Main Film/Project | Action Details and Team Update

I have blocked out my initial ideas of how I feel the story should unfold, in actions, as well as some shot ideas. I have spoken about this with Michal Zagorski and he has added a few more ideas. He will add more, and we will both meet with Kyle Wilson over the coming weeks and months and really develop it further from a technically implementing it view (even with other individuals who will be involved in supporting the art direction and continuity aspects, or costume and make-up, for example).

Next semester we will run a few trial tests for the shots and effects and get the final shoot wrapped nearer the end of that semester. I will also implement research into my chosen areas of study for this film.

Action/ rough shot ideas:

• Close-up - Protagonist talking to someone (his brother) who is not seen
• Jump cut. Wide shot - Protag standing alone on the street, talking directed at no one. Isolated
• He seems to believe the person has run off, unbeknown to the audience
• He runs through a doorway from the street
• Appears into, and looks around daunted, a large fairly undefinable interior (a mixture of settings - home, office, station/public place, hospital)
• He looks to the side - at a corner - and then goes around that corner, walking with direction and curiosity
• Extreme long shot - POV - He sees someone/the person in the distance, from behind - that person runs/walks around a corner casting a shadow behind them (we do not see the side of their body - it is cast by a wall, pillar or other structure)
• He shouts "Simon!" … " "
• He follows them, then we see a long corridor with a door disconcertingly at the end, very small. Focus is pushed and pulled
• He makes his way to the door in a direct fashion, seeing home furnishings along the way - which weren't visible in the previous long shot
• POV - he opens the door - It reveals a large (or small. Undecided) interior full of office furnishings such as desks and tables and lamps, and one man at a desk working (only lamp which is switched on is shining on his desk), with a fairly blank expression on his face (Wide to medium shot as character approaches  them). An older man. There is a door seen at the end of this room. (the room resembles both an office and a home)
• The protagonist asks if this man has seen his brother, as he is looking for him, and he believes he must have gone this way
• The man replies "You have to look after each other" and confuses the protagonist
• He makes his way passed the old man and towards the door at the end of the room, not even thinking about turning back around
• Extreme long shot - chasing a shadow from the right side of the screen/interior to the left (the room resembles a hospital or public place)
• He makes his way through a corridor of doors of multiple colours. One door opens then there is another one, then they all open themselves/automatically to reveal endless amounts of doors
• He makes his way through all of the doors flying around and at him, and eventually after building pace, he finds his way out of the door in which he entered the interior through, leaving him on the street he started at
• Close-up - He is thinking and still panicking slightly, he looks to the side, and relaxes and shuffles a little, maybe tickling his nose
• Medium-Wide shot - The camera cuts out again. This time he is standing with his conjoined twin brother who is chatting up and flirting with a girl on the street.

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The team (initial hopes):

Producer - Fraser Murdoch

Directing - Fraser Murdoch, Kyle Wilson

Concept - Mark Grossi, Tom Paxton

Writing/storyboarding - Fraser Murdoch, Michal Zagorski, Kyle Wilson

Cinematography - Michal Zagorski

Make-up/costume - Jill Sime, Jillian Crabbe

Sound/music - Arek Draiurzynski

Technical advisor/technician - Matt Cameron

Art direction/continuity - ___

CG Modeling - Lina Ivanova

Compositing - Fraser Murdoch

Research (MSc) - Fraser Murdoch

Actors - Joseph Hood, (and an actress, maybe Alona Kiricenko)

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N.B. JUST TO MAKE THIS VERY CLEAR, I AM MERELY A CO-WRITER AND CO-DIRECTOR, - SO I AM EVEN SHARING THESE ROLES. MY MAIN ROLE AND FOCUS IS COMPOSITING, AND THE PROJECT REVOLVES AROUND COMPOSITING TECHNIQUES TO TELL THE STORY.

'The Escapist' - Music Video - Sequence Synopsis

This is the notes for the details for the surreal sequence I am leading for the music video for the song 'The Escapist' with Michal Zagorski.

It is based in VFX and compositing.

Concept image. Going for more of a 'cartoony' bat/style.

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The Escapist

Surreal sequence details

IN VIDEO WE GET TO:

Extreme long shot - car driving at night

Long shot - car stops, lights start to flow out of headlights slightly into sky

Extreme Long shot - lights expanding into sky

Long shot - Kyle gets out of car/opens door, and lights sharply snap back into headlights

Side of door shot - Kyle getting out of car and going to the boot

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After boot shot of bats' eyes and rustling

POV of bats looking at Kyle - Bats fly/swarm out of boot towards Kyle covering him completely but sometimes revealing his eyes (particle system as well as 2-and-a-half-D bats of varying scales)

      Bat size width of Kyle's face/half size of face

      Millions of bats

Long shot - Kyle at boot, bats (lit by both headlights only) fly/swarm towards sky past both headlights to either side of the screen. 

Extreme-extreme long shot - They change direction like swarms of birds in sky

   Bats aim to cover all of sky

   They then hang in sky upside-down, shuffling

   They sync to black

   We see their cartoony eyes blinking, then glowing like stars

   A red moon comes in

   This looks very beautiful

After this - we see the ground as an x-ray - roots, rocks and stones, moles and giant ants building things, skeletons

   Like death and ugliness

Bats then fly off dragging the sun behind

Sky and ground fades out to reveal the original shot.

THEN REST OF VIDEO...

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I am now storyboarding this sequence.

Working with Thomas Hogben on this shot, and possibly others. This continues onto the start of next year/semester 2. Particle tests have already been created, and look promising. A pre-vis is planned to be created by the beginning of this December.

Character/Scenario Development 2

As for the final piece, I think I am settled on a premise to explore and develop.

Last time, I posted Mark Grossi's concepts. I was favouring the idea of a man searching for his brother through a strange environment, later to reveal that he has been hallucinating and he is still in fact conjoined to his siamese twin brother.

Mark has pitched, since, another concept. Here it is:

A man is struggling through the city streets - cold, tired, hungry and jobless. As he fumbled through the crowds, he makes it into the job centre to find a job. He leaves (successfully/unsuccessfully) but something happens to him that sends him spinning into the throes of death. An angry voice is heard followed by a loud bang - we zoom out of the incident, through a tv to see an unemployed guy in a messy, unkept flat furious that his character on the game died.

Tom Paxton has also provided his ideas for the film:

1.

A visitor to an unknown city, wandering lost in the streets. He is a kind and well liked man, but he is also proud, and would never consider stopping to ask for directions despite the fact that with every step he takes he becomes more and more lost. As he becomes anxious and frustrated with his situation, the very city around him seems to loom above him, becoming more alien and unwelcoming then ever. He has a map, but it seems not to correspond to the unfriendly land around him, and even as he looks at it the coloured lines and text seem to squirm and rearrange themselves in front of him.Slightly unsure of the ending. Could eventually find his way by sheer fluke.
and reassure himself that he knew the way all along and was never lost.*
Or possibly have an ending where something bad happens to him if you wanted to make it darker.

2.

A guy in a hospital, the nurse is telling him that it's for something serious, though he is convinced there is nothing wrong with him and that the hospital staff are imposters keeping him for shadier purposes. Once the nurse is gone he attempts to leave, but the building is disorientating and unnatural in it's layout and architecture, like something out of a dream. You're then left with the chance to decide whether he is just delusional from sickness and drugs, or actually correct in his paranoia about the ulterior motives of the staff. Or you could just leave it open to interpretation.

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The concepts here are along the same lines as we discussed - a setting exposing the character, and the feeling of being lost or on a quest.

I am now convinced I want to go ahead and use the concept of the siamese twins for my final piece. Hopefully I'll be able to explore this as far as possible to complete the piece whilst still ticking the academic boxes. I feel it does tick the boxes for what I want to explore this year - visually, technically, and I will bring my studies of film into this very easily, I feel...

I have spoken to cinematographer Michal Zagorski about this and we are to have a few meetings again later, and talk to some other collaborators of ours.

Myself, Mark and Tom will be in discussion through the development of the script.

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Hopefully a first draft script will be written up soon/for the beginning of December. (It will be developed more thoroughly briefly after this...)

Character/Scenario Development 1

I had a meeting last week with Mark Grossi and Tom Paxton, who graduated from Animation and Electronic Media (BA Hons) this summer with me.

We went through the project and communicated the main objectives in the piece I have discussed briefly in other posts.

Mark has provided his first few starter concepts.

Here they are:-

- A man has constant nightmares of searching for his brother through large, pertinacious rooms and constructs. His brother is always within sight but he can never reach him. Shattered and despondent, he's plagued by these scenarios crafted by his subconcious. He awakes in a sweat and breathing heavily, but is soon calmed to find his conjoined brother is still there next to him.

***

- A happy go lucky kind of guy. He takes to the streets with a spring in his step and seems to be amazed and enchanted by his surroundings (what he 'sees' can be embellished or fabricated: everything is breathtaking). Whenever a person walks past with a dog a smile flashes up on his face as he immediately squats down and talks to the dog as if it were human (completely ignoring the dog walker). This happens a few times along with other incidents until something triggers the reality that he is in fact a dog being walked down a dreary street.

***

And here is an optional third:-

- A bitter and resentful character who left his wife after their kid died at an early age. He lives a life of not only regret, but denial; refusing to face the realities of his actions. He didn't leave his wife because he was inherently nasty, but because he was weak and every passing day her face would remind him of their daughter.

He knows deep down that he has to confront this fear for the sake of not only his mental state but, most importantly, his wife and daughter.

***

Let me know what you think is your favourite and any ideas on them if you'd like.

Initially what I like about these is the simple premise which I can develop around visuals and techniques and influences, etc, which also have a nice twist in the (dog's) tale. This is the simplicity I'm looking for, whilst being a rounded concept.

The second character is a funny one. It seems original, but I'm also thinking how I will reveal it is in fact a dog. But again, it is visual through a subjective viewpoint, which is what we are looking to create. 
The first one is in the lead for me, at the moment, because the character has a clear desire which will drive the short piece - and is a simple gag and interesting to play with...
It will be good to develop both, they are interesting and I am very keen to make these. But, I am waiting out for other ideas, and see if they change a little as well...

With these ideas collecting, I am getting more excited about exploring these visuals and techniques.

More ideas to come from Mark Grossi's creative brain...

Tom Paxton is also working on his starter ideas at the moment. A string of posts imminent.

Basic Outline of Film

The film I want to produce:

A film of industry standard visuals and usage of compositing techniques, as close as possible.

A character-based film.

The environment (CG) should reflect the inner thoughts of the character.

We explore this environment and them, esp. through pure cinema techniques.

Environments of depth and fog, for example, for a cinematic look.

The character is out of place, or confused, and desires insight or validation, for example.

Comedic, but mysterious in tone...

...The character is self-destructive, but it is a thought that they get what they want...

The team so far:

Director/compositor - Fraser Murdoch

Writers - Fraser Murdoch, Mark Grossi, Tom Paxton...

Director of Photography/cinematographer - Michal Zagorski

3D modeller - Lina Ivanova

(Possible) Assistant director - Kyle Wilson

(Possible) Technical advisor - Matt Cameron

Actors - Fraser Murdoch, Alona Kiricenko, Iain McLachlan...

Other roles such as concept art, texturing, lighting, etc, are fully to be taken up by myself, Fraser Murdoch, as it currently stands...

Writing and further brainstorming is underway fully beginning tomorrow with initially Tom and Mark.

References so far (notable examples):

Film noir - visuals and atmosphere

Alfred Hitchcock - pure cinema

Jeff Desom - VFX in live action films

Alex Beh - entertainment style

M.P.C. - cinematic composites

The Mill projects - VFX

Martin Scorsese - use of film history

George Melies - editing trickery

Charlie Chaplin - central character - acting/performance

La Strada - "

'The Trial' - setting and atmosphere

Dundee - setting - derelict mills/factories

Kirkcaldy - "

...

Notes for 48HFP

We have been given groups and met up when we've had time to put into perspective what it is we want to achieve the 48 hour film project this week.

I led by saying with the time we have we can't write a very detailed script, and in a 48hfp you need to have something simple which is technically speaking 'good'.

I feel we need to concentrate on shooting well, having effects and sound quality to as high a quality as possible, with clear storytelling through simple cinematic techniques (such as pure cinema editing) and a simple enough premise.

Other important thoughts and discussion points were the best locations and equipment for the time we have. Luckily I have a car, which should work.

We have cleared up a lot of things, and I introduced a character I was developing which fits in well to most things we discussed. It seems to have all pieced together quite naturally. But, obviously there is a lot to consider, and I have made a point of bringing them all up. I have even contacted individuals who have done well with the 48hfp in Dundee in the summer. It also seems I have volunteered myself for acting.

By cutting down on actors and the demand on them you allow a less-amateur film to be produced. In theory. I better get into my new role as a homeless man.

Here is my roughly written synopsis. I am writing the script at the moment. Then tomorrow we are going to discuss equipment and scheduling, etc.:

Synopsis

The homeless man sits in a busy homeless shelter. He sits still as people rush around him, acting like idiots, gesturing about fights they were in. Looking straight into the camera/audience's eyes.

Led by a voice over, the homeless man takes us into his thoughts and opinions. His opinions may be wrong or misguided/not in perspective. Only in opening.

He speaks of the worst homeless shelters to stay, and his philosophy on money.

He finds himself in the mountainside looking for a homeless shelter/institute – completely lost. Expecting to see a large city surrounding it. His sister drops him off. He has no money. 

He speaks of winning a young offenders prize in photography.

His visual mind is overwhelmed by the extraordinary scenery. He is short sighted/minded and first of all the depth of focus is short for shots of the landscape.

He gets further lost through woodland areas looking for this building. His sight begins to blur and he slightly loses consciousness. He is looking too close-in to see anything of value or what he is looking for.

He goes a little mad in a sense that it is all too much for him as he is so used to the city scenery. Everything is so natural, and there is hardly any concrete. As he goes mad it intercuts and layers up with shots of the city, such as busy roundabouts when he is lost and walking around in 'circles'.

After a while of searching, and opening is found in the woodland. He finds a spot to rest on a log or rock. After resting he opens his eyes to see a fuller spectrum of the scenery. He gets up and walks a few paces to find the large building he was looking for.

This is intercut with the drab indoor environment of a fairly poor quality homeless shelter, with him sitting disillusioned and bored, staring forward, still as a statue, as people move around him (long exposure/sped up), as well as other things happening.

It ends with a relieved face, or beautiful things and colours around him. The realisation is meant to be that money isn’t all that is important once you take yourself out of the urban environment and the character, whom the audience has began to know has grown or learned something new which is valuable to many, for free.

Style

Shot in pure cinema style (Hitchcock took pride in employing), where we get to know the character through his reaction to what he sees in that environment, and in turn having a sense of place for the audience as well.

Concentrate on good, cinematic, technical shots, with sharp sound quality. Simple storytelling, simple acting, good quality storytelling…

Fairly fast paced cuts, intercut with longer, more thoughtful ones. As well as visual effects. Generally an appealing watch for audiences. The character should lead the film well by expressions and the way they are edited with the things he is looking at. Clear storytelling. Very visual.

Colour correction to make high contrast, low saturation, even vignette.