RESEARCH: TITLE SCENE

In our lesson we spoke about where and how the title of our film would appear. After researching war photography we found an image which we really liked which managed to show danger, war and children's toys in the same image. Therefore we thought that recreating this picture would be successful in our opening.  This is a symbolic picture to suggest that this little girl is in danger, as we could have previously seen the doll in a scene with the young girl.

This is the original image:

We decided that the only way this was going to be a success is if the toy was made to look slightly the same way that this one does. We wanted it to look sightly broken and worn down as if it was an old toy that a child had kept for a long time. Therefore Connie made the child's toy out of old socks and tissue paper. This was successful as because it was hand made the toy did look slightly ragged and not in a perfect condition.

CONSTRUCTION: DECIDING ON SOUND EFFECTS

As a group we discussed adding a voice over of the mother singing to the doll. She would be singing the nursery rhyme Hush Little Baby which is also the name of our film. We would edit this singing to make it seem cynical, by slowing it down and editing the voice. It is clear that she is in a mental state as it is not normal for a woman to be singing to a doll.

CONSTRUCTION: LITTLE GIRL

I decided that I would film the scene with the little girl in it. The little girl that we used is slightly older than we would have liked however we did not know anyone younger that we would be able to use.

I filmed a scene with my younger sister where we see her outside alone scootering. This establishes that the young girl is alone and that she could therefore be a target.

I also filmed a scene from behind a tree of the little girl playing in flower. This makes the young girl seem innocent as she is playing in beautiful flower. However the angle of the shot makes it a lot more cynical as it becomes clear that someone is watching her. When editing this scene I edited the effect on the image to 'romantic' this meant there was almost a glow around the scene suggesting that the young girl, who is clearly being watched, is the object of desire for the person spying.

CONSTRUCTION: RE-FILMING

After watching the scene of the protagonist ripping up the picture of the child we felt that she did it too slowly. Therefore we decided to re-film this part so that her anger was suggested better.

After re-filming this we also decided to add another part where she paces across the room and drops a piece of the ripped up paper. This suggests that she is leaving this part of her life behind and moving on, as we see her next holding the images in her hand as she is on her knees. This suggests her trauma that she has gone through as she is almost holding her past in her hands as she has ripped up the images. I used a high angle shot to make it seem she is smaller than the audience as she is in an unstable mental and emotional state at this moment.

CONSTRUCTION: RIPPING SCENE

Today I filmed the scene after the panning shot where she chaotically is rummaging through the images and then seems to come across one in specific. She then picks up this image of a child and rips it in half. We managed to get it into an angle where you could see scars on her hand to suggest that she has been physically injured as well as mentally.

The filming was successful. However when we came to edit this scene we realised that she ripped it too slowly which made it look too calm and not chaotic enough. This did not show her anger and emotions well enough.

CONSTRUCTION: PANNING SHOT

After deciding that we would do a panning shot across a table of war pictures to show that she is some sort of photographer. We also placed a camera on the side of these images to suggest that she took these pictures.

This scene was difficult as it needed to be moved smoothly however the table was too high to use a dolly. Therefore I had to make sure that I had a steady hand to make sure that the filming was smooth.

CONSTRUCTION: GETTING THE RESULTS

When filming the scene where the protagonist gets the results we firstly see her devastation as she puts her heads into her hands and her facial expression shows that she is distraught. We also see in the corner that there is a doctor with a computer. We see that there is a chart on the computer to set the mise en scene more appropriately.

The final part of this scene is when she hits the desk so we hear a slam to suggest her anger, she then walks out angrily with her feet stomping on the ground as she goes. For this we did a low angle shot so we can see the speed she is going and the force her feet hits the floor.

CONSTRUCTION: THE DOLL IS REVEALED

In our lesson I filmed the scene where the doll is revealed. This is when we see her open a door and inside is a suitcase. When the suitcase is opened we see that there is something hidden inside there which obviously was not meant to be found by someone other than her. When she removes the blanket from the object we see that it is a doll inside. Her facial expressions, as she stares at the doll,  suggest that she is pleased to see the doll, as if it is possible something from her past. 

CONSTRUCTION: WAITING FOR HER RESULTS

In our lesson I went and filmed a scene where the woman is waiting for the results of a fertility test. We know that she is waiting for the results of a fertility test due to the voice over that will be on top of the scene. In this scene we can see many signs of her being anxious such as tapping her feet and playing with her hands. I put my camera on the ground so that we were on the same level on the as her feet. With another shot I went above her, with a high angle shot, to suggest that she is in an emotional and nervous position. It also means we can see her frantic movements of her hand and feet in the frame.

EDITING: CUT AWAY EDITING

Today in the lesson we learnt a new editing technique. This is called "cut away" editing. This is done when you put one piece of filming on top of another piece and then change the opacity. This means that we can show scenes of the woman playing with the doll at the same time. It creates the sense that the woman is obsessed with this doll.