Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Monday, January 16, 2017
Location finalizations
After drawing up a brief sketch in this post regarding the filming locations, I went and found the actual locations. Here are some photos and comparisons with the concept sketches
1. The office
I think this room is quite interesting because the way it is decorated is differing in both corners. It can be used to show the personality and power of each characters during the interrogation scene.
On the other hand, it did not fully follow the original room I had in my storyboard and the decorations made it look unconventional, especially because of the painting at the back. Positively, if the painting is positioned on the detective's side of the interrogation, it can foreshow his inner fragility and his idealistic perception of society to the audience
3. The detective's house/kitchen
In the original opening, a fish tank was to be included in order to convey the idea of creating your own miniature world according to your needs. Within a fish tank, the environment is more easily controlled and manipulated, unlike the real world where there will always be things that remain uncontrollable, such as injustice. It reflect's on the protagonist's strong desire of restoring justice and righteousness onto society, but is stopped as he can't control everything.
1. The office
Shoot location: Mom's working room
This room is quite conventional to the genre of thrillers as it's colour palette is very restricted, remaining with colors of more lifeless hues such as dark brown and green. The room's furnishing also gives off a professional impression that can show the audience that the protagonist is a middle class and high ranking Detective.
2.interrogation room
Shoot location: Multipurpose room at a Condo
I think this room is quite interesting because the way it is decorated is differing in both corners. It can be used to show the personality and power of each characters during the interrogation scene.
On the other hand, it did not fully follow the original room I had in my storyboard and the decorations made it look unconventional, especially because of the painting at the back. Positively, if the painting is positioned on the detective's side of the interrogation, it can foreshow his inner fragility and his idealistic perception of society to the audience
3. The detective's house/kitchen
shoot location: a room at my condo
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| The dining area (the kitchen where we will film is on the left!) |
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| The kitchen area |
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| Where the cooking takes place. The Spice rack may act as a good establishing sot for the film. |
I deliberately chose to use the condo unit as a house setting because it creates meaning and also allows the film to become more relatable to the audience (Particularly in countries where condo's and apartments are rising in popularity). This is because in today's Thai society, the idea of living in a Condominium has become more endorsed due to things such as property costs, living space and the changes in people's ways of life.
Furthermore, these high rise rooms show the idea of isolation and helplessness. In the film, the Detective arrives at the condo to find both his wife and son murdered and feels guilty as he wasn't able to protect them.
Furthermore, these high rise rooms show the idea of isolation and helplessness. In the film, the Detective arrives at the condo to find both his wife and son murdered and feels guilty as he wasn't able to protect them.
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| The fish tank mentioned . |
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| Bonus picture: one of the fish tank inhabitants!! |
In the original opening, a fish tank was to be included in order to convey the idea of creating your own miniature world according to your needs. Within a fish tank, the environment is more easily controlled and manipulated, unlike the real world where there will always be things that remain uncontrollable, such as injustice. It reflect's on the protagonist's strong desire of restoring justice and righteousness onto society, but is stopped as he can't control everything.
4. The "flashback scene" pool+balcony
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| *this picture was taken in the evening to ensure that most of the settings can be seen, the real footage will be filmed at night. |
The view will give the flashback scene a high amount of significance as it emphasises the Detective's love for his wife and family. Instead of observing the Skyscraper-esque city views below him, he accepts his future wife's confession of love, showing that she means more than the world to him.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
16/01/2017 class notes: The difference between "shoot" and "script" locations
Shoot Location: Where the film is shot in real life
Script Location: The location in the film
For example, this scene is filmed in a small office but in the opening, it is an interrogation room.
Location plans
Today I outlined a brief plan of the locations that I will be filming at. Here is my sketch:
1. The Detective's work place:
Shoot Location: Mom's working room
2. Corridor to the interrogation room
Shoot location: Unknown/unconfirmed
3. The Interrogation Room
Shoot location: Unknown
4. The detective's house
Shoot location: My house (a condominium)
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
11/1/2017 Are we all one or are we alone?
I found a facebook post about a japanese boxer (Genki Sudo) who held up a sign saying "we are all one" instead of his national flag.
I then though if you remove some letters from it, you get
"we are alone"
reflecting the idea of separating from a union.
It immediately came to my mind that this could be used as the film's title/ as a part of the mise-en-scene as the plot starts with the detective losing his family, the thing that unites them together and makes them "all one". He then isolates himself from everyone else, having to go through waves of grief.
This can also act as a metaphor for society. Every social class is not united but separated. Under some situations (eg: Strikes), the classes go against each other while others are unwilling to lend a helping hand. Though under world scale threats , they may unite becoming all one to cease the threat.
10/01/2017 "Alone" Plot ammendments
A detective is tasked with interrogating a young worker who has been responsible for the murder of a rich oligarch. He then argues that he had to do it to save his family-the only thing he has left. Although it is clear who the suspect is, the oligarch’s cohorts have a desire be on the side where the light of righteousness shines. (they do not want to be proven guilty). The try to bribe the detective but he refuses not wanting to become a corrupt member of society. This time they threaten him using connections (“I know your boss” attitude) and stating “If you fail to compromise with our terms, bad things will happen to you”.
2 days later, the interrogation will take place. Even though he has high levels of experience in dealing with similar cases, he feels tense and unconfident. He looks in the mirror reassuring himself that this is just “another case to solve” . While walking towards the interrogation room he fidgets but forces himself to go on anyway. The suspect awaits in the darkness
From his files, the detective pulls out a photograph related to the incident which is immediately recognized by the suspect. He points to one of the people in the photo asking questions such as “you did that didn't you?” . The suspect holds the photos in his cuffed hands clenching it tightly. (It's a photo of the murder victim). With the truth becoming obvious , the detective moves closer and closer (using physical intimidation) to the suspect in order to force him to confess his crimes. With his personal space collapsing, the suspect smashes his fists on the table as a show of violence and power. The detective moves back in response showing a shift in power between the 2 characters.The suspect then makes a statement that he committed the murder to save his loved ones. At this point, the detective begins to show some sympathy for him as he too, has a family to tend. Having flash backs of his wife, he starts to question his own situation and falls into a dilemma. He wants to save the suspect but at the same time fears the oligarchy's coercive nature. There is then a Bird’s eye view shot of the interrogation table resembling a security camera (implies they're being watched but who is watching them?)
The suspect is proven guilty and gets harsh punishment. The detective however is left in a distressed state, shoving things back into his folder and calling in the guards. As the detective leaves, he looks back in regret, hunch walking away. The suspect smiles knowing he/she has pierced his achilles spot.
The phone rings when he receives a message from his wife saying that she’s preparing steak. He replies showing enthusiasm. His wife looks at her phone, smiles and starts to prepare the steak as her husband struggles through the end-of-work traffic.
Motivated by a tasty dinner, he quickly comes home but notices things are getting abnormal. The steak is left unfinished, Fish tank lights not turned off, flower vase spilt and a trial of blood. He messages his wife getting a "read" notification but no reply. Out of desperation, he dials her and can hear her phone from a distance, thus following the sound to it's source. Both the sound and trail of blood can be sourced from the room of his wife. Both the detective's wife and child can be seen lying lifelessly on the bathroom floor as the phone's ringtone repeats in a horrifying manner. There is also a blood stained and torn family portrait drawn by his child. The opening ends blacking out as the ringtone continues playing.
Post opening, the film's plot will focus on the detective seeking revenge on the people who had atken away his family.
Spoiler: he follows the oligarchy’s threats of harshly punishing the young worker, unbeknownst that it was an act of insignificance since either way, the oligarchy was still going to kill his family.
Opening plot dilemmas
Though my film had a solid plot, the real question was now how to present it in a span of 2 minutes.
1. The detective has breakfast/lunch as we pan around seeing his family and house. He then leaves to perform the interrogation. After the interrogation he comes back, tries to call his wife only to be obstructed by a haunting ringtone and her lifeless corpse.
2. The detective leaves the house and the murder takes place (which is shown to the audience). The murderer is kept anonymous in this opening, similar to that of Zodiac's. His family screams for his help but by the time he arrives, it's too late.
Evaluation: -UNRESTRICTED NARRATION used as the audience can see the crime taking place.
- Creates a sense of empathy to the audience as they can see the struggles of his family and their desperation for him to save them. This can also make the audience either like or loathe the main character. Even as a beacon of justice, he is unable to protect his own loved ones but could add an emotional touch to character development.
-Diverts the plot of the film. Taking this for the opening would mean the plot will revolve around a "cat and mouse" chase between the detective and the suspect as he commits more murders.
3. The opening starts off at the police station in his office right before the interrogation takes place. During it, he acts unsympathetic to the suspect but acts as if he was pressured to do so. The interrogation ends with the suspect's shady expression (Enigma code). After the interrogation, the detective receives a message from his wife saying that she's cooked dinner (steak). He goes home finding the house in a very lifeless and abnormal state. He then messages his wife seeing a "read" notification, devoid of replies and calls her out of panic. Another phone's ringtone can be heard, leading to the discover of his family's demise.
Evaluation: -Context is given without the need to change settings eg: We can know he has a family via pictures on his desk)
-High amounts of tension can be created with the right shots taken.
-The Enigma/hermeneutic code used can bring out the audience's curiosity.
-In reference to the movie Psycho (1960), Mr Harrison suggested that death could be revealed in a more subtle way. Instead of a dead body, there could be blood dropping down the drain or a close up of the dead character's hands, face or significant prop.
-The repetitive ringtone can create quite a haunting effect. As a diegetic sound, its volume could increase as the character got closer to the source.
4. This plot takes place before the interrogation and murder- Other people involved in the crime (oligarchs) are seen talking to the detective telling him that if he allows the other suspect to be proven innocent, "bad things will happen and you will be helpless and alone".
Evaluation: -The murder could be put later in the film to act as a disruption in Todorov's theory.
-This might confuse the audience on what the film is really about (the detective or the oligarchy?????)
5. Only the interrogation scene is shown so that not too much information is revealed. It ends with a cliff hanger (the suspect smirking in the darkness).
Evaluation: -RESTRICTED NARRATIVE RANGE (we learn simultaneously with the character).
-Not much tension can be created in this scene.
It was quite hard to come up with a conclusion but in the end I went with the 3rd idea as it wouldn't take too much time and some pieces of information (the fact that he has a family etc) can be revealed by the use of mise-en-scene.
I came up with several ideas including:
1. The detective has breakfast/lunch as we pan around seeing his family and house. He then leaves to perform the interrogation. After the interrogation he comes back, tries to call his wife only to be obstructed by a haunting ringtone and her lifeless corpse.
2. The detective leaves the house and the murder takes place (which is shown to the audience). The murderer is kept anonymous in this opening, similar to that of Zodiac's. His family screams for his help but by the time he arrives, it's too late.
Evaluation: -UNRESTRICTED NARRATION used as the audience can see the crime taking place.
- Creates a sense of empathy to the audience as they can see the struggles of his family and their desperation for him to save them. This can also make the audience either like or loathe the main character. Even as a beacon of justice, he is unable to protect his own loved ones but could add an emotional touch to character development.
-Diverts the plot of the film. Taking this for the opening would mean the plot will revolve around a "cat and mouse" chase between the detective and the suspect as he commits more murders.
3. The opening starts off at the police station in his office right before the interrogation takes place. During it, he acts unsympathetic to the suspect but acts as if he was pressured to do so. The interrogation ends with the suspect's shady expression (Enigma code). After the interrogation, the detective receives a message from his wife saying that she's cooked dinner (steak). He goes home finding the house in a very lifeless and abnormal state. He then messages his wife seeing a "read" notification, devoid of replies and calls her out of panic. Another phone's ringtone can be heard, leading to the discover of his family's demise.
Evaluation: -Context is given without the need to change settings eg: We can know he has a family via pictures on his desk)
-High amounts of tension can be created with the right shots taken.
-The Enigma/hermeneutic code used can bring out the audience's curiosity.
-In reference to the movie Psycho (1960), Mr Harrison suggested that death could be revealed in a more subtle way. Instead of a dead body, there could be blood dropping down the drain or a close up of the dead character's hands, face or significant prop.
-The repetitive ringtone can create quite a haunting effect. As a diegetic sound, its volume could increase as the character got closer to the source.
4. This plot takes place before the interrogation and murder- Other people involved in the crime (oligarchs) are seen talking to the detective telling him that if he allows the other suspect to be proven innocent, "bad things will happen and you will be helpless and alone".
Evaluation: -The murder could be put later in the film to act as a disruption in Todorov's theory.
-This might confuse the audience on what the film is really about (the detective or the oligarchy?????)
5. Only the interrogation scene is shown so that not too much information is revealed. It ends with a cliff hanger (the suspect smirking in the darkness).
Evaluation: -RESTRICTED NARRATIVE RANGE (we learn simultaneously with the character).
-Not much tension can be created in this scene.
It was quite hard to come up with a conclusion but in the end I went with the 3rd idea as it wouldn't take too much time and some pieces of information (the fact that he has a family etc) can be revealed by the use of mise-en-scene.
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