Assignment #1

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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

 

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/

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