Drug taking in films

Drug taking represented in films

In the short film we have a  point of view perspective drug taking scene that was inspired by the film Pulp Fiction. We did not want to glorify drug taking in anyway and therefore we cut out the method of how the heroin is injected and demonstrate the negative effect of the drug use on the character rather than portraying the character as joyful after the experience. We did this to ensure that the age rating of our film would maintain a 15 certificate. In order to understand the props we would be using and the way we would portray it, I researched into films that feature drug taking and identify whether it was a negative portrayal or a positive experience for the character, I also wanted to see how the drug taking had been displayed, whether it was suggestive or you could see the character doing a step by step taking of the drugs.

Disorientating effect

Our inspiration for the drug scene came from Pulp Fiction where Vincent takes injects a needle into his arm and pulls back the needle and extracts a small amount of his blood in the process. The Pulp Fiction drug scene cuts from a step by step procedure to Vincent looking relaxed and 'out of it' and is accompanied by a chilled sound score to suggest the drug taking is an enjoyable and relaxing experience for Vincent. I did not want to reflect this sort of message to the audience and therefore I added an effect which disorientates the viewer in a series of flashes and white noise is layered over the top of the scene, the scene itself is uncomfortable for the audience to watch and therefore wont encourage them to participate in drug taking. Visually I did like Tarantino's depiction of the drug scene as a focus pull of a flame allows it to transition to the injecting of the heroin. The whole procedure is pulled together with a series of close up shots and shallow depth of focus. I particularly liked how during the drug taking, we only see close up shots of hands and infer that it is Vincent taking the drugs due to the cutaways to him during and after the drug scene. Similarly within our short film, we infer that Morgans character is the one experiencing the drug taking due to the camera tracking into her and fading black and then coming out, she also holds her hand in the place of the heroin shot to indicate this further. When we came to shoot the drug scene I identified that we  couldn't replicate the Pulp Fiction scene entirely as our drug taking is one continuous shot of point of view perspective, we did however, emulate the use of props which included, a spoon, lighter and needle and emulated the extraction of the blood using red food coloring for the blood. We originally shot a similar scene to Pulp Fiction where we use the lighter to heat up the makeshift heroin, however, due to the limited time of our film(5 minutes), I decided to cut it out and have it cut to the injection of the drug, but kept the heroin, spoon and lighter within the scene for mise-en-scene purposes. The scene in Pulp Fiction also has a dark background in which casts shadows and gives the impression of melancholia as it is dark and an obscure setting. Within our film the scene is in a darkened room, however, the light source is low key but close to the camera giving it an element of brightness, to control this I  added a blue filter which has made the final product look depressing and raw, it almost gives the feeling of being on drugs, it is harsh and distorted filtering.

Ambient sound of  needle head clicking into place

Cross Fade from the lighter to heroin on the spoon

Vincent is paying no attention to the road.

Pulp Fiction

Short Film:Playback

Research into films with drug taking in them
I researched into various different films and identified the way drugs has been presented within them. On the BBFC website it states that films depicting drug misuse has been a major concern since the 1900's as it was thought that drug on film would arouse curiosity, in recent times, the concern is glamorizing the use of drugs in film. At a U and PG certificate there must be know portrayal of drugs and if referencing it must be in an educational way. From a 12 onward there may be a portrayal of drug misuse in a 12 however it must not provide instructional details. The same applies for a 15 rated film which was important to research as our film consists of a drug scene.
Trainspotting



Requiem for a dream