This Week (2)

Some complications with the props. The original source can no longer supply the goods and therefore I must endeavour to find some by this weekend. Tried the joke shop in Hepworth Arcade last Saturday unfortunately it was closed. I plan to go on Wednesday when I have more free time.

On a brighter note, I have found a better location for the final shot in my montage sequence which I am dubbing "hammer scene" for aesthetics purposes alone. Also the baseball bat has been replaced by a hammer. As it will be easier for actor to wield and easier to get hold of.

Filming begins this weekend Saturday 01/12/12. If the guns are not available then I will start work on the montage sequence, hopefully the scene "expensive house " shot or the "rags to riches" shot.

Also hope to finish the animatic by then but due to the new schedule which will be uploaded once I have finished with it, filming must go ahead anyway. If it turns out to be the montage that is shot this not much of a problem as a lot of the shots are short and relatively well choreographed.  

Cause and Effect

This week

• Have began to collate actors and actresses.
• Found a suitable car to film in.
• Measured time taken for extened shot with the view of allowing the actors certain freedoms to play the character how they want.
• Starting the animation of the story board.
• Finalised script.
• Found a suitable house to film in.
• Now have a weapon (basebsll bat) for the montage sequence.

Locations list

Locations list:

• House
• House with expensive interior
• Bed sit
• an expensive looking office
• My parent's car parked on a road off Spring Bank
• Alleyway located behind Spring Bank 
• Fast food shop on Spring Bank 
• House 
• Night Club

Props list

Props list:

• 5 Everyday clothing 
• 4 balaclavas
• 2 shot guns
• 2 pistols
• 2 baseball bats
• fake dollars
• desk items
• burgers
• bag with a burger brand name
• 2 or 3 suits
• car
• needle
• spoon
• picture of Jesus
• several bins or/and a dumpster
• cards
• gambling table

Script for film project

Scene 1:

Black Screen

JACKY

(Placid yet commanding)

I’ll take two cheese burgers, a ham burger, a quarter pounder and that big mother fucker over there.

FAST FOOD SHOP EMPLOYEE

(Nonchalantly and unemotional, almost mechanical)

Okay sir....

The rustling of a paper bag as the burgers are place inside

FAST FOOD SHOP EMPLOYEE

(Nonchalantly and unemotional, almost mechanical)

Here you are sir. That’ll be...

JACKY

(Interrupts the FAST FOOD SHOP EMPLOYEE)

Yeah, yeah keep the change

FAST FOOD SHOP INT. MID DAY

JACKY picks up the bag from the counter and strides out of the shop.

STREET EXT. MID DAY

It’s about mid day, and everyone’s at work, including JACKY. JACKY turns the corner to a street that leads down to some dank, dilapidated back alley. The buildings are cheaply built and show signs of wear. Some kind of establishment that furthers society lies to the right, whilst the dark opening to the alleyway protrudes from the left. JACKY’S at home here among the trash, regardless of what he is or what was, this is where he feels most confident. JACKY swaggers to the alley with that “don’t fuck with me” sort of stride.

JACKY

Man gotta do what a man gotta do in this town. Ain’t like we had a choice. You just do what you gotta do until someday it all catches up and bang, though luck kid. So fuck it. You bust a few heads earn a little cash and maybe you got something to leave your family when you under six foot of dirt. I mean, fuck it. That’s life.

ALLEYWAY EXT. MID DAY

JACKY enters the alleyway. Destruction and poverty litter the place. His step does not falter as he stalks down the alley. A blues song is carried on the wind from a house hold, ever so faint. A WOMAN crosses the path of JACKY and quickly, nervously crosses to the other side to avoid his glare. The backs of businesses show that the shop front is really just a fake the real business is always in the back. CHRIS is beating up some low life gambler on the sidewalk who has some major debts to CHRIS’ boss: JOE.

CHRIS

Well fuck me look who it is. Jacky how ya doin’ man?

CHRIS leaves the lowlife who is moaning and writhing in pain to great JACKY.

JACKY

Aay, long time no see. Heard you’re a dad now.

The two shake hands and hug each other like two old time friends.

CHRIS

Yeah man, six months old. It’s fucking wonderful man watching her try and walk...

The LOWLIFE tries to get up and make a run for it. Chris turns and sees him before he can get to his feet.

CHRIS

Where the fuck do your think you going? Stupid fucking cunt.

CHRIS then walks over and proceeds to punch him down and stamp on him a few times before walking back to JACKY

CHRIS

Sorry, what were we sayin?

JACKY

About your daughter. Look kid I gotta go, shit to do. Here, buy something nice.

JACKY hands CHRIS a wad of notes, possibly $1000 as though he’d just tipped a waiter. He turns and walks away from him and continues towards a distant car.

CHRIS

Shit, thanks JACKY, I’ll see you soon man.

(CHRIS turns his attention back to the LOWLIFE)

Why the fuck are you trying to run?

JACKY laughs as he approaches the car at the end of the alleyway. 

JACKY climbs in and shuts the door.

 

SCENE 2:

 

BRITISH CAR INT. MID DAY

The five gangsters sit in the car FADGE, IRISH and TONY sat in the back, Gino and JACKY sat in the front. JACKY is clearly the leader, the other three clearly look to him for guidance with the exception of Irish who is a wise guy in his own right. As JACKY closes the door behind him the four look round to great him.

GINO

(Jokingly) Bout time JACKY.

JACKY

(Jokingly)Well it’s nice to see you too GINO you fucking piece of shit you

The car erupts into laughter.

JACKY

Take what you ordered and what the fuck is up with this car 

FADGE 

The burgers are passed round the car each taking what he ordered and passing it on to the next.

FADGE

(Absent minded) What?

FADGE turns from looking out of the window, lost in his own thoughts. His ability to fully concentrate fucked from all the drugs. The only reasons the rest of the gang keep him around is because Big Joe tells them to and he is one of the best heist drivers they have ever worked with. However, no one will admit this, so this an element of distain when the rest of the gang refer to FADGE.

TONY

He means why is it all backwards.

FADGE

Well for one, it aint fucking backwards. Look JACKY, they’re gonna be looking all over for the vehicle so they gonna check car depots, card dealers you name it they gonna fucking look there. So my dealer said he got a foreign client. So I said like the fuck I care. And he said some English prick. Now he drives a car that aint like the ones we got here. He imported it from England. Now no pig is ever gonna look for a car that aint registered as built in America because what’s the fucking chance of that? And these cars are so fucking rare that they will never find it. And if they do it’ll take em forever.

He sits back feeling proud, takes his burger and lights a cigarette. The rest of the gang look impressed.

JACKY

Well shit kid, I just remembered why I keep you around.

They break into laughter again. They continue eating their burgers and smoking.

IRISH

See this is what I mean. Burgers are the height of capitalism....

GINO

Oh for fuck sake, not this bullshit again.

TONY

What?

GINO

IRISH here, watched some show yesterday now he thinks he’s got the whole world figured out through a fucking ham burger.

IRISH

It’s not a hamburger, it’s a cheese burger.

GINO

Like it makes a fucking difference.

IRISH

Makes all the difference. Here me out. What is a ham burger? It’s meat between two slices of bread. It’s a fucking sandwich.

TONY

But what about all the spices and shit?

IRISH

Spices? You average burger aint even seen spices. It’s just cooked cow shit. Now your average ham burger is what? Two dollars? And that’s for a hamburger. No fries no special sauce, just a hamburger. Now a cheese burger is what three dollars? That’s an extra dollar for a bit of cheese. You can buy a block of cheese for fifty cents at your average supermarket. And then you get like special burgers, which is like a burger plus a bit of salad and some tomato sauce. And there you’re talking five bucks. A fucking quarter pounder is 6 dollars which is two burgers which you can get for four dollars.

TONY

What ya saying?

IRISH

I’m saying they’re out to rip you off like the rest of the world. They give you all these fucking choices and whichever you choose will end up fucking you over and stamping you down back to people think we belong, in the fucking dirt. And that’s why we do what we do. We do shit out way. Because doing it their way doesn’t work, it’s not meant to fucking work.

JACKY

Who the fuck is they?

IRISH

The men in suits, uncle sam, the man.

The gangsters ponder this whilst guiltily eating their burgers.

GINO

Fuck that.... You ain’t even fucking Irish.

They all break into laughter as IRISH makes pretend threats towards GINO.

JACKY

There he is. Okay remember the plan. TONY your on crowd control, GINO you handle the desk, IRISH and Me will go crack the safe and FADGE stay here and keep the engine running. Alright. Ready?

They all put balaclavas on and pull guns from beneath their seats ranging from shotguns to pistols. The mood in car changes to stern aggression and they cock weapons before exiting the vehicle.

STREET EXT. MID DAY

The four going in to rob the bank threaten the customers as they approach the bank as FADGE gets into the driver’s seat.

Freeze frame and title appears overhead.

SCENE 3:

Jacky

(To audience)

Money makes the world go round. Whoever tells you different is a liar. Without it, you die on the street fighting for a fucking cardboard box. With it you might actually stay alive and get enough of it and you can actually live a little. I mean in this city you can buy anything.

CLOTHES SHOP INT.

IRISH trying on some fashionable clothes and handing money to the shop assistant.

JACKY

From any kind of clothes you could want. Rags to riches sort of shit.

EXPENSIVE HOUSE INT.

JACKY looking round an expensive looking house.

JACKY

To a fucking mansion filled with anything you want.

GAMBLING DEN INT.

GINO gambling and laying a lot of money down.

JACKY

Of course there’s some stupid shit you can do as well. Like being a jackass and leaving it up to chance to dictate whether you win or lose.

NIGHTCLUB INT.

TONY with five women   

JACKY

And the women. Nothing gets ‘em going like the wad of green stashed in your back pocket that you keep flashing.

BED SIT INT.

FADGE paralytic from the heroin.

JACKY

Then there’s the shit to escape this fucking world.

OFFICE INT.

JACKY greets BIG JOE and hands his tribute to him.

JACKY

Course you gotta give a share to JOE If you wanna live long enough to see your kids grow old. I mean fairs fair. JOE makes sure no one fucks with you, keeps the pigs at bay. Keep him happy and he keeps you out of the can and alive. It’s as simple as that. It’s a business.

SOME HOUSE INT.

Jacky along with TONY are let into a drug dealers house who has not been paying JOE. The dealer runs from the door into the living room were JACKY beats him to death with a baseball bat. JACKY stands panting covered in blood.

JACKY

Ain’t like its always robbing banks. You gotta get your hands dirty. I mean I don’t like it, but You bust a few heads earn a little cash and maybe weren’t just a nothing. A nobody. I mean, fuck it. That’s life.

Maltese Falcon recreation task evaluation

When recreating the opening scene to the Maltese Falcon we found several flaws hindered out progress and execution. These came in the form of sound levels, continuity both in setting and in costume, and timing. It resulted in our group not being able to fully recreate the opening scene only the first half and served as a warning not to fall into the same traps for our creative project execution.

We found when filming, that distance of the camera from the action within a room can have a dramatic effect on the volume of the dialogue and though we expected some change in volume levels, we did not anticipate such a change. As a result cutting from one shot to the next resulted in fluctuating sound levels that were distracting and detrimental to the film. This could have been avoided if an over dub was used, however, due to another problem “timing”, this was rendered impossible. In relation to my sequence, overdub will solve the problems in the first half, that of the extended shot of Jacky making his way back to the car and the scene in the car itself as it would allow me to adjust the levels of diegetic background noise, such as the traffic and raise (or lower) the dialogue within the car.

When filming the opening scene, we were forced to change set due to other classes requiring the use of the room. This is horribly apparent and is a major distraction due to the entire scene in the Maltese Falcon being set in one room. This completely breaks the continuity due to elements of the room changing in one shot only to revert back the next. Many props on Sam’s desk used in the first session of filming were lost in the next, thus any following shots of the table showed missing or different objects. This highlighted how easy it is too forget little things and how important it is to catalogue every object used. In terms of my film, it highlights the necessary precautions particularly in the scene in the car as the time needs to be consistent throughout the scene along with the weather, objects and positioning of the characters.

Costume inconsistencies are also apparent with items of clothing changing from one shot to the next. This is most prominent when in one shot one of the actresses has a scarf and a hair pin and the next looses both. These inconsistencies are due to lack of communication between the two groups (as the two groups swapped members in order to fulfil actor or actress roles) and with no schedule and lack of proper coordination, many costume inconsistencies are apparent. It has made me re devise my planning structure to ensure people do not arrive at a filming session with the wrong costume or inconsistencies. It also highlights the vital need for communication with the members of my cast and crew.

The lack of proper timing for the filming sessions was arguably the greatest factor that led to the unfinished product and much of the costume and props inconstancies. With the added time factor of another group relying on using the same setting and some of the same people, time was a large constraint. It meant some corners were cut to ensure that one group was not prioritised over another. The setting up of the room (e.g. finding a camera, setting up the lighting) took longer than anticipated and combined with the massive time constraints meant a very small window of actual shooting time. I discovered that setting things up before a filming session makes the session much more productive and allows a much bigger window for inspiration and deviation, essential for a successful film to be made. Successful time management also means filming is easier on both me and my cast and crew and allows me to get the best out of them in their role.

This recreation task of the Maltese Falcon has highlighted areas that previously I would have not addressed as thoroughly as perhaps I should have done. It has proved an invaluable learning experience for my creative project task.   

Benn, Callum, Josh Matt final product for A2 Film Studies

Film A2 project final project

Roles:

• Ben - Cinematographer, co-director, storyboard artist, co-lighting director, Co-Lighting Director, Editor 
  
• Matt - Cinematography, co-director, co lighting director, editor.
  
  
• Callum - Actor, co-lighting director, editor
  
  
• Joshua - Actor, Editor

The aim of this project was to recreate the opening scene to the Maltese Falcon as close as possible to the original. 

The project highlighted areas that require extra attention or are more difficult to create,so I can address these issues when I film the sequence that will be graded. 

These issues mainly concern that of sound and continuity..