Amy Sharp - Pre Production Research 'Dawn' 2012

Dawn - joanagil 2012
Virgin media shorts
'Jem is going through a very harsh time, so she'll have to fight to move on and forget the poisonous thoughts that are chasing her.'
http://virginmediashorts.com/film/3468/dawn

The beginning of the short sets equilibrium, there is as calm piano soundtrack with establishing shots of a forest. The setting looks peaceful and untouched, the camera work is still and perfected: the close up of the leaf focus' throughout the shot as well as the pans of the long shots aren't jolted. In an extreme long shot a girl runs into view, careful treading but looks behind her frequently. She is well dressed but has no shoes on suggesting she is running from someone or something. A close ups of her legs is shaky and blurred as the camera tries to keep up, normally this would be messy and unprofessional however here is works as the feet blur into the forests floor and builds tension. The camera work continues in this way - handheld and blurred but it captures her emotion in close ups and her movement in long shots focusing at the right moments. She runs into a medium close up and the camera focus' as she stops and begins to hold her chest breathing heavily, the breathing is recorded separately and doesn't quite match but complements the tension being built. The soundtrack becomes slightly distorted at this point with layering of interference and static to show there is a disruption in the equilibrium. The girls sits down hiding behind a tree and the camera switches from her looking around to close up pans at a low angle of the sky focusing on the branches, to give a dizzy effect. A close up of her clenching the ground further shows her disturbance and fear for what she is running from. It continues as before as she runs and stops for lack of breath, the camera burred and jolted, until a long shot from behind as she stumbles forward with the sun over powering the shot blurring her out. She carries on running to the light, reaching up to the camera in a high angled shot. A close up of her feet reaching on her tiptoes, and a close up of her face shows her determination for what she is reaching up to. In a medium close up the camera positions the feet on the right hand side leaving the left with view of the forest, her feet reach up higher and then begin to lift off the ground. Cutting between this shot and a close up of her face showing her determination becomes inspirational but confusing, she is going into the light but it is unclear what she was running from and why it hasn't caught up with her.

As she closes her eyes she slightly falls left and the camera cuts to a low key lighting view of a window with a rope falling and a close up of someone falling to the ground. A long shot shows the girl collapsed on the floor there are chairs and a lamps on the floor around her and a rope around her neck. She is dressed differently, in black clothing a close up of her face shows deep emotion and sadness in her expression. She bows her head and the short film ends.

This ending shows how her depression got the best of her and she was trying to commit suicide, the forest scene was her running from her problems and going into the light. However, the rope appears to break stopping her from dying giving her a second chance.