historical events of their times.” (2024), in a similar notion, the exploration of a modern social issue to myself greatly inspired me. This inspiration was similarly emphasised by another author, Ishita Babba’s  ‘Evolution of Cinema’ whose explanation and timeline of the ‘Golden Age of Cinema’ reminisced with my own directive intentions.

Prior to filming in the early stages of my pre-production, I found frequent evidence of a deterioration in attention span and artistic analysis within the modern consumer, with comments on popular social media such as ‘X’ frequently denoting how a modern audience doesn’t want to “read all that” (@SciAdvSeries, 2025) or insisting that critical analysis of events, behaviour and media “isn’t that deep” (@BloodborneKartX ). I was fascinated by the shifting cultural attitudes towards analysis, academia and art, and I wanted to reflect a sense of insanity and deterioration in both attention span and psychological fulfilment within my film. As Kelly Lawler acutely states, “There’s just too much TV” (2019), hence I wanted to explore the effects of such a paralysing amount of media on the human psyche.

Throughout my film, I utilised editing in particular to achieve this. The long, drawn out shots are a purposeful juxtaposition to the protagonist’s vacant and emotionless, almost exhausted stare towards the camera. I input multiple instances of a static sound effect used in traditional television that generally indicates a swapped channel, but is also relevant in modern digital media such as in vine compilations (macetama, 2018). I intentionally used this sound to relate to my audience of Gen Z, or current 20-25 year olds; this group of people are a fascinating audience, as they both experienced a time in which the internet and its prosumer content (Nanjundaiah, 2025) was in its infancy, hence the popularity of television, as well as the digital boom of the 2000s and explosion of media content. I used this sound as I wanted to encourage reflection in my audience, and attempt to steer them away from the fast-paced consumerist culture of the modern media landscape. By using a sound both reminiscent of my audience’s childhood, and its modern utilisation in internet culture, I encourage them subliminally to contemplate their past selves, and modern behaviour/ attitudes towards hyper-consumerism and content creation.

I also utilised other editing techniques such as fast-cuts, time manipulation, colour grading and music to encapsulate these themes. Throughout my film, there are both long cuts as I mentioned prior, as well as rapid cuts towards the climax of the film. This choice to include quick-paced cutting was purposeful in emulating my thematic intentions. The physical fast cutting of the shots and rapid switching between scenes and content confuses the viewer and represents the man’s descent into consumerist insanity; the clip choices were also purposeful, for example, cutting between a vibrant party scene to flashing coloured lights, a slime video and the eye motif makes it unclear if this is something the man is watching or thinking about, or if this is reality he’s experiencing or remembering. I wanted to emphasise a notion of the loss of touch with reality that comes with consumerism in the modern digital landscape, and the blurring of worlds. The man is losing his ability to differentiate between a memory or a fabricated absurd reality, and this notion is explicated by the panic rising as he fervently swaps between each clip or memory; reality is unclear, all he knows is to consume.

How did your preproduction/production/post production process go and what would you do differently/improve next time? Your reflection should also include commentary on what you thought the most and least successful parts of your Prestige Cinema Opening Scene were, and why so?

My pre-production admittedly wasn’t as thorough as I would’ve preferred it to be, however due to my late start in the class I didn’t have as much time to catch up. Regardless, my pre-production consisted of a few key events; first, I began to brainstorm ideas. I looked towards inspiration and media I enjoyed, and basically analysed them in terms of similarities such as genre consistency, character tropes, editing effects and more. I ultimately settled on three key films as my primary inspiration, those being Ana Lily Amirpour’s ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ (2018), Jane Schoenbrun’s ‘I Saw the T.V. Glow’ (2024), and Gaspar Noè’s ‘Climax’ (2018). Though none of these films were overtly referenced in terms of narrative, their themes of psychological horror, community, and use of powerful and purposeful editing inspired me. For example, in ‘Climax’ there is a club scene where there is incredibly fast-paced editing. The camera shifts and cuts between the cameras within the flashing lights, emulating a sense of chaos. I used a similar technique in my own editing as an homage.

An exert from my notes in the pre-production stage.

The next part of my pre-production entailed a more detailed analysis of what I wanted to achieve within my film. My films are almost always guided by a goal or guiding principle, whether this be narratively or thematically, there always must be a purpose. In ‘AMALGA’, this purpose was of course to portray the theme of consumption in the modern media landscape. I utilised various techniques such as brainstorming, storyboard sketches and physically writing questions I thought important to consider, in order to settle on a purpose for my film that asserted a value of mine and that I was intrigued by.

Once I had explored ideas, I began to film using my phone and a tripod. I found filming a little difficult at times, particularly when it came to close-up and extreme close-up shots. Filming my actor from afar was no issue; my phone would comfortably be supported on the tripod, however when I tried to film extreme close-ups, I found it hard to find somewhere to balance the tripod, hence it was mainly filmed handheld and therefore shaky in some sections and a little difficult to edit at times. If I were to film again, I believe I would be more prepared to film with the equipment I had and the shots I envisioned. For example, implementing even something as simple as finding some boxes to rest the tripod on or making some strange mechanism to attach the tripod to my body so I could hold it steadier would be considered.

Personally, I feel the film’s thematic vision was the most successful part of its production. The strange and off-putting aesthetic, and general sense of uncanniness present was intentional and successfully implemented I feel. In comparison, I consider the colour grading the weakest part of the film. I feel the colour grading was subpar, and if I had planned more efficiently, I could have greatly utilised light and colour to my thematic advantage. I find that the film looks slightly dull and empty, and while this was in part intentional to showcase the protagonist’s immense disconnect from reality, perpetually living in a state of disillusionment and nonchalance, I think more details in the mise-en-scene such as an obsessive amount of objects, showcasing implicit character traits like hoarding as a method of consumption, or alternatively, an eerily vacant space representing how consumerism has taken over the man so much he no longer pursues anything else, would increase its effectiveness.

Sources

• Ishikawa, A. & Bollis, E. & Avila, S. (2019, April 18). Combating the Elsagate phenomenon: Deep learning architectures for disturbing cartoons. Cornell University. https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.08910
• Eberle, M. (2024, February 6). Brainrot: TikTok’s harmful effect on adolescent minds. University Wire. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2923068252?_oafollow=false&accountid=13552&pq-origsite=primo&sourcetype=Wire%20Feeds
• en [@SciAdvSeries]. (2025, 19 March). Convey a message? What? Dude it’s not that deep. [Screenshot being referenced attached]. [Post]. X. https://x.com/sciadvseries/status/1902143666543603919?s=46&t=UEhrAnrXn0odJ9jN5fPv1Q
• B u b b l e s [BloodborneKartX]. (2025, 19 March) Why do they make posters like this, i aint reading all that. [Lollapalooza lineup poster quote retweeted]. [Post]. X. https://x.com/bloodbornekartx/status/1902047724922376568?s=46&t=UEhrAnrXn0odJ9jN5fPv1Q
• macetama. (2016, December 29). Yuri!!! on Ice | ANIMACY VINE COMPILATION [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/XJk4Pxa2BvU?si=cX_q_cBjmGhGoOef
• Amirpour, L. A. (Director). (2014). A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night [Film]. Spectre Vision.
• Schoenbrun, J. (Director). (2024). I Saw the TV Glow [Film]. A24.
• Noé, G. (Director). (2018). Climax [Film]. Les Cinémas de la Zone.
• Nanjundaiah, S. (2025). News Aesthetics and Myth : The Making of Media Illiteracy in India. Routledge Books.
• Babbar, I. Evolution of Cinema. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research, 6(2), 1-4.
• Lawler, K. (2019, November 14). Too much: Why the streaming wars between Apple, Disney, HBO and more are ruining TV. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/11/14/disney-plus-apple-tv-plus-streaming-wars-ruining-tv/2516655001/
• Ahemad, I., & Girja, S. S. Shadows and Light: Exploring the Legacy of Golden Age Cinema. The Seybold Report, 19(1), 854-862. https://doi.org/1060507

Screenshot of completed timeline:

Signed release form

Pre-production storyboards

Week 1 Reflection: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/matylda-osullivan/2025/03/17/golden-age-cinema-reflection-w1/

Week 2 Reflection: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/matylda-osullivan/2025/03/19/golden-age-cinema-reflection-w2/

Week 3 Reflection: https://www.mediafactory.org.au/matylda-osullivan/2025/03/19/golden-age-cinema-reflection-w3/

What key learning did you do in this week’s workshop? Reflect and describe the main conceptual elements of this studio that you learnt. Reflect and describe the main media making elements you experienced and completed. 

Throughout this week in class, we discussed different auteurs and film director’s personal styles, and how that contributes to their visual work. For example, Alfred Hitchcock’s meticulous use of framing, or Kubrick’s use of colour in his films. I found these references inspiring to my own developing ideas for the upcoming assessment. In particular, I was interested in exploring colour/cinematography. As a visual artist, I’ve always been heavily fascinated by colours, hues, saturation and values, and how these communicate ideas to an audience visually. My artistic background I feel is a strength in this regard, as it can translate quite readily to film. I find tonality is intrinsic to colour theory, and I take great interest in how directors utilize it.

In my own film, I’d like to at least note and basically manipulate colour using Lumetri Scope in Premiere Pro, even if the editing isn’t largely noticeable or especially important. At the moment, I’m currently thinking of creating a psychological horror film, so I doubt much vibrant colour exploration such as in a Wes Anderson film will be present, but a more grayscale or muted colour scheme may be used.

We also learnt about how to use Sony Fx3 cameras. I’d previously used these cameras before in previous seminars, however I found it valuable to quickly relearn the ropes as I had forgotten a lot of information on how to use them. I’m not sure if I’ll use these cameras for my assessment, as they’re quite difficult to transport to and from the city as I live an hour away, but I haven’t yet decided.

What key learning did you do in this week’s workshop? Reflect and describe the main conceptual elements of this studio that you learnt. Reflect and describe the main media making elements you experienced and completed. 

This week, I primarily learnt more about the logistics and intricacies of framing, particularly in regards to the golden ratio.

I’d previously heard of the golden ratio, and admittedly, I struggle to understand its applicability in framing. I understand that the golden curve is supposed to be an intuitive ‘ideal’ of framing and design placement, however, I struggle to differentiate how one can tell if the golden ratio is in the correct place. For example, below I’ve attached where I think the golden ratio would go in this scene, but I struggle to understand if I’ve put it in the right place, as all three characters are narratively important, and the one on the left is left out of the ratio completely, therefore is this scene correctly attributed to the golden ratio? Or is this scene not an example of the golden ratio at all? It confuses me admittedly, but I am interested in the concept and hope to understand it better by the end of semester.

Parker, O. (Director). (2018). Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again [Film]. Universal Pictures.

In terms of production, this week I’m cementing my final assessment due Friday, with my current progress being to finish my final. I’ve successfully completed my rough cut, and the feedback I received was very valuable. Initially I was worried that my film didn’t look prestigious or film-like enough as I  filmed it on my phone, but Cat assured me it looked ‘filmic’ and that she was happy with the clear vision I presented. The main feedback I received was to fix the sound, as the soundtrack was too loud and other sound effects were inconsistent.

References

• Parker, O. (Director). (2018). Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again [Film]. Universal Pictures.
• N/A (N/A). Golden Ratio Generator. Golden Ratio Club. https://golden-ratio.club/ 

What key learning did you do in this week’s workshop? Reflect and describe the main conceptual elements of this studio that you learnt.

Due to this being the first week of semester 1, I primarily learnt about the class goals and overviews of future assessments. I also learnt some key course definitions such as the basics about what framing is, and how to define the golden age of cinema as a continual concept being explored within the class.

I found that framing primarily refers to how all elements of a frame are positioned in the camera’s view, such as props, actors, and VFX. I’m not yet sure what the difference is between framing and mise-en-scene, but I look forward to learning more about it.

Likewise I also discovered that the class’s titular reference to a ‘Golden age of cinema’ predominantly refers to a few key time periods in which filmic uniquity and revolution occurred within the cinema space.

According to Ishita Babbar (2024) in his journal article “Evolution of Cinema”, this was especially prominent in 1927 when technological advancements such as the invention of ‘talkie’s’, and the implementation of technicolor technology “…revolutionized the film industry, dramatically changing the movie experience for audiences around the world.” (Babbar, 2024).

References

Babbar, I. (2024). Evolution of Cinema. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research, Volume 6(Issue 2), 1-4. https://doi.org/xxxxx

I hope my final work engages my audience by making them look deeper into my thematic concepts; I worried when making the film without prior context/ scenes to set up the narrative, it wouldn’t make sense or be as fulfilling. For example, I don’t think Mariah’s supernatural ability or motives were explored as effectively as I’d have liked, but I believe the essence of her being predatory/ the ‘villain’ was portrayed, even if the specificity of being supernatural wasn’t.

I also hope that the small performances I depicted (in comparison to larger ones, such as Mariah’s exaggerated “What did he do babe?”) added a sense of contrast within the film, and highlighted the difference in personality of these two characters. For example, I wanted Dorothy to act as ‘the voice of reason’ almost in the film, and be very rooted in reality. One way I wanted to express this is her reaction to Mariah’s forwardness, and questioning of her motives despite their relationship as strangers. In comparison, I wanted Mariah to act (literally) otherworldly, and heavily exaggerated/ strange in her mimicry of human behaviour.

I believe the most successful component of my work was the filming; I’m happy with how the shot composition and actor placement/action turned out, and though the narrative context was simple I was satisfied with the amount of physical movement in the scene, feeling it engaged the audience without seeming unnatural.

In comparison, I feel the audio is the most damaging aspect of my work. Though I tried multiple ideas and solutions both before and after filming, unfortunately the audio is what I’m most disappointed with in my work, and something I will pay far more attention to in future practices.

To begin with the obvious, with more time on my hands I would completely redo the audio; whether that be from rebooking the actors and dubbing the content with them, dubbing the content myself, or even reshooting the entire scene, I would make certain this time that I did the audio correctly. I would also utilise more close up shots/ shot variety based on feedback from those who watched my film; it became evident that other people couldn’t tell who the main character was at times, and felt some emotional beats were lacking due to shot choice. I would also utilise more light sources; while I’m still satisfied with how the film ended up looking visually in the final product, in an ideal scenario, I’d play around a bit more with lighting set ups and possibilities to examine how these add or detract from emotional moments, key character arcs, the horror genre and more.

One key thing I’ve learnt from my studio experience this semester that I will take into my future practice, is the value of research. I attempted to do research on my film equipment before using it, and found that this helped exponentially in making the filming process quicker; I followed a tutorial to set up my camera, and I liked how everything turned out besides from the difficulty I experienced transferring files I filmed in 4K. I found that by researching prior to filming, I was able to set up the camera in a way I (mostly) liked and save a lot of time in setting up quickly as I knew I had limited time with my actors/ as a courtesy to my actors. I was also able to save time and confusion by having knowledge about how I wanted my film to look visually through things such as mood boards and reference images, as well as communicating frequently with my actors on components of their characters such as costuming.

One key takeaway I’ve found while working collaboratively is the importance of explanation; though I wrote descriptions of actions and character traits in the information I gave actors prior to filming, some things still weren’t clear and took a little explaining and elaborating for all of us to be on the same page about my artistic vision. For example one of the lines in my film, the simple “He what?” reaction by Mariah about Dorothy’s partner’s unfaithfulness, was shot multiple times. The actor and I kept exploring different ways we could portray Mariah’s character, such as outraged versus surprised, disgusted versus threatening and the differences between these tonalities/performances in accomplishing a shared vision of what we wanted the film to be.

I also found that sharing ideas among collaborators was helpful and inspiring in completing production. I appreciated the actor’s input and ideas on line delivery or movement, and even fellow crew members had moments of shared knowledge and useful advice. For example, even outside of the hypothetical or alternative ways to showcase performance or shoot a scene, just having a crew member to listen to the audio and let me know if there was something noticeable in the background the microphone picked up on I may have missed, or noticing a technical error such as a character sitting on the left in one shot then the right in another, was immensely valuable.

References

– Wake Up, Matt. (2024, May 30). Sony FX3 – How to get the BEST video settings 2024 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/GCrxfLeHVto?si=FL9S6pO2pTdAZyhm

– Olufemii. (2019, April 25). How to Make Proxy Files in Premiere Pro – 4 Minute Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3O1brgwMfb4&t=19s

– Fstoppers. (2023, September 21). Rode Wireless Pro Beginners Guide/Tutorial [Video].

Workshop Reflections

Mock Audition exercise

Clip0002

Throughout the process of the audition activity we did in class, I noticed initial feelings of anxiety and hesitance. It was a strange juxtaposition to me, I was excited and eager to have a go at directing mock auditions using everything I’d learnt in the course, but I also refused to go first, or second, or third; I felt the need to study what everyone else did first, to make sure my idea of direction was “correct”.

In such an earnestly creative field like film and performance, it was confusing, to worry so much about conformity or ‘being like everyone else’. I’ve always been of the opinion that art is the act of nonconformity and outrage and expression, so I didn’t understand why I was so hesitant to go first; it wasn’t like me exploring how to direct an actor was controversial in any way like some art is, it was by all means a safe environment of exploration.

There were of course benefits to allowing others to go first, observing others directorial processes inspired me to add or negate qualities in my own, such as witnessing someone introducing themselves and using utmost manners when speaking with the actors, encouraging me to remember to act socially appropriate and not be too indulgent in my excitement at the risk of forgetting formalities and greetings.

However, I do wonder what would’ve happened, had I simply “jumped in”. I felt far more comfortable observing and then chamelioning my behaviour based on the expectations set by others, rather than simply exploring and seeing what happened. I wouldn’t say I necessarily restricted myself to safety or conformity, just that I was more aware of it (as well as other factors such as time constraints) during my directing. I wonder how I would’ve approached the situation, had I simply gone with my instincts and not witnessed any sort of prior example. It’s possible my instincts would’ve been an utter failure, with difficulty experienced for myself as a directing person and for the actors trying to understand my instructions. Likewise however, it’s also possible something unique and unascertained would have occurred, something potentially inspiring and new.

As I said, I don’t feel watching others complete their directorial process first was necessarily a bad thing, but I do think I should play more and see what happens with more earnest and disregard for social judgement through my studies in this course.

Character Descriptions Exercise #1

While completing this activity, I found an unusual reaction within myself. I consider myself someone who greatly values understanding and empathy towards my characters, and I take pride in trying to understand their motives, personalities and situations.

Yet, when I was given the task to simply write these down in list format, I initially believed it would be an interesting exercise, but I found it somewhat dulling.

It was certainly helpful in specific areas of understanding (I found visually listing flaws, perceptions and values out of characters led me to notice patterns and potential inconsistencies to play with), however I found it more tedious than I expected.

I discovered that perhaps I enjoy a more organic sense of understanding. For example, when I write scripts using my own personal creative process, what usually happens is I have an idea, I plan out basic story events and I write. I don’t necessarily plan the details of characters and their motives, their relationships to one another, or anything like that, I simply write and let the characters guide me. I’ve even been known to rewrite story events purely based off of the creative flow of writing and letting these characters come to life naturally. I often feel like my characters guide my story and I’m simply a vessel of physically writing it.  I theorise this might be why arbitrarily listing out each detail and motive of characters in a script I found unenjoyable.

I prefer to let my characters act in the moment, and pray my pen can keep up with them, rather than analysing them before they’ve had a chance to play in my mind. It felt what I later realised was restricting, and dampening on creativity and art; again, I don’t think it was a negative experience by any means and I do appreciate that there is value in analysing your characters before you write or direct, but I also feel that for me personally, my creative process thrives on playfulness and organic exploration in the moment, with clarifying details and analysis added later.

Deconstruction of a scene

https://youtu.be/jMTPp-QGWfo?si=kp_R3t10mUBU8-43

In the essence of time, I decided to focus my analytical efforts on the character of Regina George (Rachel McAdams) in this scene. This particular scene has always fascinated me in its essence of performance; it’s always intrigued me, how Regina George‘s dialogue may be proclaiming one thing (and particularly, specific values /social etiquette for her character) yet Rachel McAdams particular use of tonal intonation and body language, in conjunction with the film’s set design, mise-en-scene and costuming, portray another motive/different social dynamic.

One example of this, is McAdams use of vocal intonation. During one of her first instances of dialogue in the scene, we see a poignant midshot of McAdams face as she very bluntly asks if Cady (Lindsey Lohan) wants to have sex with the character Jason (actor). Her particular vocality while she says it is more hushed, yet equally firm and aggressive. This in turn with the feigned smile on her face gives off an intense notion of passive aggressiveness and irony.

Notably, McAdams performance size is quite small; the minute body language such as her subtle eye widens, tense shoulder placement, and her ingenuine smile, emphasise her sense of authority and power over the characters in the scene, and highlight a key (and narratively important) aspect of Regina’s character; her intense use of passive aggression to assert control.

Another example of McAdams portrayal of subliminal psychosocial power includes when Regina asks Cady to sit down. The diegetic, high pitched and feminine line “sit down!” being preceded by a blunt insult to Jason, already sets up whatever dialogue to follow as one of intensity and purpose, and confusion to Cady who is unversed in social etiquette due to Regina’s sudden switch of character after insulting a man.

However, McAdams noticeable switch to overt passive aggression through her overly light and feminine tone, and feigned politeness asking Cady to sit, ultimately emphasises her authority when she then reasserts “no seriously, sit.”

This particular dialogue showcases key components of Regina’s character and relationship with others, primarily, the feigning of friendship in the resolve for authority and power. Regina clearly expects everyone to listen to her, and when she sees someone who she feels isn’t doing this, her vocal intonation changes to a deeper, more masculine and blunt tonality, with a demanding; “no seriously, sit.”

Finally, the use of camera and mise-en-scene portray Regina’s specific dynamic with the other characters via elements of the production and costume design. 

In this shot, we see the groups dynamics clearly; Regina, the one with the most power, sits straight and eloquent in the middle of the table, the set directs the audience’s attention solely on her; even Cady the protagonist, blends into the blue of the cafeteria chairs, as Getchen and Karen’s posture hides inside themselves and betrays their insecurity, making Regina the focus of the scene even more so.  Noticeably, she is the only one wearing pink, and a predominant colour is the very powerful and aggressive colour black. She is noticeable, her black costume greatly makes her standout due to the contrast of her light complexion and hair, yet she is feigning femininity and social politeness through her soft pink shirt; the pastel colour is intended to portray her as girly and simply a “teenage girl”, in order to distract from her bullying and authoritative tactics of control.

My way of working

Throughout this semester, I feel my practice in directing has shifted slightly. While I wish I could say I felt my practice has evolutionarily changed and I experienced a once in a lifetime epiphany, I think what’s closer to the truth is that through observing and learning more about how others work, I’ve slowly gained more confidence in my own creative practices.

At the beginning of this course, I noted that I was acutely afraid of directing actors; I had visions I wanted to produce, but I didn’t feel like I possessed the language, and certainly not the confidence, to appropriately lead my actors. I frequently worried my ideas weren’t worthy of being taken seriously by myself or classmates let alone professionals, and this barrier often stopped me from sharing my thoughts and ideas about topics, even characters I was directly working on with actors. While this fear of incompetency still exists, I’m glad to say I feel more confident through every lesson that I’m gaining valuable knowledge, skills, and experience I can use in my future creative endeavours.

I’ve found that activities in class that I feel “throw me in the deep end” are most useful in developing my skillset. For example, being shown an example then told to have a go at directing real professional actors on the spot, was terrifying but ultimately an inspiring and useful experience. I felt that by being forced into it, I didn’t have too much time to think, and hence I could focus more on exploration and play, something I very much value in film and art.

I ultimately believe that while I’m not yet at a confidence level I wish I was, with every new experience and observation of work and performance, I’m steadily increasing my confidence within my own work and abilities to succeed in my filmic endeavours.

Write about what you want from this studio? What you think this studio is.

When I initially chose this studio as an elective, I predominantly wanted to improve my ability to work with people and present my creative visions to them accurately. I had found that previously, I often struggled to find the language to tell my actors what it was I wanted from them, such as to “say it more like this” or “do it more like that”. I found that the words were never right. While I certainly still want to practice this skill, what I’ve found more upon taking this class is that I want to overcome my fears over directing people. I know in theory I’m the director, and my actors are working “for” me and there’s hence an expectation of authority or leadership, but I always struggle to take the reigns. I fear my work isn’t good enough to be worth acting for, or that these actors who are more experienced than me know more and that I should be following them. I doubt myself and my abilities, and I want to develop the confidence to say “no, do it again more like this” without fear of judgement or discord. Of course this isn’t related to any cruelty, respect and admiration for my actors will always be there, I just want to develop my ability to be assertive and clear in my vision, and especially to believe in my work’s worth. I suppose in essence then that my ultimate goal and desire through taking this class is to create confidence in myself, and develop an attitude of pride in my work, and the ability to stop fearing judgement from others and embrace my work’s personal ties to myself, humanness, vulnerabilities, and even at times ‘cringiness’; I want to be able to accept and showcase my work no matter what, rather than sticking to the creation of ‘safe’ content I dont think will be judged harshly, but that I’m equally unpassionate about.

Workshop activity reflections

Private moment exercise

While partaking in the ‘Private Moment’ exercise, I was surprised to find I felt vastly uncomfortable watching people. It felt greatly embarrassing and even invasive, to watch people mimicking their private moments. The vulnerability was striking, even with the knowledge that it was all fake and specifically chosen by each individual to be viewed.

Throughout the activity, I came upon the blatant realisation that I had difficulty connecting with others; I felt like I was violating each person, and that I didn’t have the right to watch their moments, that I had difficulty experiencing that intimacy and vulnerability even though it was staged and purposeful. I was hence interested in the relation between audience, vulnerability, and the performer. Within my research, I came across the artist Michel Melamed who staged a fascinating performance art piece.

Melamed attached himself to electrical wires on a stage in front of a live audience, and made it clear that any noise the audience made would send shocks (and therefore pain) to him (Diana T. 2016). A quote from the essay that elaborates on the social intricacies of performance, really resonated with my feelings from this task; “Maybe, this piece suggests, there is no such thing as a “solo” or one-person performance”. (2016).

I found that upon further reflection, I agreed immensely with this notion. My traditional ideas of performance, acting and media in general used to be rather simple; the actor performs, the movie plays, and the audience observes. There was no real sense of interactivity, no high stakes, nor any responsibility. The audience was there to almost act as a voyeur, witnessing an actor pretending to be vulnerable, obtuse, reprehensible, etc. and silently making judgments from the comfort of a dark seat. However, performances like Melamed’s, and even other artists more intertwined within the fine arts rather than theatre such as artist Marina Abramović and her infamous performance art piece Rhythm 0 (Hessel K. 2023), have caused me to reconsider the power of the audience within performance. I wonder how much the presence of an audience, influences it. In performance art, the element of interactivity of course is different to standard performance such as those of theatre or film, however, it’s interesting to notice the patterns of behaviour when an audience is given power, versus when they’re expected to silently observe.

My research all ultimately ties in to my own specific goals for the semester. My goals such as to be assertive when directing people, stem from both a fear of vulnerability, and a lack of research and understanding of performance and even human psychology, both of which are knowledge I’d like to continue developing and learning more about throughout the semester.

References

• Hessel K. (25/09/2023) ‘Marina Abramović’s shocking Rhythm 0 performance shows why we still cannot trust people in power’, The Guardian, accessed 2/08/2024. https://amp.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/sep/25/marina-abramovics-shocking-rhythm-0-performance-shows-why-we-still-cannot-trust-people-in-power
• Diana T. (2016) Performance, Duke University Press, https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822375128-005

Great Screen Performances homework

I found it somewhat difficult to complete the seemingly easy homework of ‘finding a great performance’ to show the class. When I initially read it, I presumed it’d be extraordinarily simple; there are plenty of great actors, scenes, and writers out there, how hard could it be? What I found, however, was that I struggled to find a performance that both felt ‘worthy’ and ‘dramatic’ enough. There was a subliminal expectation within myself, that the word ‘performance’ denotes dramatism and highly emotional vulnerability, usually related to more painful emotions. In the end, I chose to submit a scene that correlated with that internal bias, but upon reflecting on the homework, I wonder what it even means to be or act in ‘a great performance’. I noticed many others seemed to follow suit in posting dramatic, crying, screaming, miserable, pained performances for their homework submissions too, and I wondered; why? Why doesn’t a performance of intense joy and wonder such as Will Farrell in ‘Elf’ come to mind when the average person thinks of great performance? Why was only live action film included? These questions and more confused me, and I wanted to explore why only pain seemed to constitute as good acting/performance.

“In every performance, we seek validation and social support for our identity.” is a quote from (source). Though its claims are relatively simple, I find it appropriate within my own understanding and research of how performance is perceived. Validation and social support are certainly more traditionally associated with painful emotions, such as the expectation of comfort when someone cries. This might be part of why those particular performances stick with people, but I would argue that performances of joy, rage, humiliation and more, are just as worthy of praise and awe. I admittedly found it difficult to academically research emotion; it felt like a trick of disparity, trying to pit performance and art and emotion and creativity, against rigorous academia, analysing, and cold logic. It didn’t really make sense so much as I tried to connect them for this assessment. I hence am still continuing my journey on understanding the juxtaposition of emotion and performance, and why some emotions are seemingly more valid as an expression of art within performance, at least in terms of memorability.

References

•  Favreau J. (2003) Elf [motion picture], New Line Cinema, New York, USA.
• Lambert B. (4/04/2017) ‘Everything is a Performance: The World’s a Stage’, How Communication Works, accessed 1/08/2024. https://www.howcommunicationworks.com/blog/2017/4/23/the-world-is-a-stage-and-everything-is-a-performance?format=amp

The initiative post

I noticed throughout my pondering about what to do with this assessment, that my father has a curious human habit and behaviour. I was never initially aware of it, but upon noticing it, I began to see it consistently. I found that my father has a strange habit of breathing in and gritting his teeth when saying something passive aggressive. It’s a weird habit to take note of, but one that was consistent all the same.

I consider my father the parent I’m closest to, and I’m very appreciative of him and his efforts taking care of me throughout my life. Despite this, people have described my Dad as any number of things, “strange”, “funny”, “absolute asshole” and the like (various personal communications, 2024).

In relation, my father is not a particularly outgoing man. Amiss to details, he doesn’t appreciate conflict, and often avoids it through passive aggression. I’ve noted many a time in previous years where he would make a snide comment about someone’s appearance, their relationship to him or their character. Each time would never be an overt “you’ve offended me” but an inconspicuous, vague yet easily defendable remark should he be called up on it. His manipulative tactics are nothing new, but neither is human disdain at another. While I disagree with aspects of my Dad’s character, I understand his views, as I’m sure most everyone does to an extent. We’ve all dealt with undesirable people in undesirable situations and social contexts, and though many of us offer restraint, there are some like my father who make their disdain known; I consider it a part of human life, to experience conflict in each person’s unique way.

However, my father’s attitude to conflict is not what interested me when researching for this paper. What enthralled me, was his physical facial manoeuvre, when he was expressing as such. A typical example of this would be someone states something my father doesn’t approve of, he responds with some snide remark, however, then curiously without fail, he will always grit his teeth, and suck a small breath in. His teeth will only bear a little, just ever so slightly from his bottom lip, and he’ll breathe in, no louder than his grit is obvious. The curious expression looks similar to Figure 1 sourced below, but of course featuring my father’s specific face instead.

Figure 1

Admittedly, I struggled to research why exactly my father has this seemingly unique quirk. I researched all I could think of, from physical symptoms of passive aggression to psychology to dentistry. Nothing notable really appeared in terms of a clear, distinctive, explanation. Unfortunately all I’m left with is an usual habit my father possesses, with no logical reasoning apparent from my studies. Despite this, within the context of performance, I find the epiphany I found about this behaviour incredibly valuable. There may be no evidence pertaining to why my father has this habit when disgruntled, but being aware of it helps me tremendously in my own, and the direction of other, performances and acting. It’s a subtle, yet noticeable to a keen eye, quirk that I feel really encapsulates a human experience; sometimes humans exhibit behaviour that is unreasonable, non-sensical and unexplainable by logic or science, but the behaviour is still relevant and still an excellent way to incorporate a sense of reality within art and performance.

References

• drkoos2 (2024) N/A [photograph], Ora website, accessed 28/07/2024. https://www.orasurgery.com/clenching-teeth-am-i-still-a-candidate-for-dental-implants/
• Epstein S. (28/09/2021) ’18 Signs That You’re Dealing with a Passive-Aggressive Person’, Psychology Today, accessed 1/08/2024. https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/between-the-generations/202109/18-signs-youre-dealing-passive-aggressive-person?amp

I hope that my group’s work engaged our audience through subliminality and a sensation that comedy doesn’t need to be overt. A key component within our film I feel, is our different approach to the concept of ‘comedy’ as a mode and genre. My group and I wanted to contend that a modern understanding of comedy, and what ascertains something as ‘funny’, is not always obvious, and that entertainment and comedy do not need to be necessarily intentionally sought after in storytelling for it to be there, and for it to be a valid interpretation of genre application. While it was originally a contentious topic within even our group as the producers ourselves, ultimately, we wanted to put forward a contemporary view of comedy, one in which hearty laughter and overt reactions of amusement, are not necessary or innate in our contemporary understanding; while we were of course, mindful in needing to meet assessment criteria in making a product of the comedy genre, we wanted to analyse, deconstruct, and rebuild the concept of the comic within our film.

This hence inspired me to consider that If I were to continue developing our work for a wider audience such as in a film festival, I’d likely begin by extending our product’s screen time. Whether this was through a second ‘episode’ with our product acting as a pilot, or by extending the runtime as a short film, I feel our story needs more in order to truly take advantage of our audience and thematic reasoning presented in our narrative. I feel our touching upon the deconstruction of the comic genre through subliminal comedy wasn’t overly complex, and I’d like to develop this further. I feel one way I could strengthen our film through change would be the addition of narrative elements and by extension screen time; I fear our audience needed more time than was given to truly recognise and interpret how we deconstructed comedy, and what makes our film part of the comedic genre despite initial appearances. I would like to strengthen what I feel was a weakness of our film, that being narrative structure and character writing. I feel we ‘had the right idea’ with our application of comedy theory, but ultimately, I worry our film falls flat in certain areas due to an uncertain storyline that lacks a climax in my opinion. Our engagement of the audience may have faltered or may not have been as successful as it could’ve because of such unclear narrative structure, as well as surface level characters. If I were to personally continue development of the film, I’d like to explore more of the drama, coming of age genre in our film, and take more screen time to identify, differentiate and represent our characters, with particular emphasis on their flaws and struggles as humans (and in line with conventions of the coming of age genre).

Through watching both Rogue (Minh Thanh Nguyen) and Situation Tragedy (Nia Arora) respectively, I found the interpretation of the comic genre by each group fascinating. Through my own interpretation, Rogue contended with a more visually amusing / visual gag, silent comedy approach, and Situation Tragedy with more overt dialogue centred humour.

In Rogue, a more centralised idea of comedy was explored, with impressive cinematography and spy-film conventions emphasising this facet. For example, in the montage where Agent White explores Melbourne, the quick cutting and use of close up shots showcasing her absurd expressions within the mise-en-scene elaborates on the already comedic concept, and is amusing to the viewer. I appreciated how the film explored visual gags and silent comedy, and felt their expression of facial features, prop and actor placement, and generalised mise-en-scene, greatly enhanced their product’s comic value, and was a great strength in their production.

In contrast, I found that Situation Tragedy cleverly utilised media genre conventions of the sitcom genre, cleverly mixed in with elements of the murder mystery trope, and mockumentary genre. I found the film’s exploration of dialogue centric comedy interesting, particularly in contrast to Rogue’s use of visual gags in comparison. I felt the use of clever dialogue and both diegetic and non-diegetic sound enhanced the application of comedic elements within the film. For example, in the scene where the caterer is talking to the actor about how he is overtly putting a condom into the sandwich, dialogue of “chewing brother” can be heard; this links back to a prior gag, and emphasises it’s creative humour due to repetition and the original joke’s incongruity. The creative choice of framing each character’s interview section as a close up shot, similarly enhances humour as it adds an additional element of visual comedy, similar to Rogue.

Finally, I viewed Boxed Sizzle (Ruth Richards) from the Ready Camera One studio. I found the short form content method of presentation the group chose successful in portraying a modern sense of comedy. It reminded me of contemporary short form content like Vine and Tik-Tok, but with a more historical, free-to-air T.V. show twist. I appreciated this combination of past and present, and found the incongruity of putting a live baby in a box with the charismatic presenter noting that he “wasn’t meant to be a father” a good example of dark and subversive humour. I enjoyed how the group deconstructed modern and historical practices of comedy as a genre, and found it impressive they were able to do so with such a short runtime.