Video
The term we were given for this assignment is “Split”, and i decided to go with the theme “Split-Personality” for my work.
Process
So firstly, i came up with a storyboard for the video:
After which, filming began.
Sound
Since we are not allowed to use sound effects or music downloaded from the internet, I create sound effects by myself.
- Ambiance sound for classroom (because classroom was occupied during filming, resulting in conversational sounds)
- Sound effect during screen flash (During the character 1’s consciousness shift)
– recorded a metal spoon hitting against a glass table
- Sound of character #2 writing and closing his book
– recorded myself writing and closing a book
- Noise of character #2 hitting the leg of character #1
– recorded the sound of me hitting a leather bag
- Sound effect of Character #1’s heart pounding
– recorded myself thumbing my chest with my hand
For the scenes where the “other personality” of character #1 is active, I increased the pitch of the background sounds to create a distinction between them and the other scenes where the “normal personality” of character #1 is active.
It also serves to create an uneasy feeling in the audience, setting the mood for a situation that isn’t going to turn out well.
Visuals
For the scenes where the “other personality” of character #1 is active, I had the video colors turn red through Adobe Premiere Pro:
I want the audience to instinctively understand that this is not the “normal” character #1 so i used this obvious change in visuals.
For the last scene after character #1 has killed character #2, i purposely reduced the brightness of the video to create a dark atmosphere, to induce a mysterious feel to the overall strange event of the video:
Video analysis
For the first scene, I had character #1 be established as a victim of bullying through the use of the letter he finds in his locker.
After which, character #2 hits his bag against character #1 to further bring this message across.
For the second scene, I had the setting be a classroom where both character #1 and character #2 were having a lesson in.
The camera is fixated mostly on character #2’s table as the book that is on it will be the point of focus for the next scene.
For the third scene, the audience would be taken aback by the change in visuals and sound.
After which, this confusion would be resolved when character #1 starts ripping up character #2’s book, as it would imply that this is the work of a “character #1” that is different from the one we saw earlier.
In the fourth scene, character #1 is woken up by character #2, and he goes into a state of confusion before running off.
This would suggest that character #1 has no memory of ripping up character #2’s book as he does not seem to have any emotion towards character #2.
This would lead the audience to understand that the previous “character #1” and this “character #1” are separates entities that are sharing the same body and thus bring the term “Split-personality” forward.
In the next part of the scene, character #2 finds the torn-up book, which sets the logic that whatever happens during the red scene, does indeed happen.
This will be important for the later parts of the video.
For scene 5 when character #1 is about to enter the room for the meeting, I had the actor retrieve the letter from his pocket to suggest to the audience that he is now entering to the room for the meeting.
For the part where the sender of the letter meets character #1, i had him ask for money to answer the question of “why did character #1 have his thumbdrive stolen”
I decided to go with an exchange of the thumbdrive for money instead of the whole thing just being an act of bullying as it felt like a more compelling reason for going through all the trouble.
When character #1 picks up his thumbdrive, I had the sender throw his wallet back at him as an act of humiliation fit for a victim of bullying.
After that, I had the camera zoom onto character #1’s face to show a buildup of anger and hatred.
Flashes and the beating of a heart is also added here to link it to the next scene.
In this scene, the choice of red for the “split-personality” scenes is further explained as this “personality” of character #1 is violent.
The camera stays on the bag and slowly zooms in to create a feeling of tension between the audience and the action that cannot be seen.
This tension is used to further alienate the audience from this “personality” of character #1 for him to appear more foreign and mysterious.
For this scene, I had character #1 wake up on the floor, similar to that of scene 4.
After which, he checks the room to find that nobody is there, suggesting to the audience that whatever happened in scene 6 could have not happened at all.
But due to the logic set by scene 4, the audience knows that whatever happens in the red scene does happen. This hence creates a temporary conflict between what is expected and what is happening – a twist to perk the audience’s attention.
After which, the conflict is subsequently solved with the appearance of a blood-stained knife – that confirms the occurrence of the events of scene 6.
However, even after this conflict is solved, the audience would still have a thought lingering on in their minds – what about the split-personality of character #1? What is going to happen after all this with a serial killer on the loose?
That is where i would end the video with questions for the audience to think about after it finished playing.