Whilst we were discussing our ideas on Skype, I remembered a film I'd seen that was similar to some of the concepts we were coming up with in our discussion. I re-found it and sent a link to Rhys so that we could decide if some of it's styles could have an influence on our final piece and to make sure that we weren't too close to the storyline of this film.
This short film deals with a mother who has Alzheimer's and her slow decline whilst her daughter has to live with it and come to terms with what's happening and how it's affecting their relationship. The film has some comic moments and the characters share laughter at the beginning but as her mum begins to forget more important things, we see how it has an affect on her daughter with the film culminating on her mother forgetting who she is.
The film uses repetition of scenario's and shots to effectively show the audience who often this occurs and how it's becoming worse in a short amount of time. The shots above and below show how her mother slowly gets worse at forgetting what she's doing and Lisa having to sort out what she leaves behind. The lighting is always bright but it's the acting that focuses us on how it's beginning to have an effect.
The mise-en-scene is very important in creating the differences in this repetition that show us how her mother is changing. In the shot below, we are used to seeing Lisa and opening with her mum sitting there with a pile of dishes when usually she is walking in with a lunch for Lisa shows us this big difference however, these moments are slowly repeated until this point so that the difference is gradual. The slow differences also show how much the role reversal is slowly coming into effect. In the end, we see Lisa doing all of the mothering things and the mother being looked after.
It's the slow build up of repetition combined with the acting that makes the film so powerful. The direction of the characters and consideration of set and appearance create a believable scenario even though the audience know that the situation is deteriorating at a much quicker pace to fit into the time frame. The appearance of the mother is integral to the audience's understanding of her Alzheimer's getting worse alongside the mise-en-scene as the mother begins with hair done up and co-ordinated clothes that connote to the audience she has considered them but as things worsen, her hair is put in a pony tail then down and her clothing appears to be less co-ordinated which connote her becoming less mindful of appearance as well as other things.
Overall, I think the film has managed to condense the issue into it's time very well but I think they could have considered the camerawork more carefully as at times it feels as if they've not considered some shots however, they have considered the locked off camera shot as the audience know that in this shot, Lisa is supposed to be making her video diaries and we know that this convention fits with that plot.
As I don't know what direction Rhys and Lewis have gone in with the script, I can't say how much this film will influence our final piece but I hope that when writing the script they take into consideration ways of filmically portraying differences or degrading situations in the time we have from what has been done in this film.
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