Preparing for Coursework - Relaxing Day for me! Audio Mixing practice just for fun - DAY 8

It's the holiday! Almost Christmas. I decided to take a break and draw cartoons instead. However, not to waste more time than I already have, I decided to make an audio narration for an animatic I was planning to do later today for fun (From the comic I draw in my own free time).

Generating Poster Idea

One of the most effective way to attract audience attention is to have an interesting movie poster. When you drive past department stores or walk past cinemas, colorful/ interesting movie posters attract your eyes to them. The conventions of poster includes a show of the main characters playing in the film. The color palette also set the mood and tone of the story.

For example Dr. Strange's colorful patterned background shows that the film  is not grayish like other MCU films. There need to be colorful scenes and something to do with magic and illusions.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them also have a very unique color palette that tells us instantly that the film is fantasy and would likely have magic and mythical aspects to it.

In contrast to The Maze Runner, the color palette is grayish muddy and dull. This implies that the film is not a kid's fantasy movie. In addition, the main characters portrayed in the poster wasn't wearing clean clothes and their faces weren't happy either. The poster therefore, implies that the film is quite stressful and depressing.

While waiting for a confirmation of my filming location, I decided to try and make an illustrated poster for my film. My brother was in hospital at the moment, so I can't have him as my model. This is what I came up with using WACOM drawing pad and Adobe Photoshop:

Preparing for coursework - DAY 7 - MISE-EN-SCENE

Costume and Mise en Scene

Victor: Casual light blue long sleeves collared shirt and brown(or black, or dark blue) slack pants ---> No need to tuck in shirt, like just got back from a tiring day of work.

The blue tint in the character costume emphasizes the point that he is passive and plain. Victor does not fit in well with the work place he's in because he lets his colleagues run ahead. The plain blue also implies that he is caring but tired. Blue can emphasize sadness(melancholy) and somber. Therefore, viewers are fed subconsciously that Victor is tired from his work, as well as his responsibility to look after Scott, yet, he still fights his day through the same routine without seeing the end of this desperate tunnel.

Scott: Black long sleeve sweater with grey pants. 

Black symbolizes darkness within Scott and his mysteriousness. It also shows that Scott's character is deep, and needs to be understand at a deeper depth.  Black is contrasting to every other color, therefore, this indicates that Scott is unique, and keeps himself at a distant from society.

Props:

• Crime board
• Sketch book
• Marker for Scott
• papers/newspaper
• Notebooks and Laptop (for Victor)

Location Set up and Decoration inspiration:

(The amazing Spider-Man: Peter's room and his board)

I want the board messy and unorganized with as many evidences as possible. This allows viewers to relate Victor's desperation to catch the murderer with Scott's will to escape through his maze - messy and a struggle.

Preparing for coursework - DAY 6 - STORYBOARD and ANIMATICS

After refining the scripts, I move on to story-boarding. The idea is to illustrate camera works and to jot down initial thoughts of how the editing could go. I have finished the one for my original first draft, but in the end, decided to go for the later one. Below is my original sketches which I decided didn't work that well. 

Process of the finalized storyboard is below:

[16/12/2016]

Before working on the second scene, I think it is best to wait and see what our location looks like, and since the bookings and arrangements of the room have not yet been confirmed, I don't want to risk drawing a storyboard that doesn't fit with the location's features. One way to create meaning is to use the location itself as a mise-en-scene, relating the characters with their actions and reactions.

Meanwhile, I decided to put the 'Dream sequence' (Part one of the script) into an animatic. This allows me to have a rough idea on how long each cuts would take in the real editing, so as to test the sounds effects.

The scene takes about 40 seconds in total. This somewhat worries me. It took much longer than I have expected it to. The scene in Victor's apartment will therefore, definitely exceeds over the limitation of two minutes. However, in order to fully portray my 'crime thriller' conventions, the scene needs to go through to the end. I predicted an overall 4 minute opening scene... which is... WHOAH! Wait a minute! ---

Preparing for coursework - DAY 5 - LOCATION HUNTING

I already have the script, but before moving on to story boarding, I need to be aware of the environment in which the story will be taking place in.

The vision in my head is of a bedroom with a working desk and a vacant wall for Victor's crime board. However, it is so hard to find a location that perfectly fits my vision, either they are too expensive, or too far from where I live (in another province or country, for instance). Also, Mr. Williams is currently in Hua Hin (a beach town in Thailand), therefore, he can only manage to come up to Bangkok during the weekends.  I've tried searching for possible hotels in Hua Hin, but all of them looked "hotel-ish" (as I describe them) with paintings everywhere and a lot of decorations a condominium or an apartment wouldn't have, and doesn't really fit Victor's humble lair.

Okay, so maybe I can cut out the vision that Victor lives in a humble lair. Maybe he lives in a middle-cost condominium. As long as I don't have to tell the whole story, I can make it seem like Victor is still having trouble getting money to support this condominium of his.

The closest location I found in Bangkok is 'The Peninsula Bangkok'

Victor's crime board can be put on one of the window panes instead. I think that this is a perfect location for the shoot out. Firstly, the working desk isn't completely opposite from the bed like other hotel rooms. This means that we can have a wider shot of the scene without having to constantly switch between Victor and Scott. Secondly, we can zoom into Victor's expression as he looks at his  crime board from the windows and still see Scott on the bed. This way, we don't have to film the back of Victor's head when we want an 'over the shoulder' type of shot. The camera man still have space behind the desk.

However, the only problem with this is that the hotel is quite expensive to afford...

A cheaper hotel that could work is 'Okura Prestige Bangkok'

The good thing about this hotel is that there are vacant walls on either sides of the window. It would be authentic when the camera pans in elegantly with Victor standing at a position a third from the window (rule of third), and crime boards on either sides acting like webs. The room itself is wide enough to try on different angles. Instead of having Victor looking out the window, we can have him look at the crime boards, now positioned on either sides of the wall instead. Not only this can indicates the struggle to turn around and about in circles, going back and forth between what he knows and what is real from the evidences, it can also portrays how chaotic Victor's life seems to be at the exact point.

*****

However, when I discuss the possibilities of filming in hotels with my parents, my father advised me to go and take a look at his current service apartment: The Plim Place BKK

This way, we don't have to spend too much money on the filming location and instead, use that particular fund on equipment. Secondly, after hearing my presentation of the theme, the characters, and story, my parents thought that if Victor is having a financial crisis, it is very unlikely that he owns a condominium like that and that it doesn't really make any sense. To be exact, an apartment of a shabby poor detective needs to be old and filed with papers and books. The hotel rooms look too neat for someone who works by himself and not with special government agencies. Therefore, the Plim Place serves as the most sensible choice - only needing some additional decorations.

The color degradation and room decoration would be based on the film stills below:

Preparing for coursework - DAY 4 - SIMILAR TEXTS and INSPIRATIONS

There are some movies that gives me similar feelings for my film; mystery, sub-conscious, labyrinth, and how the 'dream realm' really has an effect on the real world.

Inception (2010)

'Inception' is the main inspiration to my project. The topic revolves around dreams and reality. Although it seems an amazing and wonderful experience to be able to see, un-code, and control dreams, there are still rules to it - rules that are never to be broken. In inception, viewers are made confused by what is really happening and what is actually a dream. The ending of the movie supports this idea as what we think is the success of the main characters is in the end, only another sweet dream.

In my film, there are also rules. Although with an extraordinary power to see beyond crime, dreams are basically based on what you have seen, heard, or experienced. The main character does not have a very pleasant past, witnessing his parents' death and being discriminated from society. If he lose himself in the past ("do not go off track, no matter how alluring it may seem"), danger may come to him. The second rule is basically repeating what has been said - to make sure that he follows it. This idea also comes from the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, where one can not turn back despite the temptation, or else he or she will regret it.

Inception also mentions this idea. There are no 'real' antagonist in this movie. The main character needs to combat his own fears and longing for 'Mal', his dead wife. Their missions are always disrupted by Mal appearing in the dreams and unleashing her wrath when actually, Mal was never there, but was a part of the protagonist's subconscious of guilt.

Source Code (2011)


Source Code is about a man who was set to solve a mystery explosion case by being allowed to dwell in another person 8 minutes before the scene. The protagonist has to go back again and again in order to capture the murderer in time.

11.22.63 (Series 2016)

The series is similar to Source Code above, only that in this case, the main protagonist really travels through time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. During his time in the past, the main character encounters strange characters telling him to 'go back'.

These two films vaguely resemble Scott's dreams. Every time he goes back into the dream, everything restarts. He returns to the starting point in the labyrinth. However, each time he goes back, Scott knows more and more of the path details. He remembers and jot it down on a sketchbook hidden underneath his pillow. It has been like this for 7 years for him. The equilibrium is interrupted when a weird symbol was found in the maze, which, is the start of the film.

Mirror Mask (2005)

The film scared me as a younger child. The synopsis is about a problematic teenager who got stuck in her own drawings (in a mysterious world that could not be explained), seeking a way to escape and restore the peace of both worlds. 

The dream-realm in this movie is vacant. Things do not stay the same and the creatures of the protagonists' imagination looks more like monsters. In the dream-realm, camera shots seems to be slower than in the real world, often with extreme long shot showing the mass vastness of one's mind. The color palettes used in both are also different. The real world's color palette is dull blue - a color of logic and order, while the dream-realm has a more yellowy color palette, indicating dangerous toxic and wild wild imagination.

In contrast to this film, I wanted to keep Scott's dream-realm dark blue and the real world in a warmer shade of orangey-yellow. The dark blue color in my case represents the immense depth the protagonists must dive through to reach the exit light. It also represent Scott's loneliness when he is with himself in his dream. The real world, however, the sun shines. He has Victor. The intended warmth tone in the apartment was for the viewers to know that when Scott wakes up, everything is going to be okay. Nothing will get lost in the darkness he fears.

Batman Vs. Superman (2016)

Although not relevant as a whole, the opening credits of the film emphasize the mysteriousness and the protagonist's subconscious. The young protagonist runs away from a traumatizing accident. He keeps running away and somehow faces a realization. 

The color palette and camera work in this particular scene is what I am trying to get through... Close ups with dim lighting.

Preparing for coursework - DAY 3 - REFINING THE SCRIPT

My first mistake was to get carried away by the thrill of the task given. The storyboard I've written initially seems to be too long for a two minutes opening sequence, therefore, I need to revise it again to make it fit the time limit.


Below is my original draft of the script:

I went as far as creating a detailed storyboard with annotations... But realized that too much dialogues about the 'story' might not work as well. The film opening should set up the key conventions by the four micro-elements, not dialogue of people talking about what is, or has, or will be happening. The better film makes us, viewers, realize their intentions without having the characters spell them for us.

Below is my second draft of the script:

(Process: I used an online website called Celtx to help prepare my script writing.)

The FINAL script is as below:

Preparing for coursework - DAY 2 - THE CHARACTERS

From the initial gathering of ideas. Only the two main characters will show up in the opening (and that is about enough!).

Child Protagonist
Name: Scott Cluster
Age: 12-13

'Scott Cluster' is a child whose parents died as a victim of murder (not by the serial killer the two are trying to find) and had led a traumatized life on his own since six. He is a strong independent child who has more capabilities than what society credited him for. His obsession for drawing a maze on every possible surface comes from seven years of experience with the nightmare where he believes means something.

Key characteristics: Curious, easily scared, stubborn, fairly quiet, introverted, 'the weird kid at school', believes highly in hope, and he wishes for everything to just stop and the nightmares to leave him alone

Inspired by: Conor (A monster's call),  Lilo (Lilo and Stitch),  Amadeus Cho (Marvel comics)

Cast: Raphassit Suwiwatchai (Beam) - my brother

The reason that I choose my brother for this particular part is because he is the closest person I could reach out to. One of his talent is to perform. He has been in the performing industry for three to four years now, and has been in television advertisements, and musical plays on a national scale stage. He is currently in role for a screen-drama.

I think that Scott's character would fit him quite well, because he himself is curious and at the same time, quiet. I have seen him in his 'geek' mode over different subject matters and I'd like to have that enthusiasm shines from within Scott's introverted manner.

Investigator Protagonist
Name: Victor Blake
Age: 35

As a helper to a detective superior, Victor faces different major problems at the same time. Not only trying to prove that he himself can be useful as an investigator on his own and compete with another younger trainee, he also needs to prove to Scott's teacher and therapist, Dr. Cho (a made up name only mentioned once), that he is able to look after the child, out of sympathy six years ago, and manages to financially support him with the insecurity of his only job at the moment.

Key Characteristics: Sullen ,depressed, stressed, drained, follows logic (does not believe if no physical evidence), obey the rules and laws, determined, portrayed at first as an underdog to the other detectives in office where no one takes him seriously

Inspired by: Robert Graysmith and Dave Toschi combined (Zodiac), Nani (Lilo and Stitch)

Cast: Dan Williams

Mr. Williams is a family friend. He was also our host in San Francisco during the summer. My brother and I used to study English with him back when I was in a Thai school (about the age of 9) and had come to be the most a teacher and students could be. Even today, we sill discuss different films (our favorite topic: Star Wars) and talk about current affairs. When I told him that I am going to make a film opening of my own, Mr. Williams happily volunteered to help with the acting, filling in perfectly with Victor's role.

Both the name Scott and Victor comes from the two main protagonists of a comic book series I was working with my friend earlier in the year. Because of the workload, we decided to continue later and so I asked for her permission to use Victor's character in this case.

Preparing for Coursework - DAY 1 - MOOD BOARD

SUB GENRE:

CRIME THRILLER

PSYCHOLOGICAL

SUPERNATURAL

Since quite a number of people I know are making psychological thrillers, I decided to do something different - CRIME.

We started the day off by talking about our up-coming coursework... Our thriller film opening. I decided to work on the mood board for my project. My initial ideas are of dark nightmares, symbols, and crime. I think that it would be great if I can manage to show my audiences that the film is a thriller without showing violence or blood in the first 2 minutes of the film, but instead, use different conventions to allow them to come to the conclusion. In class, I gathered some relevant pictures in order to remind me of my ideas in the future. However, the meaning and conventions have not yet been refined. These are just records of my initial ideas.

(Process in making the mood board in Photoshop)

(Actual mood board)

The story would be about a problem child who constantly walks through a labyrinth in his dreams, and a crime investigator who was given the job to track down a serial killer. With his psychic powers and voices in his head, he helps his guardian seek justice.

But how can I make all these details noticeable? Firstly, I know that I will have to show the most important information to the viewers in less than two minutes. One has to be the Child's nightmare of fumbling through the dark maze, and another, to introduce the investigator's character.

I got this opening idea from Universal Studios' 'Balto: Wolf Quest' (Balto 2), an animation I have watched long ago. Although not a thriller - or a live film, even, I find it quite fascinating.

The first scene of Balto II shows Balto the wolf chasing after a raven in a nostalgic - void location. The purplish atmosphere and the fog helps viewers question the realism of the scene. Ice are not usually indigo, and the sky is not usually purple either. The buffered movement of the raven furthermore indicates that this is a dream, since crows glide smoothly.

An ice wall suddenly forms in front of Balto. This suggests an important challenge occurring later on in the film. By setting a barrier as such allows the dream to communicate with the viewer that there is danger waiting for Balto, the protagonist, to overcome.

At the end of Balto's dream, an important sign shows up for less than a second - a split second before he wakes up. In my opinion, I think that this is the most important detail of the dream, even with so limited screen-time. The sign shows a symbolism of something yet to be revealed, but is known to the viewers to be of importance, for it shows up right at the end. Viewers automatically remember this and put it at the back of their mind. 

Over all, the dream gives viewers the sense of melancholy and nostalgia. Nothing ends well in a nightmare, and it tends to be easier to remember when you wake up. When you try to run in a nightmare, your leg tends to get heavier. You also get more tired trying to run than running itself. The dream summarizes the whole idea of the story such as the challenges the protagonist needs to face.

Therefore, my main character would be trying to get away from his dream too. That is why I have chosen the concept idea of 'getting' out of a 'maze'. The blindness of the dark paths serves as a challenge for the child protagonist and at the same time, reflects the investigator's struggle to solve this murder case...

Until a sign shows up.

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Intended color palette: Blue, Dark Blue, Green, Warm colors for room but dark ---> High contrast.