Working Out the Details

Location Considerations Early-On

As editor and sound designer, it is important for the location where filming will take place and for actors involved to be reliable. In my last film, the weather outside prevented our shots from looking coherent with one another. It was also around other people filming so often times, we would have background noise of other groups. Aside that, when deciding on filming dates and location, especially if it is outside, in-depth planning before filming is essential to the success of the film.

We pondered on our original idea to film the characters at the beach. Filming outside creates uncontrollable variables such as weather changes and large groups in public interfering with filming. Going back to the main issue we want represented, it led us to an entirely different location that happens to reduce those variables; the girl's bedroom on the day of the 'funeral.' This would help to strengthen the narrative to tie back the memory the girl gets of her friend to one they spent in her own room. Friends often go to one another's houses, so immediately it can be assumed that they were very close. The audience will also get a personal feel with the characters.

Keeping it PG

As our film is about drug addiction, we wanted to make it clear to the audience that one of the girls is suffering from addiction without actually using drugs or props that give the impression  of them in the film. So, we have to rely on specific mis en scene techniques and narrative implications to convey this. 

Still from Euphoria, 2019 of main character, Rue high on drugs. The red, purple eyeshadow makeup under her eyes and nostrils makes her look tired and under the influence of drugs. Her hair is also ruffled to make her look unkept, as though she has been lacking in taking care of herself.

Still from Moonlight, 2016 of the mother in the film erratically looking into the camera, dark circles accentuated to reflect her exhaustion and desperation for drugs.

Cinematography wise, these films in these shots use shallow focus as their depth of field to emphasize the state of mind of the characters from their appearance. But most of all the makeup and facial expressions of the actors is what correlates to the audience that they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol from this rigid 'look' and behavior. Therefore, in our own film, we plan on implementing makeup on our actor assigned to the role of playing someone with an addiction issue.

Incorporated Sound

When watching the openings of films on drug addiction, they seemingly have one thing in common; uncomfortable silence at times with random outbursts from the character that is addicted to drugs. This is something my film partner and I agreed would be the sound style of our film, so we made it clear early on to our actors, as they would have to portray themselves as jittery and 'on a thread.' The makeup and hair effects being 'rugged' help this portrayal but the sound and body language of the actors tell the rest of the story. I plan on doing deeper sound research to learn how I can isolate and muffle areas to drown out sound, giving the feel of dissociation as almost an insight to the mind of the person suffering addiction and the other girl's grief battle. The details tell the story!