Project Update

After a few meetings, we have finally come up with a plan for our first project. Project Two will be a modified version based on Project One, so the plan for Project Two will be decided after the first production. We have created a google folder to share documents for convenience.

Final Plan

This is the final script we are going to use. There are two scenes here that both reflect Meursault's imagination: one is set by the beach, the other in one of our school's studio with black curtains. The exterior scene will be shot at St Kilda beach. Hopefully, there will be a hot sun on the day we film since the day was pretty hot when Meursault killed the man at the beach. We want it to look like the day Meursault remembered during his last hours. The tiny flower mentioned in the script represents his mother. Time: We must finish all the filming before May. 10 or we will not have time to do the next project. Camera Work: It will be filmed with two long takes. We take this approach mainly for the reason to challenge ourselves with long takes in contrast to the classical way of filmmaking. Lighting Set up: This project is a practice on both natural light and artificial light. For the interior, the below image shows a basic plan for lighting. It may change when we get to the actual set. We want to manipulate with the light and shadows on set. Mainly, we want the shadow of the bar window on the actor's face to represent the connection with reality since what is shown on screen is only an imagined mental space. The light head of Arri will make a 90-degree turn when Meursault walks in front of the dido light on the left—so as to make our last shot achievable where the character stands in front of the light and makes his final statement. We may put diffuser or blue gel on the lights but it will depend on the day we shoot. It is interesting that our final look of this project should depend on so heavily on the day we film. Perhaps it is a good thing for it encourages creativity on set; or perhaps it's bad as it is unprofessional. Actor: We want someone who is not too handsome/beautiful (broadly speaking) and who looks like an ordinary person. It would be best if he/she is around 30s or look like they are of that age. However, I will be acting since all the guys we found either did not have the time or did not have the look we wanted. The image of a man we put in the google drive best suits our ideal look for Meursault. This image is found in a photo book when Yolanda and I were browsing at the state library. He is French and his look and costume both suits the image of Meursault.  

The Idea Behind the Approach

The Stranger is a fairly difficult text itself since it's a philosophical novel which reveals Camus' existential views on life and absurdity. The last paragraph which we have chosen to film consists of two parts: The first six lines are descriptive of the environment, and the rest of the paragraph informs us of Meursault's inner thoughts, which, suits well for a monologue scene. Our scene is an adaptation. Therefore, the first thing we need to decide is that how faithful we want our project to be to the original text. For Simon Langton, his Pride and Prejudice (1995)  is almost absolutely faithful to the original novel which best translates Jane Austen's original purpose on screen. For Joe Wright, he uses Tolstoy's Anna Karenina for demonstrating his own creative skills by setting it majorly in an actual theatre. He manipulates with mise-en-scene to achieve a certain look. Yet, for Baz Luhrmann, he only borrows Shakespeare's words in his version of Romeo and Juliet and takes a very bold approach which has made his film memorable. How far do I want to go with this project? Do I want to impose my ideas on this piece of writing or even change it? (To borrow this paragraph to film for my own purposes? To express my feelings?) First, we neither have the budget nor the wish to film it in an actual prison where Meursault should be by time. Straightforwardness is easy. To film it more figuratively opens up a lot more options. Second, for the moment, I do not want to change its original meaning while I myself am not sure what I want to express through this piece of work. Third, as we are dealing with film, we do not need the character to speak out all the words in the paragraph since we can also show with images. All that considered, in relation to the original text, we decided to film our Project One in two imaginative spaces. The seaside scene corresponds with the first few lines; and the interior scene is almost set in a void space which represents Meursault's mind.