Unit 19 Learning aim C Research

 For my short film, I will film an interrogation scene, in which our criminal confesses to a series of crimes. It will be within the theme of a drama. 

When conducting research for this film, I created a survey discussing what is expected and appreciated in certain media genres, as well as general discussion on stereotypes and narratives. 

One of the questions I asked was if the audience prefers a character with or without flaws.  

 

From this we can see that there is an equal result. This will be useful when writing my script as I will be using the dynamic of a character with flaws interacting with one without. 

For my next question, decided to look at use of stereotypes. 

 
an overwhelming majority of students thought that stereotypes are harmful. This is useful as when writing my script, I will try to avoid stereotyping my characters. 

I also asked about conventions of certain movies that people prefer. 

 

This is useful as I can attempt to use these in my script in order to achieve what viewers of drama media texts want. 

 

Dark Blue (Short FiIm) 

In this short film, it shows a group of illegal immigrants trying to cross the desert between Mexico and Texas, which ends up with our main character finding a dying person kneeling in his grave as a man points a gun at him. This leads to the person pulling at the man’s legs, tripping and killing him with a rock. Our main character attempts to rescue the dying person to no avail and takes his car. At the end of the short film, we see our character at a crossroads, which is where it ends, leading us to assume what happened to our character. 

The narrative of the short is simple and restrained. The idea is that the viewer is led to assume what happens to our character. Conflict is hinted at, as if we are at the climax of our story, and as if our “big bad” is killed off after much struggle. It also presents itself and its location as a land of lawlessness and “every man for himself”. There is not a clear use of three act structure as it is intentionally misleading in order to get you to come up with your own ending.  

Characters are introduced at a low point in their lives, as well as at the beginning of a new life because the short shows us they are Mexicans migrating into the USA. 

Our location tells us a lot about the story as it is stereotypical of a western, which hints at the aforementioned lawlessness present in our narrative. It also clearly demonstrates through the sand dunes and flat stretches of road that we are in a desert somewhere between Texas and Mexico. Props also show themes of a western, yet a more modernized one, with revolvers and classic muscle cars used as well as contemporary props like assault rifles. 

Camerawork is eye-catching yet not obtrusive to the restrained narrative, where shots will show the true vastness of the Mexican desert without simply telling you with drone shots. 

Editing the short film presents itself and its setting as vast. Whilst not containing many significant plot points, it tells the viewer that everything happening will affect the lives of these characters heavily. 

The lack of music and use of droning sound effects gives a deserted feel to the film, creating an atmosphere similar to a sci-fi movie. 

Overall, Dark Blue manages to create an enticing story out of very few events and draws in the audience through its use of distinctive camerawork which leaves a lasting impression on the viewer. 

Secondary research 

To be faithful to realism, I will need to research interrogation techniques to make the detective character believable and interesting.

When interrogating suspects, police are most focused on getting a confession. police can lie in an interrogation, without a false promise or threat. While it is seen in many media texts, police cannot physically harm the suspect. 

Other things a police officer can do to get a confession are 

• Lie about evidence 

• Isolate the suspect 

• Appeal to suspect’s religion 

• Show the suspect a picture of the victim after the incident 

• Impersonate people 

• Fake somebody else’s arrest 

• Good cop bad cop 

• Encourage that a confession is in the suspect’s best interest. 

Most convicted criminals have defense attorneys who can assist with the questions asked by interrogators. 

police officers will also use dimly lit rooms and keep the suspect away from light switches in order to make them feel less in control, as well as getting in their personal space to make them feel inferior.

overall there are many tactics used by police officers during interrogation in order to get the criminal confess. I will try to implement as many as I can in the runtime of my short film to make the interrogation seem more realistic.

Reference list

Layton, J. (2006). How Police Interrogation Works. [online] HowStuffWorks. Available at: https://people.howstuffworks.com/police-interrogation.htm#pt3 [Accessed 14 Nov. 2023].