CCR - question 1
How do your products use or challenge conventions and how do they represent social groups or issues?
It would be quite difficult to place “Iridescent” in one genre, or even in a hybrid. My short film was constructed precisely to be an original representation of unique experiences. I began the Advanced Level Coursework with a desire to create my own style of storytelling, and I hope I’ve come to do just that. Therefore, this short film does not respect, nor challenge conventions of any specific genre. However, it does represent certain groups of people, breaking some stereotypes of teenagers, and reinforcing others.
To begin, I will consider some general conventions of short films, and less so of genres. When studying examples of real short films, I found that the narrative was made up of few characters, sending a powerful message and bringing an unexpected twist to the story. I believe I have respected these conventions in “Iridescent”. I knew it was important to have a creative plot twist at the end so I thought of the switch between the two characters. Of course this had a meaningful dimension as well, it wasn’t only about the surprise of the images, but about the relationship between the two girls.
One convention of short films that I wanted to respect was the use of powerful music. For example, the soundtrack used in “Removed” amplified the struggles of the young girl. However, I brought a new, less conventional, idea to the soundtrack of my short film. I used psy-trance, techno and reggae tracks to create the precise atmosphere surrounding the group that I was presenting.
The costumes, props and locations are also important elements in the construction of representations. I asked my friends to dress colorfully, for example, Nora wears green Indian harem pants. Aletta’s hoodie is also colorful and hippie, it look aesthetic with the colors of the forest. Mostly I wanted all the friends at the party to look happy, colorful and hippie in order to show that they are not stereotypical teenagers dressed in blue jeans and a shirt. I included a close up of my friend’s dreads for the same effect. We also added to this general warm atmosphere with the many colorful lights in the two locations, the small room and the living room. Both rooms had a cozy, comfortable and familiar atmosphere. The strobe light, speaker and hanging lights were all very beautiful in the composition of the shots, but they are also representative of the iridescence of all the friends, not only Aletta. The forest represented the emptiness and confusion that Aletta felt. She was alone, lost, as characters often are in nature.
“Iridescent” is also postmodern in the sense that it creates confusion over the time and space presented, as Strinati’s theory suggests. The events were presented in a way that was broken off from the continuity of time and the rationality of space. Moving from the house to the forest, the duration of everything that happens, is unclear. Moreover, I could only focus on the construction of few characters as there was not a lot of time in which to build and present them. I represented the relationship between them through simple symbolic actions such as the scene at the beginning where Nora hugs Aletta, mirrored by Aletta hugging Nora in the end.
The relationship between Aletta and Victor, her boyfriend, breaks some conventions of teenage romance usually presented in films. They arrive together but they do not sit together or talk. Their relationship is not about image or the spectacular romance that teenage dramas usually present. They know what their relationship means and the story is not focused on their romance. The importance of their bond is presented the moment the audience sees Victor in the forest, saving Aletta. He is there when she needs him.
Moreover, I created a separate representation of youth that might not be common in most media texts, but that is very common in my life; the unity between people. There are many films and series about friendship and relationships but they are usually superficial, exaggerated and dramatized. Parties are crazy and exaggerated too. All these respect Debord’s theory of the society of spectacle. The friends that I presented, the party that they were meeting at was nothing like those that audiences usually see. The scene in the room where they all sat, talked and laughed was especially designed to show the audience that this was not going to be a typical teenage party.
This group of friends is united, they truly care about each other, and they don’t need elaborated talks or demonstrations of their devotion and friendship. The last scene has a second dimension besides that of the relationship between the two girls, it suggest that Victor is as caring of Nora as he is of Aletta. The collective presence of all her friends helps Aletta escape her mind, Victor and Nora are just the symbols of this unity.
