James Robinson
Moving Image Arts
Statement of Intentions ‘It's a great thriller or mystery, but on another level it's a film about the fact that if you only look at a person through one lens, or only believe what you're told, you can often miss the truth that is staring you in the face.’ -‐ Kevin Spacey Genre: I have always struggled to adapt a conceivable and fetching narrative to past practices within moving image. Through trialling with a variation of actors – however well the performance is – the believable aesthetics of the plot remain to lack a professional quality. I feel as though one of the most important aspects of film is to invoke an engaging experience to that of the viewer, this in which is conceived through the process of the cinematography, narrative, score, camera work, and editing. To apprehend such an experience, the genre of a thriller I feel will allow me to freely explore the different emotional effects I can create unto the audience, through the characteristics of suspense and tension of the genre. An alternative method of conveying tension and anticipation can be attained through the sub-‐genre of a psychological thriller. Due to the relation to the mind, I believe when explored can create a stimulating involvement with the viewer, allowing different interpretations to arise for the film. Aspiring to the involvement of the viewer created within the film ‘Memento’ (Christopher Nolan, 2000); the use of memories to create a reversed chronology that forces the audience into a sympathetic experience of the protagonist’s short-‐term memory, is an example of the way that psychological thrillers can be used commendably to engage the viewers. With this acknowledged perception that memories can be used to apprehend such an engagement, I grasped the idea from the inspiration of the film, that I could successfully use the notion of memories or remembrances for the basis of my production. Additionally by examining the camera techniques and editing styles of films such as ‘Shutter Island’ (Martin Scorsese, 2010), the ‘Saw’ heptalogy (various directors, 2004-‐2010), and ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ (Michel Gondry, 2004), I can conclusively perceive the high level of engagement I experienced with each of these films-‐further accumulating my interest. By hopefully composing successful experimentations in relation to the genre of a psychological thriller, I hope to take influence from directors such as Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese to create an engaging response from the audience that will also use a variety of film techniques
James Robinson
Moving Image Arts
Mise en Scène and Cinematography: The mise en scène and cinematography I feel are perhaps the most important attributes towards the production of a film. The lighting, camera, and layout aesthetics conceive the mood of the scene, and aid in defining the genre of a film. David Yates in ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ induces a new and darker amendment to the series’ mood-‐with the use of side and backlighting, under exposure, low saturation and a dramatic use of shadows. With this and a broad use of camera shots, he is able to convey a more mature and sinister atmosphere effect unto the audience.
Particularly, I feel Yates effectively invokes an eerie response unto the audience through the memory scene that depicts the first encounter with the primary antagonist of the series (images above hyperlinked). In this scene, the prominence of the shadows created from the side and backlighting as well as the low level of light, creates a very dark and uncomfortable atmosphere. With the inclusion of an orphanage as location, alongside its dimly lit Victorian glazed brick interior, we are given a sense of unpleasant mystery due to the predominant obscure tones and little light. The director uses a variety of shots and camera techniques to further add to the mysterious atmosphere of the scene; using follow shots, Dutch tilt, continuity shots and shallow focus to accentuate the narrative further. The faux bleach bypass filter and chartreuse colour grading produced in post-‐production appear to reminisce the artistic style of Caravaggio. The high contrast created from the directional lighting and dramatic use of shadows present in the artist’s pieces may have been of influence to Yates when producing this scene. From analysis of this scene, I can take influence from how the director has successfully used a variety of camera shots and angles, as well as lighting and colour to conceive an eerie ambience through that of a memory. Additionally using similar colour grading to this in the editing, I can adopt scenes of my Caravaggio’s ‘The Calling of Saint Matthew’ film to appear unnatural and distinct-‐giving me differentiating – a painting I feel may have influenced appearances between scenes in real life, and ones in memories. Yates for the visual style of the scene.
James Robinson
Moving Image Arts
Narrative Structure: In order for my film to attain a relation to the human mind (to suit the genre of a psychological thriller) I have decided on the incentive that my narrative will be based around the idea of memories. The flexibility that can be derived from memories will allow me to explore a variety of camera techniques; as well artistic styles that include expressionism-‐through the way memories can become distorted or even altered. Appreciating Michel Gondry’s interpretation of memories within ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, the context of a dream is used to recall memories. Gondry allows interaction with the outside world to be present, as distorted voices can be heard. Similar to this in a dream context, Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception’, allows foreign embodiments that interact with elements in the memories to occur-‐these An example of the distorted reality created in the memory in which can affect and disrupt the original memory. The correlation between scenes by Gondry in ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ memories and a non-‐linear narrative is present throughout Nolan’s productions. He uses a combination of presently occurring events alongside previous experiences of the characters -‐ this is something that I could perhaps experiment with, and incorporate within my film to achieve a successful narrative that relates to memories.
Sound
Sound is a prime component within the production of a film-‐whether it being the score or foley, the sound of a film greatly enhances the visual experience. The extra-diegetic score to accompany my film will need skill to produce as a primary source, which I hope to develop in. Taking inspiration from composers such as James Newton-Howard, and Nicholas Hooper, I intend to include a subtle, atmospheric soundtrack within my film during the memory sequences, and a more dynamic score for the present time within the narrative.
Using primary sources for sound effects require the use of foley-‐this in which can be created from any object and recorded to use for a specific sound. An example of this would be the sound of the egg cracking in ‘Jurassic Park’-‐ although it appears to be the sound of an actual egg cracking, the sound used within post production is that of an ice cream cone breaking. I intend to experiment with a variety of objects in use for foley to use as suitable and diegetic sound effects in my film. Within David Yates’ scene from ‘Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince’ that I have analysed, the vocal sounds from the characters appear reverbed and distorted-‐further invoking eeriness to the scene and used as a non-‐diegetic sound, possibly used to remind the audience that the scene is not occurring at the present time in the narrative.