Issues Encountered During Editing

From completing the rough cut of the film, we were forced to cut out an entire dialogue scene between Elizabeth and Edward, where we see what her intentions are in coming back from the grave (this being to steal his life). Doing this meant that we have altered the sotyr slightly in that Elizabeths appearances in Edward's house are purely imaginary to him and a part of his slowly decaying mental stability; hence his final suicide in the end. In terms of genre, it now takes on a more psychological thriller than horror/thriller hybrid.

Although one could argue that the iconography of bandages covering her face in a rather mummy-like fashion is typical of the horror genre, it is focusing more on Edward as a central protagonist as it dissolves his personality and eventually his life. It's story now is more to similar Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan or David Cronenberg's Videodrome. 

  

 

 A shot from Videodrome (Directed by David Cronenberg)

A shot from Black Swan (Directed by Darren Aronofsky) 

Behind the scenes

Inspiration for the film: character profiles

Films outside the mainstream market both within the UK and the USA subvert a number of genre conventions in terms of editing and mise-en-scene and character profiles, hence inspiring particular features of our film: flashbacks and not conforming to particular social stereotypes of gendered conventions. 

One film in particular:  'Pandora' (translated into English) that is a south Korean catastrophe drama film directed by the award wining and Koreas most renowned director: Park Jung-Woo.The film was first released in south Korea on the 7th December 2016 and within November 2016, Netflix acquired international rights to the film for distribution in 190 countries worldwide. The film offers an emotional detailed scenario , to how society would react to a nuclear disaster. The film subverted stereotypical societal conventions in terms of how the film exploited the government for how they had handled and dealt with the situation but also showed how secrets had been kept from the Korean president at the time, worsening the situation. Many films tend to favour the government and political system. However in recent years films such as 'made in Dagenham' were able to show the historical sexist segregation that occurred within both societal and political institutions and how the patriarchal ideology was deeply rooted within. The film explicitly highlighted a change with society but also displayed how the film market is rapidly changing in terms of how creativity is able to not only entertain but inform i.e. how those within power may react and how they have done within the past.      This exploitation is what enforces social change due to the exposure of truth through films. 

Moreover it showed an emotional side to the male president, which stereotypically subverts gendered stereotypes within films as even though a male upheld an high status role, he was allowed to express both strength and an deep emotional side to his identity. This allowed the film to enhance emotional gratification; allowing the narrative to feel more human which was also established through the execution of the script! The script spoke to you on a psychological level especially within the scene of where a young male went on a suicide mission that would save millions of individuals lives and his own family and was granted tv time to say his final goodbyes.  Therefore the audience could connect both emotionally and psychologically. 

scene where protagonist was given tv time to say goodbye to his family and ask the government why it had come to this.

showing all the government(male orientated)

This transpired into our film 'Virago' in terms of how 'Edward' throughout never hides his human emotions and allows himself to feel the realness  of his body. Showing how males are able to connect on an emotional level and for this to be utterly natural! Rather than having to hide ones feelings in order to be socially accepted. The film also highlights the issue of how males also suffer from mental health issues. As stereotypically 'mental health' has been attached females in particular, segregating males to the outskirts and being dismissed. 

CU of Edward emotionally leaving his body: Highlighting mental health issues and how it is the reality and day-to-day living.  

highlighting how emotionally Edward feels lost within both understanding who he is and reality. The shot was to established how emotionally he is being 'swallowed' up within unknown guilt and confusion. 

Final poster

"VIRAGO"- Short Film (Rough Cut up to 5 mins)

This is our first rough cut of our film. There are still significant changes needed to improve on this current cut (e.g more music, voice-overs for dialogue scene, cutting some shots shorter, adding more titles etc.). This rough cut is to give an idea of how the film is going to look visually and what kind of tone and genre the film is conveying to the audience. We will evaluate another set of responses on this rough cut to see if it differs from the story outline questionnaire we have already made. This will test if our initial predictions are correct and if we were successful in portraying successfully a psychological horror/thriller, much like many other Aronofsky films such as Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream.

"VIRAGO" Poster Design Draft 3 (Final)

This is my final design for a marketing poster for Virago. On this version, I have added a film grain effect, altered the text on the cast names, production companies logos changed (Blumhouse Productions, alternate StudioCanal logo and our Iris Productions logo outline) and swapped around as well as some links to an unofficial website for the film and social networking logos to indicate that we have accounts for the film.

Our Film "VIRAGO" and it's application to Media Theorists- Propp's Character Theory

Vladimir Propp's Character Theory:

Propp theorises that there are six main characters. These character archetypes can be applied to various genre films as well as any form of storytelling. These characters are:

• Hero- Majority of the time, the hero is the protagonist of the film. They most commonly save the princess at the end and earns a reward for their courage and strength in defeating the Villain. They search for something; an artifact or the princess; while on their "quest". An example of a Proppian Hero could be:

Indiana Jones in Raider of the Lost Ark

•  Villain- The binary opposite to the Proppian hero. Have a lack of good morals and seeks power and greed. Commonly, defeated in the end by the Hero. Can often capture the Princess. An example a Proppian Villain could be:

Major Arnold Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark 
 

• Dispatcher- The person who sends the Hero on their quest. The dispatcher doesn't necessarily have to only be one person but also an organisation. An example of a Proppian Dispatcher would be the headmasters from Marshall College who send Indiana on a quest to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazi's do.

Indiana Jones teaching at Marshall College in Raiders of the Lost Ark

 

• False Hero- A character that is first to be perceived as being a "good" character but is revealed to be "bad" and aiding the Villain or uses the Hero for their own benefit. An example of a Proppian False Hero would be:
  
  
  Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark after he leaves Indiana in a pit of snakes
  
  
  
  
  
  Princess- The person or object that the Hero is either searching for or receives as a reward. An example of a Proppian Princess as well as Proppian Donor (Gives the Hero an item to help them) could be:
  
  
  Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark
  
  
  
  
  Propp's Character Theory applied to "VIRAGO"
  
  
  
  
  Proppian Hero- Our film's protagonist Edward due to him being the one who makes the story progress (leads the quest).
  
  

  

  
  
  Proppian Princess/Villain/False Hero- Our film's antagonist, Elizabeth. She is the physical embodiment of Edward's reward and goal in Virago. She is also first percieved as being good also but then is revealed as being evil; hence she is also a false hero.
  
  

  

  
  
  Proppian Donor- The vicar from the dream sequence who provides Elizabeth with the ring that she uses as evidence that it is really her.
  
  

  
  
  Proppian Dispatcher- Edward's journey through Christianity after Elizabeth's death is the force that sends him through a psychological spiral. His faith is the catalyst for his suicide at the end.
                        
  

  

Psycholigical horrors: flash backs

The cradle of life:

 Trailer for 'The cradle of life'

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2

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To signify flash backs within this film the shot duration for each shot is a fraction of a second and tends to have a faded discoloration to the montage of shots. Another factor to take into consideration is the use of the fast pace fade to black flickering to connote that the shot is in fact a memory from the relevant past and has something to do with the mental state of the current character, which tends to be the protagonist. As seen on both screen shots: 1 and 2 the shot fades to black to elaborate on the fact the flash back is coming to an end or is about to move onto another sequence of shots. The use of point of view shot (POV) in screen shot two allows the viewer to encapsulate the whole atmosphere and emotional feel how distressed the memory is for the women having the memory. The use of flashbacks are vastly useful especially when being able to show a past scene or shot that the film only wishes to briefly cover: saving time and also funds. It also allows for continuity within the film and deeper emotional level of understanding without having to disrupt or change the narrative of the plot within the film. The particular use of flashback within this film was to signify the fragmented memories that the protagonist has from when she wakes up after being in a size year coma. The memoires are the main part of the film in the sense that she is on an exodus to piece together and work out what they really mean and whether or not they're a psychological imagination.



Through the use of diegetic sound of the surgeon stating 'she's not going to make it' and then the non-diegetic sound of the heart machine and the rolling in of the hospital bed all add to the intrigue of narrative and elaborate on the fact the flash back is an actual memory that had occurred right before the accident.

Stereotypes and breaking down barriers

Traditional stereotypes synonymous with being male:
1) Suppress all visceral expression
2)Breadwinner of the family
3)More muscle the better
4)Heterosexual
Signorielli in 2001 suggested that male characters are ''intelligent, technical and aggressive' to whereas female characters are portrayed as 'emotional, romantic and domestic'. Its evident across all all media platforms especially within films such as a hit classic: the goonies where the two females that are within the male group are seen as weak, overtly attractive and almost a damsel in distress. However in 2017 we are seeing a vast change within films and their importance is expressing taboo subjects, mental health issues and the ability to subvert gendered norms. This can be seen within the film 'split' where a mentally ill male has 23 differing personalities. However within the film it establishes differences and verbally talks about DID dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as split personality and how the media distorts an image which society deems as acceptable rather than highlighting the real issue and getting the discussion going on mental health issues. The film highlights how DID is frequently mislabeled as schizophrenia. However the film still makes DID synonymous with being  harmful but to an extreme level and fails to highlight the real mental health issue it is and explain the condition.

Within Virago we wanted to subvert this conservative stereotypical norm, of which is attached to being male :of that expressing feelings is synonymous with being 'feminine'. When Edward looses his wife Elizabeth, he is conflicted within his self due to not being able to express such emotions and that overwhelming feeling of lonely-ness within his desolate home he once shared with her. Another concern was that may draw concern to loved ones around him if any emotions were shown. Due to the film genre being psychological i felt offering a more in depth and critical thought process was more intriguing and through researching the psychological film genre i found that are more deep train of thought was a typical convention within psychological films Through not being able to express such natural human emotions he internalises and suppresses the feelings which end up in him self harming and turning to other sources for release. The film is in no way intended to suggest or even to promote self harm or that the ultimatum of if you're depressed is that you turn to alcoholism. Its just mental health issues and gendered norm that affects individuals within society on a daily basis and is still considered a taboo issue in 2017.

We wanted to allow viewers to almost confined in Edward and maybe share some resemblance with him to make his character more realistic for viewers watching the film and to be able to engage and envision themselves in a place some people never wish to imagine. Psychological thrillers offer the insight to the human brain which other genres fail to cover or even converse across to the viewer.

Rough cut Questionnaire

questionnaire


A quick questionnaire that will allow our group to see whether the film is attracting our target audience and whether particular aspects of the film work. Also in particular question 9 is of major importance to the group as it allows for us to see from an objective point of view which element of the film needs adjustment. Our questionnaire also aims to find out whether film festivals are a major source of marketing, as mainly independent films are screened there in an attempt to attract and gain attraction from a larger demographic audience. 

Viral Marketing

Online Questionnaire Overview and Results

These are the results gathered from 18/18+ 10 responses that answered our Online Google Forms Questionnaire.

The results here convey what we were hoping; that the film could appeal to both genders because both genders are majoritively represented equally and encourage the audience to align and relate to each character. The fact that the audience agrees with us in that it could entertain both genders also encourages us that we have successfully reached out target demographic in terms of the writing process.

These results also confirmed what we we were hoping.  A mature demographic with content appropriate for a BBFC rating of an 18 (swearing, bloody violence, etc. content seen in the film.)

90% of our audience understood the story of our film. The 10% was because we didn't go into enough detail in the plot synopsis in the questionnaire. We will therefore create a full and detailed story breakdown soon that is easier to understand for everyone.

In terms of genre, our audiences agreed with what we thought our films genre was: a hybrid of a horror and a thriller. We believe the people who did our questionnaire thought our film was this hybrid genre because it had the narrative features of both thriller and horrors (e.g Character focused narrative, small-scale, psychological and dark, open-ending.) Our audiences most watched genre were Dramas. This is what matches most statistics in terms of the most watched genre because all films, to some degree, contain some form of drama in them and blend with other genres so that it is difficult to distinguish.

Feedback 

These are the responses we received form people who reread the synopsis of our film- providing answers to what they liked and didn't like about our film idea.

This positive feedback encouraged us to work harder and improve the film even further. Most audiences praised VIRAGO for its originality and ambiguous narrative and character's. We will be asking audiences this question again once we have a rough cut of the film and compare how their feedback differs.

From reading what improvements audiences suggested, we have taken on board all of the ideas and worked on a better development of characters and answering unanswered question through changes in the filming and editing of the film so far. We have furthered the dialogue in the script to provide the audience with more background information on the protagonists, as well as using symbolism in the filming process (e.g brief close-up of a gun- signifying how his wife died, a robin flying at the camera-connoting Edward's death at the end.)