Linked Films

Crimson Peak (2015)
In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds - and remembers.
Production Company: Legendary Pictures
Distributed: Universal Studios

Sugarcoated

The style of Crimson Peak is very dark and gloomy with rich interior designs and ghostly figures. It fits to the distopian idea and colour code in our project as well as the setting having red walls with wooden furniture and oil paintings. However, the colour theme is an opposition to the real interior of the room as well as to the theme in Crimson Peak.  With the narrative the house is very important and is the main aspect to Crimson Peak. This also includes SugarCoated, the house is alive and incorporates within the main theme and characters.

Under the Skin (2013)

A mysterious woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. Events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.

Distributed: Studio Canal
Production Company: Film 4

SugarCoated

Under the Skin has many meaningful scenes with a rather confusing narrative, the alienated scenes are very much like Sugarcoated. The whole idea is representing inner beauty that is 'under the skin', which is a link to the idea of Sugarcoated, the distopian society wrapped around an appealing utopia look.

The lighting for 'Under the Skin' and 'Sugarcoated' is very direct in position within main aspects of the framing surrounding by darkness. They also share the fluorescent blue tones as well as lack of colour in some shots.

Making

Filming Process

DAY 1

These are a few experimental shots that I took to test the lighting, flash and angle. I had also edited the shots in fluorescent colours to see how they looked in the filter.

I then began choosing which angles I wanted the camera to be in following my digital storyboard. Using the tripod, we began to shoot experimenting with moving the lighting around to create all kinds of shadowing and shadow movement as it really worked with the whole theme. Many shots of Helena were taken and new ideas began pouring out and becoming a success. There were pieces that we followed from the storyboard but were not quite possible as shots were a lot more shaky in mid air without a tripod in comparison to stills. I tried to stick with research and the idea of old horror of how shots would be taken to create an uncomfortable edge. So there were many close ups including character close ups. There were also shots I wanted to create that made the characters seem vulnerable and crowded by the detailed elements within the room. The room was set up to look grand and excessive. There are many symbolised details of historical silhouettes and authentic 2nd hand pieces. They mise en scene is very much like Crimson Peak (2015) with the rich colours of detail looking a little gothic. There is also a sense of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland theme in there with the range of measurements between the characters and props.

I think this shooting was successful with establishing exactly what we wanted, however there are things to improve and change such as the set up of the table. We plan to include more paint and glitter to the table. I also would like to set a more range of shot types.

DAY 2

This round was more successful as we had a more specific idea and previous experience to what we wanted. The props were bought and set up more to what we had envisioned, shots were then taken by free hand across the table. When Martha was being shot we added more close ups and involvement into the props matching to the characteristics of her character being more dominant than the others. 

The lighting was by Georgia facing the light on Martha making the background the darker subject to the frame. This created a switch in dominance as the character grows from its surroundings. As if blending into the scenery theme.

This time I produced more shots of the table filled mess. Georgia and I had decided to move the shadowing round during filming. This make a further contrast as there is

DAY 3

The cellar scenes were a little difficult to angle as the tripod wasn't such a good size. However, the filming was successful and easier, shadows were used again and made a great job of creating the mood.

Editing

We began by choosing the shots we liked and wanted to use. There were many deleted and not used and many that were severely cut due to the footage not looking exactly the same as we thought they would be. A rough order was then placed to an idea of where footage would be. Then the warp stabilizer over took and saved many pieces of footage.

The colour tones were then set using the red, blue and green tones set to 80, 60 and 150. Specific footage was then chosen to be black and white followed by my storyboard.

Each shot was then changed in speed and reverse and put into an order. However, the order was always changed around each time as we edited because viewing the piece hundreds of times can be hard to then settle on one idea.

Olivia and Martha decided on some sound that we agreed on that further changed the order to our opening to sync in more. 

Feedback

Feedback

I uploaded a few photographs from my storyboard onto my Tumblr and got some feedback from my friend that I screenshot below.

Production Company

Film 4
Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most distinctive and innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established.

Under the Skin
A mysterious woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. Events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.

Ex_Machina
Ex_Machina is a psychological thriller, played out in a love triangle between two men and a  robot girl. It explores big ideas about the nature of consciousness, emotion, sexuality, truth and lies.


Both these films, a product of Film 4, have their similarities by having this utopian, futuristic theme by new film makers with new ideas. The cinematography of the films are also something different, a new way of viewing. The perception of these narratives is something unique in a contemporary art form. The films are more of a work of art rather than the 'old Hollywood' style of making money through film in big stars, familiar narratives and sexualising women. Instead, there is more of putting a point across about society. These are the qualities in Sugarcoated and a reason why Film 4 would be a participant to our film. Sugarcoated has a contemporary way in the perception, cinematography and casting. The film isn't laid back and wouldn't be an appropriate blockbuster due to a difficulty in many people understanding the idea. There are many thoughts left for the audiences interpretation which may not be so popular and can be intimidating and personal. However, through research of Film 4's many Oscar nominations and critically acclaimed films, Sugarcoated would be a possible film to pass.

Screenplay

Sugarcoated

INT.CUPBOARD - DAY

The cupboard door is shut, SCORE BEGINS PLAYING, the LIGHTING IS FLORESCENT PINKS AND BLUES IN THE COLOUR REPRESENTATION OF SWEETS. The door begins to open gently revealing a DARK LIGHTING INSIDE THE CUPBOARD but the door is not quite fully open when the next shot begins.

INT.DINING ROOM - DAY

The atmosphere is cold surrounding a dining room table with four chairs and four people, 1, 2, 3 with a chandelier lingering over the top. The room is filled with REDS, WHITE AND FLORESCENT BLUES. Vintage furniture, paintings and sculptured statues(representing humanity) surround them juxtaposing to their utopia inhumane personalities. 
The characters are placed on the four chairs around the table covered creation of candy. They are all wearing white.

1: She has a leading personality, brainwashed 

she has all evil in her. Her eyes never blink as if immortal. Her eyes are darker than the others, she is the dominant character.

2: The total opposite, we see a weaker victim. The innocence is seen through slow movement and sadness in her eyes.

3: Anonymous her eyes are constantly shut with googly eyes on top.

1, 2, 3 begin to attend to their meal with appreciation. All four begin to pick their teacups filled with brightly coloured glitter pouring in their mouths. The atmosphere begins to become unsophisticated as they want more. They begin to drown in glitter and paint representing candy.

  INT.CELLAR - NIGHT

The cellar is empty. The ONLY SOURCE OF LIGHT FROM AN UPSIDE DOWN LAMPSHADE ON THE CEILING IS FLICKERING. 1 then appears as a shadow following with 2 and 3 one by one appearing as silhouettes to then reveal 3s glowing white eyes in the darkness. The cellar is now BLACK AND WHITE loosing its FLORESCENT tone. The key is now turning, locking by an unknown source.

INT.DINING ROOM - NIGHT

The COLOUR IS BACK BUT WITH A GOTHIC TONE.

2: Covering her face with black paint. 

1: Licks her lips and fingers.

3: Opens her eyes

INT. DINING ROOM/CELLAR/ - REVERSE OF NIGHT

Everything is reversed back to the cellar.

INT. CUPBOARD - DAY

The cupboard door is wide open with BLACK LIGHTING INSIDE BUT FLORESCENT BLUE LIGHTING ON THE OUTSIDE. The SCORE ENDS WITH SILENCE DURING THE SCENE. 

Screenplay

Screenplay

1. Interior or exterior, day or night, scene setting, upper case
2. Further described in detail, lighting, any sound is written in upper case
3. Character placement, character introduction in upper case
4. Character description, costume, props, action
5. Description of action in detail
6. All dialogue lower case and centred next to character name in upper case

Search for screenplay within the genre, upload extract on blog

Make own screenplay of opening

Sound

Pere Ubu - Road To Utah from fire records on Vimeo.


This is a video I found on Vimeo that is from a film. The scene consists of music that I thought works really well with the theme of the opening. Its called 'Carnival of Souls' which is the same idea of how the characters are represented, children surrounded by a carnival Sugarland. The scene itself has similarities as the woman in the car enters Utah, seen on the sign 'Welcome to Utah', she suddenly experiences strange presents from an odd looking man causing her danger as she crashes. This is similar to the storyline of our film as the characters enter a dystopia.





I found this music on YouTube and links well with the idea of the music box layered on top of the dark uncomfortable deeper sounds that gets louder syncing in with the change into dystopia of the opening. The idea of slender man is the uncomfortable presence of danger which is just a feeling especially in the music as it changes volume and further deeper instruments.