Within this essay, I am intending to be evaluating the information that I have collected from multiple secondary sources such as websites and books in addition to the primary data I collected through the questionnaire I created. This gave me more specific details to what I should be including in my short film. The information I found was useful because everything that I gathered provided me with knowledge in order to create a more accurate piece, especially in regards to the Wiccan religion as this is a theme. I would not want to portray anything in the wrong way as this is ethically wrong, mainly for the people who practice the Wiccan religion. Therefore, this means that if I do include this theme, I can hopefully present them in the most correct way that I can, so that not only can I create an entertaining short film, but also something factual and more alluring.
In order to gather more information on Wicca, the first thing I did was research through books online on Google Scholar. I simply typed the word into the search engine and a number of results came up. Book research is notably harder than online research as it takes a while to find the specific answer that you are looking for, but after reading through a few pages I found some pieces of information that I believe were useful for the project. For example, topics such as how negatively witches and Wicca is viewed was something that I believed was important to note because it is important when creating a piece of about the Wiccan religion (or any religion) to include the correct information, or else this will anger people. So, it is often found that many people relate Wicca to Satanism, but the only relation between witchcraft and Satanism, is that they are both involved in an occult which is a magical worldview and generally have real use of Christianity. This shows that there can be a negative correlation between witchcraft and the real world. For example, this can be seen in multiple movies/TV shows such as Witches, Hocus Pocus and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Therefore, this information holds much importance as it shows this narrative tends to be false and that if I do want to include ‘black magic’ in my work, I can do this but not relate it to Wicca.
Furthermore, through the book research, I also looked into females in filmmaking, which is useful information to know that this will help me understand the link between females and the importance of what they have created. For example, I found that Women’s contributions to filmmaking has been especially noteworthy, they were prominent in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s as directors, publicists, producers, editors, animators and organizers. This information is useful due to the fact that it shows how relevant women and girls are in cinema and some of the most prominent films in cinematic history wouldn’t be available if it were not for the women behind them. I find this information useful as there are very few films were female filmmakers are present, and for this short film, our group are all females, so it will be interesting to see how we all work together and what we produce.
Lastly, I also researched into horror in film and why people enjoy it so much. I found that the monster is just a functional ingredient, it’s the story behind this that makes the concept interesting, which is what I need to remember when it comes to creating the narrative of our short film- that the storyline is the key element to what I am making.
After using book research, I also decided to use internet research by reading articles and different websites on film. Using internet research was definitely much easier to find more specific answers. So firstly, I looked into how witches are viewed in cinema, and I found a lengthy article on how witches have been viewed in different forms of media. For example, regarding the topic on the fact that they have always been somewhat negatively viewed, especially by Disney. Disney tends to portray their ‘witch’ characters on descriptions form anti-witch texts. Therefore, this has obviously created a negative view of witches, but in fact, witches can appear to be quite the opposite to what Disney paints them as. For example, Snow Whites Evil Queen character, she always appeared to be beautiful, and desired, however in contrast, Disney’s Maleficent is quite the opposite to this, with her horns and overall evil nature. This is particularly useful to me as I am aiming to break these norms by making my witch character to appear “normal”.
Furthermore, through online research I also looked into experimental filmmaking, and how to use it properly to convey the meaning of a short film. The research explained that experimental filmmaking means that the rules of conventional cinema are being broke. With experimental filmmaking there does not have “to be a message”, it could be whatever the filmmakers are intending it to be which is why experimental filmmaking can be so confusing yet engaging. Therefore, expressing witches through experimental filmmaking can be very effective as it will leave the audience wanting to know more through the hidden meaning/ symbols.
Also, I looked more into different types of filmmaking and genre and I found more advantageous information. For example, I found that it is more useful to stick to one core idea, as there is no time to develop an elaborate plot. Instead find a simple idea that is easy to run with, and be creative with the twists that are made to it. But through another resource I found that it is easier to focus on making the short film more visually pleasing, by telling a story through the pictures. A colours, scenery, costumes, makeup, etc., can piece together a short film that will influence the audience’s emotions more. For example, for my short film, if I am going to be going through with a supernatural or darker theme, the colours in the film will have to be darker, with a lack of particularly bright colours. Colours such as blacks, dark purples, burgundy’s, dark greens, greys, etc. This will aid the horror/thriller intentions of the film.
Carrying on, I also researched into how to make the short film creative with the use of added camera angles and techniques. For example, I found that using handheld/jittery camera footage will help influence the horror genre more. The jittery camera footage makes the scene more unstable, which can make the audience more unstable.
Back to more information on the Wiccan religion and it is found that it is starting to become more popular than it was in the past. From an estimated 8,000 Wiccans in 1990, it has been found that there was a jump to 340,000 practitioners in 2008. This shows that if the religion is getting more popular with society in present times, raising more awareness on it through media, (in this case, short films) will definitely get more people talking about it, making it more known.
However, straying away from the secondary research, I also proceeded to create a questionnaire in which I asked a variety of questions. For example, I began asking questions that were focussed on more of the basic aspects of short films such as how long people prefer a short to be, preferred genres, preferred narratives, endings, and more. Within these questions I found that people prefer short films being, 6-10 minutes long, a horror genre, a single strand narrative and a prophetic ending. These are all aspects of the film that I am aiming to complete, because I believe that a longer short film will work well with a horror genre as there is more chance to explore the narrative and introduce more alluring elements to the plot.
However, nearing the end of the questionnaire, the 4 questions were focused on the Wiccan religion, if they are familiar with it and whether or not they would want to see it in a short film. In which all of them appeared to be very interested in learning more about the topic. This was rather helpful to me and my group because we now know that this is something people want to know about and view in a short film, which means we get to carry on researching on this topic that we all find to be very interesting.
Furthermore, another way in which we conducted primary research was through interviewing a former student, Els Kenney, who had already completed her final major project two years ago.
She gave advice on how to achieve a successful short film and the techniques to use in order for the process to well. For example, one of the the things she advised it is key to maintain consistency with your visual style and camera angles, as this gives the short film more variety. In addition to this, she mentioned similar pieces of advice in regards to audio and ensuring that we always use audio in scenes, even it is supposed to be “silent”, use copyright free audio or create Foley in order to have some sound.
The information she gave was useful because she too suggested to ensure that our groups should come up with a simple idea, and also to all create the idea of the plot rather quickly so that we don’t spend all of our time trying to come up with an elaborate plot. This helps as this advice is from a person who has already had experience with creating a short film, therefore it is good to know that this is some real advice, and have a conversation with someone that had already been through this whole process before.
But, overall, I believe that all of the research I found and gathered have proven to be very necessary. Therefore, we are now aiming to create a short film that depicts dark magic and witches in a more interesting and positive way for the audience to see and learn about the topic. In addition to this we are aiming to use a creative single strand narrative with a mixture of experimental film making, and ensuring that we are careful but creative with our camera angles, in order to create the most mysterious, alluring piece of work that we can.
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