Getting Back on Track - The Green Light

 I've spent the past couple of weeks very focussed on Liquid Light Shows and the two test shoots that I recently posted, and while they allowed me to better understand the camera techniques and themes I want to explore, now it's time for me to refocus back to the final film and what the combinations of all of these techniques will accumulate to. 

The 5 Minute Excerpt

I've decided that instead of this being a scene or two from the film it will be more of a conceptual trailer showcasing themes that will be explored in the film. It will be much more the kind of style that will be utilised at the end of the film rather than the start, where the psychedelic surrealism has fully taken over. I may include a few shots of the kind of animation and disruptive shots I'll be using while this is building up. I'll be taking inspiration from conventional 60s films and title sequences to have some more conventional elements keeping the experimental aspects grounded. I will have to be careful to make sure it isn't just style over substance and be thoughtful about why the shots are actually included, not only for how they look aesthetically but what academic texts can accompany the use of them, as well as how the symbolism will ultimately tie into the final film. 

My main focuses will be on light, texture, and the micro-interactions between characters. While the film itself will be quite visually intense, the action is very slow and contemplative. The two characters will come together slowly, as they become more comfortable with each other the psychedelic aspects will become more intense to reflect their emotions. However, they do not kiss until the final scene, so both the final film and excerpt will be a careful balance between the intense visuals and subtle acting choices, making sure that the visual doesn't overtake the acting. Making the test shoot Love in B&W was good practice for this. 

The Final Film

While shooting won't be happening for another few months, since I keep getting distracted and excited by new things to try, keeping in mind the plan for the final film and having a script/storyboard together asap will make sure that I only spend the next few months tweaking elements rather than completely changing everything when a new concept comes up. 

The scenes I currently have planned are:

Act 1 (5 mins)

Focus: establish the characters relationship + the psychedelic elements slowly bleeding in

- meeting scene

- start of psychedelic elements 

Act 2 (7-10 mins)

Focus: micro interactions as they move through the city - church scene culmination of this

- laundromat (maybe)

- park (maybe)

-bridge 

- church 

Act 3 (5-8 mins)

Focus: Complete disintegration of reality

- psychedelia fully takes over 

- final kiss 

I'll be making storyboards for each of these over the next week to have an understanding of what I actually want for each scene. Since the film is no-dialogue I'll also be doing a kind of emotional script, detailing how the characters will feel in each scene and their reactions to each other. Much of this will be working with the actors to see how they understand their character and how they feel the relationship would progress emotionally in each scene as well. 

The Green Light

This has always been a key aspect of the film, but as I've been exploring other concepts I've kind of left this on the back burner for now. Over the next week I'll be deciding how to represent this in the film as a concept but also what would be the best strategy to use when shooting scenes with it in. It may be a very clearly fake light added on in post to keep with the surreality of the film, but I may also have it start as a very naturalistic light and then become distorted.