Personal Project Presentation.

For my personal project i had the idea of doing a 5 minute film on the subject of the uncanny again, as i found the subject interesting and i wanted to have a go at putting together my own take on the genre. I had the idea for a woman who's life is taken over by an exact double of herself, which fits exactly into the uncanny genre. 

Below is a copy of the powerpoint that i used to present my idea, backed up by the notes that i used to present with.

Doppelganger

Notes for Presentation.

The idea, i propose to make a short film, the film will be based on the idea of somebody having a doppelganger that takes over their life, slowly pushing them out. During this film i will  be using for one of the sequences a small purpose built set, and i will be using a visual effect and a special effect.

There will be a plot twist at the end of the film that makes the viewer question who was in fact the original, or indeed whether the character the audience has been following was a figment of the supposed characters imagination. 

The ending will be bittersweet, as the character in the beginning seems to have lost interest in life, this is juxtaposed by the doppelganger, who is a more attractive version of the character, this character is more confident and better presented.

The inspiration for my work comes from a little known psychological disorder called depersonalisation, the sufferer becomes disconnected from their sense of self, creating the feeling of watching themselves going through the motions of life.

Character Breif, on slide.

Scene 1. The character is in an art gallery, the camera is on a track, from one end of the art gallery to the other, the camera glides by as the character walks through the installations, and exits the door on the other side.

Mise en scene: The paintings in the gallery appear to be all of doubles or twins, the character is dressed in plain clothes and carrying a grey overcoat. She is the only one in the gallery

Lighting: The lighting is bright and clinical, creating a sense of unease in the room

Sound: Diegetic sound only of the woman walking through the gallery, this coupled with the lighting and mise en scene should create a feeling of suspense and mystery.

The acting: The character walks through the gallery in an almost ghost like way, not really looking as though she is taking anything in, this scene lasts 2 minutes so the audience can really grasp the body language of the character and get a feel for her personality.

Scene 2. The character walks into a laundrette goes in and has a short conversation with the man who works behind the counter, the man is adamant that she has already picked up her clothes earlier in the day, this causes confusion within the character and she becomes distressed and leaves.

Camera: The camera watches from outside at first while she goes into the shop, until this point we have not heard the character speak. The camera then cuts to a mid shot of character A and follows the conversation in shot reverse shot.

Lighting: The lighting again is clinical and bright, furthers the sense of unease within the film.

Mise en scene: I want to convey the theme of doubles within this scene, i will have two plants on either side of the set using two cashier tills on either side of the counter, between this is the main character. The shot seems eerily organised with zip up clothing bags on a rail behind visible.

Acting: The character gets disgruntled and leaves the shop.

Scene 3. Dream sequence:
The character is now at home in bed, this is where my installation will come in, the following sequence will be a dream sequence, it will show the character late at night in bed, flashing shots of a white room, then the character enters the dream state.

The concept for this dream sequence will be the main character in a white room looking into a mirror, within the mirror is character B, the doppelganger, looking blankly at character A. Character B starts to smile and to climb out of the mirror trying to grab at character A. Character A blinks hard an looks back at the mirror which now holds no reflection, starts to turn and walk to the end of the room, but character B has climbed out of the mirror, character A sits in a corner, the scene ends with her breaking out into a cold sweat.

How i will create this sequence.
Camera:  Shot 1. The camera will sit on an angle capturing both the characters, the one in the mirror and the one in the white installation.

Cuts to a CU of the mirror, character b creepily looks back at character a's face, and begins to look around the mirror for a way to climb out, the camera then reverses back to its original point, with both characters in the shot the character begins to climb out.

Cuts to a MS of the character a against a white background seemingly frozen with terror, she then moves back and tries to find a way out of the white room, she then eventually consoles to huddle in the corner.

The scene ends.

Mise en scene: White walls, white mirror, above a white bathroom sink, the character is wearing a white dressing gown.


Special effects and visual effects.

For the mirror i will use green screen on a wall behind so i can composite the footage i have already shot of character B climbing out of the mirror
For the first shot i will pin up the green screen to the actual mirror so there is no gap behind, this will help the mirror to look more realistic, when the camera goes from the close up of the character A to the second shot, there will be a gap between the green screen and the mirror, so the mirror  will become a hole in the wall with green screen behind for the character to come through, i will be editing on after effects for full control of chroma keying.

Lighting: For the lighting of the scene i want the room to be very bright and clean, following the theme from the previous scenes which are clinical and sterile. The room will be lit so there is no shadow cast from the character, this will be one of my special effects, i will use multiple lights including a lit floor to achieve this.