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How do your products represent social groups or issues? I wanted Infatuated to tell a story of how much love can make a person do extreme things. This is a story of a young girl with limited guidance that thinks having love is the most important thing. This film follows a young teenage girl who has to watch her first love, find love in someone else. Shes trying to navigate these strong feelings by herself and with the help of a friend but comes to an outrageous conclusion. Instead of working on herself, she spends most of her time closely watching, stalking, and learning all of his girlfriend's actions. Ivy in the film genuinely feels like she is the only and best option for Paige, so does the unthinkable which eventually gets Paige back to her. Which ends up working in her favor.
I chose this film because nowadays many young adults and teenagers don’t know how to properly navigate through relationships. A lot of the time in relations couples are consumed with each other and it ruins one or both of the people in the couple. Without proper advice and self-love many people believe that their first love is their last in life. This represents a lot of teen relationships in high school. The majority of relationships end up being toxic and the couples continue going back to each other, even though it’s bad for the both of them. As you can see Ivy is going back to Paige.
Throughout the film, the protagonist shows desperation. She constantly reminds herself that she is the best option for him. Also, the constant use of social media building para-social relationships. She builds a false reality, becoming friends with Paige's girlfriend at the time, just for her advantage. Ivy creates a plan to kill Alyssa so she can get Paige all to herself, selfishly she executes the plan. Instead of rationally thinking about the consequences Ivy hangouts with Alyssa and kills her and ditches her. Ivy’s character is meant to represent that young love can be extremely selfish and can consume someone until they hit their breaking point. This film wasn’t only about a crazy girl in love, but about the dangers of young love.
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of
‘branding’? To create a sense of ‘branding’, dark lighting was used throughout the beginning of the film. This created a sense of loneliness and desperation as Ivy is seen stalking Alyssa, Paige's girlfriend. To play onto the parasocial relationships often seen in this generation, the main character is seen stalking social media a lot. The use and presence of Instagram highlights how accessible people's lives are, and information is to the public, showing how easy it was for Ivy to find and befriend Alyssa. I used the typewriter editing style of the subtitles to put emphasis on the use of technology. The main character could be portrayed as a online stalker, and in some horror films with a similar plot, they did something similar. I took inspiration from that.
Throughout the film, when there was a suspenseful moment, I placed soundtracks over them. This allows the audience to infer that something is about to happen between the characters. For example, when Ivy starts the plan to “kill” Alyssa the soundtrack plays. In moments with more significance the soundtrack’s volume increases.
When the main character Ivy is seen with Alyssa, you can see subtitles such as “Step 1” I kept this a consistent feature as it allowed the viewer to easily follow along w the plot. Also it was cohesive with the plot of building a step-by-step plan on how to get Ivy’s “ex” back.
Throughout the film, there are “intermissions” explaining what Ivy is thinking. These allow the viewer to have an idea of Ivy mindset through her plan.
The films marketing has eerie undertones and a lonely filming. The postcard shows a person alone searching endlessly. This emphasis the plot as you can see the character as an online stalker being consumed by the research. The colors red, white, and black, were the main in this film. The color red represents the passion and ambition of Ivy. The black was there to create a sense of darkness and make it more ominous. Also, the colors black and red create the visual of danger or that death is expected.
How do your products engage with the audience? My product engages with the audience through its immersive storytelling. The audience is brought along the characters train of thought. In film there is an idea of “breaking the fourth wall”. I did this often in the film. The purpose was to let the audience know when I’m going to be deceitful and that the plan was going accordingly. As well as through the editing style of the film. While Ivy is scrolling through Paige and Alyssa’s Instagram's, there is an overlay of their stories. This allows the audience to feel as though they are “stalking” them with her. Throughout the film you can see subtitles such as “Step 4”, I added these subtitles as a way for the audience to know what Ivy had planned for Alyssa, the one who got killed. On the website I included my email. As a way for fans to reach out and express how they felt about the film, also to provide an open space for anyone dealing with the same issues/thoughts of Ivy. On the website, I also included the cast, and a link to “better help” as a way to help anyone who feels like they might not have anyone to go to for advice.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use orchallenge conventions? Last year, I did the same genre horror/ thriller. So, the conventions stuck with me, but this go around I needed to do more research. In those genres, the majority of films feature blood and gore. For my film, I wanted to stray away from that. In a select few of films, it featured poison as an alternative, so in my film as a way to kill off Alyssa, Ivy drugged her. For my prop’s I used Altoid mints for the pill, as when I conducted my research, many people on a app called “Reddit” recommended it as the most realistic alternative. The main character ivy did play into the conventional “crazy ex-girlfriend”. For that character I took inspiration from a Netflix show called “You”. In that show their man focus was whoever caught their eye, but for my film I made the connection deeper and chose it to be Ivy’s ex-girlfriend. The film featuring a lesbian couple also challenged the normal conventions for that genre. Most films are traditional in the aspect of them featuring a man and women relationship, with the man being the crazier one. I changed the narrative because nowadays it is important to be inclusive and this shows that no matter the genders that are in the relationships, they can still love each other on that level. I did although make sure that in the marketing aspect of things, it was dark and moody. And to use the main color theme of black and red.
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