Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Recently I watched the Coen Brothers' 2000 Crime-Comedy 'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?'

This film follows the journey of 3 escaped convicts (chained together) in search of a treasure that has 4 days before being lost forever at the bottom of a lake. They are pursued by the law, swindled by crooks and seduced by sirens before coming to a holy realization.

The film is set in 1930's Mississippi, a land portrayed as one of racism, sexism and corruption. There are many religious references in this film, including a mass river baptism in which two of the three heroes decide to join the crowd. They are told when the minister holds them in the water that all their past sins have been resolved and that they have a clean slate. They are overjoyed and beg their leader Everett (George Clooney) to do the same but he refuses. In this way he is presented as the voice of disbelief and hostility in the film.

When the trio make their way down the road with their chains, they are forced to walk in a certain order. Once the chains have been removed, they are still seen walking in this order as the camera follows them down the track or moves slowly on a dolly before them. In this way with their few possessions and stripped prison clothing, familiarity is all they have and this is clear in the way these shots are filmed.

At many points the three men manage to get themselves a car, and the camera rest on the hood or through the open window as they drive along. Another religious reference is brought forth from this when they reach a crossroads. The camera gives a tilted bird's eye view of where the four roads meet, letting the audience see the men approach and slow down to decide where to go. They see a young black man standing at the crossroads with guitar. The camera stands between them showing the divide which was effective. Everett asks the man what he was doing standing out in the middle of nowhere, and his reply was that he waited out an the crossroads all night, waiting for the devil. When he appeared, he was white, and he gave him a tainted gift of musical prowess. This shows how religious the characters are, and that they have faith in something no matter what the status.

This point is again proved when the black man is kidnapped by the KKK, a prominent racist extremist group in the South at the time. The trio go in for a rescue mission and the camera shows from a distance the elaborate marching the men performed in their white cloaks. I see this as a laughable addition to the film as this is a harmless part of what they did and nobody else would see it, not in the KKK. This must have taken a lot of practice and the fact the grown men would organize this kind of display for no one but themselves when they have such twisted, despicable beliefs came across as comically pathetic. The camera gave bird's eye view shots of the marching, the huge wooden cross, the noose and the heroes in quick succession, changing almost silently. When the boys set the cross in fire, the camera follows the flame from the bottom to the top of the structure, illuminating the shot.

The camera angles, music and distanced shots create a film that feels dated and gives an onlooker's view of the goings on.

 

Fargo

This weekend I also happened to watch Fargo, the 1996 Crime-Thriller directed by the Coen brothers.

The story tells of Jerry Lundegaard who decides to pay two thugs to kidnap his wife with the promise of sharing the 80,000 dollar ransom 50-50. Things go wrong and the thugs end up killing 3 innocent bystanders: a police ranger and a couple on vacation. They decide they want the full $80,000 and refuse to give his wife back otherwise. This is on top of the bank and car dealerships demanding money from Lundegaard. The heroine of the story is Marge Gunderson - the heavily pregnant, coffee drinking police officer.

I believe the Coen brothers added the character of Marge to bring a lightness and comedic relief to the story. Coen brothers films are very rarely without a stock character like Marge, but she seems to embody the 'American Spirit' of doing what's right (along with eating fast food for nearly every meal).

The shots of the snow in Fargo, North Dakota gave the film a feel of isolation, as in these shots all you can see is white. One point I noticed was that the snow was always immaculately clean (apart from the blood). There were tire tracks but no dirt or mud was present. This gave the film an almost farcical feel, as if the little town of Fargo was in fact unreal.
At one point Lundegaard is looking around in the snow. The camera all of a sudden becomes his point of view and pans around back and forth standing in one spot, showing that the expanse of a barbed wire fence on the left is exactly the same as the stretch to the right, making it seem like a never ending road.

Many times the camera ends up in the passenger seat of a car, even if both seats are occupied by characters. The swapping out of characters for cameras give the shots a more personal feel, as if the audience is sitting across from Marge or Shep (the Native American crooked garage worker). The camera spends a lot of time following cars, in the back of cars, on the front of cars and once on the floor of the car. It gives the audience the sense that in Fargo this is the only way to get around. Cars are a key theme in the film, with Lundegaard working at a car dealership, Shep at a garage, the crooks steal a car and Marge with her police brawler.

Fargo North Dakota is supposedly the home of  the giant Paul Bunyan, and his pet Babe the blue Ox. The directors use this symbolism by adding a huge statue of Bunyan at the entrance to the town, as if he looks on to all the crime and judges, silently and still. The camera has to pan up to look at his face, which is terrifying in the dark and quiet of the snowy night.This harmless statue is one of the shots that makes the audience the most uneasy, which shows how much power an inanimate object has when put in the right setting. As well as this, the characters converge at the dive bar 'The Blue Ox', a reference to Babe. This again adds to the farcical feel of the town and shows that the people of Fargo stick at home, as if all the corruption stays and festers in Fargo.

I found the use of cars, the magical imagery of Bunyan and Babe and the camera angles in the cars, snow and bars all contributed to the mount of tension, remorse at the death and the love for Marge elicited by the Coen brothers in this film.

In the end, Carl (Steve Buscemi) the corrupt murderer returns to the town to hide over $1,000,000 in the snow before returning to his accomplice and he never goes back for it (he never leaves their hide out again). The Coen brothers began the film with 'Based on a true story, as the events happened', and never told the audience what happened to the money in the end, and it was said that a Japanese woman actually flew to America, traveled to Fargo, North Dakota to try and find the money and died trying.

Byzantium

This weekend I watched the 2012 Fantasy-Horror Byzantium, directed by Neil Jordan.
This film told the story of a 200 year old mother and daughter fleeing from the law in a historic seaside town. The film is full of flashbacks - filtered making them look grainy and blurry, the edges fading leaving the center clear. These flashbacks often dated back to Georgian England, where the grey beaches give the shots an aged look - but the brothel was richer in colour which made the shot feel claustrophobic and gave you fear for the character entering the place.
The audience meets the character of the mother (Gemma Arterton) when she is a young 16 year old girl working in the beaches. Her clothing throughout the flashbacks seem progress in a time line. At first, a simple soft pink dress with many shawls on her waist and a head-dress against the cold. Second, when she is sent to work at the brothel, a slim Burgundy dress with little embellishment. Finally, once she has become a vampire, an elaborate blue silk dress patterned with white flowers and bordered with lace and long draping sleeves. This I believe shows her progression towards the dark/unholy side, and by the end it is as if the devil has rewarded her transformation by dressing her in finery as legends tell. It is eye catching and noticeable, making the audience aware which works well.
Many of the shots show death and destruction in the background (when the protagonists kill or are discovered, they douse the scene of the crime in fuel and strike a match), making the actors stand out in the foreground, often walking away from the blaze against the crowd  which highlights the mundane nature the task holds for them, which I found very effective.
Much of the action took place through glass, often clouded of stained. It gave the victims a less graphic ending which made it easier to watch and any dialogue was muffled. This was eerie in the sense that anyone else in the building (in one case a hospital) would not have heard if there was a cry for help.
The shots were also quite long, as many times characters are traced up a rock face, falling and stumbling before reaching the top. The lack of music and the mention of the curse on the rock builds the tension and suspense.
Overall I found the use of diegetic sound (mostly piano playing), the use of glass, the faded flashbacks and the violent background action worked well together to produce an effective fantasy-horror that spared no one.

 

Scripting

When thinking about scripting, I decided from the off I didn't want a lot of dialogue.

When I considered who I'd give lines to, I immediately thought of Maia. Her character is the smallest and visually the must vulnerable and in my view, lines mean power. By giving her the most lines I want to show who is in charge and who has the best understanding of what is going on. I want her character to have a kind of 'puppet master' feel, as most mystery character do in films of this genre.

 I want to keep the plot quite vague throughout seeing as this is only the first 2 minutes of  the film and I don't want to give too much away - so by keeping the dialogue slightly mysterious I aim to add in diegetic sound without revealing anything vital.

I have also decided I am not adding a voice over. I feel it would be a bad idea to try and add both diegetic and non-diegetic dialogue. Also, the voices would have to be very different and I don't know who I would have speaking that isn't in the shots - I think this would complicate my use of software I am not confident with yet, and so I feel it is the right decision to drop the idea.

Storyboard

 

MY STORYBOARD

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I understand that not all aspects of this plan will be possible, but I believe this effectively portrays the majority of the shots and techniques I wish to achieve in my film opening.

 

 

Props

So far I have only decided on two props.

The first is a book. This I have decided to be the mysterious object and the focus of the film opening. The cover is flexible and bright red. I opted for a flexible cover rather than a hard-back, as hard-backs tend to bounce more when dropped if you hit a corner or an angle. The flexible cover doesn't make as much noise either, and the colour is eye-catching and vibrant. Red is the colour associated with danger and warning - an apt theme for my opening. 

The second prop is Philip's backpack. I feel I would like to have to bag as there are some ideas I have for the character to put the book inside it and for Nick to run off with it in the bag. For an alternate ending (if my initial idea doesn't work out), I am thinking maybe Nick opens the bag after running off with it and the bag is empty. He finishes running to Maia and she is already sitting on a tree reading it. This works in relation to a shot I plan to include at the beginning, of the book dropping into the shot from above without showing how it fell.

Costumes

For my costumes, I feel colour is important.

Conventionally within the genre, the colour a character is wearing suggests something about their personality. With this in mind, I have decided that the downtrodden hero (played by Philip) should wear greys and blacks to personify his mood.

The costume of the little girl character (played by Maia) I feel should not be what springs to mind when you think of the character. She has a darker personality than what the audience might think when they see her, so maybe a pretty skirt and jumper in dark colours. I am also thinking of adding bunchies to her hair and tying them with bows of red ribbon to match the book I've decided to use. This will connect the girl with the object which is the desired effect.

Finally, for the second boy (played by Nick) I would like to colour-coordinate his costume with that of the little girl character. In which case I'm feeling dark blues and blacks - possibly sweatshirts for the both of them to show unity. Maybe a hoodie for this character so I can get a shot of him flipping his hood up to give the audience a hint of his character.

Certificate Ratings

 Suitable for All - U stands for Universal; suitable for all audiences aged 4 years and over. Very mild language can be expected along with minimal amounts of violence, sexual content (innuendo).
Parental Guidance - PG (Parental Guidance) films are suitable for most children aged 8 years and older. PG films may prove upsetting to smaller children and so it is up to the parents to consider what content their children can be exposed to. Mild bad language and innuendo may be expected
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Cinema Release suitable for 12 years and over - Anyone aged 12 and over can attend a showing of this film unaccompanied by an adult (over 18). An adult my bring a smaller child, but it is not recommended as some content might prove upsetting.
 
Video Release suitable for 12 years and over - 12 is a certificate exclusively for Videos, DVDs and Blu-rays, whereas 12A certificate is guidance for Cinema goers. Moderate violence, verbal sex references and infrequent strong language to be expected.
 
Suitable only for 15 years and over - Contains frequent strong language, Strong violence, Portrayals of sexual activity, Strong verbal references to sex, Nudity and Drug Taking.
 
Suitable only for Adults - No-one younger than 18 is allowed to view this film in a cinema or rent a copy. Very strong violence, Frequent strong language, Strong Portrayals of sexual activity, Scenes of strong horror and sexual violence, Strong blood and gore and discriminatory language and behavior featured.
 
Adult Works for licensed premises only - A special category, legally restricted primarily for explicit works involving adults.

 The BBFC are changing the way they classify films. Music videos are now being scrutinised and classified along with films, looking for explicit content, language and violence. These have previously been accessible to everyone and can be deemed inappropriate for children and younger audiences.

Locations

For my locations I have chosen:

1. The roof over Costa Coffee in Gerrards Cross
2. Gerrards Cross Common
3. The Gerrards Cross Woods and Pond

For the running I will use various streets and link them together to make one straight path from the roof to the woods.

Actors and Organisation

This post is about my choice of actors and my organisational skills.

At the moment I have a total of three characters to cast:

1. Boy 1 - protagonist. Finds the focus object and fights to keep it safe. Should look average and non-threatening. He is an outsider and should dress as such. Must also look fairly juvenile and be good at running for the purpose of the chase scene. 

For this part I have cast Philip George.

Philip George: age - 16, year 12, fairly tall, non-threatening, fast runner.

     2. Boy 2 - henchman. Works for the girl to steal the object and keep it safe whilst also uniting all the                    characters. Must be fairly tall, have the ability to look distance, defensive and slightly menacing. Must            be a good runner. Less juvenile than Boy 1. 

For this part I have cast Nick Thomas.

Nick Thomas: age - 17, year 12, taller than Philip, has acted before, faster than Philip. 

   3. Girl - antagonist/protagonist. Young girl that knows something about the object the other characters do          not. Must be small, non-threatening but not the traditional idea of little girl. 

For this part I have cast Maia Briggs.

Maia Briggs: age - 11, year 6, much smaller than the boys, suits the part very well.

As for organisation; I feel the key aspects I need to focus on will be: communication with my actors on subjects such as shooting days and costume suggestions, making sure I have all of the equipment necessary to be able to get on with filming, and taking precautions like bringing an umbrella, muck boots etc for the forest shots. 

Collage

Here is the collage of film snapshots and title images I have compiled to represent as a whole the film genre I am basing my film opening around. I call it: PASTICHE. 

Risk Assessment

For my risk assessment, I have here noted the key potential hazards that may prove dangerous when filming my 2 minute opening. These include: Falling and slipping, cuts, grazes and possible broken bones (Stairs). As well as this I have mentioned the precautions I will take to avoid injuries.