#movieresearch

[homesickthefeature]

Midnight mass did a great job of hiding spooky humanoid shapes in the back of scenes and just leaving them there. no frills but just some added tension. DEFINITELY something we should do a lot. I rememember being scared of that stuff as a kid 

[100percentlex]

Doing research... lots of friggin’ research. . . . . . . . #writer #filmmaker #creative #createeveryday #horrorfan #maniaccop #horrorfilm #oldhorrormovies #horrorgeek #horrornerd #movieresearch #whatamiwriting #pigcopcometh

[ninariley-ashe]

#killercheerleaders research gone to far. *** #LACCCheer #collegecheer #cheerleading #bow #pinkbow #base #backspot #tinybackspot #poms #pompoms #cheerclub #cubs #blondehair #blondegirl #blondie #cheershoes #shorts #redshorts #collegecheerleading #cheeleader #blondecheerleader #movieresearch #actorslife

[devasmediablog]

the final draft of the script

this is the script for the 2 minute opening scene of the movie

research and planning post 10

[transshoeformers-blog-blog]

#theboxtrollsnikeshoecontest #Trollstrikes #TheBoxtrolls #movieresearch #noPopcorn (at AMC Southcenter 16)

[homesickthefeature]

From “oujia: origin of evil” by mike flannagan.

Loveeeee the blanket on the chair appearing as a person (this is a film about a very, very, scary child so the Smallness works). And it doesn’t feel obtuse or annoying, but just a tiny adjustment of natural PD to create tension in the edges of frame. I imagine this with coats, tree branches, etc

[homesickthefeature]

From True Detective and Jane Eyre. the Wide shot is great for, of course, immediately giving us the sense of a crossroads. but i really love the desolation inherent in fukanaga’s cinematography, and the idea of a civilization crumbling just behind. he does a lot with things like power lines in frame, or smoke stacks in the background. that kind of stuff i really like. The abandoned church is just creepy and gorgeous and i’d love structures like this to be included on david’s travels 

[homesickthefeature]

Great example of how i want the editing in the movie to feel. i was convinced that the camera never moves in this movie too, but lo and behold it absolutley does lol however, as a great proof of concept for the idea in my head, us being so plugged into his movement, the wind sound, and being ESPECIALLY emotionally plugged into his looking at the blood trail let’s us transition into a moving camera really smoothly. 

Tension remains too. this movie is probably camera movement and editing wise the primary one to study. How many movies are tenser?

[homesickthefeature]

Ok! Last close encounters thing. This shot uses a split diopter, which allows multiple planes of an image to be in sharp focus (thereby we’re seeing both Roy and his son’s reaction to Roy). now split diopters are often in movies reallllly obvious and kinda distracting. i don’t always love the look because generally the closer person has this halo out soft focus around them and it’s weird/unnatural. You can hide that soft focus area with darkness or a vague pattern (like the wallpaper) kinda does, but again, i just don’t always think they work.

however i DO love the idea of this movie existing, in tense moments, on a very closed down lens with a ton of focal depth. I want our eyes to be jumping around to several points of focus, hyperaware in the way david is. I think there could be moments for a dipoter too, it’s gonna be worth renting one, but i also think for our dp we need to talk about lighting this movie so we can open to an f.8-11 or so in a lot of sequences. which will be interesting! 

[homesickthefeature]

Ok two other images from close encounters I really love Top, makes me think real hard about the ending now. I always had this idea of it being super dark with just little beams of light being made, but this look (looking down the chimney as she’s closing the flu) is actually really intersting to me. like if maybe his gun light is a fucking bright ass halogen TORCH, and it’s throwing everything into this eerie flashbulb relief.  I think theres a lot to mess with there and i actually find it really unsettling/different. The bottom, i just always think rolling clouds are super spooky. This is probably a super obvious genetic thing in all humans so i think sequences where we show that off (2nd on the road scene) could be a real opportunity/boon 

[homesickthefeature]

PD note so i think the house needs to go from immaculately organized/clean to a lot more cluttered as the movie progresses. reflecting david’s mental state and deviation from routine i don’t think we need like obvious shots of it but it should for sure be present in the background 

[homesickthefeature]

More close encounters! Ok this scene is greattt, you can see the influence on signs. Really strong visuals (like the still/thumbnail with him in front of the door. that was in my head for sure making the short haha).  the sound design of things in the house/on the roof is really strong and that pls the camera make it VERY easy to follow where they are/even if you don’t really know what they are or what the hell they’re doing.  I also love the chandelier. never thought of that till this moment but it might really make sense to have one in the room as the thing is moving across the ceiling. Easy touch! it gets a little much/over the top for me but a lot of the basic bones of presentation here are worth studying. 

[homesickthefeature]

Close Encounters! Like any boy born in the early 90s, theres a lotttttttttttttt of spielberg in my DNA. This scene has a lot to draw from, despite being, you know, a totally different kind of movie.  1. sound design, great element, the crickets STOPPING as the ship approaches. Love stuff like this, definitely worth playing with an optimizing with the monster.  2. The map obscuring the frame and waiting to reveal. There’s something really cool in that, could imagine it literally with our maps scene (as the monster’s lurking outside) or plenty of other elements that are obscuring in the foreground. It’s tough cause i don’t want to play with dramatic irony TOO much, as i really want us 100% tethered to david and not knowing what he does. but i realllllly liked that in this moment. there might be a way to get us more plugged into reading the map then it drops. 3. also the just dead silence after the encounter. love that. very “terror” very much on the idea of what else can pop out of that silence again. 

[homesickthefeature]

Ok, ignore the video game commentary stuff, just mute it. but if you’ve played this game you know this sequence, where we’re moving through the sewers and seeing the remnants of a camp (with kids) that got overrun. The first game has the video game feel of environments that are a little too big and a little too sparse, but this general feeling is what i imagined for the water treatment plant as well (and the monster tunnel just being a MUCH darker spookier version of this), and especially the rooms where he finds the kids drawings and stuff being something of an analog for where david finds his mom. 

[homesickthefeature]

pretty good analogs for both the look and FEELING of the climbing gym. this place of wonder and... kinda warmth, a little overgrown but still feeling like a place you’d want to sit and stay a while. cathedral esque, with high ceilings and slanted light. a place of reverance  definitely WARM daylight lighting in here too, as opposed to the water treatment environment, which i imagine would be on a blue/neutral color temperature overcast day 

[homesickthefeature]

more or less exactly how i imagine the water treatment plant looking. i definitely imagine the first place he walks into being an open atrium with a tree sprouting through like this. i imagine hearing birds. the rest of the hallways i see like this. naturally lit (plus his flashlight). not oppressive or small, but kinda open with the hint of what stuff used to be like. These shots are taken from an elementary school sequence in TLOU2. a ton of open skylights and open courtyard esque areas. ideal!

bottom one is prettttty damn close for the hallway i imagined, where he finds the dead body slumped on the door and (eventually) his mom inside that door.