Depict: 'Past' - Final Film, Production Photos and Promotional stills

PAST - My DepicT submission

Shaun Howard comes home from work one night to witness something which changes his life forever. From then on he is haunted by the loss of his wife and his anger towards the killer through reflections. Everyday is a chore and he cannot focus on his future without being haunted by his past...

Soundtrack created by Li Tsang using 'GarageBand'

Production Photographs

Promotional stills

Depict: 'Past' - Character Profiles and Storyboards

Shaun Howard

A man who has witnessed a burglar break into his home and murder his wife. He is now living his everyday life haunted by this past, he cannot let go and constantly sees the traumatic event everywhere he goes in reflections.

Time seems to drag out for longer than it should, when he is at work he is riled by the constant repetitive clicking of a mouse, keyboards and the ticking of the clock. His life turns around once a girl walks into a café and speaks to him.

Shaun has dark hair, he looks distressed and restless, he has insomnia and bags under his eyes. He wears his work clothes which is a white shirt, dark tie, suit trousers, a pair of formal shoes and a dark coat. His shirt is slightly creased as he doesn't always iron his clothes and his hair is slightly messy. Shaun always drinks coffee at work and doesn’t drink alcohol.

Burglar

Burglar breaks into Shaun Howard's home and murders his wife. This character haunts Shaun in his reflections, he will wear a balaclava, a black leather jacket and black gloves. He will have a knife which he will show in the reflections. The burglar will look evil and merciful.

Jean Howard

Wife of Shaun Howard who is murdered by a burglar who breaks into their home. She only appears in his reflections which haunt him, showing her eyes and face which clashes with the face of the burglar. There will be fades between the reflections but I will show how his memory of her is damaged by the image of the burglar who killed her. Jean wears casual clothes such as jeans and a long sleeve top.

Emma White

Meets Shaun Howard in a café and releases him from his haunted past. Her appearance is very brief. She enters the café Shaun is in at the end of the film and approaches him. They both glance at each other smiling and they introduce themselves as the screen fades to black. She has long hair and wears a dress.

Storyboard 1

I decided to change this storyboard as I wanted more tension when he's sees the burglar in the mirror. I want to make this scene more intense. I will focus on him panicking; with sounds of a fast heart rate, heavy breathing and showing  him shaking. I also decided I wanted an extra character in my film, giving Shaun a friend who is supportive towards him as I didn't want him entirely alone.

Storyboard 2

I have removed the time lapse of the clock for this storyboard as I think that shows time moving quickly rather that showing it move slowly for Shaun as he is suffering and bored. I have changed some of the reflections focusing more on faces rather than the event. In the bathroom mirror I have changed it so the burglar is standing behind him instead of being his reflection as I don't want the audience to think that Shaun is the burglar. The car wing mirror will show Jean Howard's eyes, the car door glass will show the side of her face and the puddle will show her face fading to the face of the masked burglar. I have changed my storyboard to this as I believe it's more powerful, he loves his wife and keeps thinking about her face but the burglar's image invades some of these memories. I am pleased I added a new character, Stuart who is Shaun's friend as I found the story was too sad for him to be alone as well, he needs someone to support him. I didn't want to make his life seem so hopeless.

Storyboard 3

I have changed my idea slightly so that instead of Shaun witnessing the burglar kill his wife he only witnesses her dead after the break in. I wanted the image of the burglar to be what he imagines the killer to look like as he doesn't know who he is. He is living with anger with a thirst for revenge. I have also changed a lot of the scenes so the memory of his wife is behind him in the reflections, like she is watching over him, which I think is more effective. I have also changed it so he is speaking to a female colleague at the end who suddenly changes into his wife representing how he sees his wife in this new girl and how he finds it hard to move on.

Why my idea is appropriate for production in terms of context, available resources, expertise and time.

I believe this idea is appropriate as it gets the audience involved with the character's emotions. Instead of showing this traumatic event of a burglar breaking into his home and murdering his wife I am showing how it haunts him everywhere he goes; he is always thinking about his wife as well as his anger towards the killer. I am showing how in his world time seems to drag out and just getting through the day is painful enough. He speaks to a female colleague through a webcam conference call and sees his wife appear in the exact same position wearing her clothes, this represents how he sees his wife in her and finds it hard to move on.

I have learned a lot by experimenting myself through editing and finding new techniques which I would like to show through this project. Creating the reflections could be a challenge but I am willing to accept that to achieve what I want and create something I could be proud of. I have learned about blending options in Premiere which I will use in my project and adjusting the colours for dramatic effect. From my previous project I have experimented with layering and I will use that in this project, layering cracks over the top of my main character to represent that he is a broken man. I will layer sound effects when editing to make the film more intense such as screams, heavily breathing and a heartbeat.

I could create a lot of the reflections digitally by filming the characters in front of the green screen and overlaying them as casting reflections on glass and water could be difficult to capture. However I think if I film it right I could record the killer or wife standing behind the main character in the reflections. We have the available resources such as the camera, tripod, tracks, lighting and sound to create this short film. I have only briefly used the tracks and it has created some great smooth camera movements which I would love to use in this project. I want to use some smaller lighting kit however as I am not using a studio and using the large lights in small spaces would not be appropriate, I will also not use a boom pole if need be for the same reason.

Time is one of the things I am most worried about as it would take a while to film and longer to edit, I am also hoping I can get the help I need in terms of cast and crew. Fitting filming around when the actors are free or when I can get help with equipment could hold me back and take longer than I want. I am also a little worried about locations, I need a place that looks like an office so I'm hoping to use somewhere in  university for this.

It took me a while to come up this idea, I always wanted to create something surreal and this is perfect as a short. This project will be great for showing some of the skills and techniques I have picked up, I'll also learn more during the process which will help with any future projects.

I believe I haven't really taken film to my full potential yet, I have explored through effects in editing but I would like to focus a bit more on cinematography, even though this will have effects in  it I want to make it seem more raw and original. Although I have worked with actors before in my 'Malac' film I haven't really directed them myself which is a challenge I have set myself for this project. I will be working with four actors and I'm hoping for some good performances, I will have several takes for each scene until I get the right outcome as I want this piece of work to feel intense.

Depict - Proposal

Chosen Idea
Film Title: "Past"

Proposal

My short film focuses on one character, Shaun Howard. He is kept awake during the night and has a past which haunts him wherever he goes. I have tried to keep the traumatic memory relatively secret leaving all the focus towards how he is feeling and coping with his everyday life. Using reflections from mirrors, glass and water I will show how this memory haunts him; the memory is a burglar that broke into his home and murdered his wife, Jean Howard. I will show this however by memories of his wife's face and eyes clashing with the face of a burglar, as if the burglar is invading those memories. He cannot think of the happy times with her without being haunted by this burglar's image. I will show him having one friend from work, Stuart Adams who is supportive, lively and happy.

Shaun is restless and distressed, he goes to work everyday only to hear the repetitive clicking of the mouse and keyboard and the constant ticking of the clock. In his world time seems to drag out far longer than it should; he is a broken man. To represent this I will use the blending options in Premiere Pro to create a broken glass effect over his body. I will use slow fades so the audience can stay with scenes longer and think about them and I will use tracks to create smooth camera movements and draw us closer to the character.

I have been inspired by a few pieces of work for my idea. The first video when thinking about this project was 'The Black Hole' by Phil and Olly as part of 'Future Shorts' this sparked off my ideas. I loved the colour tones of the office making it look so dull and boring, I would like to use similar tones for my film showing how his day to day life is not the same and that he is suffering inside. I also liked the idea of discovering something that is an escape, giving you a chance to break free but in this film he becomes trapped because of his greed. A range of ideas came from that idea of a black hole on a piece of paper, I thought about lots of things that involve escaping from reality and finding a new world but I realised it was more interesting to focus on emotions and memories, something that is real.
I liked the idea behind 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' having a object that reveals what emotions and secrets lie within a character, which is a painting that changes. The painting shows his true self which is evil as he becomes morally corrupt. I want to use a similar idea but use reflections as a way of showing Shaun's real emotions and memories that he cannot express. Every time he looks at a reflection it's like he is looking inside himself, haunted by his past.
I have also been inspired by the film 'Mirrors' for the way it shows reflections as not being yours but more of a puppet for an evil spirit to control. The reflections that Shaun's sees are personal and not real, its his mind that is creating them and he only finds peace when he meets the girl at the end of the film.

I have kept to minimal dialogue as we can look more at the emotions, there is only a few lines with his friend Stuart in the office and Emma White in a café at the end of the film. The ending will be his life turning around and starting to look up, he sees a girl walk in and they both glance at each other and smile. She approaches him, sits next to him and the two introduce each other. He then looks at the glass window to see his own reflection smiling, she continues to talk as the screen fades to black. This is symbolic of being released from his haunted past suggesting that this girl could change him.

I will use some dramatic blue and grey colours for some of the scenes where he is haunted by this memory in his reflections but use more warmer colours like oranges and browns for the café scene where things begin to look up for this character. The lighting will be quite dark inside his house and the outside scenes will show over-powering shadows from his figure and his surroundings. I will use some scary ambient music for the haunted reflections and some dream-like ambient classical music for the café scene, there will be some muffled scream sound effects, fast heart beats and heavy breathing to really emphasise his trauma.

Depict - ideas, moodboard and research

Mind map

Moodboard 1

Ideas:

1. A character finds an entrance into a new world, he explores and learns about it. I could use the green colour and technique of keying to show someone finding freedom.
2. Using green paint on skin I could key out the colour and make someone look as if they are transforming into metal or stone.
3. A character could discover a box which the person reaches into, it could be filled with paint which I can key out and make it look like the person is turning to stone. The character could find a magical object which transforms him.
4. Someone looking at photo frames with video memories playing inside with a narration of a poem.
5. Person who walks past televisions and every time he does it turns on and something relating to him plays, like memories. Technology picks up the characters thoughts.

Moodboard 2

Ideas:

1. A man who has an evil version of himself deep within which can only be seen through reflections.
2. A character is haunted by demons through shadows, reflections and paintings.
3. Someone who can enter the mirror world or dream world.
4. A man witnesses his wife been murdered by a burglar who broke into his home, he is haunted by this past through reflections in mirrors, glass and water.

Research

The Black Hole – Short film directed by Phil and Olly. From ‘Future Shorts’

http://youtu.be/P5_Msrdg3Hk

This video sort of started of all my ideas for this project, I love the colour tones of the office making it seem so dull and boring. I also love the idea of discovering something that can be his escape from his reality, in this case being a black hole in a piece of paper. It’s an interesting short that has morals behind such as greed getting the better of him as he ends up trapping himself in a safe. I want to go for similar colour tones in my film showing how his day to day life is dull and that he is suffering inside. I think the work costume is quite like how I want my main character to look, I might show his shirt a bit creased where he hasn’t ironed and he tie not done quite right, showing he doesn’t really care that much about it because of what he’s been through. For the end scene where the character meets a girl in the café will have different colour tones to show a better mood and change to his life for the better.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) Directed by Albert Lewin. Novel written by Oscar Wilde

Murder scene

I really like the idea of a painting that changes depending on his actions, revealing how he has become corrupt and evil. I like how an object can be used to reveal what emotions and secrets lie within a character without having them express it themselves. I first watched the 2009 version called ‘Dorian Gray’ and I instantly loved the story. I then watched the 1945 version, which I preferred. I think it’s because it was in black and white which seemed to make the story more intense and dark. I also loved the lighting especially the scene where he murders and there is a swinging lampshade casting a huge shadow that look like sharp teeth showing how evil he is. I was inspired by ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ for my idea, I want a character who is living his day to day life behind quite quiet and not talking about his emotions but will use reflections to show how he is really feeling and how he is haunted by a traumatic incident. I like the idea of having little dialogue but show it visually, presenting memories and emotions. Using the right colours can create a mood and certain shadows can represent emotions or have a really good effect in showing the character’s personality.

Edvard Munch – The Scream

I have always liked this painting because it’s a very powerful piece of work. The colours are vibrant, the brush strokes show lots of movement and it’s a very abstract, surreal piece of work. For my film I want to create something that is a bit surreal, showing this character’s mind through what he sees in reflections like he every time he sees a reflection he is seeing himself inside, his emotions and memories. I had an idea to create abstract screaming faces from his wife but I think it’s not really necessary and is a bit over the top. I find sometimes the more subtle things work best. I want to show memories of her face which are invaded by the image of the burglar who broke into his home and murdered her. I would quite like to add some animation and art into this film like this painting but it would be too complicated and difficult to achieve for this project but could definitely be something I could try in the future. I found this work inspiration because of the elongated face and how intense the scream is which makes a big impact, combining this kind of work with film could be rather interesting.

‘Mirrors’ (2008) Directed by Alexandre Aja. Written by Sung-ho Kim (Korean Original – ‘Into the Mirror’)

Although I’m not a huge fan of this film I liked the idea behind it of reflections that can kill you. I have recently become interested in using the green screen and mirrors; showing characters look at a distorted reality, nightmares, memories or new worlds. I found this film interesting as they are looking at reflections which they believe to be them but is actually an evil spirit controlling them. Their reflections become like a puppet which can be used against them.  I liked the part showing reflections in water, I would like to achieve a reflection in a puddle but I’m thinking of filming the burglar in front of the green screen and then add him over the top of the puddle when I’m editing, changing the opacity.

My Showreel

I created this a little while ago. Check it out!

Projected Visuals - Final Edit

Final Edit

Video Stills

I noticed with the silhouette and the money falling there was green around it which I couldn’t avoid unless I removed all the colour so it was just black. I quite like this as it’s like a stencil, an icon to represent that person which could be used in graffiti, I just love the simplicity of it. It reminds me of Banksy’s work.


Banksy


Flower Thrower

Gangster Rat