I'm doing a fair few of these posts in parts but who knows I may end up merging them together at the end of this project.
There was an issue I had on my AS Production which was that all the audio had to be taken out, even the dialogue, because of continuity with the background noises as we were filming. The same thing has happened for this project but all that means is that the sound has to be all artificial. Its not so much of a problem in this one because there isn't any dialogue to worry about but because of that, the sounds and how much of an effect they make is really important.
To start with the openings I decided to go for a fairly cliched but effective sound of howling wind to suggest a feeling of isolation and I think that really fitted with where the shot was taken. For the first few cuts I try to make it seem a little bit like different security cameras from different angles were watching the character in the car, zooming in on every cut. I threw in a short electrical buzz on each cut to really give that effect and I think it worked. After the first few shots we come to a shot which slowly zooms in on Corban in the car and as its zooming Corban suddenly jolts up from his ("sleep/blackout/unconsciousness", the audience will decide this) the camera stops as soon as Corban awakes so I needed a sound that would gradually build up and stop, almost like that sound effect used in war films when the character of importance is in the war scene and all the sounds are muffled out until eventually the character comes back down to earth and the sound has made its crescendo and just stopped and his hearing is back to normal. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the exact sound that I wanted but instead I've used the sound of a plane flying over head which, luckily, cut at the right time doesn't sound like a plane at all and its been able to give the effect I've wanted.
Monday, 4 April 2011
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Actors
This will be a short post, but that's mostly because my cast list is tiny. There are only 2 Actors but I thought I should give a run down of the two:
Corban Wishart as an Unnamed character stuck in this alternate reality. I decided to use Corban for the film because he was able to show the emotion I needed, seeing as I wasn't using any dialogue. And also I used him because its fairly convenient to pick him up and get some shots done in the day.
Henry Frater as the busker found in the town. Henry can play the guitar and sing which was what i needed for this shot (wouldn't be the most helpful thing if my actor for this role couldn't play or sing) I plan to give him a rather scruffy and homeless look to help with the role. He does however act very well too and will be able to give off that sinister look needed for the role.
If this was a real project, at least less money would be going to the actors seeing as there's less of them...
Corban Wishart as an Unnamed character stuck in this alternate reality. I decided to use Corban for the film because he was able to show the emotion I needed, seeing as I wasn't using any dialogue. And also I used him because its fairly convenient to pick him up and get some shots done in the day.
Henry Frater as the busker found in the town. Henry can play the guitar and sing which was what i needed for this shot (wouldn't be the most helpful thing if my actor for this role couldn't play or sing) I plan to give him a rather scruffy and homeless look to help with the role. He does however act very well too and will be able to give off that sinister look needed for the role.
If this was a real project, at least less money would be going to the actors seeing as there's less of them...
Locations (Part 1)
OK so I have my idea and ive been working with a handful of locations and ideas which Im about to run through:
To start I needed a deserted, run-down area to open up the shot of the car and to start this was an issue as there arent really any areas of that description around me. However I first heard of a lone road in Bicester called Gavray Drive which had a bit of a story behind it, that when building the road they ran out of budget for it and just simply stopped bulilding it. If you go there and have a look its a long road, with a few turns off to housing estates but make it all the way down it just stops at a few trees. There are even a few un-operational street lights. It looked really good but I eventually ended up using another location which I will talk about but I think I may use this location still as it really does have that eerie, abandoned feel.
The main location I used for the intro is a place in Upper Heyford very close to the Upper Heyford RAF Air Base and even closer to where my main actor in my film lives. There is the most perfect location there: a fenced off, derelict and abandoned supermarket, including a decent sized carpark. Even the sign just reads "We come To Y ur Superm rket". Its something you can picture out of a zombie/postapocolyptic movie. We needed permission to use the area because it was still private property but they let us use it, I set the car up in there and have Corban sit in the car and I readied the camera. I could'nt ask for a better starting location.
To start I needed a deserted, run-down area to open up the shot of the car and to start this was an issue as there arent really any areas of that description around me. However I first heard of a lone road in Bicester called Gavray Drive which had a bit of a story behind it, that when building the road they ran out of budget for it and just simply stopped bulilding it. If you go there and have a look its a long road, with a few turns off to housing estates but make it all the way down it just stops at a few trees. There are even a few un-operational street lights. It looked really good but I eventually ended up using another location which I will talk about but I think I may use this location still as it really does have that eerie, abandoned feel.
The main location I used for the intro is a place in Upper Heyford very close to the Upper Heyford RAF Air Base and even closer to where my main actor in my film lives. There is the most perfect location there: a fenced off, derelict and abandoned supermarket, including a decent sized carpark. Even the sign just reads "We come To Y ur Superm rket". Its something you can picture out of a zombie/postapocolyptic movie. We needed permission to use the area because it was still private property but they let us use it, I set the car up in there and have Corban sit in the car and I readied the camera. I could'nt ask for a better starting location.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
A2 Production Update
It's been a while but I'm back! And with news. I will post the updates in their own sections but for now I will say that progress has been made. Before, the story was fairly complicated and I had always wanted to simplify it so now the story is as follows:
Our character wakes up in a car. In an abandoned car park. Just this will give you an idea of how the film will look. We have no names and no dialogue for the first part. He makes his way out and stumbles around shouting for any life. Through the shot we can tell someone is watching him and our main character sees a glimpse and begins to run. He makes his way to an abandoned street, sounds of ambulances and sirens and crashes can be heard in the background, he makes his way up the street to see a lone busker on the other side of the street playing (track undecided) and just looking at him as he walks past. They exchange glances with an almost desperation to communicate but they don't, as our character walks off the music dies off in the distance. The pace picks up slightly as our character grows more nervous of who or what is following. He eventually ends up along an alley with the one door in the side of the building. With no where else to go he enters and stops dead as he comes out. He ends up in the same car park he was before looking at himself in the car, as he was earlier. The story goes around in a circle.
Deep stuff, kind of. More updates on the way!
Our character wakes up in a car. In an abandoned car park. Just this will give you an idea of how the film will look. We have no names and no dialogue for the first part. He makes his way out and stumbles around shouting for any life. Through the shot we can tell someone is watching him and our main character sees a glimpse and begins to run. He makes his way to an abandoned street, sounds of ambulances and sirens and crashes can be heard in the background, he makes his way up the street to see a lone busker on the other side of the street playing (track undecided) and just looking at him as he walks past. They exchange glances with an almost desperation to communicate but they don't, as our character walks off the music dies off in the distance. The pace picks up slightly as our character grows more nervous of who or what is following. He eventually ends up along an alley with the one door in the side of the building. With no where else to go he enters and stops dead as he comes out. He ends up in the same car park he was before looking at himself in the car, as he was earlier. The story goes around in a circle.
Deep stuff, kind of. More updates on the way!
Monday, 8 November 2010
A2 Production Experiment Shots
In the next 2 weeks I plan to spend an hour or more at a particular location just experimenting with a few shots so I can have an idea of how i might want a scene in the film to look. My production doesnt go to crazy with locations, infact they're quite basic. So far I only need a living room (it will technically be a flat but I only really need a living room with a TV) and a fairly busy urban area, just a town will do. There will be other locations but I will be more clear with those as I have more ideas for the film. I might possibly need a few houses, a work-place and more urban areas. For now I think I will only be trying a few shots of my main character walking from one house to the other through the town. I want to be able to perfect filming a character through a town but being able to show which person is the main character. I also want to be able to see how I can that the character is troubled, almost out of place.
I will try this this weekend, come back with a simple range of shots and upload them. I shall report back then with those shots and hopefully i'll have more of an idea how I want the scene to act out.
I will try this this weekend, come back with a simple range of shots and upload them. I shall report back then with those shots and hopefully i'll have more of an idea how I want the scene to act out.
Thursday, 21 October 2010
A2 Production Concepts and Ideas
For our AS brief we were asked to make a 2 minute thriller film opening and I really enjoyed this brief as I love thriller films (esp. psychological thrillers) and I decided for the A2 brief to choose the 5 minute short film in its entirety so I could make a full psychological thriller short. I'm a big fan of psychological thrillers and I had recently seen the film Shutter Island, which is now one of my favourite films, and that film inspired me a lot for my ideas. I love the concept of there being 2 separate realities, in Shutter Island there is reality and there is the protagonists fantasy world which we are fooled to believe is the real world. I love this idea and I decided to add that to my film.
I needed a reason for there being a separate reality and the idea was thrown about that the film would follow a simple character, just a late teenager enjoying his life when it is sent down hill after he experiences a crash and enters a coma. There it looks like its going back to reality but this is just a fantasy world in this coma and it was just a question of how he would come back.
Primary ideas are in the last post "A2 Production plan" but I have ultimately come up with a rough storyline that goes as follows:
We follow a simple late teenager leaving his flat on his way to work. The starts as simple as that, but there is something about this particular morning that feels out of place. The news in the papers and on TV talks of a crash, there are faint sounds of sirens in the background and the character generally looks troubled. This is the introduction and the rest of the film acts as a crescendo almost. Things get more tense, the character becomes more troubled, more hints to crashes/hospitals as the film goes on and there's an ever sense of growing panic. The audience is not sure what for and nor is he, yet there will be something or a kind of goal he has to reach at the end. This builds and builds up to a climax which I will keep secret for now ;) whether he reaches his goal or not and whats really going on, what is the meaning of all the sirens and links to crashes? Who is he looking for?
I'm still fairly unclear as how I want the ending to happen, but I do want a sense of panic and I hope the audience will worry for the character and whether he reaches his goal, whatever it is.
I needed a reason for there being a separate reality and the idea was thrown about that the film would follow a simple character, just a late teenager enjoying his life when it is sent down hill after he experiences a crash and enters a coma. There it looks like its going back to reality but this is just a fantasy world in this coma and it was just a question of how he would come back.
Primary ideas are in the last post "A2 Production plan" but I have ultimately come up with a rough storyline that goes as follows:
We follow a simple late teenager leaving his flat on his way to work. The starts as simple as that, but there is something about this particular morning that feels out of place. The news in the papers and on TV talks of a crash, there are faint sounds of sirens in the background and the character generally looks troubled. This is the introduction and the rest of the film acts as a crescendo almost. Things get more tense, the character becomes more troubled, more hints to crashes/hospitals as the film goes on and there's an ever sense of growing panic. The audience is not sure what for and nor is he, yet there will be something or a kind of goal he has to reach at the end. This builds and builds up to a climax which I will keep secret for now ;) whether he reaches his goal or not and whats really going on, what is the meaning of all the sirens and links to crashes? Who is he looking for?
I'm still fairly unclear as how I want the ending to happen, but I do want a sense of panic and I hope the audience will worry for the character and whether he reaches his goal, whatever it is.
Thursday, 14 October 2010
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