My intention was to plan and produce a short Crime Drama film, lasting roughly three minutes, telling the story of a twisted police interrogation, where the policeman is the true killer. I wanted my audience to feel enticed by the story line, so they can pay full attention to it. I chose a normal, realistic setting, so my audience felt familiar with the setting, and it made the story believable.
My target audience is aimed at 12 years old and over. I certified the film at a 12A, as there were short scenes showing blood and violence, which younger viewers may have found upsetting. I also chose it as the age rating 15 would have lost some of my target audience, thus meaning a smaller audience, and less box office income.
The conventions of a crime drama in my film include; the use of a weapon (in my film, a knife was shown, dripping with blood, making my audience feel slightly scared), a shot of blood on the killers hands was seen, the police was shown falsely making the audience feel safer, the use of a two shot, with a table in between showing an interrogation, low key lighting was used to show certain characters true intentions, a chase scene was shown, and the use of drugs is also shown. The theme of the justice system failing is another convention within the drama.
I used a hand-held camera to put emphasis on how nervous both the characters are. I believe this was successful because you could clearly the see the state of both characters, just by the shot type. The only problem with this filming techniques, was that the quality of the footage was a bit lower. If I were to film it again, I'd use a higher quality camera. However, the end sequence was really fitting to the hand-held camera, as it gives the effect of a Point of View shot, coming from a phone camera. This appeals to a younger audience, as it is a shot they see very often, in their own everyday lives.
I also made the decision to mute my actors audio, and just put subtitles in. I did this because from my experience, I think subtitles make the audience pay more attention to the film, as they have to follow the words at the bottom of the screen. To further the audience's attention, I also flashed pictures and words in the film, making people re-watch the film so they can catch every detail. The only problem with this is that the audience may not be looking at the actors, and just be focused on the words. If I was going to do anything to change it, I would maybe change the font to make it fit in with the genre of the film, and make the text a bit bigger, so it's easier to read.
The lighting I chose was mostly low key, only changing to natural/high key when it was a memory being shown. The high key lighting shows the characters uncomfortable feelings of the past, and the clarity of the memory. In the interrogation scene, the lighting was very low key, to the point where you couldn't see someone's face. Although this is effective, showing the characters hidden identity, if I were to film it again, I would make the room slightly lighter, so you can see the facial expressions of the person being interrogated.
I really liked the contrast between my audio played throughout, and the action that was happening on screen. The soundtrack was very intense and sinister, which may have let the audience know what themes the film explored, however, what was actually happening wasn't all that intense or exciting.
I chose a non-linear story line, like what may be used in Film Noir, as in my opinion, it keeps the audience interested right until the end of the film as they want to know the answers to the questions that film continually gives to them. I feel it makes the piece less predictable or cliché, and more creative.
I took inspiration from many films. One of them was a Korean film called "Memories of Murder", which is Crime Horror. Throughout the film, the interrogation scenes would be dark, where as the action parts of the film, are lit naturally, or even high key. I also took inspiration from a short film called Stigma by BTS, which includes an interrogation scene, again, using low key lighting, and subtitles throughout. It also has its audio muted, and a soundtrack playing over the top.
