Background/ Concept
At a time of a bad break up and watching a lot of 40s and 50s films such as Casablanca, Gilda and various film noirs such as Sunset Blvd, The Third Man and The Killing, I was thinking to myself “what happened to great films like this”.
So I decided to do something I normally don’t do a romance film (you could say my FMP at college was but it focused on domestic violence but to the point where the character loves her treat much he hurts her) like Gilda or Casablanca, one more on story and one a male audience can watch.
Mixing this with my recent break up (where I did want to still be with the person) my idea came to write about an ex coming to collect some old things and get the characters back together came together.
Two key inspirations to develop this was the book ‘Directing- Film Techniques and Aesthetics’ by Michael P. Rabiger which said to develop things that have happened to you and change it so its not the same and to a story.
The other was Simon Perkins when I had a chat and he explained that the great directors start off with simple ideas when they make shorts and he said what makes a good short is a good scene/Situation.
Preproduction
Instead of writing a synopsis, I actually found myself writing this film, all came together and I just started to write it.
First Script:
(Wide Shot of door)
*Knocking*
^guy goes to door and opens door^
(close up of each character)
Guy-Hey ^small smile^
Girl-Hey ^Small smile^
^guy gestures for her to come in^
(wide shot)
Guy-Your stuff is over there, I’ve boxed it for you.
Girl- Thanks
^guy moves to kitchen area^
(wide shot of kitchen)
Guy-Want a drink?
(Medium Wide)
Girl- Yes please, what do you have?
(cutting between characters)
Guy-Whiskey? Rum?
Girl-Can i have a rum please?
^pouring the drinks^
(wide shot) - keep same shot for awhile to create a sense of awkwardness
^handing the drinks over^
*Silence*
^girl will been having finger gestures on the glass and will slowly drink the drink^
Guy-How you been keeping?
Girl- Ok, been living with my mum.
Guy-How is your mum?
Girl- She’s fine, got a new job as a teacher.
Guy - nice.
(medium close up)
Girl-How about you?
(close up)
Guy - Ok, be better with you.
^guy knocks drinks back walks to refill^
(medium Wide)
Girl- Please
(Wide)
^Refilling Drink^
Guy- What? You think it’s easy for me?
(close up)
Girl-You think it’s easy for me?
^the guy walks to look out the window^
(wide shot with girl in the background)
Guy- Well it was you who walked out
(close up)
Girl - But it was you who was the jerk.
(medium wide)
^Turns around^
Guy- Me... It was you that...
(close up)
Girl - Please can we not argue?
(Wide)
*Silence*
^girl looks around^
(shot of keyboard)
(Medium wide)
Girl - You been playing a lot recently?
(close up)
Guy-Yeah, it’s my only escape.
(medium wide)
Girl- You used to play a lot for me when we first met.
(wide shot)
^rubbing his finger on the keyboard^
Guy – Well, it’s not just my looks that were going to seduce you.
(medium wide)
girl-*laughs* ^smiles^
(close up)
^guy smiles^
(medium wide)
Girl - Play something like you use to.
^guy sits and plays^
^she’s smiling^
(cutting between the two)
^she gets teary^
Girl - I must be leaving.
(medium close up)
^he notices^
Guy-Wait..
^walks to her^
(medium wide)
^looking at each other^
This is where ill have the monologue, i going to write a few these next few days.
^they kiss^
(Fades)
(shot wide of both characters)
^Girl is hugging up to him, smiling^
(camera pans to picture of them together in frame)
(fades)
THE END.
all the credits at the start of the movie homaging classic cinema.
Then after speaking to Jools who gave me some tips, he told me to make the male character more reluctant and not to get them back together at the end and to imply that they do, which goes well with my idea of the credits at the start like 40s and 50s films do.
For a few weeks we worked with a director and actor who help us understand how to use actors and understand our ideas better, I have already had experience with actors from doing Drama at GCSE where I directed a lot of the plays I did.
(second script page
While this was happening I was searching for actors on Starnow.com
I got a reply from a local actor Charlie Osborn who worked in short films before and a feature length film; she also lived locally which made expenses not a problem.
We got in touch via emails and she seemed interested in the project but then one day never got in touch and didn’t answer.
By this time I got in touch with my grandma to film at her house and as the setting suited a dinning room to kitchen.
After knowing that Charlie wasn’t going to act I decided to turn to two friends, one who has done drama and another who hasn’t but is very sarcastic so I thought id try.
With us 3 and my cinematographer we went to the shoot with 2 lights (which the flood didn’t work) one flood and one spot, one Sony VX2000, one tripod, one k6 microphone with pistol and boom and a box for a prop.
Knowing it was going to be for a pilot the idea of this shoot was to film 2 minutes, to use the shoot as a test to know when I do come to film it I know the problems and what to look out for.
My idea is to film it again 3 times, one using VX2000, one using z1 standard DV and another in HDV, in doing this I can choose my favourite version.
My idea is to film it again 3 times, one using VX2000, one using z1 standard DV and another in HDV, in doing this I can choose my favourite version.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Proposal
The brief was to create/produce a 6 minute short film involving 2 or more characters.
I decided to make my short film homage 40’s and 50’s cinema, films such as
Concept
I came up with the idea of a couple that had broken up and the female in the relationship comes to pick up some stuff.
I liked this concept because it’s a situation which happens but no one likes and conflict it easy to come about.
I came up with this idea because I had not long came out of a relationship with someone I cared a great deal but we lived together and conflict always happened afterwards.
There was no synopsis stage because I just sat down and wrote it.
First Script:
Key-
^-body actions
*-Noises
( )- Camera
(Wide Shot of door)
*Knocking*
^guy goes to door and opens door^
(close up of each character)
Guy-Hey ^small smile^
Girl-Hey ^Small smile^
^guy jesters for her to come in^
(wide shot)
Guy-Your stuff is over there, ive boxed it for you.
Girl- Thanks
^guy moves to kitchen area^
(wide shot of kitchen)
Guy-Want a drink?
(Medium Wide)
Girl- Yes please, what do you have?
(cutting between characters)
Guy-Whiskey? Rum?
Girl-Can i have a rum please?
^poring the drinks^
(wide shot)-keep same shot for awhile to create a sense of arkwardness
^handing the drinks over^
*Silence*
^girl will been having finger jesters on the glass and will slowly drink the drink^
Guy-How you been keeping?
Girl- Ok, been living with my mum.
Guy-How is your mum?
Girl- Shes fine, got a new job as a teacher.
Guy-nice.
(medium close up)
Girl-How about you?
(close up)
Guy-Ok, be better with you.
^guy knocks drinks back walks to refill^
(medium Wide)
Girl- Please
(Wide)
^Refilling Drink^
Guy- What ya think its easy for me?
(close up)
Girl-You think its easy for me?
^the guy walks to look out the window^
(wide shot with girl in the background)
Guy- Well it was you who walked out
(close up)
Girl-But it was you who was the jerk.
(medium wide)
^Turns around^
Guy- Me... It was you that...
(close up)
Girl-Please can we not argue?
(Wide)
*Silence*
^she the girl looking around^
(shot of keyboard)
(Medium wide)
Girl-You been playing alot recently?
(close up)
Guy-Yeah, its my only escape.
(medium wide)
Girl- You use to play alot for me when we first met.
(wide shot)
^ribbing his finger on the keyboard^
Guy-Well its not just my looks was gonna seduce ya.
(medium wide)
girl-*laughs* ^smiles^
(close up)
^guy smiles^
(medium wide)
Girl-Play something like you use to.
^guy sits and plays^
^shes smiling^
(cutting between the two)
^she gets teary^
Girl-I must be leaving.
(medium close up)
^he notices^
Guy-Wait..
^walks to her^
(medium wide)
^looking at each other^
This is where ill have the monologue, i going to write a few these next few days.
^they kiss^
(Fades)
(shot wide of both characters)
^Girl is hugging up to him, smiling^
(camera pans to picture of them together in frame)
(fades)
THE END.
Script
"HATE IS A VERY EXCITING EMOTION" (ONE SCENE ONLY)
Guy is waiting, reading a book '1001 ways to get your Ex
back, male edition'. Looking at the time.
Knocking at the door. Puts book away and puts another book
on the table, opens a page.
Answers the door, ex girlfriend there.
GIRL:
Hey
Guy character Reluctant from here.
GUY:
Hey
Girl walks in.
GUY:
Your stuffs over there.
Girl walks to boxes, starts looking through them. Guy in
kitchen.
GUY:
Want a drink?
GIRL:
Yes please, what you have?
GUY:
Whiskey or Rum?
GIRL:
Rum please.
So how have you been?
GUY:
Ok, yourself?
GIRL:
Yeah, got new job, which is hard
these days with recessions and
everything.
GUY:
Yeah great.
Guy makes drinks and puts in on a side near her. Guy
pretends on reading book.
GIRL:
Wheres my limited edition 'In
Rainbows' vinyl?
GUY:
Well i have it because i bought it.
GIRL:
Yeah, but for me.
GUY:
Well you wouldn't even like
Radiohead if it wasn't for me.
GIRL:
Thats not the point is it?
GUY:
No, but i have a turntable and you
don't, plus I'm a bigger fan and
its limited edition... find one on
eBay.
GIRL:
Whatever, have it on CD anyway.
Silence for a few seconds
GIRL:
So you been playing a lot?
Looking at keyboard/piano
GUY:
Yeah well its my only escape.
GIRL:
You use to play a lot when we first
met, then you only did it when i
was at work.
GUY:
Well i didn't want you interfering.
Girl chuckles
GIRL:
Play something like you use to?
GUY:
Why?
GIRL:
Just want to hear something nice
thats not on a CD which i can hear
all the time.
GUY:
Ok
Guy starts playing a melodic romantic tune, girl after
awhile starts getting upset/overwhelmed. Guy not reluctant
from this point.
GIRL:
I should leave...
GUY:
Wait i forgot to mention what
happened to the
GIRL:
Why what happened?
GUY:
Well Johnny day last week, well
because they where married for 40
years and Gilda bless her couldn't
take it and made her go delirium,
shows what can happen when your
without love.
GIRL:
Yeah, I'd better get going.
GUY:
Ok, ill see you out.
GIRL:
Ohh, I'm having a birthday party
next week on Tuesday at the 'Dog
and Bone' if you want to come?
GUY:
Yeah, i might pop down, depends if
I'm busy.
GIRL:
Ok, see you later.
GUY:
Yeah, see you
Treatment
As this is a homage, im having all the credits at the beginning of the film (like in 40’s and 50’s cinema) and just having the end at the end. This will also work well with short film and the size of my crew.
I also using two lights to light my film (that’s not including the general lights in the house) because this gives a good contrast but keeps everything well lit as I found out when me and the cinematographer did a lighting test in a studio.
I would also like to get a lot of pans and tracking shots as they where more commonly used back then.
Cast and Crew
Jack Boyles- Producer, Writer, Director, Editing and lighting.
Oliver Bartman- Cinematographer, lighting
Danny Peachy- Sound
Charlie Osborn- Actor/ Female
Daniel Wignol- Actor/ Male.
Location
I’ve decided to film this in my grandma’s has as it looks mature and it has a dinning room and kitchen next to each other.
I unfortunately have no location shots as my grandma has been busy but my frame forge is pretty damn accrete.
Research, Romance Films
As my film is homage of 40s and 50s romance films but in a modern times and setting, i researched old and modern romance films.
“love stories, or affairs of the heart center on passion, emotion, and the romantic, affectionate involvement of the main characters (usually a leading man and lady), and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus. Oftentimes, lovers in screen romances (often romantic dramas) face obstacles and the hazards of hardship, finances, physical illness, racial or social class status, occupation, psychological restraints, or family that threaten to break their union and attainment of love. As in all romantic relationships, tensions of day-to-day life, temptations (of infidelity), and differences in compatibility enter into the plots of romantic films.
Romantic films often explore the essential themes of love at first sight, young (and older) love, unrequited love, obsessive love, sentimental love, spiritual love, forbidden love, sexual and passionate love, sacrificial love, explosive and destructive love, and tragic love. Romantic films serve as great escapes and fantasies for viewers, especially if the two people finally overcome their difficulties, declare their love, and experience life "happily ever after" - implied by a reunion and final kiss.
Many romantic films do not have fairy-tale, wistful-thinking stories or happy endings, although love serves as a shield against the harshness of the real world. Although melodramas and romantic comedies may have some romance in their plots, they usually subordinate the love element to their primary goal - to provide humor or serious drama.”
(filmsite.org,2009, American Movie Classics Company)
This is relevant as it’s the general ideology and concepts that follow all romance films. This is an overview of romance films and what traits I should be looking for in mine.
Classic Romance Films
Gilda (1946)
One of the main inspirations for my film, Gilda is about a gambler (John Ford) who ends up working for a gangster who owns a casino. Then the casino owner ends up getting married to a lady by the name of Gilda (Rita Hayworth), which you find out that the gambler and Gilda once use to be a couple.
Even though this film also can be classed as a film noir (gangsters, pessimistic male character, femme fatale) its more of a romance film as the story is about these 3 characters, there trust and there relationship with one another.
I found this romance film interesting because of this triangle character relationship, the gambler is friends with the casino owner, Gilda is married to the owner, she still likes the gambler, and the gambler still likes her, yet the owner doesn’t know there past. Also the relationship between Gilda and the gambler is intriguing, they both have a lot of hate for each other, they both are horrible to one and another but it’s because there still is love there, as Gilda says herself “Hate is a very exciting emotion”.
This film inspired me because of the relationship between the two characters; I wanted to get this reluctant character and this tension between the two in my film, because in relationship there is tension.
Casablanca (1942)
Possible one of the greatest films of all time, Casablanca is about a bar owner (Humphrey Bogart) ends up seeing a girl (Ingrid Bergman) he use to be in love with when he lived in paris during the early years of WWII, he finds out that she is married to a revolutionist with a name for himself.
This film is amazing because of the story, romance and a war conflict. Also not to forget the roles of the character, Humphrey Bogart (which I like to say is the coolest man in Cinema) playing a tough yet heartbroken character, Ingrid Bergman the sympathetic woman. The two characters together create one of the best relationships in cinema history.
This film inspired me because once again the characters, the reluctant yet heartbroken male with the sympathetic female. One scene stuck out from the rest, the scene when she visits him and they are falling out but have there one last night together. This scene is what i was going for, tension and arguing till they both realise they still want each other.
Modern Romance films
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
Is about a guy (Jim Carrey) trying to get his memory erased of a girl (Kate Winslet) due to the girl has done it to him. During the process he realises he doesn’t want to erase her and tries to stop it.
As some people regard this film as a ‘Chick Flick’ I would disagree due to the fact the story and the way the film is done (with Gondry’s signature transitions between scenes) appeals to more than just the female audience.
The whole concept of this film is fascinating, also the way its done where scenes intermingle with each other or bits of scenes disappearing etc makes this an emotional yet confusing ride.
This film is inspirational to my film because of the concept, your hearts broken and you hate the person but you remember the fun times, you realise you love them and even though what ever has happened you still have some feelings for this person and you cant deny love.
American Beauty
American Beauty is about one guy (Kevin Spacey) who is dead but goes back to how he ended up died (already you can tell how this is inspired from classic films, this one being Sunset Blvd), who is going through a midlife crisis and decided he wants to change his life, as his wife (Annette Bening) wants to be successful and ends up cheating on him, but he finds his daughters friend attractive.
This film is great, it does what Stanley Kubrick ‘Lolita’ did but in modern times. A taboo love story, full of affairs and also something we can relate too. Kevin Spacey is amazing in this film and I watch thinking... That’s going to be me when I’m that age. This also does like many other have done and set it in American Suburbia (which is great to say director Sam Mendes is actually English), to show what really happens on the other side of close doors.
This film is inspiring because it does what I want to achieve, Homage of classic cinema in modern day context. The Cinematography gives it the mood of classic cinema like film noirs as the Art Direction gives it that old Technicolor look with its bright primary colours.
I Believe that classic romance films where more Epic, there characters got you involved and there stories tend to be simple but on an Epic scale. As for modern day romance films (if there not some chick flick or Rom com) tend to rely on story innovation and taboos. For another example of a taboo romance film (which is another homage) ‘Brokeback Mountain’ which is about gay cowboys, a taboo subject as cow boys are seen as a big tough all American Cowboy, also recently ‘Australia’ which is an attempt to bring back epic romance.
In order to be successful I need to find a mid point of these two, bringing the subject to a modern concern but also give it that simplicity story telling. Also the look of the film is key to give it that mood and feel of an old film which ill but to lighting and colours.
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