Representation in Film

Deciding on a Representation Issue

From the bat, my film partner and I wanted to convey mental illness as the representation issue being portrayed in our film. But we wanted it to be more specific to the issues teens of the modern day struggle with. Recently, there has been an uprising of drug overdoses in minors in the United States. The issue is overwhelming and continues to effect the new generation, some deaths even involving children as young as being in elementary school. When researching this issue, we decided to make our film's message with it in mind; grief and addiction in adolescence.

To begin developing the structure of our film with this message, we broke up the film into two main scenes (A-roll and B-roll). The first half could introduce the character that will be 'addicted to drugs' while the second half could exhibit the 'aftermath' of her addiction, which would later develop (if the film was longer) the emotional turmoil experienced with grief.  This past to present narrative style jump was inspired by analyzing Euphoria, 2019 in my previous blog post and chosen for the dramatic effect it would create on the audience by seeing someone 'before' they hit rock bottom addiction.

Researching Chosen Representation Issue Further

With this organization in mind, I wanted to ensure that we both had an understanding of how addiction issues are represented in existing popular films.

Opening scene of Beautiful Boy, 2018.

Beautiful Boy depicts the perspective of a father seeing his son lose himself to drug addiction. In the first two minutes of the opening, there is a very long take of the father discussing the point he is at with his son; desperate for help. The take explains the situation, establishing a strong narrative. The scene also shows the love this father has for his son, enough to reach out to understand what the drugs are doing to his son and how he can help him. 

The sound of this long take is quiet, focused entirely on the dialogue exchanged between the father and the person he is seeking help from. The camera does not move from this one-shot of the father. Even though there is another person speaking, the camera position stays locked on him, conveying that the matter has entirely to do with him. The sound does not change either, and the two aspects of the film here reflect the serious nature of the conversation, the uncomfortable harshness of it.

Then, a 'one year earlier' text appears against a black screen at almost a minute and thirty seconds, transitioning to the past (temporal editing) to catch the audience up to what led the father to reach that point of exhaustion. Editing text onto screen such as this to clarify the period of time in which the events are taking place in, help to maintain the audience's understanding of complex storylines involving heavy messages. An establishing shot of the son's room is shown in dark lighting, creating a mood of emptiness as the father opens the door to see if his son is home. The father being alone in the house is shown with straight cuts from what he sees in the empty house, to emotional expressions in close up reactions, as well as the restlessness in his body language in wide shots.

What stood out the most was the significance that the pace of editing had on the shots storytelling; the father is waiting and waiting for his son to return home. Slow editing creates tense and in-depth storytelling for this kind of context. As far as both editing and sound design goes, this opening has inspired me to incorporate very unsettling silence and one-shot long takes that correspond to the nature of the film as Beautiful Boy utilizes in my own film. Having long takes that give the impression that it is going on for too long, waiting for a trim, relate back to the unsettling and mournful mood the film intends to create. Using one-shots and slower paced editing between them will increase the personal level audiences will feel with the character on screen and help to isolate the emotions of the teenager suffering with addiction, as well as the effect this has on her loved ones.