This is a rough little script for my client project advert..........
An Insect’s Worst Nightmare.
Scene 1. Int. Living Room. Day.
The main character, Jack, is sat down reading a newspaper/watching television. Suddenly there is the sound of a door being open aggressively.
Cut to:
Scene 2. Int. Living Room. Day.
A giant insect is standing in the doorway. One arm on the open door. He is staring at Jack.
Cut to:
Scene 3. Int. Close Up of Jack’s face. Day
A look of extreme, over dramatic fear comes over Jack’s face. Soon followed by rage.
Cut to:
Scene 4. Close up of insect’s face. Day.
The insect has not moved an muscle.
Cut to:
Scene 5. Int. Living Room. Day.
Both character’s charge for each other colliding in the middle of the room and falling to the ground together. They continue to wrestle for 15-20 seconds, forcing each other into different rooms.
Cut to:
Scene 6. Int. Hall way. Day.
As the fight is reaching it’s climax, Jack reaches for a can of insect repellent. In the background the buzz of an alarm clock gets louder.
Cut to:
Scene 7. Int. Bedroom. Night.
The alarm clock gets louder as we can now see the bedroom it is in. There is a big double bed in the middle of the room. A hand reaches out and turns it off. Then we see the insect in bed. He sits up, wipes away a cold sweat from his brow and falls back down on the bed.
Cut to:
Scene 7. Int. Living Room. Day.
Jack is pointing the can at the camera in an angry face while the text reads. “Fly Swatter – An Insect’s Worst Nightmare”.
The End
I'm really looking forward to making this bad boy, if i can get it looking how it is in my head i think it'll be really cool...... One word that is ringing in my head though, choreography. I'm currently storyboarding but i need my actors to know exactly what they're doing and where they're going. I read an interview with Matt Damon about the fight scenes in the new Bourne film (which rocks by the way) and he said it was just like learning a really fast dance....... So maybe i'll get my actors to pull out their dancing shoes......
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Advert
This is an advert i saw a few months ago now but i just think it's absolutely amazing..... it's got that Usual Suspects thing of two different performances. One for the first time you watch it and a completely different audience experience the second time you watch it.
Anyway, enjoy ! and try not to watch it again the second it's finished.....
Anyway, enjoy ! and try not to watch it again the second it's finished.....
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Web Help
Today Deborah Tuck gave us these websites.....
http://del.icio.us/
http://clipmarks.com/
they have already proven to be quiet useful.
You see !? three posts in one day !! i'm back to the good old days......
http://del.icio.us/
http://clipmarks.com/
they have already proven to be quiet useful.
You see !? three posts in one day !! i'm back to the good old days......
The Holding Pattern
I think having the one piece of work for this whole module really helped me. In the same way i am looking forward to my third year work, i was concentrating on one particular project for many months. This meant that for all of my time spent on the direction module was focusing on one goal. One 'vision' if you will.....
I drew out plans and stuck to them, allowing me ample time to re-write, re-shoot and re-edit the film in a hope to achieve exactly what i set out for at the start of my documentation. With no disrespect to the other modules, I was quite passionate about my film and would never have forgiven myself if i had handed in a copy i thought could have been better. Obviously, and somewhat ironically, i have grown to dislike parts of the film. One scene in particular where Bogdan changes the radio station from the backing song to a Russian song. The character's dip out of the narrative and into the audience's third-party view now feels out of place. Similar thoughts were echoed in Jool's marking of the film. I also think the film lacks a shot of the radio Bogdan is using.
Throughout the edit i tried to make editorial changes in order to stay true to the film's overall feel and mood. Drawing back to my passion for the module and determination to hand something i would be proud of, i decided to cut a scene i had re-shot three times in my final edit. The scene was one added to the script my myself in order to create more sympathy for Bogdan when he encounters a group of British youths and things turn nasty as they abuse him, racially and psychically. As a director i did not fully control the scene in the first take and allowed the actors to move freely around making editing through the camera shots virtually impossible. The second take was choreographed much better but problems occured again with the takes and audio problems were also apparent. The third take was a lot better, having already made two quite crucial errors in the first two takes i knew exactly what to do with the third.
With the scene edited i umm'ed and ahh'ed about whether or not to keep it in it's original place in the film. I moved the scene around into different parts, each time watching the whole film through and asking myself is it really relevant ? what does it bring to the story ? and where does it take the story ? My answer.... to an overly aggressive and un-nesessary area. It was hard completely cutting the scene i had laboured over for so long but looking back now i 100% agree with my decision. Also, with the flash back sequence right at the end of the film i was able to include a few frames from the scene in order to tell the audience Bogdan's life was not a pleasant one. I had so much footage that did not make the final cut most of the flash back sequence is fresh, new footage of 'filler' scenes. Ideas i came up with on the shoot, like Bogdan crying on his bed, Bogdan packing his bag, Bogdan coming home after the encounter with the youths. With these scenes included in the final cut the film was aprox. 7 minutes long. So using them to move the story along was very satisfying. I painstakingly edited that final scene, watching every flash before adding or deleting one or two frames so the audience did not see some as clearly as others. For example, the first frame of the envelope was only short, to grab the audience's attention and maybe brace them for the flash sequence. Whereas the first flash of the altercation is much longer than those that came before it. I wanted to get the pace of the attack portrayed in the flash so the audience sees Bogdan's flinch backward as the youth approaches him. Then three flashes of the back being packed, the photograph left and Bogdan's final look of the room brings the story right to the present as my new best friend from Coventry City Council calls him back to reality. The lady, Rita, really stole the show i think !!! i owe her everything. My main concern for the film was not being able to portray the 'government building' correctly but having a member of staff from an actual government building with a rather substantial speaking role told me i had nothing to worry about !!!
I wanted the audience to connect in some way with Bogdan and hopefully sympathize with him. I asked myself what does an audience need in order to connect with a character ? Sympathy ? the character's possitive attitude in a negative situation ? or a clear understanding of the character's aims and needs ? I am in awe of writers who can draw in the audience's relationship with a character before taking the story to it's climax. A few of my favourite examples of these are Bjork's character Selma in Dancer in the Dark. Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream and Tim and Dawn from The Office. Drawing on my experiences, when all three stories reach their emotional end the audience is either in highest ecstasy or trying to shake a horrible feeling from the bottom of their stomach. This kind of story telling really inspires me, you would not feel these emotions if you were not emotionally connected to these characters and i think by the end of a story if you are not feeling anything for the characters, either it be positive or negative, the director has failed. I hope the people watching The Holding Pattern felt something at the final scene.
You can view the full film and the deleted scene below..... Hopefully you'll agree that the scene is just faaaaaaaaaaaaar too aggressive for the finished cut. (Excuse the quality, i haven't really mastered the compressor)
The Holding Pattern :
Deleted Scene :
ohhhh this quality is awful !! i'll replace it when i get the time....
I drew out plans and stuck to them, allowing me ample time to re-write, re-shoot and re-edit the film in a hope to achieve exactly what i set out for at the start of my documentation. With no disrespect to the other modules, I was quite passionate about my film and would never have forgiven myself if i had handed in a copy i thought could have been better. Obviously, and somewhat ironically, i have grown to dislike parts of the film. One scene in particular where Bogdan changes the radio station from the backing song to a Russian song. The character's dip out of the narrative and into the audience's third-party view now feels out of place. Similar thoughts were echoed in Jool's marking of the film. I also think the film lacks a shot of the radio Bogdan is using.
Throughout the edit i tried to make editorial changes in order to stay true to the film's overall feel and mood. Drawing back to my passion for the module and determination to hand something i would be proud of, i decided to cut a scene i had re-shot three times in my final edit. The scene was one added to the script my myself in order to create more sympathy for Bogdan when he encounters a group of British youths and things turn nasty as they abuse him, racially and psychically. As a director i did not fully control the scene in the first take and allowed the actors to move freely around making editing through the camera shots virtually impossible. The second take was choreographed much better but problems occured again with the takes and audio problems were also apparent. The third take was a lot better, having already made two quite crucial errors in the first two takes i knew exactly what to do with the third.
With the scene edited i umm'ed and ahh'ed about whether or not to keep it in it's original place in the film. I moved the scene around into different parts, each time watching the whole film through and asking myself is it really relevant ? what does it bring to the story ? and where does it take the story ? My answer.... to an overly aggressive and un-nesessary area. It was hard completely cutting the scene i had laboured over for so long but looking back now i 100% agree with my decision. Also, with the flash back sequence right at the end of the film i was able to include a few frames from the scene in order to tell the audience Bogdan's life was not a pleasant one. I had so much footage that did not make the final cut most of the flash back sequence is fresh, new footage of 'filler' scenes. Ideas i came up with on the shoot, like Bogdan crying on his bed, Bogdan packing his bag, Bogdan coming home after the encounter with the youths. With these scenes included in the final cut the film was aprox. 7 minutes long. So using them to move the story along was very satisfying. I painstakingly edited that final scene, watching every flash before adding or deleting one or two frames so the audience did not see some as clearly as others. For example, the first frame of the envelope was only short, to grab the audience's attention and maybe brace them for the flash sequence. Whereas the first flash of the altercation is much longer than those that came before it. I wanted to get the pace of the attack portrayed in the flash so the audience sees Bogdan's flinch backward as the youth approaches him. Then three flashes of the back being packed, the photograph left and Bogdan's final look of the room brings the story right to the present as my new best friend from Coventry City Council calls him back to reality. The lady, Rita, really stole the show i think !!! i owe her everything. My main concern for the film was not being able to portray the 'government building' correctly but having a member of staff from an actual government building with a rather substantial speaking role told me i had nothing to worry about !!!
I wanted the audience to connect in some way with Bogdan and hopefully sympathize with him. I asked myself what does an audience need in order to connect with a character ? Sympathy ? the character's possitive attitude in a negative situation ? or a clear understanding of the character's aims and needs ? I am in awe of writers who can draw in the audience's relationship with a character before taking the story to it's climax. A few of my favourite examples of these are Bjork's character Selma in Dancer in the Dark. Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream and Tim and Dawn from The Office. Drawing on my experiences, when all three stories reach their emotional end the audience is either in highest ecstasy or trying to shake a horrible feeling from the bottom of their stomach. This kind of story telling really inspires me, you would not feel these emotions if you were not emotionally connected to these characters and i think by the end of a story if you are not feeling anything for the characters, either it be positive or negative, the director has failed. I hope the people watching The Holding Pattern felt something at the final scene.
You can view the full film and the deleted scene below..... Hopefully you'll agree that the scene is just faaaaaaaaaaaaar too aggressive for the finished cut. (Excuse the quality, i haven't really mastered the compressor)
The Holding Pattern :
Deleted Scene :
ohhhh this quality is awful !! i'll replace it when i get the time....
My days !
has it really been January since my last post ? good lord that is embarrassing. Well i hereby go on record as saying i will try and keep this up to date no matter what work piles up, which should be none ! i think that is what caused lack of updates. The whole animation thing, me and animation did not really get on too well. I will certainly not be putting any of my animation work on here for the world to see..... I was semi-happy with my web design work overall, very embarrassed by the animation work overall but, thankfully, quite pleased with my direction for camera work. So i will fill you in on the blanks.......
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