Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Fiction Adaptation: Car Park Location & Car

For my film, I needed a car, and a creepy looking, empty car park.

CAR 

 A needed a car that was reasonably spacious on the inside, so an actor, and a camera could easily move around. The first car that came to mind, was my grandads one, which I used in my Directions Unit for Breaking Bad. This car has a lot of space on the inside and is very bright. This would make filming and lighting very easy and would be a practical choice. I decided to use this car.

The car in Joshua Jones Directs Breaking Bad
CAR PARK

For the car park location, I immediately thought of a location I had scouted for my Directions Unit, which is an empty industrial area near my house. During weekdays it is used as a carpark, and when it's empty on a weekend, it does have a creepy vibe. There is enough room for me to get some good wide shots of the location, and I think, once colour graded, it will look really nice and sinister on camera. I will use this location for the film.

The sinister car park location
Birds eye view of the location
Now I have decided on the car, and the location, I will work on sorting out permissions.

Fiction Adaptation: Script Draft 3

With my idea finalised, I have created a third draft of my script.

SCRIPT DRAFT 3

For this third draft, I have removed all elements from my previous idea, apart from the opening scene when the car drives into the car park, and the mother gets out. That scene still works for this new idea. I have also removed the woodland location as this is no longer needed. Both characters from the original idea are still present.

I have added in a few tense moments that help build onto the terrifying environment this script is supposed to exist in. These include:

- Knocking sounds on the door panels and roof.
- A boot that opens itself, and slams shut unexpectedly.
- Doors that lock themselves.
- A mysterious figure lurking around outside the car.
- Doors that open on their own.
- A final sequence filmed using the reflection off the rear view mirror.

My new locations are:

- INT. CAR- AFTERNOON
- EXT. CAR PARK OUTSIDE BUILDING- AFTERNOON

This script also includes a few camera movements to help me when I work on my shot list, and to help my visualise my scenes.

Currently, after reading the script through a few times, I can't see any changes that I need to make, so this will probably be the final version I use for the film.

Below are some screenshots of the first few pages:



Fiction Adaptation: Final Idea


After a few changes, I have reached a conclusion on my final idea for 'Poem Heard On Heart 105'.

FINAL IDEA

 My final idea is to follow the story of a boy who has been left alone in a car for a few minutes. Unfortunately for him, he is not as alone as he thinks he is. Somebody is watching. Somebody is controlling the car he is now locked in. That somebody, is not a nice person.

Across the few minutes, the boy will be locked in the car, tortured by noises coming from all angles, and constantly made to feel like his is being watched. It will not be a fun experience, and it doesn't end well for him.

I came up with this idea, after me and Helen discussed how it would be interesting to make a reasonably normal and safe environment, seem terrifying and deadly. I want to explore the idea of an innocent boy who believes he is safe on his own in the car, but couldn't be more wrong.

We will see the boy crawling around the small interior of the car, trying to escape this nightmare, and work out what is really going on. He will be watched by a distant figure, who, at the right moment, will attack, and end the life of the poor boy.

I'm very excited about this idea, and I'm looking forward to giving horror a try. I will now work on a new draft of my script.

Images:

Fiction Adaptation: Project Feedback Meeting

To help with the development of my ideas for the Fiction Adaptation unit, I had a feedback meeting with Helen.

PROJECT FEEDBACK MEETING

 We started the meeting by discussing the camera movement test I had created. After some discussion about how it would be difficult to tell a good story in one shot without more detailed character development, I told Helen about my new idea.

I shared my idea of a boy being left alone in the car, and letting the radio guide his imagination, and after some discussion, this led onto the idea of how I could play on the 'left alone part' of this idea. We spoke about the idea of a seemingly innocuous environment turning into something different when the boy is left alone. We worked on the idea of giving the car a character, as though it is being controlled by something else, and this poor boy has been left to its mercy.

I found this meeting very useful, and I will continue to work on this idea, and develop a script.

Images:

Fiction Adaptation: Group Intro Idea

As part of this unit, we have to come up with a series intro as a group. Below is my idea for the intro.

GROUP INTRO IDEA

I came up with an idea where the unit would be represented by a symbol, which is a circle with the outline of a book in it. I then wanted to animate this circle so it would spin onto screen, and the title "Fiction Adaptation" would come out of it. For the background, I want to use footage of somebody flicking through the pages of the book, with an overlay of some out of focus sparkles to add a bit of character.

I took this idea into After Effects and this was the final result:


I will share this video with the rest of the group, and see what they think.

Fiction Adaptation: Script Draft 2

To continue the develop of my new idea, I have written a second draft of my script for "Poem Heard On Heart 105".

SCRIPT DRAFT 2

 For this draft I have removed all elements of the original 'one shot' idea, and written a script based on my new idea about a boy, left alone in a car, letting the radio drive (pardon the pun) his imagination.

In this draft I have added three new locations:
- EXT. CAR PARK OUTSIDE BUILDING- AFTERNOON
- INT. CAR- AFTERNOON
- EXT. WOODLAND- DAY

These three locations make up the entire script.

I have two characters:
- Mother
- Son/boy

This draft of the script, like the first draft, also acts as a camera script, and so has some camera movements written into it. Below are some screenshots of the first few pages.





Fiction Adaptation: New Idea

I have decided to scrap my original idea of doing a one take adaptation. My reason for this is because I don't beleive I will be able to create something that is interesting and maintains the attention of the audience whilst successfully telling a story, all in one shot. Now I have spoken to my poet about his poem, I have a new idea.

NEW IDEA

My new idea focuses on a boy who has been left alone in a car for a couple of minutes. Whilst in the car, he puts the radio on, and shuts his eyes. We as an audience are then placed inside his imagination, and the images that follow, are created by his mind, which is being influenced by the poem that has begun playing out of the radio in the car.

I came up with this idea after the poet, Ross Sutherland, told me the poem was about a single moment in time, and letting the radio guide your thoughts. Whilst on the phone to him, he also told me about how he wrote the poem whilst sitting in the car outside a dentist practice waiting for his girlfriend, and this is where I got the idea of a boy being left alone in a car.

In terms of locations, I'd like to use an empty car park and a woodland. The empty car park is there because I wanted a location where a car would seem natural, but also a location that would seem quite scary to be left in alone. I chose to include a woodland as the boys imaginative world, because it's a large open space where you are free to run wild, like how a child's mind could run wild.

Possible location for the woodland: Vinters Park, Maidstone
Possible location for the car park: Linksfield Rd
I will now start working on a script for this new idea.