Storyboards for Experimental Film

Having developed the concept for our experimental film, Likeness, with a strong sense of the visuals in mind, the storyboarding was a fairly rapid process. I decided to keep the storyboards loose, focussing on communicating ideas visually more than choosing each specific shot.
While some of the images include frames to determine rough compositions, many of the sketches simply show the layout of objects and characters, and illustrate some initial thoughts about motifs and sequences. An important note is that some of the angles are not necessarily accurate, and are likely to be different in the final shoot.
You can see the results below; I'm not the best drawer in the world and the scanning quality is questionable, but the scans should give an overview:

A Few Quick Points - Experimental Film

Just FYI, here's some more info on the experimental film project.
My group for the project consists of myself, Jordan Deakin, and Joe Butterworth. We have divided the roles as follows:

Alex Withers - Producer/Director

Due to my previous experiences producing and directing a 15-minute short (Mysterious Ways, currently in post-production), I felt that I was in the best position to co-ordinate our creative efforts and to develop an initial vision for the film.

Jordan Deakin - Camera/Edit

Jordan's interests lie primarily in camera work, and based upon his previous assignments it was clear that he would excel as cinematographer for the film; his strong compositional choices and smooth camera movements will lend some great visuals to the work.

Joe Butterworth - Sound/Edit

Listening to raw audio from Joe's previous work, it was an obvious choice for him to handle the sound elements of the experimental film. He has great imagination when it comes to recording, creating clear foley tracks from such actions as smashing a pumpkin to produce the sound of a man being hacked to death with a sharp implement. Sound editing is also a strong point for Joe, as demonstrated in his audio skills exercise.

A Script for Likeness

Following the nailing down of a concept for the experimental film, I've put together the first draft script for Likeness. Although the script is relatively short, it contains mostly actions and so should stretch out further per page than a conventional script.

INT. PHOTO BOOTH DAY

A young woman stares into the photo booth’s camera, waiting for the flash. When it arrives, it catches her a little off guard, temporarily blinding her. She stumbles out of the booth, rubbing her eyes.

INT. OUTSIDE PHOTO BOOTH DAY

A strip of photographs is printed by the machine, and she removes them. Upon doing so, however, she notices a presence behind her and turns to see a strange man wielding a super 8mm cine camera. The man observes her through the lens.

WOMAN

Hello? Everything ok?

A pause. The man does not reply.

WOMAN (CONT’D)

What are you doing? Do I know you?

ECU: THE WOMAN’S EYE AND THE CAMERA’S LENS ARE COMPARED.

She approaches the man, but he flees. 

WOMAN (CONT’D)

Hey!

Rounding a corner, she finds that the man has all but vanished, with no conceivable exit in sight. Taking notice again of the photo strip she holds in her hand, she discovers that it has faded; all of the images are blank. Returning to the booth, she inserts the photo strip into the printer slot. To her great surprise, stepping out of the booth is her exact duplicate. She goes unnoticed by the copy as it walks away, and takes up pursuit once again. 


INT. CORRIDOR DAY


Just like the man, the duplicate vanishes around a corner. This time, though, the woman finds herself in an entirely different location. What’s more, the copy has been replaced by a life-sized print of itself, seen from the back.

WOMAN

(To herself)

What the-?

The woman inspects the print, before stepping through, tearing the paper and emerging again in an unusual place.


INT. STAIRWELL DAY


Finding herself at the top of a long flight of stairs, she descends cautiously into darkness. The stairs appear to grow longer with each step, and it seems as though there is no end to them. Eventually, instant photographs begin to appear along the floor and on the wall behind her. As she continues to descend the numbers of photographs increase until she is wading in a sea of prints. Behind her as she continues, we see the projected moving images of the earlier events at the photo booth, seeming to have originated from the mysterious man’s cine camera. While most of the photographs are of an ambiguous nature, one in particular captures the woman’s attention. As she stoops down to pick it up, however, she notices the threatening presence of the man, and turns to see him standing uncomfortably close, unmoving, camera trained on her and breathing abnormally heavily. After an unbearable pause, she reacts, lifting the photograph in her hand to see it properly for the first time; the image shows herself, stood in front of the photo booth.


CU: INSTANT PHOTOGRAPH


INT. OUTSIDE PHOTO BOOTH DAY


REACTION SHOT


After viewing the photograph, we find that the woman has been transported back to the very photo booth it portrays. She enters the photo booth.


INT. PHOTO BOOTH DAY


The woman again stares into the booth’s camera, and the flash goes off.


FADE TO WHITE.

Experimental Film Concept

In the Approaching Research module, my group created a presentation based upon an article by Maya Deren. In this article, Deren outlines the arguments surrounding the 'truth' of photographic images, and expresses her view that they create their own separate reality based upon their resemblance of mental concepts relating to the subjects they portray.
Playing with these ideas and having viewed two of Deren's films: At Land and Meshes of the Afternoon, I have developed a concept that takes these arguments somewhat literally, and explores the relationship between reality and the photographic image. In future posts I will talk in further details about the films that have inspired this narrative.
For now, though, you can find below the first draft treatment for the concept:

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Likeness

Synopsis:

A photographer become lost in the separate reality of her own photographs. Through a series of surreal explorations of time and space we question the level of truth inherent in photographic images.

Treatment:

A photographer has her image captured in a photo booth. Emerging, dazed by the flash, she absent-mindedly removes the strip of photographs printed by the machine, and finds that she is the object of a filmmaker’s interest; a strange man watches her with a Super 8mm cine camera. In extreme close-up, the lens of the camera and the photographer’s eye are compared. Upon pursuit the man seems to vanish into thin air. As the photographer contemplates this mystery, she takes notice of the photo strip for the first time. To her great confusion, the images are blank.

Returning to the booth, she inserts the strip into the printer slot, reversing the process. But rather than fulfilling her vague hope of the photographs re-printing, the booth has another surprise in store. Stepping out of the machine is her precise and flawless duplicate, as dazed as she herself was when emerging earlier. The duplicate does not notice her, and leaves; the photographer takes up pursuit, turning a corner on which is hung an image of an empty corridor. Turning the bend, she finds herself transported to this very corridor. What’s more, her duplicate has vanished, replaced by a life-sized image of the copy seen from the back, as if continuing to walk away. She inspects the image before stepping through, tearing the paper it is printed on. 

She emerges, once again, in a different location; a long stairwell leading downwards. The descent seems almost infinite, and soon instant photographs begin to appear on the walls and lying in piles on the floor. The numbers continuously increase until she reaches the end of the stairs, and wades through a sea of photographs in the following corridor. Projected on the wall behind her are the events taking place earlier at the photo booth, seen from the perspective of the unknown cinematographer. One photograph in particular catches her attention, and upon picking it up she sees behind her the man with the cine camera, uncomfortably close, unmoving and intimidating. She is frozen to the spot, we see close-up the lens zoom in towards her, and she lifts the instant photograph up in front of her. It is revealed to be an image of herself in front of the photo booth, and cutting to a reaction shot and then a wide, we see that she has been transported back to the booth and to safety. She enters, and the flash goes off once again; we return to the beginning of the action.

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The implementation of these ideas will be challenging, but if done effectively should pay off well. Having researched the practicalities of printing for all of the required purposes, I feel there is enough preparation time for this to be carried out. The hope for the film is to shoot on DSLR, due to the cinematic quality it produces and its capacity for manipulations of depth of field, as well as the array of lens choices it provides.

The remaining challenges are casting appropriately, scouting locations and obtaining permissions (in particular for the photo booth), and obtaining a projector for one of the scenes. I will continue to update the blog with news of any developments regarding this, along with further work on the concept and any planning materials that are implemented.

Just Released: My Second Project With Free Running Films!

Before I went off to Stoke-On-Trent in October for my third work with Free Running Films (see my earlier post), back in August in Nottingham I recorded sound for this, a short promo documentary about another band, JD and the FDC's. 
And now, in no time at all, the doc is complete and released. It's very well put together, and I'm proud to have been a part of the production.

While I'm at it, here's the first project I worked on with Free Running Films, back in June(ish?) and again in Nottingham: a music promo for Stereo Juggernaut with their song, Defeated by the Sea. My role was lighting and additional camera work.

This one was a fantastic opportunity to work on some lighting and to practice shooting, safe in the knowledge that Felix, the director and mastermind behind the production, was shooting the primary footage. It was also my first practical experience shooting with a greenscreen, the results of which you can see in around half of the shots above. The most interesting part involved pyrotechnics, with the use of fire bins (those aren't visual FX!); that drummer was rather toasty by the end.

Last Weekend - Cinematography on a Music Video in Sheffield

On Saturday, I joined a filmmaker from a new local media production company, Make Mine Media, on a music video shoot in Hillsborough Park along with a nearby flat in the area.

My role was as cinematographer, lighting the locations and operating one of two cameras. The promo was shot primarily on 7D, with myself lending some Z1 footage into the mix.

The most beneficial element of the day was the opportunity to practice lighting a range of rooms and spaces. Outdoors I placed a white circular reflector to bounce as much sunlight as possible in order to provide a balance between key and fill. The position of the sun in relation to the staging of the cast allowed for a small amount of backlight to be present, separating the actors in a subtle way from the grassy area behind them.
When indoors, I lit using 2 Kino Flo's (1 x 400W and 1 x 200W) along with a small LED battery-powered light. In order to produce a morning sunlight aesthetic, I made use of Lee lighting gels; a 1/4 CTB on the Kino 400 mixed with a small amount of bounce from the Kino 200 with a cooler hue, using a Full CTB.

I tried to bounce the lights where possible, as I prefer sources to be as soft as possible, but in order to provide more exposure the soft light given out by the Kino's allowed for some more direct lighting.
A hint of light around 5600K was provided by the small LED lamp, which I used to clip the sides of faces and shoulders as subtly as possible with backlighting.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished results, and if possible will share them here in a later post.

Some Inspiration for our Prison Riot

In researching the prison environment, the following two videos were particularly helpful and inspirational:

The first is coverage of a real-life riot in an American prison.

The second is a short fictional scene from the film Death Race (2008), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson.

One of the most prominent features of each is the overbearing sound of shouting from the inmates. This is then permeated by the sounds of destruction and fighting, and this is the approximate mix we have tried to imitate in our own prison sense of space.

The latter video illustrates the way in which a personal conflict can spark an uproar, and we felt that this was something that would fit in well with the narrative we were trying to construct.

Timeline for Sense of Space Audio Project

Here's a quick breakdown of our narrative for the prison-themed sense of space, as initially planned.

A warden walks through a corridor, and stops in front of a cell. - The door is opened and an inmate emerges. - The two characters continue together. - The hustle and bustle of the prison canteen rises up. - The inmate sits at a table. - Another inmate jeers at him, leading to conflict. - As bystanders cheer and laugh, the first inmate stands, approaches the other and lands a punch. - All hell breaks loose as all the other inmates stand and begin fighting violently. - guards attempt to calm down the inmates, and an alarm sounds. - Finally, as inmates continue their anarchy, shots are fires by the guards and the riot is dispelled by force.

An Unfortunate Turn of Events, and a Change of Plan

In order to record the sounds for our audio project, we had hoped to record in a school, adding a further layer of depth and meaning to our prison theme.
However, due to problems with not being able to contact a school after having our proposed recording accepted by them, we had to make the decision not to wait any longer, and to use the time remaining in order to record the sounds we needed around the university campus.
This has made it difficult to maintain a precise list of sounds, and led to some improvisation on our part. We have, though, been able to record a large variety of tracks from a range of different spaces and create the desired end result well. This has been made easier by our planning of the specific sounds needed for our prison narrative, allowing us to seek out raw recordings to suit them and save a lot of time.

Mind Maps for Audio Project 1

In our initial planning for the Audio Project, we drew up the following mind maps: