@Phil Script to Screen Script Draft 1

Looking back over my first draft of the script , I`m confident over the layout,however, I`m unsure about the script being dialogue heavy and I`m wondering if there should be less dialogue between the property developer and the detective. I`m also unsure about the opening few lines because they seem out of place now I`m looking back over the script.

Script to Screen: House thumbnails

Cutting Edge : Psycho (1960)

 

Fig 1 : Psycho Poster

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), a classic film that changed the horror genre for future generations and created the slasher genre. While people may be aware of the shower scene which caused controversy during it`s time, people forget the toilet flush scene which seemed to cause more uproar than the actual murder. Why? Maybe to create discomfort in the audience before the murder begins, to help the grimness of the murder sink in. Maybe also to make the audience feel discomfort and filthy by watching the scene and following the murder maybe this technique is used to make the audience feel partly as if they are part of the murder.

Continuing with the ingenious of Hitchcock’s use of camera and lighting, the atmosphere is compelling in this film where the audience can feel what the characters in the film are feeling. An example of this is where when Marion is escaping and gets interrogated by the police man. Immediately the audience is faced with this darkened face taking up the entire camera giving a

Fig 2 : Profile

sense of threat and no escape. Especially the added detail of glasses, there is no emotion seen which the policeman seem almost beast like due to the lack of anything shown on his face. Another example of this is when Sam is interrogating Norman. The camera drops to where we can only see Normans throat and Adams apple as his nervousness is shown through his speech. Not only that the only detail we can see if Normans quivering Adams apple emphasising the guilt and fear he feels. The audience doesn’t need to see his face due to the lack of emotion or masked emotion he showed before Marion was murdered.

When it comes to the reveal, although comical with Norman running into the scene and his wig falling off, the idea of multiple personality disorder begins to tie the film together as to why the audience doesn’t ever see the face of the killer nor the audience never sees the mother. When looking over the scene, the use of mental health being used as an excuse for murder makes the views of mental health back then clear. How mental health was seen as something not right in the brain and if you had mental health troubles you were crazy. 

“Hitchcock deliberately wanted "Psycho" to look like a cheap exploitation film. He shot it not with his usual expensive feature crew (which had just finished "North by Northwest") but with the crew he used for his television show.” (Ebert, 1998) While Hitchcock is considered a god with camera, his reasoning behind using  a  restricted set may be to make the film seem more authentic and home recorded  making the events what happen seem all the more real. Also the less people there and low budget make the set seem less perfect and worn down. Especially with the idea of a haunted house the setting isn`t going to be a perfect structure.   

Having such a big influence on the audience, Hitchcock ensures that every detail is set so the audience feels as if they are in the film and makes each scene as believable as possible. “Many viewers still insist that the blood running down the plughole after Marion's murder is

Fig 3 : Blood

bright red, but it is the power of their imaginations that makes the brown chocolate syrup seem so.” (Kermode , 2010) .Despite the clear time difference between then and now, the audience cannot help but feel the same atmosphere as people did back then. Where the audience are teased by technical detail to enhance the atmosphere and strengthen the need to know who the killer is. Just as Hitchcock intends.  “The audience is similarly helpless in Hitchcock's "trap" – but you wouldn't have it any other way.” (Monahan, 2015)

Bibliography : 

Kermode,M(2010) Psycho : the best horror film of all time http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/22/psycho-horror-hitchcock [Accessed 24/01/16] Monahan,M(2015) Psycho,review : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11025424/Psycho-review.html [Accessed 24/01/16] Ebert , R (1998) Great Movie : Psycho : http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-psycho-1960 [Accessed 24/01/16]

Illustrations :

Fig 1 Psycho_1960 [Poster] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Psycho_%281960%29.jpg [Accessed 24/01/16]

Fig 2 Profile [Screengrab] http://www.thedoublenegative.co.uk/2015/03/in-profile-alfred-hitchcocks-psycho-1960/ [Accessed 24/01/16]

Fig 3 Blood [Screengrab] https://niels85.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/the-alfred-hitchcock-marathon-part-5-psycho-1960/ [Accessed 24/01/16]

Script to Screen : House Influence Map

 

 When researching into this I decided through advice to research into the Film Noir era which was set in from the early 1940s - late 1950s. To start off this influence map I looked into 1940s-1950s houses and the style which seems to be small simple bungalos with white window frames and pillar detailing. I also looked into Edward Scissorhands and the neighbourhood designs because it was set in the 1950s. Because I`m going with the Film Noir colour palette as well I kept this influence map black and white similar to the style the films were set.

Script to Screen : Influence Maps

Animation & Character : Quarrelsome Toaster Character Design

 

In flash we were required to create a variation of character designs based around the emotions and characters we acted out in the morning. I got quarrelsome and a toaster . (TBU)

From Script to Screen : OGR Online Greenlight Review

Script to Screen OGR

Character Design Week 2 (13/1/16)

 This week we were provided with the task of drawing characters with the techniques learned from week one . Since I missed week one and applied my own knowledge to the task , I feel as if this week I have improved greatly and learned a lot about body structure and shapes. I applied the newfound knowledge of keeping shapes consistant to Sephiroth and Buzz Lightyear to create some humerous and yet interesting results and I feel these results were much more successful in presentation than my first weeks drawings.

We were then tasked to create a variation of characters set within a theme , and my theme ended up to be vampires. My original designs were scrappy and bland ,however, after applying the knowledge I learned I feel as if my new and redone designs are much stronger and give more character.

 

Soundscape : Kandinsky Abstract Painting

@Phil Script to Screen : Post Feedback Brainstorm **Feedback please **

Afetr being told my previous initial ideas were my strongest , I`m using this post to brainstorm and strengthen my plot and try and come up with a variety of ideas.

Taking the idea of starting from the end and the detective is on top of a building : 

-A building could be in the works ( a building that represents life or joy) and the private detective could be helping ,but, it turns out they are using bone and human parts in the cement and bricks : why? Recyclable? To hide bodies?. 

-Could start off a year after the story is set? A memorial for someone? So the demolition site is a grave. For someone they loved? For regret?
- Could have been to save someone? Suicide?

-The person who died could have been in danger and killed?

-Animation can be seen as a narration by the Private Detective (typed out or voiced)

-Could be a mass disaster in the demolition site? - Building structure collapse? - cement being spilled and people getting stuck? If it`s a lot of cement people getting stuck completely? Almost like statues. If statues they could be reminders? Statues could progress to be town landmarks but it`s a secret there are real bodies inside.( Only known by detective)  

**Open to more ideas ** 

Life Drawing 18/01/16

Maya Tutorials : Camera Coverage Complete

Maya Tutorials : Pre Viz Intro Continued

**The Camera Coverage tutorial is in 2 parts here since the script included wouldn`t show up in Maya.**

 

@Phil Refined Story Idea

Since getting feedback from my classmates I really liked the idea of the victim getting buried within the cement ,so, I`ve been researching into it.

My idea is that the detective is either a cat or a dog and they get called to the demolition site because of a missing tool. The tool was taken by a magpie and up into the cement mixer where it`s built it`s nest ,however, there`s a time limit until the tool trapped inside will be lost forever.

The possibilities I was thinking of for the time limit are :

1.The time limit is where the tool is at the bottom of the nest and risks being suffocated when the babies are hatched. 

2. The obstacles in the way are other birds trying to obstruct the private detective from jumping up into the cement mixer. 

3. The nest is only a temporary home and the time limit is until the demolition site worker returns to put more cement in which risks the tool trapped inside 'drowning'. 

The ending I`m unsure whether to go for a happy ending or a sad ending.
Since if the ending is happy then the tool gets freed and is washed off and everything is happy.However, I had another idea where if the tool is to badly damaged or stuck then even if the tool is free the tool would be replaced and would be left to watch either stuck in the cement mixer or thrown away .