THE FINAL FILM
Alternative Edit
Due to creative differences there were many different versions of the film made. This edit was made by me but however was not used as our final film or our final product. The color correction, hue and most of the dynamics of the film remained the same. The only changes I made were in the editing and the scene sequence. An advanced score was also added but however due to small errors in sound and continuation this video was not approved and I had run out of time to correct these small changes. My group partners were also willing to keep this edit but unfortunately we had no time to fix these small errors. I was not really satisfied with the first edit and that’s why I re edited and made a whole new version of the film.
Postcard
A Postcard was made as a technique and to promote the film. The postcard was an ancillary task and we used it to make an impact on the audience to get involved, further promote and then watch the film. Many other group cards were made prior to us deciding to keep this one. The other postcards were designed by my group partners Ariyana and Safee. It is also easy to add a personal touch to a film postcard than to any other marketing stuff that we did which you will read further under promotion.
Poster
THE SHORT FILM:
PRE PRODUCTION
THE MOOD-BOARD
CHARACTER DESCRIPTION
Plot
A worldwide virus breaks out in several parts of the world, when an infectious plague is airborne. Years after the planet is left infected, or under treatment;
A man, one of the few immune survivors attempts to find his lost sister once the virus is said to be reversing it’s effect on man. The protagonist lost in his hallucinations unable to tell what’s real and what’s not finds himself amidst a journey to find her sister once he receives a transmission of her still being alive. Once being reunited w his sister the character is shown to be stuck in a loop, reliving the same day again and again.
The protagonist is in a medically induced coma under the impression that he thinks his life still goes on, as in reality he is the one infected and his sister takes care of him.
(Psychological Thriller)
PRE PRODUCTION PROCESS
THE SCREENPLAY
My favorite writer and director Christopher Nolan is where I get my inspiration and ability to write and direct films. As Christopher Nolan writes and directs non linear stories that by watching and studying his work I wrote my first screenplay “ANAYA”. I write the story in the same order as I would film it on screen with additional changes from here and there as further drafts are written.
Also if you were to make a graphical representation of how Christopher Nolan writes and directs his films it would look something like this the picture underneath on the left.
The story I wrote was supposed to come in a full circle by the end. This means that the story to give off its full understanding should be after the movie reaches its end and not before. This is because of my writing and story telling style and the genre I had chosen. If sitting Christopher Nolan’s Director chair the scenes in his films are by showing scenes from the past and future that meet towards the end to complete the whole circle. In my case scenario or story, I want the beginning to give out hints to the audience through motifs and certain lines or a scene to keep an intriged and keeping the audience intrested. I personally believe the first few minutes of the film are very important to keep the audience devoted to the film so they enjoy it just as much as I had joy in telling the story. I wanted a buildup to give the Audience a full understanding of the film either by using narratives and emphasis shots to have the idea really sink in with the audience.
As films we made this year. After shooting film after film I learned to get better and more skilled in this craft. After doing these projects I saw myself getting better and better as it gave me confidence as a film maker. Starting from rough preliminary projects to the final project was a big leap in my skill set and knowledge as a writer, director, actor and as an editor. This movie and it’s screenplay however was an original idea that I had thought of and of a concept of post apocalypse that had always really excited me. It started as my idea of creating a movie on Utopia in a world that does not exist but is an altered reality. Showing and developing and protagonist who relives the same day in a dream like state. It was then written into a screenplay from a small concept which was written and re written upto 13 times. The screenplay and the drafts were written again and again till we came to a final draft that made the most sense and went along the most with our budget and crew. The final draft was then edited and polished by Ariyana to minimize any kind of errors. We also made many changes in the read throughs that were held at my house, though any lines and scene that we felt were unnecessary were cut and other scenes and lines were added if they were needed. All actors and crew members were part of the reading. At first we had a different actor playing a role because I wanted more control over the direct-oral process of the film. The role of Rahim was supposed to be played by any actor Mohsin till he backed off from the project on the 3rd day of shooting. Because of the lack of time we decided that it was useless to hold another screen tests for the protagonist and decided that I play the role as no one knew the character and storyline better as I wrote the film.
ROUGH REJECTED DRAFTS OF SCREENPLAY
Rejected screenplay drafts No.1, No.6 and No.8 files below and in the order stated.
Screenplay: The final draft
BY ME
THE READ THROUGHS WITH THE CAST AND CREW
Read through with the cast and team led to many changes in the characters and the screenplay. We ended up removing entire scenes and also removed many characters in order to come to a consensus. Me and my partners also had a lot of creative differences during these meetings.
The shot-list was made after the screenplay was uploaded on studiobinder.com to have the camera shots and angles planned top be listed. This was then drawn by my friend and art student Ayaan Alam, which later was converted into an animated storyboard by my group partner Ariyana by using thatstoryboard.com. This was later printed in order to shoot the film. This camera work and direction would have not been possible without my partner Safee, his vision and his understanding of what I wanted out of the film was what made everything possible.
The Poster
The goal was to make the poster appealing in relation to our genre. We were aiming at a mysterious look to our poster that would give audience the need to watch but not give away the end. My group partner Ariyana Rimmal made many posters as we kept having to make changes. Sometimes the Tagline would not be professional and other times the tagline gave away the end: For instance “STUCK IN UTOPIA” was our Primary tagline in out first draft. Which later got changed as it gave away much of what out story was. The tagline was then chosen to at least give a way a hint of the storyline without giving away the end. According to our genre, a psychological thriller is a tricky genre to pull off as we have to keep the audience at the edge of their seats during the whole film. Giving away the end will do the opposite. Also according our editor Ariyana, she wanted to give the poster an eerie vibe and a bright “PERIPHERY” to bring out the attention to the viewer but also keep it according to the vibe we were going for. In the photo the photography was done By both my partners Safee Khawaja and Ariyana Rimmal while I was the subject as you can see in the poster. The photography was done using a Nikon DSLR and an iPhone X while the editing process was done on the software Adobe Photoshop CC that we had learned the previous year. The fonts however were also found by Ariyana on Dafont.com. A Face mask was used as a prop as it is a vital prop in our plot. The clothes I’m wearing underneath are the clothes from the first scene and the jacket is red as red is one of the colors that brings attention and catches the eye.
Ariyana Rimmal
Research
Favorite Short Films
1.DEAR BASKETBALL
This is one of my Favorite short films. My favorite basketball player of all time may he rest in peace made this short film with world renowned animator and director Glen Keane who worked for Disney. This short film was made on the retirement of the legendary Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant. I love this short film as it is an emotional roller coaster and keeps the audience on it’s edge during the whole film. This film went on to not only being nominated but winning an Oscar.
This film is narrated by Kobe Bryant and shows of how he got into the sport and how he has to let go of something he has loved, cherished and preached so deeply since he was a kid. It shows the relationship of a man and his first true love, Basketball. It’s the kind of film where by the end you are feeling so many emotions that by the end you’re just sitting there staring into blank space till you come back to reality. It’s the kind of movie that if it were a long film it takes a while to just sink in before you can do anything else. (The kind of effect you have after watching a Christopher Nolan or Woody Allen film). As an artist if I ever be lucky to get to have that platform, these are the kind of films I want to make in the future and that was what I was aiming for when I started this Final project. It’s the movie that stays with you that make a difference, not the ones you forget.
2. THE STORY OF HER
I stumbled upon this film when I was researching and looking for other short films as the year began. Out of many of the films I saw this one clicked with me the most. This movie is about a Boy writing about a girl who he loved and is this film has a great cinematic experience. In this film by the end the audience realizes that the girl helping him write the story is the girl who he loved and passed away. By the end we realize that she was the one all along and of how now she’s dead. I shared this movie with the whole class as it gave me a great drive and clicked with me instantly. I love how this film also comes in a complete circle by the end as something I would have written or directed. I wish I was the one who came up with this idea because it’s so good to begin with. Our story is somewhat similar as it all starts to make sense by the end of the film and of how it comes to a complete circle by the end and keep the audience intrigued towards the whole film. I love how this film is also an emotional rollercoaster and gives a moment to sink in after it ends.
3. THE PAPERMAN
This video was shown to us by our Media teacher Ma’am Werda. The paper man is a silent film based on two lovers. This had inspired us to make a silent film on a shakespiere. However it was not original and the idea did not really excite me to the teacher. This short film had inspired us to make a love story between a couple and a jealous friends. Although paper man is a happy film and the idea we had was edged towards something a little darker.
Paper-man is not one of my favorites as it is not something of my taste but it is still one of the videos I watched and studied thoroughly to get ideas on how to make a silent film. It also helped me learn on how to build and explain a narrative with no dialogue. Moreover the film helped me in realizing the importance of background music and of how it plays a vital role in building a narrative in a short film and giving out emotions to the audience. It also gives out a symbolic message of love and destiny which also clicks with many audience member who are into that kind of stuff. This helped me set a target audience according to the genre I had selected which led me to my next research method. THE SURVEY.
Other Inspiration
A Camera is a camera, a shot is a shot. How you tell the story is the main thing
-Christopher Nolan
How to make a post apocalyptic film?
I realized by watching all of these movies, shows or these playing games of the same sort it is important and vital for the film to convince the audience that the world has ended and gone through an apocalyptic catastrophe. This was extremely difficult with our budget which had us cut down the screenplay multiple times after our read throughs. In walking dead it was an inspiration of the genre and setting that made me so excited towards this theme and always intrigued me as an audience member. In the War of the worlds Tom cruise and his acting skills was what I wanted to pull of in the film as an actor. Moreover I wanted to learn how to play a character of as naturally as he does on screen. Also you can’t talk about the movie without naming the genius director Steven Spielberg and how he really sold the idea of the world being In this position with his direction and his sets. When talking about inspiration of this short film the first movie that comes to my mind is, I am legend. I am legend is one of my favorite movies and also played a major role in motivating me into making this film as I loved the film so much and the film itself went very close to our setting according to the screenplay. However the screenplay had changed and shifted so much but the father/daughter relationship or any family relationship in all the films was what we wanted in our film to be shown on the same level and as naturally as possible without it looking awkward on screen. This leads me to my next inspiration ” the Last of Us”. In this game it has a storyline of how a person survives in a zombie apocalypse with a girl just as the same age of his daughter on the time that he had lost her to the apocalyptic anarchy caused in the world. He keeps going back to the memory of it just as Will smith does in I am legend. Those flashback shots and cross cutting scenes were what I wanted in our film and at least not be as good a Steven Spielberg’s War of worlds because of the budget but I wanted it to have the same effect on the audience as these movies did on me.
Inspiration and Research by Genre
GENRE : Psychological Thriller
Secondary Research continued by me
Characteristics of a Psychological Thriller after my Secondary research.
- Psychological & emotional stress are the main emphasis
- The conflict between the characters is predominantly
psychological/mental. - Tension and suspense are a must in the film.
- There can be a mix of other genres, including Mystery, SCI-FI, and Horror (psychological horror).
- Deception is a key factor.
- The nature of the protagonist is often questioned.
- Psychological Thrillers play with both the characters’ and reader’s brain as they unravel the maze together
Psychological Thriller movies used as research.
“Genre is the familiar of the unexpected”
-G.Borton
These are honestly a list of my favorite movies of all time. To be honest I hadn’t realized that I was such a big fan of the genre till I made the gallery for this blog just now. All of these movies contain the same characteristics that I have stated above. A secondary research method was used in other words known as desk research. This research was on what makes a psychological thriller and these movies helped me come up with a list of characteristics that I have stated above. This characteristics have helped me to act, write and direct this short film with my group.
Primary Research
PRIMARY RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY ARIYANA
THE QUESTIONS:
- 1- What’s your age?
- 2- Are you a fan of psychological thrillers?
- 3-What’s your favourite movie genre?
- 4-What is your favourite movie?
- 5-Favourite show?
- 6-Do you like mind blowing plot twists?
The Survey Results
RESEARCHER’S CONCLUSION
A conclusion can be made on the fact that the genre of our film is very much liked by the audience and the survey I conducted was a part of our audience study of whether or not our film will be liked by the masses. The liking of popular movies like ‘Split‘, ‘Gone Girl‘ and television shows like Netflix’s ‘You‘ were very popular amongst the masses in our times which helps us understand that the film genre is popular and has its own fan following. The survey was conducted on Piktochart and done in a manner that would catch peoples eye!
BY:ARIYANA RIMMAL.
ariyanarimmal.home.blog
Production
RAS PRODUCTION
An abbreviation for Rahim, Safee and Ariyana. This is my and my partners names and our first choice was “Dream3” but we went with “RAS” instead. The logo was designed by me using a website that helps you make your own logos. The next thing I did was do further editing on Photoshop cc like I did for all the previous posters like the short-film Anaya. Once I had selected and edited a few I forwarded them to the RAS WhatsApp group where it came down to a vote. These are the images that were designed and shortlisted.
After it came down to a vote and they selected a photo that was designed through Looka.com, it was then time to bring the image to life like the production logos like Universal, Fox and Disney. This was done by researching and finding good animation apps on the Apple app Store. Soon I came across an app Plotaverse that i had to purchase in order to bring this image to life. After this was done my partner or for say our editor Ariyana added the music in the background to make it seem more professional.
PLANNING
Mise en scène
Usage of motifs, props, set design is what separates great films from good films if you ask me. Great directors like Christopher Nolan and Sam Mendez use lots of motiffs to give out denotations and connotations in there scenes to build around and that’s where I get my inspiration. I believe that the audience should not be spoon-fed the story but be told through little motifs and props to catch on.
Production design and sets also played an important role specially when making a post apocalyptic film. You have to convince the audience that the world has actually ended and besides that you have to ge the audience involved in the world you are trying to create. That’s why we built sets from the ground up and put out our main focus on locations.
Mise en scène is a French word that means “placing on stage” that meant we had to built our stage. First we shot the scene at a house and in a bright yellow room, this scene was then re shot in order to meet our Mise en scene. We built a set that was a storage room by emptying it and converting it into a post apocalyptic safe house. It took us an entire day to convert this into an actual room. Our production team led by Ariyana also went to the extent of getting a hospital room in order to shoot the film, with the corona epidemic had just started this was also a tough job. We went with full preparation by practicing the scene many times before so that we complete the shoot within 20 minutes for the safety of us and our team.
Mise en scène however goes deeper than all the things I’ve stated. I can go on and on about all the little details added in the film. In short our mise en scène also went to the extent of:
- costume
- characters
- types of shots, angels
- cinematography tense plays a vital role
- color schemes and etc
BEFORE 
AFTER
BEFORE 
AFTER
Costumes
These were the main costumes that were only planned priorly, if I said all our costumes were planned than that would be a lie. We had more of our concerns towards important Mise en scene’s to meet or convetions we had set up according to our vision. This involved excessive use or props and motifs and a deep emphasis on locations.
Props
Props are an important factor in giving out connotations and denotations. A story told through Motifs/Props I believe is more like my story telling style. I want the audience to unravel every mystery with the protagonist as the story progresses along and there’s no better way to do that then through motifs. These are only some of the motifs used in the film. There was a lot of careful planning in the making of Periphery and these are only some of the props we had used.
Lighting And Equipment
Nikon Camera, Flash, lens, Iphone x 
Samsung Tripod stand and iPhone 11 for Pan and tracking movements 
Canon camera, Macbook and iPhone X for voice recording for minimal white noise 
Natural Sunlight was used throughout the film
Iphone 11 was used throughout the production 
Homemade Dolly made by myself by taking an office chair apart
Before the shoot it was important for me and my team to list and then gather equipment that we needed for the shooting of Periphery. Keeping the storyboard and shots planned in mind that we had made we started gathering equipment that we needed for the shoot. We went to an exent to make our own homemade tools and equipment; for instance we needed a Dolly for a couple of shots and I made one of my own by taking a chair apart that I got from my father’s office.
Meeting the character description
I had to grow out my hair, my facial hair and gain a few pound to look older in order to play the role of Rahim. To look older than I do I also had to deepen my voice when I was in character. The process of shooting had long gaps between them and in order to keep the film in continuation I kept trimming my hair and beard in between these gaps to keep the difference from the viewer’s eye. This was very important and I think took this project I little to serious or you could say childishly serious. Im saying this because it wasn’t really necessary but I wanted to meet the character description that my group partner made as much as I possibly could in order to play the role, just like any trained actor would.
Locations
House 1 – F6/1
Car scenes- E7, H8, F6, F8 Islamabad
Garage – F-6/2 Islamabad
Resistance Safehouse -E11 Islamabad
House 2- D12 Islamabad
Maroof Hospital – F-10
Day to Day making of the film
This day by day progress is compiled and made entirely by our editor Ariyana Rimmel. From Day 1, Day 2, Day3, Day 4 and 2 more extensive days of reshooting the entire scene if they were rejected by our class teacher. This was either due to lighting and bright rooms that did not match our film, unnatural dialogue exchange , muffled sound or bad angles. The shoots however took a whole day of planning, rehearsing and then shooting. It was an extensive and tiring process but I however had a lot of fun doing these shoots.
Post Production
Color scheme, Editing and Sound
EDITING.
The overall task of editing was taken over by Ariyana and these are the directorial and cinematography point of views that I had applying and learned after shooting the film and in the editorial process. I personally believe that editing is everything in how the film will turn out and I was personally not happy as it did not go with what I had wanted out fo the film. I had many creative differences in the edit of the film. I wanted the loop to be once whereas the editor wanted the movie to repeat again and again. Although I wanted everything to follow the screenplay strictly but sometimes when you’re working in a group you have to be understanding and respectful of everyone’s opinions and vision, as it is their project just as much as it was mine. However I had learned a lot during the editing process and on how much work it takes even after the shooting to make a film.
COLOR PSYCHOLOGY.
As a directors point of view I wanted the movie to be in one tone. It was one of the main reasons why we had to shoot some scene’s all over again to bring out the movie to the standards and the vision we had for the film.
HUE.
We also had to produce the movie in one set tone by setting a Hue. Our film editor and my partner Ariyana was incharge of all editing. The shot as scene below if one of my favorite dolly in shots that was taken by may partner Safee. To bring out these shots, the use of filters and neighboring colors used on the color wheel were used to bring out the aesthetics as some filters did not bring out the same quality shots. We took help from our teacher in insuring that we do this perfectly.
PAST / FLASHBACK SCENES.
Another challenge that we came across was the transitioning to past scenes. The transition was done at places where it was meant to confuse the audience but also build the story narrative. We decided to drain out the colors and use saturated colors in order to show past scenes or flashbacks in the movie.
Sound
AUDIO
The audio was also faded in and out using the Pen tool and the Exponential Fade tool in the audio effects panel. Our editor Ariyana chose to use Adaptive Noise Reduction tool to finish the white noise in the ambient sound. The dialogues of the film were recorded again by using AirPods on a noise cancellation mode and recorded by using the voice memo’s on the iPhone X. The font used for the subtitles of the film was Helvetic.
Music used/Film Score
Promotion
Website
This website was designed by my Group partner Ariyana as means for promotion. Like any other movie we wanted our website to have it’s own website to have a better communication platform with our audience rather than revolving around basic marketing strategies. Although methods of promotion were also used for example the selling of merchandise and stickers. Information about the film and many other things were also provided on the website. The theme was the same as the poster and as the colour correction we did for our film. The website was made on wix.com.
Merchandise
The merchandise was designed by me as an idea struck me that it can be used as a promoting technique and can be sold on our website also. I went ahead and designed hoodies, shirts,long sleeve shirt, caps and stickers that promoted our film and also were a good wear. If our movie went great we could also use it to build a brand around Periphery and RAS productions.
Social Media
Link
https://www.instagram.com/periphery2020/
Trailer and Teaser
The Trailer of the film was made by me by using the iMovie on my iPad. I chose my own scenes rather than following the format given by the application. I chose the clips that went best with the background music provided and give the best outlook to the audience and to have them excited about the film. A plan to intrigue the audience is what led me to make a trailer for the film. We have planned to release the trailer after our result in August and a screening will take place at the country club here, also known as Islamabad club. We have managed to sell 32 tickets to friends and families and I have decided to donate that money to a charitable foundation of the eidi centre here in Pakistan. My plan is to gather as many movies of students all around Islamabad and host this event. Once we have gathered the best 15 movies and a total of an hour of short films, a voting pallet will be provided to the audience to vote for the film the liked best. I feel like it’s a great initiative to bring out talent in our city and ill meet new people that I can further work with and make more films.
Director’s chair
The CCR question on conventions also struck me with the idea to use it as further means of promotion to the film and showed the making of Periphery to the audience. I thought it would be a fun idea to make one of myself as all I do is watch Director’s chairs of my favorite directors on Youtube.
Crew: The Cast and Team
Director: Safee Khawaja, Rahim Tarar
Co director: Ariyana Rimmel
Producer: Ariyana Rimmel
Director of Photography: Safee Khawaja.
Camera operator: Safee Khawaja.
Grips: Rahim Tarar.
Gaffer: Ariyana Rimmel.
Script supervisor: Rahim Tarar
Story By: Rahim Tarar
Screenplay: Rahim Tarar.
Script: Safee Khawaja.
Character descriptions: Safee Khawaja
Editing; Ariyana Rimmel
Second unit director: Rahim Tarar
Sound department: Ariyana Rimmel and Werda teacher
Visual effects: Ariyana Rimmel
Casting: RAS production collective
Makeup: Minahil Abbasi
and costume: Rahim Tarar
Dialogue editor: Ariyana Rimmel
Re recorder mixer: Ariyana Rimmel
Music Supervisor: Ma’am Werda
Cast
Rahim: Rahim Tarar
Ariana: Fatin Faisal
Caretaker: Ayaan Alam
Resistance leader: Ayaan Alam
Narrator girl: Ariyana Rimmel
Voice on radio: Safee Khawaja
Rahim Tarar 