Working script Draft 1:

A2 Media Studies Short Film:

Draft 1:

This is not, by a long shot, my finished scrip this is simply a working draft. SOmething that I can refer to until I have a fully finished script to work with.

Character description:

-        Blue; short brown hair, slim fit suit

-        Red;  short brown hair, slim fit suit(will be filmed using a red filter)

-        Pink; casual clothing of a young woman (to be decided)

Scene:

Establishing shot tracking up from focus of the floor along the length of the bed to rest above the couple.

Birds eye view of a white sheeted bed, a couple (blue and pink) asleep wrapped in one another’s arms in the early morning. (Lighting; lighting appears to be natural from sunlight depending on time of shoot this could be organically achieved)

(Jump cut) Birds eye view mimicking previous shot however in place of the couple there is a man (red) laid upon a soiled bed cast in shadow.

(Jump cut) back to original shot of couple.

Mid shot Couple wake and blue rises form bed to sit at the end/edge (cut) Level with the bed, blue rubs his eyes, his wife is obscured from view and appears over his shoulder to kiss him on the neck before climbing out of bed and exiting shot.

(Jump cut) red is sat mimicking previous shot, alone head in hands.

(cut) profile shot of blue close up looking distant, pink walks out of the room wrapped in the sheet stolen from the bed.

(Jump cut) profile shot of red close up looking distant, a discarded sheet lay in the doorway.

(cut) Scene: Kitchen blue is now dressed in a sharp suit and preparing for work Long shot while pink, wearing a hoodie and leggings/jeans/joggers making breakfast for herself. Blue places a brief case on the kitchen table and begins filling it with folders and paper.

(cut) Close up of blues hand placing objects into the case.

(Jump cut) close up of reds hand grasping for a baseball bat.

(Jump cut) Close up return shot of blue grasping for the handle of the brief case.

Blue removes the case from the table and moves to the door (cut) sideways mid close up of blue, pink places a hand on blues shoulder turning him around to kiss him (cut) close up of blue running his hands down pinks side resting on her waist.

(Jump cut) Close up mimicking level of previous shot showing pink whimpering crouched, blood trailing from her lips, focus on reds knuckles dripping with blood.

(cut) return to mid sideways close up as blue recoils from his wife’s kiss in confusion for both participants. Facial expressions on both blue and pink mimic one another for a moment. Blue smiles shakes his head and kisses her again, blue exits the shot to leave the set and pink looking mildly worried.

Scene:

 Long shot Shadowed hall way opening out to the street, Blue walks past camera Low angle into the light. (cut) Establishing shot mid close up view up the street, blue in one “barn door” movement steps out of the door directly into frame reverse track.

Scene: Street

Close up on blues face tracking backwards keeping him constantly in shot as he adjusts his suit and puts in his iPod ear phones. (music begins to play as the ear phones are put in) (cut) Line of sight shot tracking the movement of red walking the opposite way up the street (music is distorted but recognisable or played in reverse) (Possibly slow motion shot). (cut) Close up on blues face looking puzzled at what he’s seeing. (cut) Close up on reds face looking back at blue (music is distorted but recognisable or played in reverse).  (cut) Close up on blues face out right confused/panic. (cut) Close up of red still gaze fixed on blues position jogging (cut) POV Random passer-by (probably female to comply with Mulvey’s theory) Close up tracking backwards, blue glances over his shoulder as the jogger runs by and back to the camera, rubs the bridge of his nose, random passer-by is visible over his left shoulder. (cut)Stationary cam Blue walking from right to left of frame into office building main entrance (probably use wyke entrance as its easy to accomplish but an unknown location would be better for student audience to view).

(Jump cut) Mimic shot red crawling crying towards the entrance (screaming from the actor is option but would be useful for B-roll footage)

(Jump cut) Mimic shot blue enters the building. (cut) Reverse track mid close up Blue walks towards the camera turning a sharp right through a door. (cut) Birds eye view pan Blue walking up stairs and past camera through another set of doors (cut) High angel stationary cam Blue walking along a corridor (Jump cut) Mimic shot red staggers along the corridor and slumps against the wall, rights himself and continues (Jump cut) Mimic shot blue still walking and steps into an office space (cut) Low angle long shot down the side of cubicles, Blue begins to walk to his cubicle taking the ear buds out of his ears (Jump cut) Mimic shot red is on his knees weeping reaching out trying to grasp blues leg that is not there (Jump cut) Mimic shot Blue turn to walk into his cubical (cut) high angle long shot of the cubical (trying to obscure all space outside to represent his small and enclosed existence) Blue places the brief case down by the side of his desk and sets himself up to work, mundanely typing over spreadsheets. (cut) extreme close up on keyboard blue types (to those attentive enough to notice his selection of letters spell out “I am in hell. Someone save my soul”) (cut) close up focus on blues face as he types sweat running down his face, blue rubs his eyes in discomfort (cut) high angle long shot of cubical Blue resting his head in his hands, thumbs through files then brings both hands to cover his face (cut) mimic shot Reds head wrenches backwards clawing at his face screaming inhumanly (shot broken by rapid jump cut editing, high pitched audio and black frames throughout the duration of the shot) (Jump cut) Extreme close up of reds eyes heavy panting with a demented and panicked look in his eyes, breathing increases becoming more frantic, begins screaming in panic (Jump cut) Extreme close up of “Esc” key, upon a finger striking the key the increasing build of sound produced form the scream halts to deafening silence. Camera holds over the hovering finger. A deep breath and the finger retracts from frame. (Jump cut) close up on a coffee cup being placed on a table (cut) Long shot of Blue drinking the coffee and reading a paper, lowering the cup to the table after taking a drink (cut) close up of Blues hands shaking as he puts the cup down, hovering in mid-air, the cup strikes the table (cut) close up, a whiskey glass is hammered onto his office desk, whiskey flows into the glass and blues hand picks it up off the top. (cut) Mid close up Late at night, Blue’s in the office alone leaning back in his chair running his fingers through his hair. He leans forward elbows on his knees. (cut) Mimic shot Red leans up from his slump (Jump cut) Mimic shot Red is stood leaning down to pick up his brief case, before he reaches it (Jump cut) Mimic shot Red has the brief case in hand and is reaching for his jacket (Jump cut) Mimic shot Red exits the cubical (cut) Camera is at floor level Blue is laid unconscious (Jump cut) Mimic shot Blue begins to lift his head (Jump Cut) Mimic shot Blue lifts himself from the floor grabbing at his effects laid around him (Jump cut) Mimic shot Blue is stood up only his legs are in view, he walks out of frame. (cut) Floor level longs shot Blue walks towards the door, slumped in posture and rough around the edges (Jump cut) Mimic shot Red walks with pride putting on his jacket (Jump cut) Mimic shot Blue pushes the door open and steps out and out of shot.(cut) Reverse track close up Blues face is in frame walking eyes closed/morbid look on this face (rapid cut editing) Mimic shot blues face distorting and malformed (high pitched tone) (cut) Close up reverse track mimic shot Blues head sways side to side a blurry look in his eyes (a faint buzz) Blue lifts a phone out of his pocket into view (cut) over the shoulder shot close up text reads to the effect “hey hun I know you’ve been working all day but I miss you, hurry back ;)” (cut) Close up Blue looks disdainful into the distance (cut) Mimic shot Red looks at the phone and smile (Jump cut) Mimic shot Reds look of blank disinterest continues (cut) waist height mid shot of blues arm falling to his side in slow motion the phone falling from his grasp to the ground (cut) Stationary cam long shot Blue walks up the street and into the distance illuminated in the late afternoon sun (cut) Mid shot high angle of previously seen stair well leading to house apartment Red begins to take the steps two at a time (Jump cut) Mimic shot Blue walks slowly up the steps (cut) Mid shot of a door Blues hand comes into frame focus on the hand devoid of wedding ring (Jump cut) Mimic shot Hand clawing at the door (Jump cut) Mimic shot Reds hand is now the focus with his wedding ring on pushes the door open (Jump cut)Mimic shot he’s inside hugging and kissing Pink who is delighted to see him, The door slowly closes (cut) Mid shot of blues face his arm outstretched, Face sullen and breathing heavily (cut) Mimic previous door shot Blue pushes the door open and steps inside (Jump cut)Mimic shot he’s silhouetted in the door as it closes shut behind him (cut) Mid shot of Blue facing past the camera back to the door, he reaches down beside the door to baseball bat propped up against the frame Camera pans to follow gesture (cut) Low shot Tracking behind blue baseball bat as his side as he walks towards pink, looking horrified she runs from the room into the bed room (cut) tracking shot reverse as pink pulls red into the room kisses him (cut) Mimic shot Pink stumbles into the room in a panic and trips falling to the ground and out of shot as Blue walks in bat at his side (cut) High angle POV Pink scrambles to her knees crying and praying (cut) Mimic previous walking in shot Blue raises the bat above his head (cut) over the shoulder shot framed between blues head and his raised arms camera pans with blues eye sight as he looks across to see pink and red kissing on the bed camera pans back (cut) Mid close up focus on blues face in rage as he swings the bat in slow motion before the blow lands (cut) Birds eye view close up Red kisses pink pause and kiss again (cut) Mimic previous bat shot Blue lifts the now bloodied bat still in slow mo for a side swing (cut) Close up profile shot pink roles on top of red and continues to kiss him unbuttoning his shirt and kissing his neck (cut) Mimic shot of blue now holding the bat head down and punching like a rifle butt, crying as he does so (cut) Close up profile of Reds face alone in frame, pink lowers herself and kisses him and lifts out of frame. Red opens his eyes (cut) Close up on blues face crying (cut) High angle long shot Blue on his knees leans down to lift Pink into his arms brushing his hand by her face now outright weeping in despair. His crying subsides. Lifting his head to look in to the camera he looks emotionally broken, his distraught look contorting into anger his breath quickening with a heavy expulsion of air he lunges at the camera (cut) Blackness… role credits.

Tolorov Narrative Structure

Textual analysis: Identity (a YouTube short film)

Textual analysis:

Identity (YouTube short film)

As the film begins we listen to non diegetic music distorted as if playing we are listening to a record being played too fast or perhaps backwards, upon seeing the rest of this short film I’ve made the assumption that this is a representation of life it self. An attempt to show the audience that life moves too fast or is too blurred to understand its true meaning and only by removing the mask can we truly see what life is.

The first visual representation of this is a medium close up of the protagonist as if through a mirror, a young female student judging by her setting and clothes mimicking that of teenager. As the scene progresses you can notice that the this scene is shot in reveres broken with some forward chronological motion and the non diegetic sound glass being broken in slow motion however there is a total lack of diegetic sound forcing you to concentrate on the symbolism of the scene and how the scene plays out through an effective choice of editing techniques e.g. extensive use of jump cuts to further reinforce the fractures that she is experiencing.

A glaringly obvious point of focus in this scene is the fact that the actress is wearing a mask, all be it not at the beginning but for the majority of the scene and the film itself her face is covered, hiding what she is from the world. A further representation of how the world we know is not the world that is in fact real.

The choice of reverse editing continues for the next few shots showing a brief confrontation with some other female teenage characters both wearing masks as seen on the main character. As the camera follows her movements, with an over the shoulder mid shot, walking through a cliché American canteen.

Initial Ideas

Initial Idea 1:

Characters;
- (Male lead) Working man most likely an office worker.
- (Female lead) Stay at home mum
- (Supporting infant 1) Innocent child, son of the aforementioned couple.
- (Supporting infant 2) Murdered daughter to the couple.

Narrative; (Orpeus & Achillies)
Male lead is depicted leading the idilic suburban 1930's existence working at car dealership. After completing his day at work he begins his walk home doing cliche´things such as buying flowers from an elderly street florist and whistling as he walks. Upon arriving home he is not met by his wife bearing a Martini and a sandwich and instead finds the house quiet, further he walks into the house calling out his wife's and daughter's names to find his daughter murdered by his wife in their child's room. Th mother stricken with grief at her own actions hangs herself in the same room. After seeing this the male lead breaks down and weeps and howls. Shortly after the son arrives home from school and makes his way upstairs to see his dad on his knees cradling the head of his now dead younger sister and seeing his mother hanging over head he screams for and explanation. The father then beckons his son to come to him, he then wraps his arms around him in an embrace pleading with him to stop crying, his grip tightens and still he pleads for him to stop and tighter the grip becomes. The sons calls of anguish finally stop and the father lets his son fall limply from his grip to fall in the pool of his sisters blood.
The father then stands, looking stunned on soulless he walks out of the house onto the front lawn dripping with blood and falls to his knees as two police officers approach him and another two enter the house at a run. The camera rises up over the house to show a sun set. Roll credits.

Initial Idea 2:

Characters;
- (Male lead) Young man probably final year university student living alone.

Narrative; (Circe)
Alarm clock rings 07:00, Male lead slams hand down onto the clock to turn it off and focus shifts to him. He gets up and walks into his bathroom in a daze and begins splashing water on his face and cleaning himself up, during wash he discovers a tattoo on his arm of a compass. Confused by this new discovery he walks into his living room to call his friend  but before he can ask what happened the night before resulting in him having this tattoo he realizes the tattoo has shifted position to point a new north. He puts the phone down and sits on his couch to see that wherever he is standing the compass shifts to point to north. He then rumages around to find an actual compass to compare their points. Upon comparison he realises that they dont point in the same direction but behave in the same way.
He ignores the tattoo and tries to go on with his day, getting ready for university etc. Hops onto his push bike and rides around the city as a establishing scene showing the frantic world he lives in, the tall buildings obscuring most of the sky and life outside of the city from view.
We join him later mid lecture where he is staring at the tattoo watching it move as he moves his arm from side to side, to him the world sounds as if its underwater until his name is repeatedly called by the lecturer. This breaks him out of his daze to which he apologises and grabs his stuff running out of the theatre and jumping on his bike riding hard to his home. When he arrives home he valts the stairs of his uni halls and crashes into his room picking up clothes, boots, maps, running into the kitchen he raids the fridge for food and throws it all into a knapsack. Now laden with gear he locks his door and throws his keys at his friend walking by him telling him to "look after his shit." and continues to run past him. Out of the front door of the halls he valts the fence and hops on his bike and rides, checking his arm as he goes. "Ok so you've got me out here, where now?"
We then experience a montage as the Male lead rides around the country following his compass, his appearance becomes rougher as he goes from location to location until the camera holds on a close up of his face. "Ok what now?" he looks at the compass that is still pointing forward. The camera then pans around to show that the Male lead has reached the ocean. He's run out of road.
Sitting on the beach in early evening he begins to drink a beer next to a campfire looking out at the sunset. "you want me to go don't you," he says looking at his arm. Close up on his face looking out to sea then long shot of the sea itself. He stands, and walks to the sea, standing in the shallows he looks at the water lapping against his feet. "whats the worst that could happen?" Close up on him lifting his foot and taking a step forward. Roll credits.

Initial Idea 3:

Characters;
- (Male lead 1) Dungeon Master
- (Male lead 2) Hero

Narrative: (Achilles)  
Story begins with our hero knocking on the door of the Dungeon master (movement are very melodic and to a beat) the DM opens the door and looks blackly at the Hero, his expression rapidly changes as the camera does a rapid zoom and he tilts his head to one side simply grunting. The hero smiles and grunts back. The DM beckons him inside and the two walk into the DM's dinning room (close up on their feet as they march) Still in the melodic pace the DM marches to a chair, pulls it out and sits, slamming a Box of Dungeons and Dragons onto the table along with a book and a tankard. Silence in the room as a can of monster is opened and poured into the tankard, the DM lifts it and sips gently, wipes his lips and smile. Slams the cup and the table and grunts again as the Hero now seated grunts and drops a bag of dice onto the table. This form of pacing continues as they set up taking only a few seconds. The camera then cuts to a clear sky and the camera pans down to see the Hero clad in armor in an open field. Suddenly Bandits appear from nowhere and attack the hero swinging a sword (cut) close up on dice being rolled (cut) the blow hits the hero full in the chest who groans and (cut) more dice are rolled (cut) he chuckles and shrugs it off, this happens again for an axe blow, crossbow bolt and finally a war hammer. then a final bandit approaches as the melee is becoming frantic with axes simply stopping in mid swing because the dice say the hit doesn't happen and the axe drops to the floor with a look of confusion from the bandit. The bandit approaches sneering and brandishing a fork. He the takes a mighty stab and the dice are rolled. Hit. the hero now rolls his dice. Fail. He bends double groaning and crippled, wailing for freedom, the bandit stabs him again and the hero dies dramatically while the other bandits look at their own weapons the back to the dead hero. They all drop them and raise forks into the air with a cheer. Camera pans skyward. End plate "some times its not in the dice..."

Textual analysis #3

Textual analysis #2

Textual Analysis #1

A brief history of cinema

A brief history of film

What makes a good product.

Conventions of a short film

Conventions of a Short Film

Peer feedback on my chosen genre

I found this a helpful source of advice.

Pay a toll

Dialogue timings

Dialogue timings

For

Falling Down

Pay the toll

Run time: 4:00 minutes

As this clip in not a monologue, unlike the previous timings piece I won’t be presenting the dialogue first and then incorporating it within a timing and framing analysis simply because there’s a lot to go through and I don’t want to over- congest my pieces.

I will also only be making reference to the editing and cinematography for similar reasons, taking note of each individual shot and timings will bloat out my work too much, that will be saved for future analyses.

I will say that this is yet again a fantastic film that well deserves your time and attention, this was my second Michael Douglas film following Spartacus, another great film, and Ive fallen in love with the actor the acting style of his era of cinema.

This scene begins with 37 seconds of establishing the scene through point of view cinematography and clever camera work using the hole in his shoe as a framing technique to establish where the scene is taking place.

“What you doin’ Mr?”

0:37-0:38

“Nothing.”

0:39-0:40

“Yes you are you’re trespassing on private property”

0:41-0:44

“Trespassing?”

“Loiterin’ too man”

“That’s right you loiterin’ too”

0:44-0:47

“I didn’t see any signs”

0:48-0:50

“what’ch you call that?”

“Graffiti.”

0:51-0:55

“No nah… that’s not fucking Graffiti dat’s a sign.”

0:57-1:01

“He can’t read it man”

“I’ll read it for you… it says this is fucking private property.. no fucking trespassing… this means fucking you…”

1:02-1:13

“It says all that?”

“Yeah!”

“Well maybe if you wrote it in fucking English I could fucking understand it.”

1:15-1:20

“Thinks he’s bein’ funny.”

“I’m not laughin’.”

“I’m not either”

“Woah wait wait a minute wait a minute hold that hold on fellas’ will ya, we’re getting off on the wrong foot here ok er.”

1:21-1:29

“This is a gang land thing isn’t it?.. we’re having a er territorial dispute hmm?.. I mean erm I’ve wondered on into your pissing ground or whatever the damn thing is and you’ve taken offence to my presence and I can understand that. I mean I wouldn’t want you people in my back yard either. This is your home and, and your home is your home and I respect that. So if you would just, back up a step or two I’ll take my problems elsewhere, ok? Fair enough?”

1:32-2:07

“What’a you think?”

“I think he should pay a toll.”

“Good idea.”

“You should pay a toll.”

2:07-2:12

“Listen fellas’ I’ve had a really rare morning, but I’m not in the mood to..”

“What should he pay?”

“How about that fuckin’ brief case man?”

“Good idea, give us your briefcase man.”

2:14-2:27

“I’m not giving you my goddamn briefcase.”

“Mother fucker give us your mother fuckin’ briefcase!”

2:31-2:35

“Ok… Ok… I, I was willing to mind my own business, I was willing to respect your territory and treat you like a man but you couldn’t leave it alone could’ya. You couldn’t let a man sit here for five minutes and take a rest on your precious piece of shit hill. Ok, but my briefcase. I’ll get it for you alright you can have my briefcase, here you want a brief case… here’s my briefcase!”

2:40-3:07

“Have the briefcase huh!”

“Wait a minute hey wait a minute man… Wait!”

“Goddamn!”

3:08-3:13

“Hey!.. Where you goin’ huh!? You forgot your briefcase!.. You forgot the briefcase!”

3:16-3:20

“I’m going home! Clear a path you mother fucker! Clear a path! I’m goin’ home!”

3:27-3:35

“How’d they do that?”

3:55-3:57

Key: Blue= Blue shirted gang member

         Red= Red shirted gang member

     Green= William Foster

In this scene there are a few particular techniques that I like and will probably use. One is that of the tracking cam rotating slowly around the scene involving William Foster sat on the concrete block. This is not very technical but is reasonably challenging on an indy budget and will be an interesting technique I would like to use in my own film. A second technique is that of the point of view shot and framing in the first few seconds of the scene, it’s a very simple technique and not very spectacular but I like its usage. And thirdly the use of long running shots, shots that are not quite continuous as there is some editing here and there but the longer running shots are effective and interesting to watch.

Tears in the Rain...

Dialogue timings

Dialogue timings

For

Blade Runner

Tears in the Rain.

Run time: 2:09 minutes.

"I have… seen things you people wouldn't believe… Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those… moments… will be lost in time, like...  tears… in... rain. Time… to die…"

As this is only a short clip I shall also be doing a description of the camera work, position of actors and taking note of anything that I found to be interesting and of note in regards to my own project. 

To begin with I would like too say to anyone who hasn't seen Blade Runner... GO SEE BLADE RUNNER it is a fantastic film, albeit not the genre I'm doing, with beautifully crafted aesthetics and a story line that will leave you thinking about its intricacies for years.

Anyway...

The scene begins with a close up of the films main antagonist, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) standing in the rain with streaks of blood running down his face.

 0:00-0:01 cut

Close up of a pair of hands grasping an iron girder.

0:01-0:02 cut

High angle mid shot of Deckard, the films main protagonist (Harrison Ford) hanging off the side of a building from the girder.

0:02-0:03 cut

Return shot of Deckards hands grasping at the girder, one hand slips.

0:03-0:4 cut

Birds eye view of Deckard hanging one handed from the roof.

0:04-0:05 cut

Close up on Roy Batty smiling.

0:05-0:06 cut

High angle of Deckard still hanging.

0:06-0:07 cut

Close up on Roy Batty.

0:07-0:08 cut

High angle of Deckard slipping from the roof.

0:08-0:09 cut

Close up of Roy Batty 

0:09-0:10 cut

Close up of Roy's hand grabbing Deckard's arm and slowly pulling him to safety. 

0:10-0:12 cut

Close up of Roy's face contorting as he lifts the weight of Deckard one handed onto the roof.

0:12-0:13 cut

Mid close up of Deckard as he is pulled by Roy.

0:13-0:15 cut 

Close up of Roy bathed in light.

0:015-0:16 cut

Close up of Roys hand pulling Deckard.

0:16-0:17 cut

Close up of Roys face and arm lifting Deckard with the point of focus being Roys eyes.

0:17-0:21 cut 

Close up of Deckars arm moving up the frame as he is pulled.

0:21-0:22 cut

Low angle long shot of Roy lifting Deckard onto the roof.

0:22-0:25 cut 

Long shot of Deckard falling to Roy's feet on the roof top.

0:25-0:30 cut

High angle long shot of Deckard slumped against an stone vent, Roy walks into frame and sits in front of Deckard.

0:30-0:46 cut

Mid shot of Roy sitting cross legged on the roof holding a dove in his arms.

0:46-0:52 cut

Mid close up of Deckard.

0:52-0:56 cut

Close up of Roy. 

"I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe... attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion" 0:58-1:09

"I watched c-beams" 1:13-1:15

0:56-1:15 cut

Close up of Deckard lying down in the rain.

"Glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser gate" 1:15-1:18

1:15-1:18 cut

Close up of Roy.

"All those... moments will be lost in time..." 1:23-1:29

"like... tears... in the rain..." 1:32-1:39

1:18-1:42 cut

Close up on Deckard.

"Time to die..." 1:44-1:45

1:42-1:46 cut

close up on Roy as he smiles.

1:46-1:48 cut

Close up of Deckard.

1:48-1:50 cut

Close up of Roy lowing his head as he dies.

1:50-1:57 cut

Close up on Deckard.

1:57-2:00 cut

Close up on Roy's final resting place. The dove is released from his grasp and flies out of frame.

2:00-2:03 cut 

Low angle long shot as the dove flies away into the skyline.

2:03-2:07 cut

Close up on Deckard as he remains looking at Roy and closes his eyes.

2:07-2:09 final cut.

This is one of my favourite all time scenes in movies and I hope you agree.

Key: Red = time period of each shot.

         Blue= time period of dialogue. Roy's monologue.