Every story has to start somewhere. Whether it's sparked by a real life event, or adapted from a story already written or even created from something that was said or seen, they all start somewhere. As mentioned in a previous post, my story idea was heavily influenced by that of Arctic Monkeys front man, Alex Turner, in particular a short story that he had written and read for a compilation CD. It was this that sent my brain ticking and hopefully has enabled me to create a fun and interesting short film.
Now when I first came up with the story idea, I immediately listed films that I wanted to see again at some point that I felt could influence the look, themes, cinematography of my film. This list initially started as;
Each of these films I felt have influenced me whilst writing this film in a number of ways, which I will breakdown and explain how and why within this blog. For ease I have separated each film into it's own specific blog post.
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Boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn't... When Tom, a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic,
is blindsided after his girlfriend summer dumps him, he shifts back and
forth through various periods of their 500 days "together" to try to
figure out where things went wrong. His reflections ultimately lead him
to finally rediscover his true passions in life.
A typical love story of boy meets girl, but with a twist... there is no happy ending. Directed in 2009 by Marc Webb, the film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It shows the rise and fall of relationships and how each person may think they are on the same wavelength when it comes down to long term commitments, but in fact they aren't as in tune as they initially think.
Now when I first thought of my story, I straight away envisioned this film and this was for many reasons. First and foremost, I think it was because the main character, Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is very similar to my protagonist Alex. They are both chasing the girl of their dreams, or at least someone who they regard as the girl of their dreams and in a couple of occasions, Tom finds himself in an awkward situation or two just as Alex does. They're both working in very boring jobs, even though they know deep down they are destined to go further and be more successful with their lives. The relationships between the characters in 500 Days of Summer also influenced me to write in a couple of other characters who act as agony aunts for Alex, allowing him to explain the situations he has been going through without directly addressing the audience or without the need for me to write in a voice over explaining every situation.
Not only this, but the look of the film was also a huge influence. The way the characters dress and how the sets and locations looked on film, the bleak and uninteresting colours, the desaturated look and how the colour palette consisted of mainly greys and browns.
The desaturated colour grade is shown clearly in the images on the left, with only greys, greens and browns being the most predominant colour. Of course the script is still being written, so art direction, cinematography and grading ideas don't really have to take full form as of yet. However with my style of writing, instead of playing the story out in my head, I like to envisage the complete picture. This includes what music might be playing in the background, what camera angles I could use to portray a certain emotion or feeling that the characters are going through. They're all factors that I feel enables me to think "I have certain restraints when shooting a film, due to my position within the industry, so what can I do and what do I have the possibility to do on this film?".Costume is also a key element that I've noticed within the film and it's subtle changes make you appreciate the effort that's been put into the creation of the whole project. Throughout the narrative we are greeted with the same boring colours that radiate from the locations, but also these colours bleed into the clothing that each character wears. Everyone wears very pastel and bleak clothing, yet when Summer Finn (Deschanel) is introduced, she is wearing a slight variation of this in the form of blue clothing. The colour blue is also interpreted with joy or happiness within the film, contradicting its usual links with it being a cold colour which could represent unhappiness or the likes. This is shown in the clip below, where Tom is celebrating the fact that he is now in a relationship with Summer, yet when looking at the people around him and the animations and props that he has, you notice they are all in some way in blue (particularly in the choreographed dance sequence).
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| An example from the film showing how subtle colour changes in clothing can influence how a character is feeling. |
This is something that I thought could be referenced in my film, by using colour to signify how a character feels about something. With Alex he finds his job very boring and mundane, so everything in his office will be bleak and desaturated in colour. However when he see's the girl of his dreams she will be dressed in bright contrasted clothing, which will most definitely make her stand out from her surroundings and the people around her.
Anyway, diverting back on track, the whole film has a very lighthearted and bubbly tone, making it very easy viewing as well as giving the audience a few laughs along the way. It's classed as a romantic, comedy drama, which I guess you could classify my short film into as well.
To tie in with this however and linking back to the overall look and style of the film, a short music video was created in conjunction to the film, for actress Zooey Deschanel and more importantly her band She & Him. Again this video has similarities to that of 500 Days of Summer and influences the way I feel my film should look.
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15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: To lose his virginity before
his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and
an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Next on the list, is Richard Ayoades 2010 film 'Submarine'. Probably one of the most influential films that have inspired the narrative for my story. It shows the path of how one young boy, Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts), awkwardly attempts to win the heart of his sarcastic and reserved friend Jordana Bevan (Yasmin Paige). I feel that the way Olivers character is portrayed is brilliantly done, allowing many people of all ages and gender to relate to his trials and tribulations of trying to woo the person he likes. Almost everyone has been through it so it makes him seem down to earth despite his weird and social inept personality. It was the dialogue and how it is delivered however that inspired me the most. The fast paced, punchy deliverance of the speech gives it a very 'real' feeling and by real I mean how nervous and quickly he seems to speak when he's speaking to Jordana, in conjunction to how relaxed and slowly he speaks with his parents.
It's this level of nervousness and awkwardness that I'd like to portray with Alex, when he is trying to confront his fears and pluck up the courage to speak to the girl on the train. This will be contradicted by how at ease and comfortable he speaks with his friends back at the office, hinting that once people get to know him he begins to show his true colours. Not only that, I have written a section in which Alex is explaining situations to his friends that ran through his mind as he was confronted by a man on a train. These situations include pretending to be asleep and ignoring the man and pretending to be foreign and not understanding what the man is saying. It's these small clips that remind me most of Submarine and I picture them as being shot as short Super 8mm film clips, intertwined with the rest of the film (this also ties in with a section from 500 Days of Summer in which the screen is divided into two sections. On the left of the screen we see the events play out as Tom wishes them to in his head, whereas on the right they are played out in reality. This may be portrayed also by a Super 8mm film effect rather than using film itself). This is commonplace in Submarine as there are sections in the film that are shot on Super 8mm film, including the music video for Alex Turners - Piledriver Waltz, which is featured on the films soundtrack.
With film, there is a certain nostalgia and realness to the imagery, so, tying this together with a heartwarming story that people can relate to will allow the audience to connect even further with how the character of Alex is feeling, again involving them with the narrative even more.
I am also fond of how there isn't an era that the film can be placed within due to it referencing many styles and cultures from both past and present era's. This again is a stylistic choice but it adds to the story in a way that it could fit into any period of time from say the 60s onwards and still be a timeless film. It's something that I felt could benefit my story, but perhaps in a way that the train is in fact an old steam engine with classic British carriages and the clothing is typical to that of the 60s and 70s, yet the character of Alex is sat on the train with earphones in listening to his iPod or MP3 player.
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| Similar use of bleak and mundane colours |
As you can see from the images on the right, they also boast the washed out, bleak colour grade as that of 500 Days of Summer. Whether this look was achieved solely in post or if on set the lighting and use of film stock emphasised the colour, I don't know, however it's worth investigating into the film stock used to see how that can affect the look and feel of the films grade.
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An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when one of their member announces he has a terminal illness.
The Royal Tenenbaums, directed by Wes Anderson in 2001 shares many similarities to that of Submarine. It's been quoted that Richard Ayoade's directing style is similar to Wes Anderson's, and from watching both films I can say that this is in a certain way very true. What drew me back to this film when thinking of my own was again down to how the characters interacted with each other. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow's character 'Margot' is a slow talking, quiet individual, who holds her gaze with the person she is talking to at all time. This creates a very uneasy feeling within the viewer and in turn echoes that her personality is a tormented or unusual one. It's this along with the combination of pauses and silence that creates the comedy and tension from when the lines are delivered. With this in mind, I'm keen to include a lot of awkward pauses within my narrative and have the characters portray their feelings, thoughts and emotions physically, through sly looks, how they are sat or how they react to what the other character is saying. For me it's more of a physically driven story than a dialogue driven story, hence the decision to have more action then spoken words.
Again, the art direction and cinematography of this film are points that really stand out. It's style is like Submarines (which came after The Royal Tenenbaums) so it's clear to see how other directors and artists are influenced by their favourite films and directors. It uses a wide angle lenses and large amounts of headroom and talking space for individual character shots instead of the conventional close up or mid shot of the character.
The colour grade is again similar to that of the previous films, making use of washed out, saturated colours of brown, orange, blue and grey. It gives across a warm and welcoming feel to the film however, enticing the viewer in to its comedic (yet sometimes dark) storyline.
I'm much more of a fan of the camera work within the film however. There is a strong focus on each character when they are delivering lines by allowing them to hold the entire frame. This is either done by having them central to the camera as shown in the images on the left, with plenty of their surroundings in the frame also. Their surroundings aren't distracting however and compliment the framing of the shot.
The quirky and bubbly nature of the film is also a big influence to me. It's very easy viewing and makes dark themes within the film lighthearted and easy to watch. It is also cleverly narrated by Alec Baldwin, which I was at first considering myself within my film (however it would unfortunately not be narrated by Alec Baldwin). Title cards and subtitle cards are also commonplace within the film, detailing characters names, or even randomly stating what certain easily recognizable objects are when they are on screen. This is show in the images below;
Again, the art direction and cinematography of this film are points that really stand out. It's style is like Submarines (which came after The Royal Tenenbaums) so it's clear to see how other directors and artists are influenced by their favourite films and directors. It uses a wide angle lenses and large amounts of headroom and talking space for individual character shots instead of the conventional close up or mid shot of the character.
The colour grade is again similar to that of the previous films, making use of washed out, saturated colours of brown, orange, blue and grey. It gives across a warm and welcoming feel to the film however, enticing the viewer in to its comedic (yet sometimes dark) storyline.
I'm much more of a fan of the camera work within the film however. There is a strong focus on each character when they are delivering lines by allowing them to hold the entire frame. This is either done by having them central to the camera as shown in the images on the left, with plenty of their surroundings in the frame also. Their surroundings aren't distracting however and compliment the framing of the shot.The quirky and bubbly nature of the film is also a big influence to me. It's very easy viewing and makes dark themes within the film lighthearted and easy to watch. It is also cleverly narrated by Alec Baldwin, which I was at first considering myself within my film (however it would unfortunately not be narrated by Alec Baldwin). Title cards and subtitle cards are also commonplace within the film, detailing characters names, or even randomly stating what certain easily recognizable objects are when they are on screen. This is show in the images below;
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| An example of the title cards, stating key stages of the film |
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| Character and actor subtitle cards |
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| Subtitle cards that aren't necessary but are implemented to propel the comedy element further |
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A story that centers on an English professor who, one year after the
sudden death of his partner, is unable to cope with his typical days in
1960's Los Angeles.
Possibly the only film on the list that hasn't influence my story in a narrative sense, but more so in a stylistic and aesthetic way. A Single Man was directed by Tom Ford in 2009 and is one of the most beautifully composed films I have seen in my opinion. I love the colour and nostalgic feeling that's created by again, similarly to the previous films mentioned, making use of saturated colours of greys, browns and oranges. Colour plays a very large role within the film and interprets the way the main character is feeling. Certain colours also remind him of previous events and memories from his life. One of the main implementations of this is when he holds a red rose in his hand, the colour suddenly comes rushing back into the frame and produces a beautifully contrasted image that is rich in colour.
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| An example of how the colours within the film suddenly flood back when the main character is reminded of previous memories |
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| This shot best captures how I imagine the office scenes to look. Using bleak colours and deep blacks to imply the location is dull and boring |
The film is also set during the 1960s and although it was shot on 35mm film, it still gives across the characteristics of vintage analogue film (albeit it may have been enhanced in post).
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So, documented above are the main influences for my film. Although these are mainly artistic choices and not story choices, I feel that I still want to document my final image of the film, rather than comparing it to films that have been. I'm trying to create something that can be classed as unique or influence mainly by a genre. In this case, the genres that have influenced me the most are that of comedy and romance films, including slight elements of drama.
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