Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

    I simply adored the short film. I was short and to the point, as intended. As though I had a question, they were answered in a manner where I didn't feel cheapened out of my curiosity. Though my thoughts were right the answer so to peak was just accepted. It was a nicely wrapped storyline. And it could be understood without any further explanation. 

    The feature film takes all of this and multiplies it. The story, seemly a prequel, to the short film, elaborates on the story and gives the audience new charters and more backstory. This said it retains its charms with questions. Giving the audience something to wonder about as the story progresses. A trait I want to achieve in my own film making process. I liked how with more time, the film was able to achieve more cinmetic diptions. Like the end, where the audeince got saw the spirtis rise up rather simply walking to their graves and ending it there. The feature film was also able to give more than one story line, it wasn't as clear cut as the short film. There was multiple antagonist and multiple lovable charters. It also gave the audience a hint of romance. It was kinda weird after the reveal that they were all created from the soul of the same man, but it was sweet. The length of the film just allowed for more complex lines of thought. And they had voices! The audience didn't have to interperate anything. The characters told us what they thoaght, and I liked that.

Research 9, The Feature Film

     To think I was interested before. The film was so good. I was hooked off the bat. The opening narration, just, captivating once again. I already had so many questions. In a good way too. Like what caused the end of humanity. What gave this man the idea to create these dolls. How was this possible. Quite a beginning in only the first five minutes. And how do we reach the start the way it did. Clearly, so much time has passed to put us into the era we see.

    Not only was number 9 just the center of the show; the protagonist if you will. I felt drawn to him in the film because he sought to question and challenge common ideas I admired and resonated with that. Everything was so climatic. The sound was so engaging, every moment was expressive and dramatic, and it made watching the movie very enjoyable. So many obstacles for the characters to overcome, and for not one moment did I feel that the characters were flat and static. Each of them had so much complexity, even the antagonist after the audience learns of the history of the word. And though the colors were bleak, the word had so much vividness. I just felt emersed in the word I watched.

Research 9, The Short

    "9" the short film, was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can even see why it would get picked up to be made into a feature film and all. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that. I was taken by surprise in all honestly, to say the least. The ragdoll premises was captivating. And though the film didn't have any dialogue the story was extremely digestible. There was a moment though where I gave the film a little more credit than it was due. I mistakenly thought that number 5 had turned into the antagonist. But before  I could even explore that thought really, the film ended.

    Speaking of, the antagonist was, very cool. He, it, whatever the case was a come combination of all the things I love. A cold, bounty hunting, mercenary type. Nothing gets better than that. I found the mechanics of how it hunted interesting too. How exactly were the two pieces of the tracker connected? As the audience, we could discern that one half sensed when the other was near but was the other was drawn to the missing piece? Or was it drawn to the ragdolls them selfs? If not, why not toss the piece you had and relocate? And for the film as a whole, why only have numbers 5 and 9 as the subjects? I'd like to know what happened to 8, 7, and 6. I am not questioning numbers above that because it'd be understandable that they would have to die early one. I know they died in the content of the film but  I wonder why the director chose to have that dynamic between those two numbers. Especially when 8, 7, and 9 are closer in relatability than 5. It worked out in the end, so it's all good.

The Result Of Research; My genre Choice

     I have decided to go with the genre of a Thiller. And if we're being nitpicky, a horror-thriller since they are so closely related. Almost one in the same. And indistinguishable to most people if you were to ask them. Not sure of making it a compound genre makes it its own thing or not. If it's it though my choice is clear. Simply put it, if you boil down the two it came down to whether I wanted to be flashy or subtle with how I wanted the audience to feel. In all, I wanted to be lowkey. I want my pacing to be slow and purposeful and I want my audience to feel that my subject could be them on any given day. While it's cool to imagine my subject being chased by some phantom menace, I want to add some elements of truth. At least till the big reveal. All ill say now is that while researching, I went over some fan-favorite films, and one, in particular, stood on. It wasn't so much of a film, but an animated short featured on an epitopic program called Love, Death & Robots. 

    The episode in reference is called "The witness" and I wanted to replicate the twist at the end. I found the ending so cool. Basically, the subject bears witness to their own death and at the end of the episode, it is revealed to be a time loop. I was thinking of doing that but having the murder at the end be acted out by the same subject we followed. The present subject is killed and we begin to follow the new subject, as the same "strange things" happen again creating the loop. I'm thinking of dressing to acters the same way in order to accomplish this, a reenact events of the film from a different perspective to demonstrate the loop. That's the plan anyway.

Genre Research: Horror, Thrills, Action

Below is a PowerPoint that describes the research on each of the three outlines I described. Since each had elements I wanted to implement in one way or another, this research was primarily for deciding which would be the center focus of my pitch.

Genres I'm Thinking Of

    At the moment, my vision can go one of three ways. I really want to have an element of suspense and get my audience to feel what is happening on screen. The genres I'm thinking of are Horror, Action, and Thriller. I think looking into each of these genres will let me get a better feel of where I want to take my short film. And I feel like each of these genres has pieces and elements I want respectfully. Between elements of suspense, fright, and prolonged tension, I want to engage the audience through perspective.

All three genres in one way or another hinge on shifting points of view to allude and engage the audience to create and effect. 

   With my pitch, I see a young girl being spooked, haunted and chased even. And when it comes to the point of view, whos to saw we cant look of from the perspective of who is chasing our subject. I want my audience to feel the heart racing events I put my subject though, and face questions that the subject too must answer to make sense of the events in the film. I want to have mystery, an overarching linger, and hint to something greater that connects together at the end. And wraps around to the beginning of the story. That's why I think these three genres will most likely fit my vision. In each, there's of level of storytelling to explain, why, and how things are happening. Like how a doll got possessed in the Conjuring, why the young man hand to escape in Get Out, and so on. My focus is mainly on the conclusion and the most effective way of achieving it. Achieving a satisfying end that folds into itself. Personally, I take joy in theorizing at the end of the film, so I'd like to create a film where that is possible as well. Enough answers to resolve the main plot points but not enough to kill off the intrigue of the world of the subject. Tricky but doable I hope.

Research.”