I will now reference key scenes from Under the Water and specify techniques from each key creative department. A unified approach was taken in order to craft a fluid depiction of Olivia’s internal reality.
ANALYSIS
Video 5, Kiosk scene from Under the Water
The scene explores Olivia’s experience with toxic male behaviour. When she ignores the advances of two boys in a tunnel by the beach, their behaviour quickly becomes threatening. Filmic techniques were used to suggest Olivia’s increasing fear. In the approach to the cinematography, we opted for a long tracking shot that was always focused on Olivia. As the boys got closer, they fell into the periphery of the shot, leaving Olivia to become the primary focus. During the editing process, Amy boiled the moment down to its essential components, and pushed in on the footage slightly. This was to suggest we were entering Olivia’s mental space. Aided by sound design, Sam lowered the diegetic sounds of the boys, and faded in a low drone. In suggesting Olivia’s emotional space, the sound of the sea birds and the ocean were heightened to create an unsettling wall of noise. By blurring the diegesis of these sounds; through the exaggeration of a sound from the real space to an unnatural level, a suggestion of Olivia’s emotional space was created. The noise rises throughout the scene, building to a peak as the boys push Olivia off her feet. The cumulative effect of these techniques came to reflect Olivia’s subjective response to fear and a reflection of the bodily sensations of anxiety.
Video 6, Storybook scene from Under the Water
We utilised filmic techniques to establish the melancholic tone of the scene. In terms of cinematography, we started the scene with a wide shot of Olivia lying on her bed, depicting her sense of hopelessness and deep sadness. Keeping the colour palette in blue and green tones, we furthered the symbolic link to the ocean. Hamish’s sorrowful score was used to emotionally underscore the key moments of Olivia looking at photographs of her mother on her wall and dressing table. Using the minor key, Hamish was able to evoke a strong sense of Olivia’s sadness.
As Olivia rediscovers the book from her childhood, the sound design begins to take hold. The intention was for the book to feel as though it was ‘coming to life’; it bleeds out into Olivia’s reality. As Olivia opens the book, dark, painterly illustrations are depicted, showing siren creatures in the depths of the ocean. As Olivia flips through the book a menacing scene is revealed; a group of fishermen are violently capturing the sirens. The sound design is given prevalence in the mix, fading in with a soundscape of shipboard ropes tightening, timbers creaking, howling wind and roaring ocean waves. Using production design to craft the symbolic imagery, this page was intended to refer to the violence that Olivia had endured earlier that day in the tunnel.
As Olivia discovers new meaning in the book’s pages, close-ups and roaming camera movements are used to express her direct point-of-view. Olivia’s mother’s voice (performed by Stephanie Begg), can be heard as a subtle layer within the soundscape. With emphasis placed on the ‘siren song’ within the text of the book, a distorted whale cry became our aural motif of the otherworldly creatures.
The final page of the book depicts a group of sirens taking charge, fighting back against their captors and dragging them underwater as revenge. The laughter of the sirens travels around the cinema space in this moment; using Dolby Atmos to send the sound around the room in order to imbue the sirens with power, whilst immersing the audience in sound. Symbolically, the picture book conveys a story that mimics Olivia’s own journey, one of repression to expression. Through the use of combined filmic techniques used in this scene, the book is coded as an uncanny object, linked to Olivia’s own rising emotion.
Video 7, Water scene from Under the Water
Influenced by her grief and longing, Olivia sees something impossible; she sees her mother in the ocean. Drawing on the visual symbolism from the scene prior, in this moment, Olivia believes her mother is a siren. There’s an intended ambiguity; the cinematography places Olivia’s mother at a distance. In crafting the enigmatic call of the ocean, a slowed whale cry was distorted, to create a sense of physical distance. In this moment, we are given access to Olivia’s uncanny vision.
As Olivia dives under the water, the diegetic sound of the water disappears. The aural space evokes a sense of magic, using a high level of reverb as a symbol of the world of the sirens. Using a slowed frame rate of 100 frames-per-second, an oneiric sense of time is created. Through production design, we created a darkened space intended to suggest a ‘dreamspace’; somewhere between Olivia’s reality and imagination. Beams of light were shone from above, illuminating the rock. In establishing the perceived magical qualities of the rock, we chose a bright blue colour and added subtle VFX sparkles. In revealing the rock with heightened sound, Olivia’s growing connection to the world of the sirens is created. As she picks up the rock, the composition shifts up a fifth on the musical scale, highlighting the magic of the moment.
Video 8, Siren scene from Under the Water
As a representation of masculinity and the male ego, the car became an important symbol in the work. The colour red was purposely chosen for the car so it would stand out in the landscape. As the only red item in the film, it was coded with symbolic meaning.
Utilising hand-held movement as a means to represent Olivia’s emotional response to the boys in the car, the cinematography in this moment was intentionally jumpy and jarring. Using a combination of 25fps and 100fps footage, we were able to create an internal temporality marked by Olivia’s emotional beats. The music and sound design build on this notion also, as the diegetic sound of the boys in the car fades away, the soundscape builds. As Olivia’s rage begins to take over, the atonal cacophony of voices rises to a peak; the siren call takes over. Hamish’s score and Sam’s sound design evoked the magic, the chaos and the power of the sirens. Leading up to the windscreen smash moment, editing was used to depict waves swelling in parallel with Olivia’s building emotion. Cut to mimic the movement of Olivia’s body, a wave crashing completed her action. As the sound reaches the peak of its intensity, the swelling ambience drops off into silence. In creating this small void of sound prior to the impact of the rock, it meant there was a stronger expression of Olivia’s emotional release.
Used to evoke Olivia’s internal world in the run at the end of the film, the sound design features Olivia’s heavy breathing. As Olivia runs, the diegetic sound of her footsteps and breathing slowly fade out, making space for Hamish’s composition. The music slowly builds, moving into a complex and layered wall of sound. As Olivia pauses and smiles, the composition shifts into the major key, for the first time in the film, intended to hint at Olivia’s small step towards freedom.
