AIMS AND CONTEXT

Within my A2 Creative Film Project, I have decided (alongside Gabbii Rothwell) to do a film upon domestic violence: named 'Yes Officer'. The target audience for this film will be focusing upon the social realist genre, with the age range targetting audiences aged 15+ as there will be elements of violence which is unsuitable for the younger viewers; however, it is more so to raise awareness for the teenage years as emotional/physical abuse is more common in this age group. We will be variating between roles; I will be editing and helping out with any camera shots (co-directing), whilst Gabbii will be helping to position the camera, positioning the mise-en scene and overall directing. The genre for this features elements of social realism as these topics are very sensitive and not talked about for individuals, we will hear a first person narrative of a mother talking to a police officer trying to convince thats she okay; however the shots that will coincide with this will be her reviewing the bruises and wounds in the mirror; juxtaposing between a montage of memories, leading up to the supposed first 'attack'. As the soundtrack progresses you can hear that she is starting to realise that her partner is wrong for abusing her, we intend to portray her starting to realise this too late by cutting to black after a sharp head turn; taking influence from 'It Rarely Stops' by The National Domestic Violence Hotline, a 30 second advert focusing upon the same topic, of a woman staring at herself in the mirror continuously for this period of time. Visually, we plan to keep reverting between the montage of happy memories and her looking in the mirror to further enforce the idea that she's trying to see the good in her partner but ultimately fails; shots to experiment with include a close up shot of the characters bruises, A POV(simulation) of the character looking in the mirror and a purposely out of focus shot when the violent attack occurs to enforce the idea that she cannot remember the attack clearly as she represses it in order to keep her relationship going, and have a father for her kids. We intend to not include the male characters face in at all; this is because we want to personally investigate the idea of the mother being happy but ultimately realising shes not happy with her life when she looks in the mirror. In terms of experimental cinema, we will be taking influence from Meshes of the Afternoon, by Maya Deren. The reason for this is that in her experimental film she continuously uses the conventions of a never ending cycle to represent the ideology that her life shows no existence without a man - which some people who have dealt with a domestic abuse may feel, furthermore, this was one of the first influences towards the Laura Mulvey 'Male Gaze' theory.