STORYBOARDING AND BLOCKING

I have gone through the process of Storyboarding my ideas for my film so I can better visualise as well as well as show my crew the images in my head. As of now I have only done this for parts 1 and 2, but I have drawn out a map from my memory of the layout of the nightclub for part 3.

For Part 1 I have had to adjust as I will not be able to use the prison:

For Part 2 I have had to make do with the locations I have which is Davids house and some exteriors I have chosen from near my halls.

I found the concept of blocking out the scene on my own map very useful. I will use this basic blocking for reference, I will set up a certain number of separate shots as well as a master and then take them all to the edit.

Blocking the conversation Part 3:

RESEARCH

I just discovered a clip from one of my favourite youtube channels 'Every Frame a Painting'. The clip focusses on the Nicolas Winding-Refn's film 'Drive' (2011).

The video is not exactly looking at a specific aspect of Refn's style but it is very helpful none the less for general film making. It focusses on using the whole frame to tell multiple stories, putting characters into sections and even having their hands in the bottom of a frame tell a different story. I think I will look into using this technique for my short film.

3-POINT LIGHTING

Starting to understand the whole lighting process a bit more after doing 3 Point Lighting in the second lighting workshop. This is the lighting I did in the morning with a reflected key light and a back light:

I the afternoon I gave it another go this time with arguably better results, however there were a few notable issues. The shadow on the right side of his face was a touch too overpowering and with too high a ration. With the things we had at our disposable I think it was quite succesfull:

EXPRESSIVE LIGHTING

I have never used lighting for any filming before so this was all new ground for me really. I wanted to give the gels a go especially because my director is a big advocate of using interesting surreal lighting. Here is the first go I have lighting Wes:

I think its quite good for elevating a characters physicality which I think I will make use of.

BEING MORE AMBICIOUS

New Location for Part 3: to replace my bedroom for the conversation scene.

I have managed to get the inside of the nightclub Wonderland in Maidstone for 5 hours on Wednesday the 4th of February. This means altering the plan for shooting so I will be moving other shoots to Saturday the 7th (my reserve day).

The reason I have chosen this as a location is that even when the rooms are full, it is like being in another world with the lighting and deafening music. The lights are especially something that attract me as this is very much synonymous with Nicolas Winding-Refn's style. The fact that the club will be empty is brilliant and sounds perfect to me. 

I have a vague idea of the layout as I have been a couple of times (not that its my sort of thing) as well as using pictures to block out my scene.

I have also discovered pictures of the VIP rooms online, and I find this quite an attractive location to shoot. 

PRODUCTION DESIGN/SOUND DESIGN/CREW

Production Design

This is not my area of expertise, but it is something I am looking into. David my actor has a contact with a make-up artist, but I am still contemplating whether it is worth using her. 

I will need to have some fake blood as I will be showing a shot of my actors hands with blood, to show that he really does have blood on his hands.

Costume

Mac: For my lead I have focussed on trying to give him a sophisticated and meticulous look. I looked at a couple of options when I met David on Wednesday. Long Dark jacket and gloves, along with a trilby hat. 

Cliff: My secondary character for the dialogue scene will be at home so realistically he will need to dress very plain, probably without shoes on. 

Gordon: My third character the muscle will have a leather jacket and dark jeans.

Sound Design

For sound I will be putting together sounds I have collected from Freesound.org. I have already prepared a bank of atmospheric sound effects to be used when it comes to editing, and off course they are non copyright.

I have also recently discovered Freemusicarchive.org which I am now using to its fullest. This site provides free non copyrighted music to download.

Crew

For my crew I have got Plamen on camera for the first 2 parts of my film, but I really wanted him to be the henchman in the 3rd part so Tim from second year will help me there with camera. 

I will not be using the boom until the conversation so I will not need a sound man for the first two. I will just use sound from the rode mic on top of the Sony EX1. For part 3 I will either employ the help of Patricia or Mark depending on who's schedule fits with mine.

Also as I mentioned above I may be using a make-up artist, but that is not confirmed yet.

Shoot Schedule

I have set the date of shooting on the 4th of February, this gives me time to shoot pick ups if I need to on my reserve day the 7th of February. Then from then on I will be editing and touching up the blog until the hand in.

STORY

Character

ANTI-HERO

My character will be introduced in a prison where he will be doing his time, which I will not specify. I will use this as a chance to reminisce about his dark past in the life of a gangster. 

I will then have him leave prison taking in the free air, but then immediately looking at his watch and striding off to get on with his business.

Sequence

START OF THE DAY

This will show my lead character arriving home from prison and almost immediately going to his room to get ready to go out again. The scene will end with him on the phone, I will cut the sound out here so you may only see his lips moving and the actions he makes.

David my actor has a dog so I may have him having a compassionate moment with his dog, but then going straight back to work.

Conversation

My main character will arrive with his henchman/muscle to the home of a young man who is the one who got my main put in prison. So immediately there is tension between the two. This will be set in the second characters bedroom where the henchman will be roughing up the victim to be interrogated in my main characters unique way.

So this will be a conversation that will have awkwardness as well as tension.

LOCATIONS

I have three locations for my film:

Part 1:

• The entrance of Swailside Prison near Maidstone (still to be confirmed)

• Back-up is a place I found near Chatham high street with bars and an old church behind.

Part 2: 

• My actor David has offered his house in Chatham to film in for my second location.  I will use most of the house for this scene, including an exterior shot.
• I will need to make sure the room is completely tidy as my character is a very meticulous and ordered person.

Part 3: 

• I have made the decision to use my own bedroom at halls for the third location (conversation). However my aim will be to make it look as unrecognisable as I can. I will be filming when it is dark. 

• As well as my room I will be making good use of our corridor for the entrance and exit of my main character. 

CASTING

LEAD - Mac

David Watson

David stuck out to me as someone who would suit my main character. I met him earlier today and find that he has a great ambiguity to him as well as a drive to be creative. He has the added bonus of being local, living in Chatham as well as having a connection at Swailside prison who he will be able to talk to on Sunday.

SUPPORTING - Ciff

Callum

Callum is David's nephew who is a keen actor. David suggested him to me as an option, as earlier today I hadn't cast this role. David sent some pictures of him and I immediately liked his look, he reminded me of Tom Felton who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series.

MINOR SUPPORTING - Gordon (Henchman/muscle)

Plamen Dimitrov

Plamen will be my cameraman for the 1st 2 parts, but I felt after his showing on the first day back to uni I had to include him. So he will be a minor role who will not be on screen for very long. I have already got Tim from the second year as my cameraman for Part 3. I think Plamen has great talent in the acting field with a very photogenic look although this is not what he is looking to do. I think he will suit particularly for one shot I have in mind. 

DIRECTION PLAN

Retribution

Chosen Director - Vision

• In picking the locations and characters that I have, I have chosen to take inspiration from different films of my director for each part.
• Part 1: Which will involve a Prison will take style from the film Bronson (2008). This is one of his more traditionally shot films in the sense that there is a storyline of sorts. He uses standard static shots as well as panning, he also uses quite a few overhead shots which may be more difficult to pull off.

 

• Part 2: Will be set inside the characters house, where he will prepare to go and get retribution for his time in prison. I would like to base this off his early work in the Pusher trilogy (1996, 2004, 2005). In all these films he uses handheld shots to follow the characters around in there work and even in conversation.

• Part 3: This is where I will shoot when it is dark. I will base this off his best looking film Only God Forgives (2013) which is something that makes great use of shots using grounded tracks in straight lines. This is where I will need to use lighting to its full potential. I think this part will be the most challenging to pull off.

ADJUSTING THE SCRIPT

Backing up the Changes

Because of the director I have chosen, I feel that the script we were given needed to be mildly adjusted to suit. First of all my director Nicolas Winding-Refn does not use much dialogue in comparison to more traditional directors, I know for a fact that this is in large part due to him working in a second language. He has mentioned this in interviews and I have read about it.

The other thing with the dialogue is that it is between two people in a completely different circumstance to what I have en-visioned. The scene I want to do is more like an interrogation hence why I have dispensed with formalities as such. The other thing is that these characters know each other because my main character has been set up by the other and subsequently spent time behind bars.

FIRST DRAFT: RETOUCHING THE DIALOGUE

I have decided to make some adjustments to the script we were given. They are not that major, but I will still need to check to see if it is ok.
I feel that because of my directors style some of the remarks made in the script were not really appropriate. I have kept the general structure the same not changing who says what.

I will be typing this re-write out in full with actions on Final Draft, but I can only do that at the studios.

I know this sounds lazy location searching, but I think I would like to film this in my bedroom and my flats corridor. I have already thought it out in terms of logistics and such.

Here is the re-jigged script in its roughest form, that is in my notebook:

In the opening here I have skipped the formalities as such, essentially because this is not really a friendly encounter.

Rather than being so blunt in dialogue I have changed it so as to suit the situation more. Cliff the other character is in a vulnerable life threatening situation, which I would like to toy with in this scene.

As for the end I have left it fairly ambiguous in terms of violence (I do have budgetary concerns).

SPOTTING A LOCATION

I saw a location whilst on my way home from the studios and thought that it looks a lot like a prison. With bars in front of it for a car park, I think it is somewhere I could use for 1-2 shots of my main character in prison.

The bars are not the style, but I think the combination of the grey wall behind and the bars could produce a prison look.

Here are some pictures I took:

This may be the opening shot with actor behind bars.

These are pictures of UK prison exteriors which show that I have the right image in my mind of what a prison looks like from the outside:

I'M THE ANGEL OF DEATH: PUSHER III (2005)

Unfortunately I couldn't find Pusher 2 anywhere so I moved straight onto watch Pusher 3. This is ok because they are not linear as they focus on 3 separate characters, who do admittedly cross paths in Pusher 1 but don't really matter in terms of gelling the trilogy together.

Despite doing the film Fear X in 2003 which was very much a different style to the first Pusher film Refn went back to his original methods and story type for his 3rd Pusher film. This story focusses on Milo who is a drug dealer in Copenhagen trying to stop his own addiction to drugs. We join him in an addicts meeting where he explains that it is his daughters 25th birthday and he will have to cook for 50 people that afternoon. He does this whilst also taking care of business on the side becoming ever more stressful as the day goes on. It all takes place within 24 hours. 

What I like about this film as opposed to Pusher 1 is the use of music and cutting out the background sound to take you into the mind of Milo. This is something he hadn't quite got the hang of in Pusher. 

I think that this is the film I will take most inspiration for in terms of story type. The gangster boss (middle aged) is someone I would like to cast as my lead for my lead and Milo will be a great base point to show my actor. 

 

This scene is towards the end and really shows how Milo the character following instructions is under the influence of drugs as well as the pressure of the situation he is in. Throughout the scene there is an atmospheric tone playing which is something I will be looking at. 

After watching yet another film from Refn that uses hand held shots, I am being increasingly persuaded to use some of the technique in my film. I will have to find a way to use this, but in the appropriate places along with the use of a dolly. 

PUSHER (1996)

My director of choice Nicolas Winding Refn's first feature film from 1996.

Without the budget of Only God Forgives (2013) Refn's original film Pusher is a real character driven film with a central performance from Kim Bodnia. As opposed to his more recent work there is a lot of hand held and long takes in this film rather than the smooth tracking shots used later on.


The premise of the story is that Frank is a drug dealer in Copenhagen, Denmark who gets heavier into debt and trouble as the film goes on. The most interesting character to me however is the man he owes money to Milo, who throughout the film has this air of calmness and sympathy towards Frank. However at the end a switch goes and he becomes a different character all together. Pusher 3 a film Refn did later is based on this character so I would like to see that.

In the film there are glimpses of his surreal lighting in a nightclub scene towards the end, but apart from that the main focus is the study of the characters. Out of all the films of his I have seen I have to say I think in terms of development of characters this is one of his best.

I think because of his use of steadicam and hand held footage in this and Fear X (2003) this will be something I can incorporate into my film. I do understand that this is his first film and that directors in this stage are still finding their feet, but there are certain elements that are kept throughout their careers and Refn is no exception.

DIRECTIONS UNIT: STEVE FINN

I have to say today was a very informative and educational day thanks to Steve Finn. The last 2 days have been so useful for me in general, getting to hear from a seasoned professional and also to see him at work was a privilege. Even as a non actor being directed by him this afternoon, I felt that his pointers were so helpful and intelligent.

The main thing I gained from this afternoon was how to properly do a MASTER SHOT. I was the first to be picked out to direct a master shot of a small piece of dialogue between 2 people. I have to admit it was quite nerve wrecking, as it was very sudden and on the spot, but therefore I made mistakes and learned from them. 

I learned that to have a master shot you should cover all dialogue on screen as well as action in it so if needed you could use just the master shot to show the entire scene. 

This was as real a situation I have been in to date, having crew and actors doing what I feel is right.  

I haven't currently got the footage of what I got, but I will get that on Friday.

DIRECTIONS: RESEARCH

I have been spending some time looking at lighting filters for my film. My director is someone who uses many interesting and contrasting lights in his films. Obviously I don't have access to locations like Bangkok or as much lighting and expertise as he gets, but I have been doing research online into what I may be able to use in terms of lighting gels.

I have looked at "LeeFilters" which was recommended to me by Fergus.

I will need to know as much as I can to pull of images like this:

CANON 7D WORKSHOP

First time using the 7D and have to say there are some things I like and others not so much. I have a DSLR myself the Canon 600D (less expensive, not quite as advanced) which I am very used to, having had it for a couple of years. The big difference between the 2 is that my 600D has a flip out screen allowing me to view whats going on even from awkward angles such as the low angle which I used yesterday.

7D

600D

The big advantage with the 7D is the quality which is much more up to the industry standard.

So I am still deciding which one of the cameras I should use whether its the Sony EX 1 or the 7D for my Directions unit.

As part of the workshop we were told to give the cameras a bit of a go and try and put something together with a piece of music of our choosing.

I have to mention the mistake I made as DoP, which was that I forgot to check what frame rate the camera was set to. Someone had unfortunately left it a 50fps which is very clearly noticeable in the clip. It is something I will learn for the future as it not only looks bad in this situation, but also makes it much slower to edit.


Here is the short clip edited together by me:

PRIMARY IDEAS: DIRECTIONS

So my first idea for my character in my film is a man who has just been released from prison. Taking inspiration from Refn's film Bronson, in a way taking the part of the film where Charles Bronson is let out of prison. Also I look at The Shawshank Redemption and when the character Red leaves prison to discover that after being inside for so long he has no place in the real world.

This type of character will probably be a loner or an anti-hero.

The main thing I am looking for in my main actor is a physical presence much like that of Tom Hardy, Mads Mikkelsen and Ryan Gosling.

I have seriously been thinking about using Plamen. I know the rules say otherwise, but I feel that from knowing him for this term and also seeing him in my first practice scene, that he may just be the perfect person.

FIRST DAY BACK JANUARY

Nicolas Winding Refn Style exercise.


Refn Directions opening scene exercise from Alexander Barker on Vimeo.