NEA Evaluation

1. Evaluation Isabella Doye 7048 Alleyn’sSchool10802
A shortfilmisone that cannot be consideredafeature filmdue toitslength,which
accordingto the Academyof MotionPictures,ArtsandSciences,is40 minutes. However,itcanbe
understoodthatshortfilmsandfeature filmsusuallyare made toserve differentpurposes,with
featuresmade formass,commercial audiences,while shorts are made forpractice or festivals.Due
to theirlength,shortfilmsmostlyexplore anindividual ideaortheme,whilefeaturesexplore entire
storieswithvariousthemesandideaswrappedupwithinthem. Forexample,myfilm, ‘The Beautyof
My Reveries’exploresthe theme,oridea, of adolescentfreedom, throughthe contextof a
crumblingrelationship. Meanwhile, ‘Operator’, byCarolineBartleet, unpacksthe ideaof exposing
the mental strainon emergency-service operators, and‘Slap’,byNickRowland,followsthe
emotional struggleof ateenage boy,ashe wrestleswithhisdesire to cross-dress.
In ‘The Beautyof My Reveries’,Lela,the protagonist,escapescitylife andtravelstothe
beachin an attemptto move pastherprevious relationship.Atthe beach,she daydreamsa
bittersweetconversation withherex-boyfriend,Alec,duringwhichshe isable to letgoof himand
the past, anddiscovera sense of freedom.However,the filmusesanopenending,asitisonly
hintedatthat the conversationwasin fact a figmentof Lela’simagination. Likewise,there isasimilar
revelation andopenendingatthe endof ‘The EllingtonKid’byDanSully,where the final menacing
shotsuggeststhe ‘joke’beingtoldthoughoutthe film maybe true. My title wentthroughmultiple
iterations,asmystoryline didthe same.Iusedthe workingtitle ‘The Beautyof Deliverance’,which
was exploringmyfilm’stheme of freedom, butdecidedtochange itto ‘The Beautyof My Reveries’
as I feltthe endingwastooambiguouswithouthintingatdaydreaminginthe title.However,Ikept
‘The Beautyof’,as I wantedmyfilmtofeel positive,despiteinvolvingheavyfeelingsof angerand
painin the break-up.Thistitle contradictsmanyothermore blatantshortfilmtitles,suchas Jack
Doolan’s‘The Fly’,afilmabouta fly,or ‘Operator’,afilmaboutan emergency-service operator.
Instead,Iwantedto choose a more sentimentaltitleasI feltitwasmore fittingwiththe romantic
genre of my film.
Genre isthe categorisation of films,usedtoestablishasystemof expectationwithinthe
audience.The BFIsaysgenres are categorised by“theirnarratives,orthemes[and] alsobytheir
iconography,characteristicsandstylisticelements”.‘The Beautyof MyReveries’usesthe coming-of-
age genre,asalsoseenin ‘Slap’,butmine isblendedwiththe romance genre,unlike ‘Slap’which
primarily usesdarkcomedyanddrama withhintsof romance.FilmtheoristRickAltman assertsthat
genre tropescan be discussedintwoterms,semanticandsyntactic,andmyfilmadherestoboth
these elementsacrossbothgenres. Myfilmusesthe coming-of-age genre by exploringsyntactic
themesof time andyouth,withsemanticintertitlesshowingthe passingseasons,andthe beach
actingas a metaphorforthe future and new life aheadof Lela.Meanwhile,the romanticgenre
manifestsitself syntacticallyinthe difficult,lovingrelationshipbetweenthe twoprotagonists,aswell
as semanticallyin the use of sceniclocations, emotive score,andsoft,lightcinematography. The
romanticgenre influencedmyfilm’sdreamy,softaesthetic,whichIusedduringLela’sdaydreamon

2. Evaluation Isabella Doye 7048 Alleyn’sSchool10802
the beach.I createdthis in editing,usingasubtle white vignettetogive the conversationadreamlike
quality.Ialsousedb-roll of the beachsurroundings,suchas the wide shotsof the sand dunesorthe
close upof the crashing waves, toshowthe beautiful atmosphere and locationof the conversation,
a metaphorfor the beautyof the freedomandpeace she findswhenlettinggoof the relationship.
Thisaestheticiscontrastedwiththe naturalistic,vibrantfeelof the flashbacks, because Iwantedto
showthat theyare real memoriesandevents,unlike the conversationonthe beach. The use of two
differentaesthetics issimilartothat of ‘The EllingtonKid’,ashortwhichswitchesbetweenanatural
aestheticinpresentday,andanunsaturated, eerie aestheticforthe flashbackstothe story,allowing
a clear sense of separationbetween the twoevents.
As earliermentioned,akeydifferencebetweenfeature andshortfilmsisthe complexityof
theirnarrative. SydField’sparadigmdepicts 5plotpointswithinatypical set-up,confrontationand
resolution,andthisisbasedoff,andcanoftenbe seeninfeature films.However,shortfilmsdonot
have such luxurieswithtime andinstead usually onlyuse Todorov’s3act structure or Aristotle’s
beginning-middle-end.Idecided toadhere tothe 3 part structure subtly,asthe conversationis
merelyasnapshotintohermindwithsmall flashbacks,ratherthana complete story.Whilethere are
shiftswithinthe dialogue andtone of the piece, theyare more seamlessthanthatof ‘The Ellington
Kid’,whichusesamore pronounced3 act structure.However,myfilmmore blatantlyrejects
chronology,whichcanbe understoodby the fabulaandsyuzhet,termscoinedby VladimirPropp.
The fabula,or story,beginswith theirfirstdate andendswithLelaonthe train back to London,

3. Evaluation Isabella Doye 7048 Alleyn’sSchool10802
while the syuzhet,orplot, followsLela’s daydream, andisintertwinedwithflashbacks. Thisisalso
the case withThe EllingtonKid,afilmrevolvingaroundone conversation, intercutwithflashbacks.
Editingisfrequentlyusedtoshape narrative and hada massive role inmyfilm. The non-
linearstructure of myfilmallowedme to alignthe audience entirelywiththe protagonistasthey
watch Lela’sflashbacks while she imaginesthem. The slow release of flashbacksalsomeantthe
audience wouldstayengagedinthe filmasthey continue touncovermore aboutthe charactersand
the nature of theirrelationship.Similarly, the backwardschronologyof ‘Over’, byJörnThrelfall,
keepsthe audience engaged astheypiece togetherthe story.Iusedcontinuityeditingtomake the
filmfeel asreal as possible.However, I includeddissolvesintothe filmtotransitionbetween Lela
and inside hermind.Forexample, Iuseddissolves transitioningbetweenthe flashbacksaswell as
transitioningtoherPOV whenwatchingAleclosinghistemper.A keymomentof editingwasthe
transitionbetween LelaandAlecbeingtogetheronthe beachandLelabeingbyherself, where itis
revealedthatthe conversationwasafigmentof herdaydreams. Idecidedtouse adissolve toonce
againsignifymovement betweenhermindandreality. Icutfrom a close upof LelatalkingtoAlec,to
a wide shotof her alone onthe beach,where previouslyAlechadbeeninthe wide shot.To further
signifyasense of change,Iremovedthe subtle white vignette and replaceditwithadarkone,
bringingherandthe audience backtoreality. However,thismomentwasstill leftopenand
ambiguous.
Whenwritingthe screenplay,Iaimedtocreate 3 dimensional,flawedcharacters,ratherthan
archetypes,asI wantedthe filmto feel likeanaccurate depictionof adolescentrelationships.
Throughoutthe film,the audience seesthe charactersunfold,justastheirrelationshipitself unfolds,
and theirdesiresandmotivationsare discovered. WhenAlecbreaksdowninafitof rage, the extent
of hisshorttemperisrevealed,andhe isseentobe a passionate,emotive character, motivated by
whathe believestobe love.Onthe otherhand,while Lelais more outwardlyreserved, aswe see

4. Evaluation Isabella Doye 7048 Alleyn’sSchool10802
flashbackstoherafter the breakup,itis revealedthatshe isnumbfromthe painthat her
relationshiphascausedher,andhence providesher character’smotivation whichis tobe free of it.
Audience Theory’s notionof preferredandalternative readings explainshow the storyline itself and
the openendingwill be interpreteddifferently.Forexample,whenshowingthisfilmtoothers,some
audience memberstookthe preferredreadingthatthe conversationwasinLela’simaginationand
thusAlecdidn’tlove herasmuch as she wantedhimto,having not attemptedtoreignite their
relationship. However,otheraudience members tookanalternative readingandbelievedthe
conversationtobe real,andthus didn’tunderstandthatwhile Lelafeltshe hadtomove on, she still
lovedhimenoughthatshe made upa scenarioinwhichhe lovedherequally.
Overall, myfilmhasbeeninfluencedbymanyof the setfilms,primarilyby TheEllington Kid’s
narrative structure,and Slap’sthemesandgenre. While Iwantedalessambiguousending,Iwas
pleasedwiththe outcome of myfilm,particularlythe editingand narrative structure.
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