Kiss Kiss - 3 Day Film Challenge: Horror Edition

IDOM's official entry into the 3 Day Film Challenge: Horror Edition - best Cinematography winner:
http://www.3dayfilmchallenge.com

Sub-genre: Hitchcock
Required element: a broken mirror

Completed entirely between 7pm Friday, October 15th and 7pm Monday, October 18th.

Music by Nine Inch Nails, from the album "Ghosts I-IV"
http://ghosts.nin.com

Shot on 2 Canon 5DmkII with the 16-35mm f/2.8 L, 24-70 f/2.8 L, and 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS lenses. Audio recorded on a Tascam DR-100 and synced in Final Cut Pro via Pluraleyes. Color correction in Color, titles in Adobe Illustrator & After Effects.

It Donned On Me is a competitive filmmaking team from San Francisco, CA. For more films and information on the team please visit our web site at www.ItDonnedOnMe.com

Some rights reserved: creativecommons.org/​licenses/​by-nc-sa/​3.0

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Short Film
• Horror
• Hitchcock
• San Francisco
• 3 Day Film Challenge
• Canon
• 5DmkII
• Tascam
• DR-100
• Coollights
• CL-LED600
• CL-LED256
• Nine Inch Nails
• NIN
• Ghosts
• competitive filmmaking

[RawPower]

What the?! I guess the plot was a bit predictable, but the whole thing was shot, edited and directed in such a bizarre way it wasn't really clear what was happening - in a good way....

Why does the crippled husband break the mirror? Out of shame? Does he really like tuna with no crusts? He looks like he hates her guts the entire time! And the way the actress delivers her lines, pausing at random moments, makes it all more surreal. The whole film kinda felt like a weird nightmare

[ItDonnedOnMe]

@RawPower He married for love, she married for money. Now he spends his days trapped upstairs in the house while she spends his money. Yes, he smashed the mirror in shame at what his life has become, as he feels that he is ultimately responsible for being so gullible. That's why it's not her that he hates - it's himself - and he holds out hope that maybe she'll come to truly love him too. But she continues to treat him like a child... hence the tuna with no crusts.

[ItDonnedOnMe]

Actually, I just made that all up. The thing is we made this in three days, and when we got together on Friday night none of us had any idea what we'd be delivering on Monday - that's just the nature of these competitions. There's no time to write, re-write and polish a script. We come up with a concept and basic plot then let the actors develop the characters on the spot as we work through the film. We take what emerges and work it back into the narrative in the edit.

[ItDonnedOnMe]

Also these competitions have required elements that you need to incorporate into the film and this time it was the broken mirror. We left it somewhat unexplained (as well as a lot of other things) to allow the audience to fill in the story themselves - far too often films in these competitions are heavy on exposition and leave nothing to the imagination, so we tend to lean the other way and leave things mysterious more often than not.

Thanks for watching, and thanks for the feedback!

[RawPower]

@ItDonnedOnMe

Thanks for the reply! What you said originally made sense, although it isn't as interesting as the way the film comes across. For me, it seems the broken mirror is shame about the fact he's a cripple, and unattractive while having a beautiful wife. And she seems like she's insane, or on speed or something.

I see you do a lot of these speed filmmaking competitions, I make films myself and really admire how you manage to come up with something good in such a short space of time!

[RawPower]

Even with the opening shot of the house and the the lead actress walking into the frame and film in a dull way, it just doesn't feel 'right', and it works well considering the characters are all so messed up! Made me think of David Lynch crossed with Ren&Stimpy and Valley of the Dolls!