'Mood' short film production
As part of an elective Media Design paper in my third year of my undergraduate studies, this project asked students to plan, shoot and edit a short film conveying a 'mood' of choice. At the time, as I was studying remotely during our first COVID lockdown, I considered it fitting to depict a mood representative of the unsettled, eery atmosphere present in both society and online media - stemming from the current pandemic.
Project time restraints (being a 2 minute piece) limited the ability to develop much of a plot, but was explored and refined in the storyboard below. Summarised, the film follows a middle-aged woman, isolating alone and succumbing to media-fuelled hypochondriac tendencies and general anxieties many of us experienced - particularly during the early months of the pandemic when so much was still unknown.
Above: Initial mood board depicting chosen colour / lighting schemes, potential shots, angles & general feeling to be emoted in the resulting film
Above: Storyboarding of shots to convey the overarching mood of being 'unsettled' within the protagonist's home environment
From previous attempts at short film production I was well aware, going into this, of just how challenging it is to create a polished and convincing end result. Deciding upon an ‘unsettling’ mood portrayal allowed me to really dive into intense, high contrast lighting, sound layering and emotive close up shots.
During shooting, a huge amount of my attention was focused on creating an optimal lighting environment - dark and eerie with the right balance of green and blue hues, to set and carry the tone of the piece. In addition to this, I experimented with the use of an in-camera Tungsten light white balance setting, to ensure consistency of blue tones from shot to shot. I also manipulated the news reporter-style audio with a high pass filter and the addition of reverb in post-production to reflect the main character entering and exiting the TV room - hence being closer or further away from the source of the audio
Above: Final edit of short film [unnamed, 2020]
Reflecting on the final outcome (above), I could certainly improve upon aspects of the film process - including fluidity of camera movements, more considered transitions and variety of shots (due to filming indoors with a 50mm prime lens I struggled to get wider shots). Although I am genuinely happy with the execution of the final film.
This short film was also requested for use in future University of Wellington marketing / advertising communications.
'A conversation about things that matter' discussion-based Youtube series
Purely for sake of enjoyment, and wanting to discuss prevalent issues, concepts & topics, this mini series allowed myself and Lucille Reece to dive into the current research around things we care about, and create accessible, relatable content in a more 'digest-able' consumption medium for young adults like ourselves.
Above: A conversation about climate change - easily the most significant 'wicked problem' of our time [2018]
Above: A conversation about university - a more light-hearted discussion regarding things we've learnt, wish we knew, and have experienced throughout our tertiary education [2018]
Above: A conversation about self confidence, speaking colloquially from personal experiences - what we wish we knew sooner, what we have learnt, and recognising what we have still to learn [2018]
