help sheets (c)

How to outline a short story.

• protagonist name and description - as it is not vital that she has a name I'm calling her the sleepless woman at the moment, she has pale skin, dark almost black hair, and dark eyes. Her complexion should look slightly worn down, for example bags under her eyes.
• What she wants to achieve - she finally wants to be able to have a good night sleep so she can function.
• what happens at the climax - I think I'm gonna use the Mr sleep scene as the climax as it will be the only time she talks throughout the film, this will also focus on trying to figure out what she's thinking and who/what she is actually talking about. Here she will hopefully lead the audience astray in who she is missing. This will also focus on the dynamic between the two characters.
• What happens at the end - i think that the ending will conclude on maybe a close up of her bedroom door, the lighting is warm and yellow/orange representing sun-light. This will be a new day and will show that she has finally been to sleep.
• where is it - I want to set this either only in one house or if i can only in her bedroom, that way there will be a feeling of being trapped and the setting will focus on aspects of sleeping.
• When - it will be modern day but the style will be that of a detective film noir, this will also only be done at night, once again to emphasise sleep. I think Mr Sleep will be bought in in the Mr sleep scene but The sleepless woman will always be there.
• Why - I want my scenes to not have a linear narrative or more accurately a narrative order as i want to simulate the state of being sleep-deprived when you can not fully understand what is happening and days seem to pass by while you're still like a zombie and can't function. I want the protagonist to act in a romantic way to sleep to not only catch the audience off guard but to also show her desperation in trying to get to sleep,  by acting almost like he is a physical person and she is seducing him i can really exaggerate her need for sleep and the impact its having on her. For example as if she's missing a lover and wants them back. This, i think, will really drive home the feeling of insomnia.

film selection notes for coursework. (C)

High maintenance - 9 mins

• Opposite ends of table - visible distance 
• exaggerated sounds chewing and drinking, exaggerates silence and feeling of emptiness.
• Constant reference to technology; computer analysis, robots.
• loneliness and not satisfied; people are easy to replace, same problems no matter the person.
• she's a robot too; loss of connection, no love just loneliness.

Ways I will use this:

• Themes of loneliness and loss of connection 
•  

Swimmer - 18 mins

• black and white  
• constant increase in beating of drums.
• stone, paper, scissors
• several long takes of plants in water
• almost church-esque music in background 
• water looks like a black abyss 
• speech sounds like its on a radio
• from a different time - child in goggles similar to 1940?
• radio transmission fades away as swimmer is shown 
• slow mo of swimmer 
• child dressed as animals - hunting? - where the wild things are
• film noir - lighting - chiaroscuro 
• fairground - marks on back and face - blood? - alarms (police)
• swimming is reversed - running away from police
• longshot- swimming farther into sea - no civilisation - in middle of sea - goes under
• credit scene is mirrored 

Ways I will use this:

• use of long takes - mimic melancholy and tiredness 
• narration and voice-over - mimic the film noir style and detective style 
• use of chiaroscuro 
• 
  

Meshes of the Afternoon - 14 mins

• female director
• mirror face - male gaze - man is mirror - she only sees what he sees in her (her looks)
• constant repetition of bonjos, setting and movement (chasing herself)
• Key in mouth - escape inner turmoil - lock away whats going on inside 
• black clothing, key turns into knife - funeral and only escape is kill what she's thinking??
• takes key but it goes back to the table - can't escape 
• Murdered with mirror - he's killing her, male gaze is killing her 
• the location is the mind 

Ways I will use this:

• lack of linear narrative
• psychological ideology 

Stutterer - 12 mins  .

• narration - phone call, inside head.
• close up of mouth - main focus on movements and words.
• sign language - emphasises desperation in not wanting to talk
• repetition of words in mind
• Jeremy Kyle - about communication with "his son", use of background diegetic sound.
• lots of shots where he stares into the camera 
• rubs throat - as if to prepare to talk
• Layering sentences - shows state of mind
• Typography - life revolves around words and communication 
• all forms of communication : typography, tv, facebook, books, sign language
• jumpcuts and fade to black - mimics stuttering.

Ways I will use this: 

• use of background objects to tell a story - focus on one thing instead of the linear storyline.

La Jetée

• montage of images - told like a storybook.
• photos are memories - circular plot
• one moving scene - woman blinks, question if its real, not all photos show memories.
• Voice-over with subtitles (both diegetic and non-diegetic at times)

Ways I will use this:

•  Questioning the plot (is he real?)
• Non-linear plot.

Fallen Angel

• sudden changes to black and white
• Neon lights are layered - image doubled and smudged 
• everything takes place at night
• repetition of scenes

Ways I will use this:

• Repetition and continuation of scenes, kitchen, mr sleep.
• link to text on screen 
• layering/smudging of calendar

Tropes of Film Noir and detective style

• minor things reveal major plot
• femme fatale 
• smoke / smoking
• cynical attitudes & sexual motivations 
• moody atmosphere
• chiaroscuro 
• voice-overs & monologue 
• themes of existentialism 
• themes of alienation 
• dark and claustrophobic 

Screenplay basic ideas and scenes (C)

introduction;

• lying on a pink silk bedsheet, only see her lips - close up.

Kitchen;

• in the kitchen - she drinks coffee and watches him from the other side (female gaze), there is a visible distance between the two, in the background there are several coffee cups and a calendar with several red crosses and a moon to symbolise lack of sleep.
• chiaroscuro focusing on eyes and the mind.
• sleepless nights, cold blue lighting on her, camera gets closer and closer, extreme close up, suffocating, jerks head to the right, romantic pink lighting on the mannequin.
• include items that have to do with sleep. (dream catchers??)
• romantic pink lighting, shadows on the wall, narration recalls a night with Mr Sleep, almost like she's longing for a lover.
• long shots that seem to drag - almost dreamlike or like you're half awake. ( dragging the shutter)
• combination of sudden movements? - restlessness.
• ideally want mix of passive and active spectatorship

Mr Sleep scene:

• narration throughout the whole scene about meeting someone, let her smoke and drink and then took her home and put her to bed.
• walks onto scene with a drink and a cigarette and stand opposite the mannequin, she is wearing a long black dress and the mannequin wears a black coat.
• as the narration goes on she gets closer to the mannequin - keeps long angle shot and pink lighting, filmed from the side so their shadows are larger and displayed on the wall behind them.
• switch to a close up of her own arm through the jacket caressing her.
• back to long angle shot, reaches the mannequin and throws her arms around the "neck"
• switch to an extreme close up of her mouth smiling against the mannequins face. 
• low Jazz is playing throughout the scene, like detective style.
• switch to a close up of her sleeping on a silk sheet
• an extreme close up of the camera panning down the side of her face 
• back to the scene where she is being caressed by her hand. 
• the narrative ends.

technical: 

• pink lighting - wrap a pink piece of plastic round or place in front of a light to get this effect, it should look dreamy and romanticised.
• blue lighting - achieve this through the same method using plastic, this should have the opposite effect and make it colder and hopefully create an effect of loneliness and solitude.
• the entire set will remain in one house, or perhaps remain in the bedroom so that it emphasises that's woman life revolves around sleep, the fact that the blanket will be pink will also exaggerate that romanticism of sleep.
• 
  

Evaluation (Silence)

For our second film, Silence, we are overall pleased with the way it turned out. We believe, being more experienced from the last film we produced, that this one turned out to be more effective and look more appealing, as well as making more sense than the other.

Our story carried over from the script accurately, with there only being a few shots and scenes we altered. Our collection of different shots contained a variety of different angles and lengths each with suitable timing, making them individual and interesting as well as allowing them to tell the story appropriately.

Although the shots went as planned, the editing could’ve been improved on our part as we feel the shots weren’t filmed as smoothly as anticipated, nor were our transitions edited as smoothly between them. Had our editing skills been more refined, we may have been able to fix the issue, due to it being a problem of a lack of experience by using premiere pro more and working on creating a filming schedule so we could have more time to edit our piece.

Our mise-en-scene such as clothing conveyed our issues and themes for example, the white dress used in the final shots conveyed the deceased state of our main character, along with connoting innocence and purity, illustrating to the audience she is an angel. Plants were also a recurring motif throughout our film. Our idea behind this was to include themes of nature and nurture, showing the correlations between the two and how your actions can impact those around you.

Despite this our planning could’ve been done better as some of our shots look as if they were done mainly as filler, this meant our film didn’t have as much as a straightforward narrative as we wanted. To fix this we should have done a time line for our film, so we know how to follow the narrative, we also could’ve used several shot planning sheets, so we could have a better idea on what to film, and so we didn’t waste time.

As well as this our settings also could’ve been better and linked more with the mise-en-scene for example if she was sad it could’ve been raining to connote that. To improve on this, we could have travelled more to different locations and chose more fitting scenery, therefore our shots and narrative of the film would have made more sense.

Another problem we had with mise-en-scene was with our audio. Originally, we were going to use a low whistling noise in the background to imply that throughout the entire film she is dead and so therefore can’t hear anything but deafening silence, this would also imply how she is deaf and so she couldn’t hear anything in life either. However, our original sound clip didn’t work and so we had to change it at the last minute. Despite this, we do believe that our sound still turned out okay as we could still use white noise to imply this, but we don’t think it would’ve worked as well as our original.

Overall, we believe this was a successful second attempt at film-making and was very expressive and aesthetically pleasing.

Screenplay (Silence)

FADE

IN:

EXT. FOREST - DAYTIME. BIRDS CHIRPING.

A muffled SONG STARTS – ZOLLY TO CROWNING TREES. Shot of prickly leaves. A tall GIRL with blonde hair, who is shuffling her feet, is shown WALKING to an unclear destination.

CUT TO:

EXT. PARK - DAYTIME

The GIRL is sitting down on the floor her body is covered in bruises.

CUT TO:

Golden sunlight. (FLASHBACK) THE GIRL smiles with her face in the sun. WALKING among a small field.

CUT TO:

EXT. EMPTY WOODS - DAYTIME

Various over shadowed plants connoting negativity. THE GIRL is shown walking again. The GIRL is by herself. She is dressed in a yellow top, a dark blue hoodie and simple blue jeans; trying to hide her face.

FADE TO:

EXT. BUSH OUTSIDE – DAYTIME

A bunch of roses are shown glistening in the sunlight.

INT. THE GIRL’S HOUSE. - DAYTIME

WHISTLING NOISE with no other audio – LOOKING IN MIRROR, melancholic expression. The GIRL SUBMERGES her head under bath water. The GIRL SCREAMS, no audio. Spontaneous bruises are REVEALED on HER BODY. She CHANGES into a different outfit.

FADE TO:

EXT. SMALL BUNCH OF FLOWERS - DAYTIME

EXT. PARK - DAYTIME

(FLASHBACK) The GIRL is shown LAUGHING in the sun. Mild, muffled laughter can be heard over the low HUMMING Music we hear throughout.

CUT TO:

INT. THE GIRL’S HOUSE

The GIRL is shown isolating herself, CRYING, PULLING her hair. Something is clearly troubling her, on HER mind. The GIRL LEAVES her house for school.

CUT TO:

EXT. DAYTIME

Papers are drifting in the air,

BOOKS are scattered on the floor, their pages are torn out and are muddy. ANONYMOUS feet are shown trampling them. GIRLS HANDS are shown picking up the pages. SHE walks behind everyone else, alone.

CUT TO:

There is only the GIRL’s hands and mid-body in view. The GIRL SIGNS the words “Leave me alone”. The GIRL then stands still.

INT. DOORWAY OF THE GIRL’S HOUSE

The GIRL enters the house alone. She looks tired and depressed as she lazily throws the keys in the pot next to the door

INT. INSIDE THE GIRL’S HOUSE – BEDROOM - NIGHTTIME

The GIRL is on the bed hunched over, writing a letter. The words she has written are shown to the camera. The GIRL puts her pen down beside her.

CUT TO:

EXT. FIELD/PARK - DAYTIME

The GIRL is sitting, surrounded by flowers. She picks up a dandelion and blows on it. The sun shines on her face.

EXT. A SMALL LAKESIDE – DAYTIME

The GIRL stands in a fluffy white dress by the lake. Her back is to the camera, she leans against a nearby tree. She finally looks at peace.

EXT. FIELD – DAYTIME

The GIRL is in the same white dress. The GIRL walks slowly through the field. There is a knife in her hand. The GIRL drops the knife.

Storyboard (Silence)

Orson Welles as an auteur

Recurring themes.

• "Over-fondness for the Baroque" -  André Bazin
• Deep focus/deep space compositions (in picture) - very difficult to do as requires a good director, a split, and perfect lighting.
• Corruption
• isolation
• the downfall of a powerful man
• low-key lighting 
• extravagant mise-en-scene 
• Right and wrong - use lighting and shadows that distorts or hides the faces of the immoral or “dirty.” A technique by German expressionists 
• smoke and mirrors.

Recurring themes in Citizen Kane.

• Baroque & exotic styles - in Kane's mansion, Xanadu. includes statues, artwork and lavish furniture.
• Isolation - Despite his lavish life Kane tries to buy his second wife's (Susan) affection an instead ends up pushing those closest to him away, she ends up leaving him - "49,000 acres of nothing but scenery and statues."
• long takes/deep focus - adds sense of realism to sensual stories. Allows Characterisation and for the audience to see what the actors can not.
• right & wrong lighting - Susan Kane’s regrettable performance in the opera house where Kane is completing a drunken Jedediah’s scathing review of Susan’s amateurish singing.

Recurring themes in The Lady from Shanghai

• Low-key lighting/deep focus - 

Auteur presentation review

Observed by Kirsty Grewcock

Key aspects that were done well:

• picking out key aspects
• understands and explains camera techniques
• high use of context and facts 
• includes points about German expressionism influence on Hitchcock
• usage of images 
• includes own personal views

key areas for development:

• include videos to contextualise points of analysis 
• include auteur theory
• talk about lighting techniques
• use quotes
• write down your points instead of just talking about them

Winter's Bone themes and production

Independent film

• Two year pre-production to find poverty stricken locations in rural south, Ozark mountains.
• $2 million budget.
• $5500 spent on costume, swapped clothes with residents there.
• Film shot in several family properties (alyson, fox, cook).
• Unknown actors.
• Shot on high-res Red DV camera.
• Shot on location.
• Sound of voices and music of voices (poet realism).

Themes

• Family.
• Secrecy, silence and threat.
• Innocence.
• Relationships.
• Women and patriarchy.

Debra Granik

Background

• Made educational films for trade unions.
• reworked snake feed into first feature, "Down To The Bone", story of mother trying to overcome drug addiction.
• Granik and writer Ann Rosellini given pre-publication copy of Daniel Woodrell's novel, Winters Bone (2006).

Process

• Uses "organic, incremental process".
• Documentation of daily lives.
• Location shooting.
• Neo-realism

winters bone essay

I believe that Winters Bone does rely on a very basic understanding of the social context behind it throughout the majority of the film, however in some scenes it relies on a more in-depth understanding of its social context for the film to be fully enjoyed. An example of a scene where this understanding is more focused on is the scene where Ree must saw off her father’s hands to prove he is dead. I believe this scene is where the film starts to lose people as before this the danger of poverty and becoming homeless is very real and easy for anyone to understand, as represented in the mise-en-scene such as Ree’s clothing as it tattered and mostly looks like hand me downs which only purpose is to keep her warm in the winter, this shows that she either doesn’t care for her appearance or that she simply can’t afford new clothes to wear. The scene first shows a hand-held close-up of Ree plunging her hand into the river to retrieve her fathers dead body. The shot lasts a long time before she puts her hands into the water to try and build up suspense and whilst the suspense makes sense as she is considering not doing this, the fact that she still went through with it immediately took me out of as an an average person I could no longer relate to or fully grasp the emergency of the poverty to lead her to do this and so therefore would not go through with this myself. Because of this it made it seem unrealistic to me. After this there are several close ups of the reactions of Ree and Merab, the reactions shown from Ree could be perceived as believable if an understatement of the average persons reactions. The performance shown portrays Ree as sad and in shock due to the increase in her heavy breathing and weak refusals of using the saw, but ultimately, she is shown to be strong enough to do this and although this may be due to the immediacy of being homeless looming over her head I feel like the average viewer – myself included – would not be able to do this, even going as far to be sick instead. This therefore made me feel took out of it again.

After Merab has chopped off both of Ree’s fathers hands there is a close up of Ree who looks numb and expressionless, once again this reaction is not the expected one of someone who has been a part of body mutilation to their own family, most people – myself included – would probably be sick, however here that may be because we can’t relate to the sense of secretive loyalty there is in the Dolly family which would lead to this sort of thing being considered as normal, this loyalty is also shown when Merab puts her coat around Ree to try and comfort her. As the average person would not have a family as secretive as this to the point where this is considered average, this is unrealistic to them and puts them at unease, making it feel like they’re watching a film, not that this is a realistic portrayal of a family.