Development of Ideas
- plysong01
- Nov 25, 2017
- 18 min read
Initial Ideas Spider Diagram
In the following video me and Soton started off by recording our selves making ideas and plans on the short film opening we're going to make.In the video we first discuss about the genres we want our movies to be, brainstorming ideas and scenes we initially have in our head,also trying to blend in the ideas of horror and psychological thriller together.The discussion allows us to be able to share of ideas and scenes we have have in our head.
In the video we took turns to draw and illustrate the scenes we each have in our head into pictures so, that we have a clearer idea of what each other meant rather talking face to face.These scenes are yet to only be our initial ideas ,they could change or improved at anytime according to the new things we learn in the media class.
Statement of Intentions
Original intentions
My group will be producing an artistic/psychological/horror niche film opening which will lasts 2 minutes long.The purpose of the film opening scene from my research is to reflect the idea of modern day relationships that is slowly being forgotten by the rising power of capitalism and other factors such as social desirability.we’ll be using a cliffhanger in the last scene of the film opening to grab the audience’s attention and hopefully make them question the meaning behind some of the actions carried out through the scenes.Our institution will be called the Dramatic group Inc. with the conglomerate being Harrow International School.
Moreover, we would like to present many minor topics about people and their behaviour in particular as well and in this short openings being how some women are being seen and treated unequally in today’s world and how people have different personality or 2 sides of characteristics being in public and private.A person action may result to others facing consequences they may not wish to encounter whether it’s intentional nor unintentional. The technique we wanted to use is the idea of building up suspense quickly in just a short amount of time by using music.We are planning to use jazz music in particular /drum rolls to build that luxurious mood at the same time contrasting with the heavy actions being done by the characters to form that deluxe+insecure ish mood to the audience.
Audience profile
L-Cages
L-Lifestyle:interests
This person should be interested in psychological and mysterious content-they’re attracted to plots which requires some sort of path or thinking.
C-Class:
Social Class-Middle class to high class people.A&B-Educated people who likes the story which requires some thinking
A-Age:
15 and above /a certain who can actually and get some contexts of the story
G-Gender:
Male and Female
E-Ethnicity:
Available to all religion,all nationalities.Could be more relatable to people who speaks or live in Europe as the movie has sort of a deluxe-westernised theme in it.It is still,however,watchable by everyone.
S-Spending power:
Disposable income
Mainstream or Niche ?
It is being more towards a niche type of Film.
By using the Yougov website i tried putting in names of the movie with similar themes and elements to or short film opening to find out more about our audience profile.
Inception:
Memento:
Her:
Gratifications
It contains one of Blumler and Katz simple needs in uses and gratifications theory which is diversion as to being able to relax and escape from reality and instead experiencing the deluxe-rich lifestyle of the main characters.The 2 additionals uses and gratifications theory are visceral and voyeuristic as physical and emotional actions are being passed onto the audience through the music/lightning/shots style of the film opening.Voyeuristic because some scenes/shots will be taken as though the audience is spying on the characters making them feel more realistic and at the same time want to find out more about the characters.
Convergence
Media Convergence - how production companies use a variety of media to display their product.
Our audience should be using social media ,website,newspaper,radio,T.V,video as their media platform.
Find out more on research related to convergence by this link to audience research
-https://plysong01.wixsite.com/mediablog/single-post/2017/09/21/Research-Audience
Development Zone
Developing film idea
Genre Research/The Genre of the film
Genre
Media products can be classified into categories or genre. The word 'genre' comes from the French word meaning 'type' or 'class' e.g. comedy,horror and melodrama.
What is a psychological thriller?
A thriller story which emphasizes the unstable psychological states of its characters.Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of or overlap with mystery, drama, action and horror.Psychological thrillers have a theme of mind games and horror-of-personality.The thriller genre itself uses elements of of suspense and tension to anticipate the viewers senses.
According to www.ranker.com website the top 10 psychological thriller films invoted by their website visitors are:
1.The Silence of the Lambs
2.Seven
3.The Sixth Sense
4.Psycho
5.Memento
6.Fight Club
7.Shutter Island
8.The Shining
9.The Usual Suspects
10.Inception
Despite, our film having music (jazz) included with the action of the characters (non-digetic) it would be classified as a melodrama film with sub-genres of psychological thriller/drama.
An example or reference of our film opening would be Whiplash,American Psycho,Samurai Champloo,The Great Gatsby,The Godfather and The Wolf of Wall Street as they all each contains some simple little elements in parts of our film opening.
Topic Research
Topics we aim to focus and specified
We want to focus on representing the idea of how some women are being viewed and treated unfairly in today’s society which ties in with some idea of sexual abuse and discrimination.Another of aspect of the film opening is to represent how a person can have different personalities in public and private in other words saying that most often we might not realise but we’re are actually wearing a mask and constantly trying to present ourselves in the best way possible in other people’s eyes.
A video from lost in translation movie which suggests the same solitude idea.
No matter in what circumstances we’re at some point trying to level ourselves higher than others as we live in a society where conquest is one of the key to success.We are profound social animals.We crave each other’s affection,respect and support.Our future happiness depends on these realities to a shocking degree.In addition,we also want to insert the idea that a messy/busy city life such Bangkok and many others eg.Tokyo,Seoul,New York can perhaps cause solitary and loneliness to people.
A shot from the movie "Her"when the protagonist looks outside from the balcony into the cities packed with buildings and busy roads implying to the audience that slight solitude mood.
Fresh & Unique Research/ideas
Using music to gratifies audience and use as least talking dialogues as possible.Making music and actions/cuts of scenes play the main role of moving the short film to life and build sensation which gratifies our target audience needs and wants.
A scene from Samurai Champloo ep.14
Ending scene from Samurai Champloo Ep14 which involves film techniques of using music as the key aspect to building intensity and add more depth to the scene.
We are planning to use jazz song in particular as it can create that high deluxe/rich mood to the scenes and the protagonist's character,a solitude and calm mood is also built up into the scenes which vicariously makes the audience slowly deeply feel mysterious and anxious.
Here is the choice of selection on the music we might use in the first part of outr film opening.
The kind of jazz will be mostly "blues" as it is the type i usually listens to most.
Here are some listed/drafted songs and albums for the film opening
Bill Evans & Chet Baker - The Legendary Sessions (1959 Album)
Ryo Fukui - Scenery 1976 (FULL ALBUM)
Miles Davis - Relaxin' with Miles Davis Quintet full album
Characters
Main Character/The protagonist
A businessman/perfectionist who’s caught up in the world of capitalism and is ignorant towards
relationships in his family.He can often be seen in public as a highly intelligent/rich person with a high social status due to the rich and luxurious lifestyle he relishes.However,deep down inside privately all the assets and wealth he owns comes from engaging and doing illegal and dark businesses and his personality varies into a vicious person once he becomes stressed or stays with his wife leading to violence and abusive relationship.
Morning routine scene from American Psycho
The wife/Antagonist
A free/lively person which is slowly turning to a depressed person due to the abusive relationship and violence caused by her husband (the main character).She is surprised and disappointed to realise how her husband turns out to be very different from the picture she thought he was as being a smart-rich looking gentleman with a great attitude towards her.
Conflict
The action of his wife trying to run away from him + trying to commit suicide to avoid being a sandbag taking all the damages from him and at the same time ruining his deluxe-rich lifestyle.The mis-understanding of feelings between the two characters.
Driving Action and Surprise Research
The driving action of the story
-The main character/protagonist leaving the room and going out to somewhere
This was done to show that the protagonist "Alex" doesn't care about his wife's feelings despite her displeasingly sitting on the edge of the bed.Iit could also suggest that they are having a fight or conflict.
-The wife of the protagonist deciding and choosing she wants to suicide to escape all the pain.
After showing signs of stress and panic by walking through the room and looking out of the window made her decide on comitting suicide similarly to a bird that's able to fly out freely of it's cage.
-The wife comitting suicide
Surprises/Incidents
-The wife committing suicide in the film at the near end of the scenes.
This instantly takes her actions/signs of panic to another level suggesting to the audience that what she's facing is quite at a crucial level.
A suicide scene from Shawshank Redemption:
-The main character coming back from work to find out
(Miles Davis "quintet" may be put near end)
This scene may not be included due to the 2 mins time limit.
If it were to happen ,however,elements of drums or a more intense jazz songs could be used to build up tension and intensity when he's about to enter the room and find out.
Environment Research
-In a hotel room and parking lot of the hotel.
We want the scene of the room to actually give s out the yellow/orange tone to make the mood and the frame of the room quite powerful.An example initially my head would be the scene from inception carried out in the room during Leonardo's hallucinations/flashbacks.
A clip from inception showing the theme we actually wanted to carry out across the short film opening and how the room should feel.
-Views of city in Bangkok
(This may require us to use a hotel room which is quite high and can see all the buildings in the city)
(Picture of Tokyo at night)
-Night & day
elements of shifting daytime to nighttime might be used in our film
Using cities scenes from a busy place like Bangkok offers and greatly pass on the idea of modern day society and capitalism to the audience also giving them the a bigger picture of the same thing we do and encounter everyday without thinking.
Filming in the hotel creates that rich-intrend city life we wanted our main character to have.
Theme Research
The Message Behind
We’re trying to say that many things in life may not be as simple as it seems.Some actions might be done with or without concerns and could lead to a major impact either in a good or bad way.Human in general is a very complex species , we indeed sometimes argue with ourselves,therefore,there’s no questions about conflict.
Furthermore, we are profound social animals.We crave each other’s affection,respect and support.Our future happiness depends on these realities to a shocking degree.
The deepest principle in human behaviour is the craving to be appreciated.
-William James-
It is human nature to think wisely and act foolishly.
-Anatole France-
Social desirability idea
Planning Issues
Planning Issues Locations
1.Hotel-Royal River
The location is selected because it is the place where some main actions of the story will take place such as the protagonist leaving the house and coming back.The wife being thoughtful and decides to commit suicide in the room.The room creates the mood of a married life and offers the deluxe-rich lifestyle we want the main character to have.
We chose the room 718 on the 7th floor of the hotel because it is a suite room so,many people including the actors and helping team could use the room freely without everything being too tight/crowded.Despite making some reservations quite sometime before and the hotel not being set completely into the cities area we were able to use the room at a reasonable price of approximately 4000 to 5000 baht.One of the things i like most about the room was the fact that there's a balcony,enabling us to see and make shots of the Jao Praya river and at the same time also capture some aspects of the city life/buildings from the high point of view created by the room.
In terms of permission we have to pay for occupying the room and ask for permission if its's perfectly fine to film some areas and facilities of the hotel eg. the lift or walkway.
2.Parking lot
Having the parking lot and the car is part of the scenes we need in our film opening in order to suggests the rich and individual lifestyle of the protagonist driving his car out to work in the morning.The scenes would also give us some scent of a moving action from the main character that would fit in well with the background music of our choice.
It should be part of the functions in the hotel and should not require much permission to film.
3. BTS stations (Might not possibly be used)
To show the very busy life of people in capital cities and suggests that everybody has their own aim of what they’re doing especially in collectivist society like Thailand and several other asian countries.
It is a public area and the shots doesn’t really requires actors to be in the frame,therefore,it shouldn’t need any permission.
4.City views
Again to show the what everyday life in the city such Bangkok is like and many buildings implying information about stress and working life of people in today’s society being very packed and systematic.
Planning Issues Props
Prop list
1.A picture frame of a married couple
This is to hint and effortlessly in ship the audience some sort of idea that the women and the main character have some sort of relationship eg. married.It should easily be spotted and and understandable.
We can take pictures and print them out then put it on a frame.
2.Sports cars-Any expensive/high class car
Having an item such as a sports car which the main character will be using to drive to work can help and make it more believable that the main character really is an elite class with a luxurious lifestyle.
We could be using the cars we got in our house or either borrow someone else’s which is willing and able to lend us the car.
3.Pills
Pills could be used to make the audience start to question the relationship between the two characters and also suggests the idea that one of them could be absolutely be unhappy about the other or is planning to do something.It can help grabs the audience’s attention quite fast if presented in the right way same as other techniques like Using music to drives and bring the scenes to life.
4.Rope/Chair
These are objects that the wife will be using to commit suicide.Not only that it’s very normal and old school but it can create and pass on that rough pressure to the audience when the actions are being made.If taken and showed in an artistic way meaning more of a cliff-hanger based and presenting it in an indirectly,i believe a very wonderful and intense scenes can be created.
5.Clocks
Could be added to show the time passing and create intensity by using the moving clock hand and the ticking sound in some scenes.
6.Drinks-Coffee/Tea//Wine
A zoom out scenes from a cup or a horizontal shot could add some sort of variety to the frame to make the film opening more beautiful.Actions could also be done using these objects eg. a spoon tapping the tea cup.
Here are some other props which i decided to bring from home to create a more realistic atmosphere and make the audience believe and feel more engaging that the protagonist is a really rich/elite high class person.
Planning issues Costumes
The Protagonist
-A smart casual suit
-Neck tie
-Leather shoes
-Hair well set
-Business Bag
Dressing the main character in a smart and formal way gives the audience an idea that the protagonist is a neat/smart interesting person.It suggests the rich/deluxe lifestyle he has and how much of a perfectionist he is.
How are we going to get it?
Soton has suits so we should have no problem in buying more male costume.
A reference suit from Leonardo Dicrapio
The clothes we are using for the protagonist:
The wife
-Shorts
-one piece clothes
-one piece pyjamas
Gives the picture of the wife being some sort of a cheeky person and may be treated and seen by her husband as just a play doll.
Do we have them?
Clothes can be purchased at malls.
An example dress of the wife
The dress we are using for the wife
Budget and Resources
ฺีBudget Form
Planning roles and Specialism
Roles (Crew)
Roles
Writers:Ply
Producer/Assistant Director:Ply, Soton
Director:Ply
Cinematographer(Camera person): Soton ,Aum
Production Manager:Ply
Assistant Director:Stamp
(In charge on set)
Line Producer: Soton
(Scheduling)
Composer:Ply
Narrator:None
Assistant Camera person:Soton
Gaffer (lights):Ply,Soton
Sound Recordist:Soton
Sound Editor/Mixer:Ply,Soton
Picture Editor:Ply,Soton
Presenters:None
Actors/Actresses
The protagonist-Alex Wang
(Max nuttapong)
The wife-Diana Lang
( Yuwapan Grachangwat)
Planning Issues and Other Considerations
Legal
Is the idea stolen?
As far as i am concerned the idea and story about the plot might be seen or come close to some scenes in some media product but it is certainly not commonly used compared to several other plots.Moreover,the technique/themes used in this film opening by using music to move the story are some ideas that’s only inspired partially from some scenes of Whiplash and Samurai Champloo only so, it should still be quite fresh as we are only taking some elements and developing it into our own style.
Copyrighted Materials?
Yes,some copyrighted material will be used and we might need to censor out their logos in some parts depending on the situation.
Does it contravene any regulations or standards of the industry?
To my understanding no as the plot doesn’t intend to show/reflect or go on heavily on any industry in particular with detail.
Moral
Offensive?
Some of the scenes could be seen quite offensive by some people if it’s viewed
In a wrong way or understanding rather than focusing on the main objective of the story and the message initially wanted to be passed on by the producers.
Ethical
Does it put anyone in danger?
No, as viewers should be able understand from the film opening some actions which are right and wrong
Treatment Research
Title:Insecurity
Production Team:Harrow Production
Production Company Name:Dramatic Group Inc.
Genre: Psychological thriller/horror.
Synopsis: Story of a married couple,a confused relationship from the wife (Diana Lang) perspective caused by experiencing the dark side and dual personality of the protagonist (Alex Wang) resulting to her slowly making decisions to end her life.
Tagline:
Characters:
The protagonist-Alex Wang
A businessman/perfectionist who’s caught up in the world of capitalism and is ignorant towards
Relationships in his family.He's seen as a highly intelligent/rich person with a high social status due to the rich and luxurious lifestyle he relishes.
The wife-Diana Lang
A free/lively person which is slowly turning to a depressed person due to the abusive relationship and violence caused by her husband(Alex Wang)
Target Audience: Niche audience above 15 years old (see reseach in audience and audience profile above)
Initial Research Into Role
On the filming day,ill mostly be working as a director/producer because i considered my self as to being more productive and efficient in making ideas/creating content and suggesting whats good and bad compared to using the camera to film.
Secondary Research:
Film - Midnight in Paris
One of the aspects i like about "Midnight in Paris" which is one of my favorite films is the use of broad/wide shots in scenes especially in the beginning of the story fully showing the beautiful breathtaking areas of Paris.There're a good mixture of wide and medium shots,however,not too many close up in these shots.Some believe that Woody Allen wanted the audience to look and focus more at the view so the technique was used.
From the opening scene of the film the technique i like most and will definitely be using it in the film opening is taking shots at the exact same or from a different place showing the same locations or objects ,but at different time to softly and effectively suggests the audience the changing pace of time.This to me is a very effective and useful technique as it doesn't force the audience too much to think about the changing environment such as time but still make them feel conscious of the changes occurring in the surroundings and more importantly looks decent if done right.
See more information on Research Media Language - Cinematography , Script writing Sound
Link - https://plysong01.wixsite.com/mediablog/single-post/2018/01/14/Media-Language
The Script
Notes:This is only our 1st draft of the script without any changes.More changes will be added in later
“INSECURITY”
By
Soton C12 and Ply C12
FIRST SCENE (1 MIN)
Outside the hotel
Tree shakes with the wind and sun is shining in the morning show a sun shining behind the trees.
CUT TO: Hotel room
A jazz song playing by the speaker in the huge luxury room, shown a room that is in mess just like someone just had a fight.
Jazz song plays, while their is a sound comes from the toilet, a sound of water from the sink. The camera shows a mysterious man called ALEX WANG watching his hand from the sink and then gently close the tap and the water STOPS.
As ALEX gently walks to his wardrobe to get his clothes, it was a suite. The camera walks with him and focus on his hands that are grabbing his clothes. He sits down to put his black trouser on the camera focuses on his leg that are doing the action.
ALEX puts on his shirt and slowly put the buttons in one by one and the camera focuses at ALEX’s hand that were doing the action. He then put on his tie the camera man still focus at his hand while ALEX pulls the tie up firmly. This jazz song plays well with the action of this mysterious man. After he finishes dressing he puts on his accessories such as watch and bracelets, ALEX wears a gold bracelet and an expensive watch. While ALEX dresses the camera focuses at other objects but the camera will cover ALEX which is in the background.
ALEX walks toward the other side of the bed. He puts on his business sock and his shoes, camera focuses at his feet and hand while doing the action.
After ALEX finish dressing up he grabs his car key and his bag then walks toward the door and he leaves the room.
CUT TO: The CORRIDOR
Camera man shoots his feet walking toward the elevator while the jazz song still playing. ALEX’s hand pushes the lift button. To go to the car park.
CUT TO: The CAR PARK
ALEX WANG walks gently to his car the camera shoots him from a distance and see ALEX opens his car and get in his car.
Then, he drives his car out of the car park. Camera sets still while ALEX drives away from the scene. Then the jazz music stops.
SECOND SCENE (1 MIN)
CUT TO: THE HOTEL ROOM
The song stops, The camera go back to the room. The camera then shoots around the room slowly. The room shows the glass breaks, chair falls, bed messy, stuffs fall down. The room totally a mess. Camera stops at the bed which lie down a women.
This woman called DIANA LANG, she wears a light small pyjama. Her white and innocent face show a tear dripping down from her eyes. Diana slowly stands up and walks to the window, her beautiful body shows a bruises around her arm, face and leg. DIANA walks to the window to watch the view outside and she takes a deep breath.
The camera faces her back to see both the view and DIANA herself. DIANA walks slowly to get a rope under her bed. The camera will show her hand hanging a rope on the sealing. Her feet stands on the chair. Diana kicks the chair away and her feet swings a little after it stops. SHE DIED.
CUT TO: Outside
The camera shows the same trees from the beginning the camera will be set on the exact point everything will be the same except from the time, the jazz song will play again.
THE END
Group Casting
Group Release Forms
Group Storyboard
This is the storyboard i made on the story in order to put things in a clearer order.It's not put in the other storyboard form yet due to having many shots.
Group Shot list
Risk Assessments
Call Sheets
Link to the Call sheet if it's too small or is hard to see
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lwS5dGhWvH0hcX8aRg93ZdSofcwa4TfvbDyQipIvwrE/edit#gid=1537274657
Production Diary
-October 16, 2017
Today i got my first draft for our short film opening
In this week me and Soton have decided to make changes to our story line plot and genre from being a more horror film based into a much more psychological-thriller theme.The name of the film is "Insecurity" named by Soton but is not yet finalized.We think that making a film more artistic and thrilling can be more interesting and results to better outcomes rather than an ordinary horror/ghost film which lacks quality content and depth behind the stories.
We have made a spider diagram to redefine our ideas and make it much easier to understand and breakthrough different aspects/factors that should be considered on producing our films for instance,Our Target audience or the L-CAGES ,Media Platform.
This is the mind map we made.
More Idea & Skills Development
Here's a video of me talking more about the ideas&skills development of the "Insecurity" short film opening.It includes detail on which role I work on,how the idea was organised,process my group was currently on and how i specifically feel about the film i.e what I prefer working or is best at and what I might learn and develop more in the future time.
Notes - Due to minor errors from editing the video starts at around 19secs
(-the video is 27 minutes long)
An idea about using whiplash drum roll to create intensity to the scene
In the film opening we're making we wanted to play with the elements of using music to carry out and cover the whole theme of the film.The music should create and give the audience a certain mood that we wanted them to experience in this case being relaxed and at the same time feeling insecure.Over the past time i have found two prime examples of the idea of building suspense/intensity by using music which are Whiplash and Samurai Champloo-ep14(animation). These two perfectly use the theme efficiently and swiftly grabs the audience's attention even within just a short period of time.The two similarities are the fact that both of them uses drums rolls soundtrack in their scenes to build up suspense and severe mood.
A sample scene from Whiplash and Samurai Champloo:
The scene perfectly make use of the drum rolls sound to build up suspense in such short period of time and at the same time made each actions from the characters be much more meaningful.
The technique we wanted to use from these two examples is to build up suspense quickly in just a short amount of time by using music.We are planning to use jazz music in particular /drum rolls to build that luxurious mood at the same time contrasting with the heavy actions being done by the characters to form that deluxe+insecure-ish mood to the audience.
(We may not be able to use this technique due to the 2 mins time limit,however,i believe it's a good idea to keep in mind and explore on if we have future projects.)
Film Technique (Opening Scene of Midnight in Paris)
Midnight in Paris is one of my favourites film,although, the story doesn't have many major big events and the story is carried out quite smoothly.However,it's the glamorous stylish theme and feelings that was experienced by watching this film that made it unique and become one of my favourites.
The video above is an opening scene i really like from Midnight in Paris.Through out the whole 4 minutes the simplicity that was put into the scene forms and outlines a beautiful theme in the movie without having to put in many camera techniques or insert a single conversation.It is able to effortlessly represent the the breath taking feels and show different aspects of Paris.