Mama

I've been a fan of this short film for a while and once it was decided that we wanted to shoot a horror this semester I was very excited to incorporate elements of it into my own film.

Cinematography

The most noticeable aspect of the film, and my favourite, is that the film is made up on just one long take, being that I'm the cinematographer for the project its my hope that I can mimic this technique for a portion of the film. What I love about how it's used in Mama is the way it force holds the tension and make the audience feel as vulnerable as one of the little girls being that the continuos shot gives you the impression of actually being there, rather than just watching. It's this that I hope to imitate, I love the idea of following the security guard as he goes on his rounds, experiencing as he does, the strange goings ons. I feel this is a more intimate way of shooting the film and forces the audience to form more of an emotional attachment with the protagonist, mainly because as a result of the cinematography I hope the audience feel like they are sharing the experience rather than just spectating it.

Another reason i think this style of cinematography will work well is due to the location. The market is huge and full of corridors, corners and different levels, with adequate research and good planning I believe it will be possible to utilise all these features to create a really visually interesting film. It's not my intention to shoot the whole film in as few cuts as possible however, I realise that with the technology and equipment we have at our disposal it would be impossible to achieve a Children of Men style of film. This being said, I think that for a section of the film, just one scene perhaps, this kind of filming would be highly beneficial to both the audiences engagement with the location, character and highten the level of horror to what we hope to achieve.  

A technique the film makers have used in this example to increase the horror factor is to play with the playback speed. With some careful preplanning they have been able to frame 'the monster' and in post speed up the footage of her coming toward the camera, the effect being to deeply distort her movement and make her seem 'otherworldly'. I'd like to experiment with these kind of simple effects to exaggerate our own monster and possibly speak to some visual effects students to see if they'd be able or interested in applying some effects, as they've done in Mama, to animate her face and hair.   

The biggest challenge I'll face when physically shooting a sequence of this type will be keeping focus. Due to shooting on a DSLR, there are few ways to accurately predict or pull focus while filming on the move. The simplest option would be get hold of a fast lens, meaning the depth of field would be increased however this may not be an option. We plan to use a shoulder rig for the DSLR which has a focus ring on the side that uses cogs to pull the lens into focus, while this bit of kit is for third years we're hoping we can use it regardless. Its these two factors that will attribute to the success or failure of my intentions, in the worst case scenario I'll have to make do and simply repeat the shot again and again until I get it right.

Sound

Though I'm not in charge of the sound for our film, I think its important to discuss how its relevant to the success of a film. In Mama, the soundtrack is minimal but plays as much, if not more, of a role in making the film scary. In building tension, silence is as important as sound, an audience isn't used to images not being accompanied with sound therefore any moments of silence are very noticeable. It raises tensions as when audiences are aware of silence they are waiting for something to happen that will break it. In horror, often this comes as a loud bang or scream, catching the audience by surprise, making them jump. Instead of this, Mama's soundtrack introduces low frequency sound effects that build as the girls get closer to meeting 'Mama', the sound of something smashing triggers the sound effects to drop, once again introducing an unnerving silence which is broken when the figure appears in the doorway. The combination of the sped up footage and the sudden screams of the girls acts as the moment where audiences are expected to jump.