Statement of Intentions 2

Statement of Intentions

For my production my aim is to produce an into the mind film of someone obsessed with food and its temptation.

I've looked at a number of influences from different genres which I'd like to incorporate into my film. My first influence was Run Lola Run and after watching it I looked at more of Tom Tykwer's work. Run Lola Run is a formalist film that repeats 20 minutes over and over each time getting different results, however many of the situations are realistic or could happen. For example the fact that Minner has got himself in with bad people and the situation with Lola's parents are both realistic situations. The setting is also realistic, it's not distorted or in an unusual place like many formalist films, it’s recognizable as a modern day city. It uses a number of techniques that interest me, the first being how it creates the sense of panic with the opening sequence. The opening sequence consists of a camera speeding through a distorted crowd. Most of the figures are wearing dull colours and are made slightly out of focus so that the ones that aren't stand out, these are the characters that we meet later on in the story. Another element I am going to draw from is the camerawork. Throughout the film it uses a lot of close ups. There are lots of extreme close ups of facial expressions to emphasise the state of mind they are in. They are also used to build tension during the action cutting from face to face and the object of the action. Tom Tykwer also uses Zoom to build tension in Je t'aime Paris. In my film I would like to incorporate these aspects. One sequence I have in mind is similar to the sequence at the beginning but using food instead of people food and the most tempting food standing out. In this I would emphasize the terror they find in their temptation by zooming in to extreme close ups off the food so that it looks abnormally large and frightening. I would use it as a way of expressing how the person sees the food around them.

Another film I've been looking at is A Beautiful Mind, which is the story of a man called John Nash who has skitsofrenia. I found it was very interesting to watch its a take on how someone is feeling and seeing things through their mind and gave me a different perspective than my own on creating an into the mind film. John imagines people who are not there. In the film they create these characters as if they are part of the film and it is not until he is admitted to hospital that you realise they are just figments of his imagination. Without realising you are actually seeing the world through his mind, the people in his mind and are in his paranoia which you don't realise this till the end. The film shows how the disease is destroying him, beforehand he was a world renowned genius, now he's known to be crazy.

With my film I plan to look at the most tempting food and how it affects people, in particular people who don't want to be tempted. I aim to create a vision of splendour (to some) filled with fantastic foods that most people would revel in, however through the film I aim to show how glorifying these foods can affect people in a bad way. I will do this by looking through the mind of someone who is frustrated with his or her temptation to this food, showing their constant struggle to resist and how it makes them feel. I want to do this my making the audience feel they are in my characters mind as the director does in A Beautiful Mind, however in my film you will only see the world from my characters perspective. To make the food look unappealing I plan on using distorted imagery to show how the food is making them feel combined with extreme close ups to show its temptation to them. . For example in my production exercise I experimented with some cup cakes, and when it got to the point where they were about to eat it the image changed to a sickly looking cake indicating how they feel about eating it even though at first it was tempting.

My Schedule

Casablanca

Casablanca

Mise-en-scene 

Much of the mise-en-scene is realist using period clothing and the setting and props being from that era, however there is a recurring theme of stripes. These are used to give a sense of imprisonment as they are all trapped in Casablanca.

Lighting

The lighting is quite formalist and though the film was made in a time when they could not film in colour they extend their use of black and white to using chiaroscuro lighting, which emphasizes the contrast between light and shadow. Ingmar Bergman's face is lit up to exaggerate her beauty. Sometimes it even seems like she's illuminated in the darkness, like an angel. 

Camerawork

The camerawork clearly used a lot of cameras to get all the different angles shot in many of the scene. Instead of zooming in or panning it cuts to another camera, which gives you a more realistic view of the area because you cannot zoom into things in real life.  For Ingmar Bergman much of the camerawork is shot from her left side as it was her preferred side. This makes the film seem more staged and gives it a slight formalist tinge. Another formalist aspect is the fact that they use a lot of close ups on facial expressions.

Editing

Actors

The leading male of the film is Humphrey Bogart who's career peak was in Casablanca. His rise to stardom began in 1941 when he starred in High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon and from these he became a cultural icon. Beforehand he was known for playing hard faced arrogant gangstars but his early 40's films completly changed that.

Based on a play.

Classic Hollywood Cinema

3 Classic Hollywood Cinema Films

1. Some like it hot
   
2. maltese falcon
   
3. monkey buisness

One of the main formalist features of classic hollywood cinema is that it uses continuity editing to minimlise the idea of there being a camera and soundwork. Continuity editing is when narrative fragments are joined so that the editing/joining up is not noticed. Much of it also uses chiarscuro lighting e.g. some like it hot, and crosscutting, which involves cuttin across seperate scenes to show that they are linked.

German Expressionism

German Expressionism was a style around in the early 1920's to 30's.  The lack of technology in those times, i think, influenced the films as they could not have used colour or grand sets as we now can. They use dark and dull colours which give it a creepy and damper feeling. Parts of the background are also highlighted by being an extreme of the black or white e.g. Nosferatu's creepy face is highlighted because it is a pale white which contrasts with his dark clothing. One of the main elements of GE films is the sound. They use intense sound to create the atmosphere in the scene, the music rises and falls to fit the mood and I think tells the emotional stories of the films. There is also a use of close ups to exaggerate elements e.g. the exaggerated facial expresions. Another key feature is the background.  I find the background very surrealist often with distorted features and spiky elements to it.  

• music to tell story of emotion and feeling. climax 
  
• dark and dull colours 
  
• close ups show exaggerated facial expressions
  
• shadows painted onto background
  
• surrealist background- looks drawn, very spiked. 
  

Much of Tim Burton's work is influenced by German Expressionism. He uses surrealist background-trees- makes them creepy.