Major Task – Short-Film
Ancillary Tasks – Postcard, Website, Poster
https://ariyanarimal.wixsite.com/periphery
Development of the Short-Film
To show-case our development we decided to divide our work, day-wise. This was the best way to illustrate the tiring hours that were spent in making this short-film.
Day 2 – Short-Film Shoot
discarded waking up scene
Location
Safee M. Khawaja’s House
Before we began shooting this short-film we were short-listing locations for the screen where the protagonist was supposed to wake-up. However, I was the only one who was arguing that the room was so bright and well-lit that it would not fit the mise-en-scene. However, because Rahim was persistent about using this location, I gave in. However, when the scene was edited, it seemed really out of place due to the bright walls, bed-sheet and modernity of the room. Hence, we decided to discard this whole scene and re-shoot the ‘waking up’ scene in a different, desolated place, on Day 3.
Props
We had to shoot…
Shot by: Safee M. Khawaja
The first scene that I shot was actually supposed to be the third scene in the screenplay, showing the protagonist in his everyday life after the flashback ends and the film resumes back to present day. The scene was initially shot at this location with bright yellow walls, a wallpaper, a television and a study table. We were looking for the impression that due to the fact that the world has ended due to a pandemic and not a natural or war calamity, the characters’ home can stay intact and showcase his life in a neat environment. However, after editing the scene, my group partners and I came to the conclusion that the character does not look depressed, lonely and the theme of the film is put off by the room and the luxury makes the fact unbelievable that human life has seized to exist. Hence, we re-shot the scene in a room that looked more unkempt and gave the impression of how much the protagonists life has changed after the sudden and disastrous outbreak of a deadly disease!
Editing of the Scene
Shot & Edited by: Safee M. Khawaja & Ariyana Rimmal
The scene was edited on Adobe Editor, however was later discarded from the final short-film.
Discarded Scene
Day 2 of our Shoot
Proof Pictures
Day 3 – Short-Film Shoot
WAKING UP SCENE RE-SHOT
Location
Safee M. Khawaja’s House
We then decided to re-shoot the scene in a desolated and abandoned room that is also a part of my house. It is a store-room on the 1st Floor of my house. However, we had to spend atlas 2 hours in clearing the whole room and then setting it up for the scene as all the store items were removed from the room first. It is shown in the video below.
Props
We had to shoot…
The first scene that I shot is actually supposed to be the third scene in the screenplay, showing the protagonist in his everyday life after the flashback ends and the film resumes back to present day. The scene was initially shot at another location with bright yellow walls, a wallpaper, a television and a study table. However, the location as changed to this room because it gave a desolated, shady and empty vibe that we needed to create. Hence, we re-shot the scene in a room that looked more unkempt and gave the impression of how much the protagonists life has changed after the sudden and disastrous outbreak of a deadly disease!
Editing of the Scene
Edited by: Ariyana Rimmal
I often tell Ariyana that she specializes in editing and she lived upto our expectations with the great editing of this scene using Adobe Editor.
Day 3 of our Shoot
Proof Pictures of the Scene
Day 4 – Shoot for the Short-Film
CAR SCENE
Location #1
Lahore Grammar School (LGS) Islamabad’s parking lot
The protagonist is seen racing in his car to find and then get his lost sister. This is also the same spot where the protagonist gets the second flashback.
Location #2
Sector F-6 Garage
This is the location where the protagonist is seen leaving his home and walking towards a garage to get his car. While he is at it, he spots the logo of ‘Resistance’ that has been spray-painted on one of the garage shutters.
Location #3 – CANCELLED
Mall of Islamabad
This location was short-listed because it is still under-constuction and would have given a very raw feel that we wanted for the scene. However, due to the prohibition of photography inside and in the vicinity of the Mall, we had to shift the shoot location, the very last minute.
Location #4 – CANCELLED
Park in E-7
This location, too, was canceled and apart from one minor scene, nothing relevant to the narrative was shot here. The reason being, the congestion of people and houses behind and around the E-7 park. Hence, this was not going with our story-line so we had to change the location, once again.
Location #5
National Logistic Cell, D-12
We happened to stumble upon this location while going towards the D-12 Sector. As this is a government department, chaired by a retired army officer, we had to be granted permission by him to let us shoot here. Once we had been given approval, we began the shoot here, however, under the condition that the ‘name board’ of the department will be hidden in the short-film and that we cannot enter the premise through the gate to shoot any scene. Over here we shot the protagonist meeting his sister after 3 years and not being able to get to her is shown in this spot due to the idea that medical camps are devastated and the society is in a downfall.
Props
Editing of the Shoot
Edited by: Ariyana Rimmal
Once again, Ariyana edited the scenes on Adobe Editor, scene-wise, with the concept that she would merge the whole short-film in the end, make minor changes to save time and develop continuity.
Proof Pictures
Day 4 of our Shoot
Day 5 – Shoot for the Short-Film
FLASHBACK SCENE
Location
D-12 House
Props
We had to shoot…
Here we shot the scenes showing the beginning of the film and the flashback of the protagonist.
Day 5 of our Shoot
Day 6 – Shoot for the Short-Film
HOSPITAL SCENE
Location
Maroof International Hospital, F-10 Markaz
To give the film a realistic feel, we took express permission from Maroof International Hospital to shoot the last scene of the film in one of their hospital rooms. We were given an unoccupied room that was not in use or need at the time we shot the film there. We also did not disturb any other patient(s) as the room was on a separate floor than the emergency and recovery ward.
Props
NOTE: The hospital staff had given us new surgical equipment for the scene that was later discarded in the dustbin once we had shot there.
We had to shoot…
This was where we shot the last scene of the film. This scene was supposed to show how the character is in a coma due to the virus in a hospital, while his sister is next to him. The identity of the ‘Leader of the Resistance’ also gets revealed here.
Proof Pictures
Day 6 of our Shoot
Editing of the Shoot
Edited by: Ariyana Rimmal
Once the short-film was fully shot by me and had been acted by Rahim Tarar, it was time to move on to the next step – the editing process. Although, throughout the shooting days, Ariyana would edit some bits and pieces of multiple scenes, however, the strenuous editing process started post-6th day of the film being shot. She edited the whole film single-handedly. This included the selection of appropriate footage to use for the final short-film, finding the perfect background music/sound and the themes that would best fit our genre and story-line. The background music we needed for the film was supposed to fit the theme of psychological thriller.
Once this was done, colour correction was incorporated in the edited short-film. For that, high contrast and blue hues were edited to highlight the serious and suspenseful genre of the film. The phase of editing was completed by joining separate film scenes that were saved as different files into one single file. The following are the images from the editing process and links of the background music used from Youtube uploads.
Background Music
Ancillary Task – Website for Short-Film
Website Link
https://ariyanarimal.wixsite.com/periphery
The website for our short-film was made on wix.com. It was created for the advertisement, promotion and marketing of our final project. The theme layout of it was kept the same as the poster and as the color correction we made in our short-film to develop continuity throughout all the tasks. It was an interactive, easy and comprehensive task that was easily completed due to the vast features that WIX offers.
Process of Making the Website
Ancillary Task – Postcard Advertisement
This was one task that was actually done very last minute. This photograph was taken during our poster photoshoot. Ariyana Rimmal took this picture, while, all three of us edited and compiled the postcard collaboratively. Adobe Photoshop was used to edit the picture. The color scheme and the font used throughout the poster, website etc, were followed here too. This created continuity in our project and their ancillary tasks. We used this advertisement to increase audience engagement and involvement and promote our film, further.
Editing Process of Discarded Postcard
by: Safee M. Khawaja
This postcard advertisement was also edited and made by me, however, after the consultation by the rest of the team-members, we decded to discard this one and make a new one altogether. The new and actual one has been posted above.
Side Task – Poster for Short-Film
We chose this as our final Poster for our Short-Film, ‘Periphery’, because this was the most appealing one. It evokes feelings of mystery, suspense and thrill as one wants to know what the ‘Eutopia’ refers to. Moreover, this poster got the best and most positive feedback from the audience. Rahim Tarar (the cover model) has the appropriate body language, eye contact, pose & facial expressions to represent the intricacy, complexity & rawness of our Short-Film and its narrative.
Day 1 – Poster Shoot
Location
Safee M. Khawaja’s House
We were in search for a white background. Hence, we decided to shoot for the poster on one of the walls outside my room.
Equipment
Although we shot the whole short-film using iPhone 11 Pro, however, for the Poster Photoshoot we used Nikon 7500 that was brought by Ariyana Rimmal. The lighting used was also artificial as we used a LED Light to cast Rahim’s shadow on the wall that was needed to give rise to feelings of fear and darkness.
Photo-shoot for the Poster
Shot by: Ariyana Rimmal
Final Picture for the Poster
This picture was selected by all three of us as the final picture for the poster. The reason is the sharp eye contact that Rahim makes with the audience that stirs a connection with them. It seems as if he is trying to tell a story through his eyes but his situation is so compromised that he cannot. Moreover, his pose is confident and as he is holding the mask, the importance of protection and caution from the pandemic is quite clear. The perfect shadow was also cast on the wall behind Rahim as I was holding the LED Light towards his right-hand side.
Development of the Editing for the Poster
The poster was edited using Adobe Photoshop. Ariyana reduced the exposure to add the dim effect, lessening shadows, increasing a little contrast, reduced vibrance, increased some warmth, added some tint and some sharpness to edit the picture in such a way.
The font, ‘Chopsic’, was downloaded from ‘dafonts.com’ to write the title of our short-film, ‘Periphery’ in the way in the poster. The poster was looking just perfect due to this unconventional font.
Proof Pictures
Instagram Page
@PERIPHERY2020
Although this was not a compulsory task to undertake, however, to increase our sense of branding and to enhance audience engagement with our product, I created an Instagram page for our short-film by the name of ‘Periphery2020’. Here, I posted about the general developments regarding the short-film such as shoot locations, coming soon teasers, snippets of the final project etc, that increased audience thrill and anticipation regarding our project. Moreover, our short-film was simultaneously released on Youtube and IGTV on Instagram for maximum audience reach.
https://www.instagram.com/periphery2020
Periphery Merchandise
AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE
Short-Film Trailer
by Rahim tarar
Safee's Blog 