A screen shot from Her, I thought it’s beautiful and has a feeling of isolation.
A screen shot from Cloud Atlas, I cannot remember what the plot is about during this bit, but it’s a very sad part where all the A.I. girls find out that the nutrition fluids they drink to maintain their life is actually made of broken or abandoned A.I. girls (who were found having concious and subjective thoughts).
This is just a random image that I found when I googled sci-fi. It looks really intense, but this kind of sci-fi is not my favourite type. I’m more into sci-fi storys in which you can find the current situation of the society, reflections of certain issues without stating them directly. I’m not necessarily attracted to the idea sci-fi and spaceships and outer space but stories that show there are possibilities of what the future will be like.
A screen shot from Alien: Covenant. The whole film is boring as hell but the cinematography and the set design is quite a highlight. The mininal clothing David and Walter wear really uplifts the whole futuristic narrative.
A screen shot from Ex Machina, one of my favorite sci-fi. The journey of the A.I. protagonist is everything I’d like to see in a sci-fi story. The process of her realizing who she is and who she wants to be is truly amazing.
A screen shot from Black Mirror Season 3’s ‘Nosedive’. It’s a story that takes place in the near future where people’s popularity on social networks is their social status and class in reality. The story articulates how people are obssessed about getting ‘likes’ on social networks such at facebook and instagram etc. Apart from the story, the cinematography is beautiful, and post-production is also a highlight as it’s got a pink-lilac tone though the whole episode, making everything looks so nice and dreamy, contrasting the dark rules of the society.
I’d keep looking for more images but really all I’m into are sci-fi stuff. Sci-fi is a true blessing to the human race.
I don’t really know what to do for the final video but for now I can only think of sci-fi stories. I’d love to tell a story that is beyond this world we live in and especially has nothing to do with the reality. I think people are very drawn to the genre of sci-fi because it really is a escape from the reality, even though I don’t think the reality is that bad, I’d still love to spend 2 hours imagining that I’m living in a different world.
I’m thinking that maybe I could do something like Black Mirror because I like how it’s always set in the near future where most of the things are the same as reality but the technology is slightly more advanced, which often brings more troubles than convenience as it’s portrayed in the show.
I keep thinking about Cloud Atlas, a film that I watched probably 3 years ago. It had me shook when I first read the book, each of the story was so beautiful and was skillfully tied to each other. The six protagonists are all so brave and bold while encounter hardships and they made me feel so encouraged. The narrative style in the film was truly incredible, cutting all 6 stories together, through the time of 300 years. And the most amazing thing is that the cast all play several characters in it, implying the cycle of life and that maybe one lives many lives but the universe always brings the same people to each other. It’s such a good story, and the Wachowskis did a great job directing it.
Okay, for the pitching, I really have to figure out a more detailed story to begin with, but for now I honestly cannot select one in my head because I don’t think any of them is completed enough.
Well, if I have to, then here are some of the things that I came up with:
- A story that is set in near future around 2040-2050 where civilization is more developed.
- Everything still looks the same. It’s more developed on the brains than the looks. It’s people’s mentality that’s become more civilized.
- The general background is set in a world where there are no boarder lines or the concept of countries but social issues such as racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, xenophobia and etc, still exist in the world. I intent to make this a sharp reflection of the reality and the world we live in.
- Inspiration from Cloud Atlas, Black Mirror and Her:
Cloud Atlas is a science fiction directed by the Whichowskis and Tom Tykwer. It consists 6 stories with a different protagonist in each, coming thorough from 1849 to post-apocalyptic future 2321. I like how it has got 6 main characters from diverse backgrounds. It’s quite inclusive because people of different cultures, ethnicities and religions can all relate to it to a certain extent.
Black Mirror is a sci-fi TV series created by Charlie Brooker. It is made of standalone episodes. I like how every episode is set in an alternative present or the near future, being a combination of reality and fantasy. But I guess I’ll try to avoid the techno thing that they have in my work, because it either relies on a big budget or very skillful post-production.
Her is a romantic sci-fi directed by Spike Jonze, the modern and futuristic architectures and locations in the film are very similar to what I would like to see in my work. It’s mostly shot in the CBD area in Shanghai and Los Angeles where there are a lot of skyscrapers.
- About locations, I’m thinking about places in the city that look kind of futuristic. Like the Gallery of Victoria, the state library, New Academic Street and places around Southbank. Places that look modern and minimalistic would be on the top of my list. I think good composition and skillful cinematography would also make places look slightly more futuristic than they actually are.
- For the script, I’d love to co-write it with someone
- Casting, I’ll probably just ask around to see if anyone is willing to act, because I believe any one can be a good actor given the time and some good lines. But if necessary, I’ll put up some posters.
- Will have the shot list and story boards to help emphasize the shots
- I usually would start editing once I got footages to see what it looks like when they’re put together and will figure out if catch up shooting is needed.
After the pitch, Margot, Maddy, Niki and I decided to form a group. I think it’s very nice that we’re all willing to compromise so our ideas can be blended into one. All of them are easy to communicate with and are very understanding. I can really see us working together in harmony.
Margot’s idea is from the French film Cleo from 5 to 7, with lots of mirror and glass reflections. She really likes the aesthetics of it.
Maddy’s idea is using one colors to portray different moods in different genres. I think it’s very interesting because usually people do not compare colors’ meaning in different genres.
Niki got her idea from a youtube series, in which an episode tells the story of how the boy finds the perfect girls for her, making sure that she knows even though he’s had ex-girlfriends that he loved, she is everything he wants now. The conversation is so cheeky but I love it. Another idea of her is that there is a dark secret or certain dark elements in the love story.
And my idea is for the film to be a sci-fi, with futuristic looking and also reflects upon certain issues in the society.
I can really see how our ideas can be combined without eliminating anyone’s idea.
For the social issue, we talked about maybe we could focus on the LGBT community and their story and I think it’d be a really powerful film if we can do that.
Unfortunately, Maddy and Margot were not here today, but Niki and I sort of figured out a bit more on the story. It focuses on a girl that was abused by her ex-boyfriend and it trying to get out of the situation that she was put into. The story is set in the near future where racism, sexism, violence are very rare to see. The background makes her even more isolated because her situation is not understood by people as many of them are not educated about them at all.
During the short holiday, I went out for location scouting and took some photographs that can support my idea. I walked around the city for the whole afternoon and tries to find futuristic looking buildings and places.
It looks so depressing to look at. But I love it.
It looks vintage and modern at the same time. Melbourne is incredible.
Left: I really like the pink car and the green restaurant. They’re a good match in color.
Right: I thought of Margot’s idea – reflection when I took it. This could be a good location for filming.
I love how lines and patterns come together in the image above. It’ll look even more futuristic after editing.
More buildings. I did not realize that they looked this depressing when I took them. They looked fine on the camera. But i guess it’s because it’s very cloudy on that day.
I like how weird this building looks. A very bold design.
I like it because it’s so unnecessarily orange. It was taken in ACMI.
Hopefully these images will help me and my group envision better.
We found an amazing place that looks really ideal for the film. It’s a stairwell located in NAS and it’s painted all white, with complex structures and looks super futuristic. Check out this post: http://www.mediafactory.org.au/yuhan-liang/2017/09/15/week-7-exercise/
After the studio finished I went back there to take more photographs and explored a little bit in NAS.
Before our turn to talk to Paul about the group pitching on Tuesday, I quickly color graded a couple of images
