Posts Tagged ‘writing for film’
Thriller Final from Bonnie Dunleavy on Vimeo.
Embedded above is the Bonnie’s moving mood board/trailer compilation that we will exhibit in our presentation. I must give full credit to her for the voiceover analysis, but I thought in this blog I’d expand on her thoughts with my own observations.
It’s interesting to note the similarities in the relationship between the location, character and camera in these trailers/films. In a sense, the location becomes a character as it plays a role in the protagonist’s growth and development. For example, the environment of the Hunger Games presents challenges that Catniss must overcome in order to become stronger as a character.
In each trailer included, there is this frequent sense or urgency and panic when surrounded by nature. An interesting motif across all trailers is the action of running frantically through the forest, suggestive of its dangers and unpredictability. While of course there is presumably a more immediate danger that they are running from, i.e. the villain, the bushland certainly does not make this chase any easier for the protagonist. We all know that scene where the protagonist trips over a log and scrambles around on the ground as they attempt to get up. Cliché yes, but a clear example of how a bush/forest location can be used to exacerbate the danger that already exists.
To translate the sense or urgency and danger onto the screen, certain shots and camera movements are utilised. In the more intense forest scenes, the camera follows them as they run with an extremely shakey tracking shot. It can feel as though the viewer is running behind them and thus can relate to their fear on a more intimate level. If wider more stagnant shots are used, the mood is usually calmer.
I think it’ll be interesting to figure out how to best encapsulate Emily’s (our protagonist) fear through camera techniques and her relationship with the location. If we decide to include the stereotypical running scenes through the bush, we would definitely need to experiment with shots to see what we can actually achieve without any elaborate equipment. It will be a fun challenge to play with camera angles, shots and movements to assess what will best create our desired mood.
The following post is my part of our presentation:
Our final project concept was largely inspired by our chosen location. In our first brainstorm as a group, we went around the circle and each shared where we lived as it made sense to us to film with an area that a group member was familiar with. From weighing up the visual appeal of locations to the logistics of shooting within them, we came to the conclusion of filming in my hometown, Warrandyte.
Warrandyte is a small north-eastern suburb about 50 minutes from the CBD. The town and environment remains preserved with beautiful state parks, vast bushland and serene spots along the Yarra River. If need be, we also have access to a house for interior shots, as well as cafes and supermarkets that I’m affiliated with.
While on one hand Warrandyte can represent peacefulness and serenity, on the other it can be perceived as the complete opposite. With the bush in mind, we were led to consider thriller/horror genres as there is this frequent association with bushland and the harsh Australian outback with these sorts of themes. Thus, instead of writing with an actor in mind like the activity we completed in class, our intent instead became to write and create with a location in mind. We found that this process made the task of coming up with a story and concept much easier as we already had something to work with and draw from.
Once we had decided on a rough story concept, Bonnie and I actually went location scouting. We were on the hunt for two key locations – one for our ‘calm before the storm,’ semi-romantic scene, and the other for our creepy, thriller-esque bush scenes.
Location one – the main walking track along the Yarra River
The main walking track along the Yarra was an obvious choice to check out. In one of our scenes, which Jackson and Alex will explain further, our female protagonist Emily walks along the river with her fiancé Damien. As I wrote the concept for this scene thinking of this specific location, it fitted the scene seamlessly. The only issue we may encounter with this spot is that it can get quite busy on weekends and nice days.
Location two – Pound Bend
Pound Bend is another scenic spot in Warrandyte which features the iconic gushing tunnel. It’s a really cool location but is almost too much for our calm scenes as it may detract visually and aurally from the conversation between our characters. If we wanted to be a bit experimental however, we could get some shots of the water gushing through the tunnel to intercut with some of the later, more intense, bush scenes.
Location three – State Park via Whipstick Gully
This state park was home to some interesting relics of the gold mine period, such as this mine and this big ol’ wall. However, as this state park is commonly used by bushwalkers and horse riders alike, it has very defined and obvious tracks. This is an issue as we want the bush location to appear isolated and remote – not something people use on the daily. It was also a bit too green and welcoming for our liking.
Location four – State Park via Tills Drive
The final state park we went to was a clear winner for our bush scenes. We discovered these bizarre sink holes containing rusting rubbish surrounded by the dry bushland of the park. The creepy and eerie vibe was just what we were looking for, and there was also potential to veer away from the track to set the scene within a more desolate-appearing area.
After all writing and discussing our proposed ideas for the final project, we decided as a group to go forth with my concept, as it seemed to be the most workable and appropriate for the nature of the task. We then loosely delegated roles based on our interests as follows:
- Sarah – producer
- Bonnie and Laura – location scouts, cameraperson(s) and editing team
- Jackson and Alex – scriptwriters
For the meantime however, we must direct our focus on the fast-approaching presentation in week seven. To my understanding, the presentation is less of a pitch but more of an explanation of our intentions and progress so far. Once more, we allocated each group member with a subject to speak about:
- Sarah – proposal/question, concept, general research
- Bonnie – Trailers to draw inspiration from
- Laura – Location
- Jackson and Alex – Draft script
As above, my main topic of focus is on location, but I will save that for another post. In this blog I wish to focus on the broader complex ideas we will explore through our productions, and thus address in our presentation.
At the crux of our project is the desire to produce something technically sound, visually aesthetic, and most importantly, something with a strong and compelling storyline. We intend to take this a step further however by researching the thriller genre as a whole, investigating what makes a thriller ‘thrill,’ if you will. My concern with the thriller genre is if it is not done well, it can come across as a little cheesy and even comedic. We thus intend to then put our research findings into practice in our writing and filmmaking.
So a good starting point is to investigate what exactly defines a thriller.
I found the following definition online which I thought summed it up quite well:
This definition is a good reference point for our production. It explains what mood we are trying to create, as well as how we want the audience to feel. But through what measures can we achieve this?
A good story and motivated protagonist are obvious features to a thriller (and any other film, for that matter), but the genre relies heavily on a number of other elements to contribute to its suspenseful nature. According to Bordwell and Thompson, “the thrillers emphasis on suspense and surprise encourages the filmmaker to mislead the audience, and this invites experiments with the narrative form.” This textual quality makes a lot of sense, as if the viewer is fully informed at all times, they will never experience the uncertainty and anticipation of the thriller genre.
To achieve this, certain stylistic choices are exploited in this genre. For example, framing, specifically the use of off-screen space, is utilised particularly well in thriller and horror films. Viewers are led to acknowledge that what they see in frame does not contain the entire world of the story, and that something may be lingering outside of the frame. Filmmakers can create suspense by teasing the viewer with the possibility of something being there (or not).
Music is another crucial element that works to build suspense. When you watch a thriller film on mute, it is not nearly as tense as it is with volume. Music works to subconsciously make us anxious, build our anticipation, excitement, or fear. It is therefore crucial we use music to our advantage to achieve our desired mood and tone.
I believe it is important that we direct significant attention to these stylistic choices in order to better our chance of a consistent, compelling thriller. Hopefully we are able to execute them with success as to avoid our scenes becoming a comedy!
In class this week, we completed an interesting exercise involving character building with subjects in mind. The task was to scroll through the StarNow page (specifically those who have agreed to work with us), select an actor from their headshot and create a character and narrative inspired by what we see.
To begin, I chose this young fella:
I started off with a few dot points of my immediate idea to help me structure the prose to follow:
I didn’t have time to write a sound conclusion, but I was pretty happy with the story concept I was able to come up in the short amount of time available. As I usually find it difficult to develop an idea from scratch, using the headshot as a visual prompt really helped me to get the ball rolling. This task was not dissimilar to previous exercises in which we would use a written prompt to help us come up with an idea for a story/script. Comparing the two processes, I personally preferred using an image to draw inspiration from as I am more of a visual-minded person. Thus, I found I was able to devise the prose more naturally and easily as I could visualise not only my protagonist, but also the world in which he surrounds himself.
The exercise made me think more deeply about what we were doing and how it relates to industry practice. A lot of writers and filmmakers often use the phrase ‘writing with actors in mind.’ I was led to wonder however what are the main factors to consider about the person in mind when doing this.
Do filmmakers write with an actor in mind based on their…
- Physical appearance?
- Previous roles in films/celebrity status?
- On-screen persona or identity?
- Relationship with the filmmaker or cooperative nature on set?
Or maybe it’s based on reachability, i.e. writing for someone who they will realistically be able to cast. Of course, it’s likely that it is a combination of these factors and, dependent on the filmmakers’ status and motivation, priorities are bound to differ from one case to another. It’s interesting though to consider these factors and how they relate to our own scriptwriting practice, e.g. what’s most important to us when crafting and casting characters.
To some extent we ‘wrote with an actor in mind’ in this class exercise, but all we had to work with was a mere headshot and a few lines (if that) in their bio. I did feel a bit guilty judging Rupa purely on his appearance alone, as obviously I wasn’t totally informed about what he would be like as an actor. For all I knew, he might have a totally different demeanour and not be fitting for the role I wrote him into at all. If we were actually planning to write a script with the intention to film based on the actors we selected, we would probably need to meet them in order to gauge if they really are suitable.
All in all, this exercise was certainly a valuable one and has inspired me to gain inspiration from visual prompts. Story inspiration is everywhere – you just need to look at the people and world around you with an open mind.
The Writing for Film class exercises have offered both a practical and conceptual insight into film production. So far there has been a strong emphasis getting out there and producing content, from script writing, to filming, to editing. I think this approach is really effective as the best way to learn is from doing. It gives us the chance to experiment, make mistakes and ultimately learn from our experiences along the way.
Class exercises over the past two weeks have enabled us to cover the works as we got the chance to dabble in all stages of production. Through this, we were able to put our creative and technical skills into practice to create something simple yet well structured, continuous and complete.
For exercise 2b, in groups we were asked to draw inspiration from the creative students kids clips to create something of our own. In our group, we decided to write our script as a continuation of the following clip:
With the intent to change the dynamic of the relationship, we decided that the main mobster character would be the father/mother to the two ‘children.’ Although we had limited time to come up with a script, we came up with something short, snappy and easy to shoot. This left a lot of room for improvisation on set, resulting in the dialogue to come across more natural and fluent.
In terms of filming, we were instructed to gather six shots in total. At first I thought that this seemed a lot for a scene with minimal action, but when it came to editing, I realised why the more shots would be useful. In terms of continuity, some shots would work, and others would not. Thus it was valuable to have an array of different shots to choose from and carefully select which of them would work best. Here’s what I came up with in the editing suite (please excuse the painfully awkward ending – we kind of forgot to come up with a conclusion):
In the edit suite, I also learned that changing shots must fulfil purpose. If they are changed erratically, or unnecessarily, they consequently detract from the content of the film and viewer is likely to be aware of the cuts when they should fly unnoticed. More shots or cuts does not necessarily equate to a better quality product. For this reason I chose to neglect a medium close up two shot of the children as it just seemed random and unnecessary, and ultimately disruptive to the flow of the scene.
So far I am really enjoying these classes and am learning a lot from each exercise. With each task come new learning curves that teach us something valuable about the filmmaking process.
In Thursday’s class we had our first collaborative exercise with the creative writing students. After writing a script based on a random character and action, the task was to film one single take version, and one shoot to edit. Our script revolved around 18 year old soldier Brody who was ‘waiting for a train.’
It is always difficult to go straight into working with people before you get the chance to get to know them. I for one find it easier to be assertive when I’m comfortable with those around me. Nonetheless, our group meshed well with the mutual goal of producing a high quality product.
In the single take shoot, I volunteered to be one of the characters. I am usually an awkward being when it comes to being in front of the camera so doing this pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone. Anyway, it was relatively straightforward as all I had to do was to remember my lines and gestures (however it did prove more difficult than expected at first – curse my terrible memory) and I let the crew behind the camera direct the action.
For the second shoot, I was allocated the role of assistant director. Due to the casualness of the shoot however, I essentially became an all-rounder. Although I haven’t done a lot of filming for narrative before, I was able to finally put a lot of my built-up knowledge into practice. My understanding of the 180degree rule, framing and shot size certainly became useful, and although it was not my role to control these factors, I feel as though I made some valuable suggestions and offered some sound advice.
We initially encountered some issues when in came to audio due to the signal to noise ratio. To begin, we were using the on shot gun mic mounted on top of the camera. In order to lessen background noise, I suggested we use the extension cord and hold the mic closer to the signal to mimic the function of a boom mic. While this did improve the sound quality to some extent (and Jules got a good ab workout), we could not get the mic close enough without entering the frame. I then suggested that we try the lapel mic – this can be tricky to use when not wireless, but we made it work and it ended up being the best sound out all three options.
While I didn’t get a chance to watch all our footage back and evaluate it properly, I do think we managed to do a decent job. We worked well as a team and I think we were able to execute the script with relative success.
Hello again blog. Apologies for neglecting you.
So here we are again, a new semester, new subjects, a new me. Well, not really a new me. I’m still the same old me. But everything else is pretty new. What am I even talking about?
The studio I chose to partake in this semester is called “Writing for Film.” While this may sound self-explanatory, we are taking it the concept a step further by dissecting the conventional relationship between screenwriting and filmmaking.
We intend to challenge the industry practice of isolating the screenwriters from the filmmakers by integrating writing into all production stages. It is bizarre that in traditional practice these two roles do not necessarily overlap, as how can one write for film without having any experience filming a film? In my opinion, these two aspects of the filmmaking process are very interdependent.
Of course, there are exceptions in the industry to this supposed ‘conventional practice.’ For me, comedy and sitcoms immediately came to mind. In a show like Friends, the writers would sit in on the shoot and they would make changes to the script on the fly. Through filming in front of an audience, the writers, directors and cast members could gauge which jokes would work and which did not, as what might sound good on paper may not necessarily transfer to viewers. They would then collaboratively make the appropriate changes to the script as they were shooting. I believe this working dynamic is something that we can draw from as judging by the success of the show, it was very effective.
So why I am I taking this course? I’ll admit that I struggle with the imaginative side of the narrative filmmaking process. I mean I like to think I’m creative, but I find it difficult to conjure up a random, brilliant story out of nowhere. I’m taking this course to practice and develop my storytelling skills, from coming up with an idea to putting it on paper. As writing goes hand in hand with filmmaking, I deemed it was necessary to build my skills in my weaker area in order to succeed in the other.
To be continued…
