Unmasked

This film is about a girl's progression of "masking" herself in public. Her only haven is when she is alone, and can truly be herself. The main character's goal is to finally be alone, and be able to wash away her recent pains and afflictions. I named this character "gloom," which almost added an allegorical touch to it. I wanted this film to be metaphorical, and relate to any age or gender. Considering the abstract nature of this film, it is truly open to interpretation. High School students may see it has masking their mental health issues during school, and using their mask to convey momentary happiness. Adults could interpret it as masking their home and family troubles to coworkers, and impersonating an entirely healthy, contented person during work hours.
As stated before, I was very intent on making this film figurative. The mask itself is a metaphor for covering true identity, similar to the expression "putting up a wall." During the first couple of scenes however, it is shown that she has a completely unmasked face. This is due to her being alone, and able to reveal her individuality. Yet when she is getting ready for school, she puts the mask on. This symbolizes the protagonist putting up barriers, not allowing anyone inside but herself. She holds up the mask with quite a shaky hand as well, which can represent her hidden resentment of her fabricated social status.
When she is alone at school and takes off her mask, there are tear stains and black "scars." This represents her true identity beginning to tear, and break inside her. The more she puts up her "front," the more her hidden self begins to wither away.
The scene with Gloom's mother was very important to me; I wanted to portray that no matter how much support the main character has in her life, it can never repair her damaged soul. This is conveyed through her taking off her mask once her mother leaves, revealing a multitude of "cracks" across her face.
Once she gets into the bathtub during the end of the day, she is finally able to wash away her grievances. This is portrayed in her physically removing her cracks along her face, and coming out of the water with an unmasked, clear body. This represents that there is hope of getting better-- that she can feel okay again, even if it is only in fragments of time.
This film fortunately came out very similar to my vision-- even though I had to make some changes throughout the production and editing process. I tried to make the film slightly unsaturated in color, to convey her pure feelings inside. I also wanted to make it very continuous in style during the editing process-- to represent that her pain unceasing, no matter the circumstances.
The music was a large part of what made this short unique. I did not want generic "sad" music; it would simply make it unoriginal. I wanted an ironic piece-- something where you cannot tell if it sounds upbeat or bitter. In my opinion, the track was almost mysterious-- it leaves you on an unfinished note, not knowing what comes next. I tried to fit that with the production of "Unmasked," it is not clear on if the ending ever completely ceases. There is still so many unanswered questions, which really leaves the film up for interpretation.
Overall, I am very happy with the outcome of this film. It turned out almost exactly as I was envisioning, and hope others enjoy as well!