Screenwriting: Subtext and Reversals.

In screenwriting we have been talking about subtext and how it can effect dialogue and actions.  The exercise where you write things as obviously as possible before rewriting looks like a really handy tip that I will need to keep in mind as I write my screenplays in the future.

I actually had a lot of fun with this exercise and I enjoyed building the subtext into the characters conversations subtlety. 

We have also been looking at reversals.  In screenwriting a reversal is a reversal of expectation.  It is the result of an active choice, the character must make a decision opting for a different option than the outcome wanted when they first entered the scene.  A reversal doesn't mean that a character doesn't achieve their goal- just that they might go about it in an unusual way, or act unexpectedly.


Reversals keep the audience guessing as to what is going to happen next, pull them into the story and keep them engaged. 

According to studentfilmakers.com, this is how you create a scene reversal:

• Introduce a character with a clear scene goal.
• Create a set of expectations in viewers’ minds as to
  how the goal will be accomplished.
• Introduce complications, conflict, or interactions.
• List several ways the audience expects a character
  to achieve a goal and have the character fail at each
  attempt.
• During the character’s last attempt to accomplish the
  goal, have the character do something unexpected and
  succeed. This usually involves something being in the
  scene that the audience does not yet know about.

When constructing reversals, look at your character’s scene goal first and whether or not they succeed or fail. Then ask yourself how they can accomplish that goal outcome in an unexpected way.

http://www.studentfilmmakers.com/news/how-to/17-Scene-Reversal-Ideas.shtml

Filming a showreel piece

I still needed to film a sequence for my show reel so I decided to film John cooking up a feed.  I'm not entirely happy with the final result but when I compare it to my grainy news shooting footage I can see the improvement.  I wanted to achieve a nice soft key light with rim lighting.  I used some tinfoil in place of a reflector where needed.  Here's some screenshots.

 

Filming the Drama Project

For my Filmed Drama Project I decided to shoot my Tableplay 'The Date'.  I wasn't happy with the script in the end but I decided it didn't matter- I need to just focus on the look of the film.





Pre-production:


For my lighting I planned to use Fren-L, Pro and Rifa with difs to soften the light.  Due to the set up of the room, one light will probably need to be bounced from a wall to achieve fill light.  Reflectors will also be used in the MS and MCU's of each character.

As far as storyboards go I storyboarded the whole script.  I'm actually not concerned whether the actors choose to follow the script word for word, so long as the actions are there for me to get the shots I need.  Because I have extra storyboarded shots than the number of set ups I need I plan to just do what I can, any if things end up working out differently once I get the actors into the space then so be it. 

Scene1 Storyboards

Scene 2 Storyboards pg1

Scene 2 Storyboards Pg 2

Scene 3 Storyboards.

I also created a shooting order that I will follow the best I can unless something comes up or a better order presents itself.

In the week leading up to the shoot I had some panic as I hadn't found an actress yet, or heard back about location permission.  As I was filming in my flat I had spoken to the property manager and written a letter for the owner, but they had wanted a copy of the script too so there was a bit of a hold up there.  Luckily a few days later I found an Actress AND got permission on the same day! 



Production:

On the night I had a small crew of 5 including me.  I meant to shoot from 5-10pm but we went over time by an hour.

Photo by Dan DeLaet

I found that some shots on the night didn't work out as well as I had thought so I replaced a few shots, eg swapping an MCU for an OTS.  Some shots I had intended to shoot on the tripod ended up looking better handheld as well.  I also found that I didn't need the amount of shots I had planned to get the full coverage of the script as a large amount of the dialog became improv.

Writing the Tableplay

With my head full of action films and group project I have been struggling to get into the right headspace for writing.

I didn't have many different concepts for the Tableplay but the idea that stuck with me was about a young guy meeting his girlfriends mother for the first time, and the awkwardness that could ensue.

I thought about what you might do to pass the time in that situation and the obvious answer was to play a game.  I wanted my protagonist to be suitably intimidated during this encounter.  So while the obvious, overused 'dramatic games' (which are usually strategy games like chess or poker) came to mind I decided to go with something simple but intense.  Snap!

There were a few things I struggled with while writing this script.  I could see the start of this encounter in my head clearly from the start, but then struggled about where to go with it and how to turn the tables in the protagonists favour for my status changes.

I had set my main character up on such a backfoot that I was struggling to figure out how to pull him out of it.  There were plenty of ways to get him into more trouble- perhaps the mother was allergic to the flowers he brought etc etc.  But to give him an advantage?  Some ideas I had during the early stages developing my idea were that perhaps his family were high status and that they had membership to an exclusive club or something similar that the mother wanted into.  Or perhaps she had made a mistake that could give him something over her- she had run over his cat?

Eventually I figured out more where I wanted to go with the script but I was out of time to figure out how to get there.

Status Changes and 12 Angry Men

I watched 12 Angry Men not long after we spoke about status changes in screenwriting.  I think it really is a brilliant example of status transactions in action, and I really wanted to watch it again before reviewing to try and pick up on more of the subtleties.  Unfortunately I haven't had the chance so here goes.

12 Angry Men. 1957

Despite the large cast I found that I didn't really identify with one character over the others.  I felt quite removed from the characters and found myself being fascinated with the different personalities and their dynamic.  This is probably due to a few things.

1) The age of the film may have caused some barrier in terms of the way people would act then and now.  I definitely noticed that despite the age of the film the way in which people interact and the techniques used in conversations remain the same.

2) The gender and age of the characters: All the characters were men, and they seemed to mostly middle aged or older.  This could limit my ability to identify.

3) The ensemble style of the film.  Because of the nature of the film I identified with different characters at different points in the film, rather than making a connection with a single character.

Despite being an ensemble film there is a clear main character amongst the Jurors (Was his name Davis? I can't recall), but each of the characters have their own arcs.  These were mostly brought upon by the changes in status between the characters.

The status changes in 12 Angry Men varied in subtlety across different characters.   For example the young bank clerk is quickly established as a low status character but has gained higher status during the film, almost without me noticing when it happened.  Other status transactions were more obvious- characters often proved themselves wrong while trying to argue a point etc.  I think the combination of the two works really well, especially as it takes the characters personalities into account.

Beast of Fawkes: Post Production Begins

I realized I haven't blogged about our Group Project for a while now!  I was really relieved that we manged to get our last couple of days filmed without TOO much drama, so just pushed things to the back of my mind.

With winter upon us we made the judgement call to postpone any further reshoots, with the potential to film them for our own satisfaction later in the year.  This was definitely a wise move as not only has the weather been less than ideal, we were also cutting deep into our post-production time.

Last week I jumped into the Keying and Roto team to help out.  We randomly assigned shots within the team and I ended up with one that needed a fair bit of work.






I ended up spending about two hour to get the roto up to its current standard- and it will likely need some more tweaking once the CG Plate is ready for compositing.  

Filming a Fight Scene

For our groups genre exercise I ended up with the end sequence of the film- the fight scene.

I knew already that a decent fight scene of 45 seconds would need many more than 6 shots due to the fast pace and quick editing that action scenes call for.  However for the purpose of our presentation I thought about the shots that might go into a fight scene and storyboarded a few shots out.

With these storyboards I thought about dynamic shots, Close Ups, and the use of the Wide and Close up in the initial standoff.  I worked under the assumption that these would need to be changed once we had our actors sorted and could work out some choreography which would suit their capabilities.  
I planned to film all of the fighting using the shoulder mount, with a 90 degree shutter angle to cut down on some motion blur.  Speeding and Slowing the footage would need to be done mostly in post-production because of the limited fps options of the Black Magic.

After some thought I decided to attempt one shot at 30fps to be interpreted at 25 fps to try and achieve a subtle slow motion.  

Here's some clips I looked at to help me figure out my shooting intentions.

Short Film Research

I watched a few more short films a while back and tried to pay extra attention to the cinematography and storytelling.  I think I'm slowly beginning to notice more when I watch films.




Where Do Lilacs Come From from Matthew Thorne on Vimeo.


Where do Lilacs Come From is visually stunning and well told, especially with such a difficult topic.

Cinematography wise this film was stunning.  The transitions between reality and memories and between different scenes and characters was really well done and looked carefully planned out.  I wasn't impressed with the swirling abstract VFX brain moments, not because they weren't stunning but because I didn't really feel that they added anything- they seemed to me to be like a fullstop, simply there to separate two scenes. 

I would think this was a difficult topic, and the narrative approach which almost showed the film through to points of view was interesting.  If the film was taken  in a different direction I think that the two POV narrative could have been pushed further to show the untrustworthiness (is that even a word?) and instability of memories.    

Unfortunately I did have a moment of being pulled out of the film, because of one point of implausibility.  The camcorder.  Would an adult still have the same camcorder that he had as a child?  The film shows that this character must have a passion for recording his own life as he has continued for so many years, surely he would have worn it out, dropped it, broken it or upgraded by that point? 

Just a small point- but it did bother me regardless.