A Few Ideas

1. A person's everyday issues in life are reflected in his or her dreams. Symbols and things that happen to the person are warnings and reminders. I got this idea from a few books I read through about symbolism in dreams.

2. Person takes hallucinogens and his or her nightmares come back to haunt them in a blurred reality. Person becomes confused between what is reality and what is a dream. A book called A Separate Reality, by Carlos Castaneda influenced this idea. The movie Requiem for a Dream had a part similar to this.


3. A person realizes that they are dreaming and takes control of his or her dream. This is called a lucid dream. I have read about this in a few dream books and it is also brought up in the movie Waking Life.

Write Up on Digitizing

My digitizing process went pretty smooth, I got it done in about an hour. I think I've got the hang of it now. Hopefully editing the movie goes as easy.

Character and Examples of Style

I want to create a character who is lost within his or her own mind. I want the character to be in a kind of meditative state of mind. I want the lighting to reflect the tranquility and surrealness a person can create in their thoughts, dreams, etc.



I chose stills from the movies The Big Lebowski, The Cell, and House of 100 Corpses because of the intense lighting techniques. The Big Lebowski still is from a dream scene in the movie. There is a very strong backlight on the left side, and a fairly soft key light on the right. The still from The Cell is also a dream scene. There is a very strong light coming from the upper left and another one coming from the left side of the camera. The still from House of 1000 Corpses is not a dream scene but it is a scene of a trippy murder ride, I thought the lighting related. There is a very strong blue tintedlight coming from below shining up on the subject. There is also a hard backlight on the subject coming from the upper right. All of these movies used high contrast and strong manipulated lights to create a dream quality.

write-up

I think this shoot went a lot better than my rehearsal shoot. First of all, I was not in the movie this time, so I could work the camera the whole time. That made things a lot simpler. I had a lot more people acting and helping out, this also made things easier. There are still a few downfalls, such as my dog popping in and out of scenes randomly, but hopefully it wont be too distracting. Since we were outdoors and there was no available electricity I couldn't use lights, so we used a bounce card. Hopefully the lighting and white balance comes out okay.

Lighting Quiz

1.
Key light- the main light, is the strongest and has most influence on the look of the scene, it is placed 45 degrees above and to one side of the subject so that one side is well lit and the other side has the well needed shadow. Increasing the horizontal angle of the key will emphasize skin features and produce and aging effect.

Fill light- is a secondary light that is usually placed on the opposite side of the key light, usually 30 degrees to the left or right. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key.

Back light- is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear, it provides definition and subtle highlights around the subjects outlines, it helps separate the subject from the background and provide more of a three-dimensional look.

2.
Use a bounce card or a reflector. Place it as you would place the fill light, where the subject is between the reflector and the sun. This will lower contrast, eliminate most of the shadows, and shine light on the face more consistently. You can make a bounce card out of foam core and you can make a reflector with crumpled aluminum foil.

3.
The 180 degree rule refers to staying on side of an imaginary line to keep the subjects on the same side of the screen and keep from confusing the viewer. Good examples are when filming two teams facing each other or just a conversation at a table or something. If you stay on one side of the line the people will both be facing different directions and remain on the same side of the screen, therefor keeping things easier to follow. If you do pass the line you must show the camera moving.

Film Stills

Response to Rehearsal

Shooting this rehearsal really helped me out in knowing how much time is needed for filming. We didn't start filming until around 4pm so you can see the daylight slowly receding as the scenes progress. I think the camera may be out of focus in some scenes, and I am not too sure how the white balance will look since it was constantly getting darker. I now know that I must be more clear about what I want the actors to do, and what I want the person working the camera to do. I am not used to telling that many people what to do. All of the actors and actresses did not show up so it made everything more difficult. People had to play multiple roles, and several different people had to work the camera. I need to think more about my placement on the screen throughout the shots and my movement. I also need to think about using more camera angles, because most of the angles in the rehearsal are about the same.

Steps 6-9

6. I will only need one day to shoot for the rehearsal and probably the same for the actual shoot.

7.
All actors will be at the field behind my
house at 3:30 pm Saturday, February 9th.

Actor/Actress Scenes

Me ---------------------------------scenes 1-4
Person I know w/ changing face------scene 1
Soulless Figures-----------------------scenes 1-4
Strange people Carrying dead body-----scene 3
Dead body-------------------------------scene 3
Girl with empty white eyes----------------scene 4


8. Contact sheet
Me-870 735 1544
Pace-870 732 0314
Trey-870 514 0024
Danni- same^
Justin-870 394 6551
Morgan- 901 503 4797
Drew-?
Thomas Kelty-870 318 7053
Thomas Smith-870 636 0367


9. All the actors know where I live or, they are getting rides from people who do.

Production Package

Script

-Characters

Me

A person I know with changing faces

Soulless Figures

Strange People carrying dead bodies

Girl with empty white eyes

scene 1

I look back at the person I know and say "Where are we?" I look away from them for a moment and then I look back and it is a completely different person staring at me.

scene 2

I slowly walk down the road and see soulless figures walking around aimlessly.

scene 3

I see two people walking toward me carrying a corpse down the road. When they walk the body by me I say "What the fuck!" then I vomit from the smell. When I collect myself I begin to run to try and escape.

scene 4

After realizing that I can not escape, I encounter a girl with empty white eyes. I stop and ask her "What is wrong with your eyes?" she says to me, "Your eyes are like that too." then stares at me and walks off. I grab my eyes and the scene spins out.

1. Analysis of Script

A

Me-I think that I am somewhere that I do not belong but I am actually stuck in my own dream and I blend in quite well. My goal is to escape the disturbing place.

Person I know-is a person I think I know, but the face keeps changing to confuse me and make me feel alone.

Soulless figures-are just people who walk around aimlessly in the middle of nowhere, they seem like prisoners of the disturbing place just like me.

People carrying bodies-their goal is to carry the body down the road to an unknown place. Makes me wonder why there are dead bodies in the middle of nowhere and disturbs me to the point that I want to escape.

Girl with empty white eyes-tells me my eyes are the same way as her's and makes me realize that I blend in with the disturbing scenery and I am just another person walking around aimlessly.

B

My major obstacle is the fact that I am stuck in an unknown disturbing place. I think I do not belong in this place, and I want to escape. The objective of the men carrying the body is to carry the body down the road.

C

The men carrying the body will be slowly walking down the road one on each side holding the body as they walk. They they slowly carry the body by me and then past the camera off the screen. I say "What the fuck" and start gagging then I grab my stomach and vomit. After vomiting, I try to run away but I am going in slow motion and realize everything looks the same and I cant escape. When the girl tells me my eyes are the same I realize I am just another soulless figure wandering around aimlessly, I grab my eyes in shock.

D

The men will slowly but steadily carry the dead body up the road toward the camera. They will have their head down as the walk past the camera. After I violently vomit, I will try to escape the place by running as fast as I can but it goes in slow motion and everything looks the same.
I will stop trying to run and continue walking slowly. When the girl tells me my eyes are like hers, I quickly grab my head, and think about how I am just another soulless figure wandering around aimlessly.

E

I begin to run as fast as I can but everything looks the same and is moving in slow motion. When I realize that I am going nowhere and cant escape, the place I try to escape the frame of the camera by running from one side of the screen to the other but it just follows me. Finally I give up and start walking slow down the road again, just like everyone else.

F

I will be looking around and slowly walking down the road. The soulless figures will be wandering around aimlessly. There will be two men carrying a dead body on a bed-like object. I will vomit when I smell the dead body. I will start to run down the road and realize everything looks the same, then I will try and escape the frame of the camera by running side to side.

2. Breakdown of Script

A

I will be the main character and will need two males to be the person I know with changing faces. I will need two more different males to carry the bodies down the road. I need one female to be the girl with empty white eyes. I will try to use all of the actors that are not in the scene we are shooting to be the soulless figures since their identity will be uknown.

Males-4

Females-1

Either Or-at least 2

B

Me-I will be in just about every scene

Person I know-one short scene for both actors

People carrying bodies-the 2 males and the person playing the body will be in one scene for a short time.

Girl with empty eyes-one female will be in one scene for short amount of time.

Soulless figures-I will use all actresses and actors as much as I can when they are not playing a major part in the scene. Will be in most scenes.

C

I will use one location on a dirt road surrounded by open fields. The same location as my first video assignment.

D Effects

-making the soulless figures unidentifiable

-making the bodies look dead

-making the girls eyes white

E

I want everyone to be dressed in either black or dull colors so everyone blends together. Special makeup will be required for the corpse and for the girl with empty white eyes. I may make everyone have make-up on their eyes to make them look more strange.

F

The only prop needed is some kind of board or table to carry the corpse on.

3. Location Scout

Sound Quality- probably windy

No available power

Only light available is daylight or headlights on a car.

4. Confirm Location

5. Block each scene