![]() Upstairs is a film that came from just a normal conversation on a staircase but has developed into a film that goes a lot deeper than that. The pitch of the idea is that it starts with an answer. A normal, generic, middle class guy who is being asked questions and his surroundings are lacking personality greatly. It's just plain white, a table and 2 people sitting on either side. The man and a Women that is interviewing him. They finish with him being guided into a waiting room, indicating that he has been "accepted". He is waiting in an equally bland room where he is alone and nervous whilst waiting to go where he needs to go, which we still don't know yet. After a period of time, he gets called to follow another women upstairs and it's not made clear what's upstairs but theres something important, something that isn't like a check up at the Hospital, this is something serious. They head up the stairs and he keeps getting asked these personal and deep questions but he just roles along with it because he thinks this is just normal here. They get to the top and he gets told to enter another room but it's very ominous in the way it's presented. It beams a light down the hallway and it's very stand-offish. He enters the room either way and is met with a really charming guy in a black suit and this is a fully white room (like the room in the image above), very bright and he's the only dark subject in the whole room and the whole film. The man is called Mr. Pomp which sounds like a weird name but is referenced from the Psychopomp (on the right) which is a creature from Greek Mythology that would guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife. It is then revealed that the main character is called Adam which is a reference to Adam and Eve. They seem almost friendly with eachother, like old friends which is odd but things take a turn when Mr Pomp starts interviewing Adam. He asks him pretty normal, 2 choice questions but then he asks question that are almost hard to answer in the case that it's either a choice between lying which he isn't meant to do and telling the harsh truth. These questions have a pretty drastic and eventually traumatic effect on Adam. Mr. Pomp explains the reason behind this whole experience and the film ends on one last question; Are you ready to go? This project will center around religion and the acceptance of Heaven. I never planned it to become this but it just kind of got out of control. It almost formed itself and made the story a whole lot more complex and deep. For research, I'm going to look at Purgatory, Heaven and Hell, The Psychopomp, how to direct questions and control actors. I feel like these are big areas that can benefit the visualization of this project. I'll research them through various videos, books and websites. Probably not the most artistic way of expressing an idea but it can be very intriguing. Basically, what my idea revolves around is randomness and improvisation. I just want to do something fun and have so much watchability to it. After watching Most Epic Nerf War in History! by a channel called RackaRacka, I was kind of inspired to do something similar to that but with no Nerf guns. I wanted to use something different so I thought of water guns. It’s a similar kind of product, a lot cheaper and could possibly relate more to the audience. In terms of story, I plan it to be just a generic and basic story of a situation turning out of hand. I don’t want it to be deep or serious, I want it to be the complete opposite.
What I think will make the film stand out is within 2 things: Including smart references and massive amounts of editing. Movie referencing is something I feel like would bring a comedic effect to it and attract various audiences that are fans of the reference. I’m not gonna splatter a reference every 10 seconds, I want to place the reference in a smart and controlled way that relate to movies, current trends and issues etc. The second part is that it will feature a tone of editing techniques. Editing is going to be a big factor in this film because I'm thinking gun fire out of the water guns, explosions, zooms in etc. A lot of what will make this film be visually intriguing will be in the editing. The location for this project would most likely take place in my back garden. It's a good place because everyone can relate to it, it's an open area and has loads of opportunities to alter and use the environment and the surroundings to enhance the visual storytelling of the film. I have left myself open to a location change to possibly indoors because it can fit that environment and being outdoors might not be ideal because of British weather being so unpredictable and I need it to be relatively hot and clear for it to be suitable for outdoors. In terms of who will star in it, it doesn't have to be anyone professional or even interested in acting. That's the beauty of comedy, the best kind usually comes from bad acting but there's a difference between being a bad actor and being a character that's meant to be acted badly. I don't want there to be any main characters. I feel like it would perform better as an action comedy and with the movie references if we get as broad of a cast as possible. In terms of what I want to research, I would like to research a lot into the genre and style of editing. I feel like they are two key components to delivering what this film is meant to deliver. I would also like to research how to control an ensemble, visual comedy and how music controls the atmosphere around you. My research is open to new things along the road but I think these specific areas are essential to creating a solid project. Films, TV and Gaming feature some of the most creative and intellectual minds in Art history which leads to some massive hint to detail featured within that art. It’s what gives it it’s image, psychologically, when you can always go a little deeper and find bits of the treasure that is buried under every time you get deeper. Breaking down and analysing is something I love doing and often excel in. You can find so much interesting and attracting things when a movie or video game is broken down and picked to pieces and a lot of people describe it as a shot in the dark or often what you find and work out being something that most likely the Director never had in mind to begin with but that’s the magic of the whole process. It’s how you view it. It’s how you interpret it and no matter how broad your outcome or analysis is, it is always possible and just because a University Lecturer who teaches film says it’s wrong and that his theory is better, doesn’t mean it is. Theories are meant to be debated over and never 100% true, that’s a big reason why we have “theories” and it’s up to your personal experiences and outlooks that really impact whether a theory is true or false to you.
Editing is a big part of this topic of video. Placing the right clips in the right places or saying the right things at the right time and doing it with reason. YouTubers that take advantage of this element for films, TV and video games are very meaningful in terms of their structure and how they edit. It’s a basic formula to display what you’re talking about or talking about what you’re displaying but just because it’s a basic formula, doesn’t mean their can be no thought to it. If placed well, it can portray meaning to what you’re talking about. It’s a visual representation of the topic and can portray multiple forms of emotional effects like humour and depth. Throughout my initial research, I have come across channels of this particular topic and have become a fan of. These channels stretch from Films to Games and even the social issues of today. I will go into much more depth into some of them in the coming days but here are channels that I have been looking at:
I want to have a serious channel that maybe jokes around a little but only in appropriate ways and I don’t want to involve humour in every 20 seconds of my videos. I would like them to look and sound very informative and detailed and focus on some films that aren’t a massive blockbuster title but something that is worth analysing and interesting to see what’s hidden in them. The areas I'd like to research are how to read between the lines, audio equipment for recording, how to distribute and promote my channel, editing clips and how to do titles. Idea 1: Water gun fight
After last year with creating deep and meaningful films and how disappointed I was to see them come out as either unfinished or the final product not being my intended vision for the film at all, I decided to take a different approach for my second year. I wanted to create something that is comedic, action packed and just out of this world random. I had fun creating stuff like that when I was younger and want to start doing it again with better equipment than my mum’s phone, experience and techniques. The main idea for this came from one of my favourite YouTube channels at the moment, RackaRacka. They post really ambitious and low budget short films and they include the kind of genre and feeling I want to portray in my film. I watched their film, Most Epic Nerf War in History! And it was my main inspiration for creating a film of that style. In a home area, gun fire out of the Nerf guns, ketchup as blood etc. I just want the film I create to be fun and hilarious to watch so what came into my head was to create something like that but with Water Guns and in my back garden. This isn’t the most artsy and masterful idea but it’s definitely an idea that seems fun and can be unique in it’s own way. The possibilities of creating this into a great film can be done and I think it’ll be really fun. I don’t want it to be a mindless, Michael Bay type ordeal; I want it to be thought out and beautifully crafted but still have that ridiculousness about it that still attracts that kind of audience. I want to have references to movies, games, music, trends etc. but not on an offensive scale, just on a humorous and “well placed” scale (used at the right and most sensual time). It’s a piece of medium that is popular and sometimes overused but it can still be altered into a unique and auteurial style, which I think will be fun, interesting and amazing to explore and execute. Idea 2: Upstairs This is proof that stories sometimes happen by the slimmest of circumstances. This story literally popped in my head just by a random conversation behind me whilst walking up the stairs and was sparked by one question: “Is this you first time upstairs?” That question intrigued me in some way and I sparked a story out of it that developed into a 12-page script. From that question, I developed a story around the idea of heaven and mostly about the acceptance and steps towards heaven after death, maybe even in purgatory but I wanted to leave that up to the viewer. I didn’t want to make it too clear that it was in “purgatory” but I didn’t want to make it unclear as well so I added various secrets and Easter eggs for the audience to see and find. For example, the walls constantly being white, the main characters name being Adam (based off Adam and Eve) and related all the questions that relate to blasphemies and stuff that isn’t “accepted” in a religious faith like about excessive drug use, swearing and sexual desires. This is a reason why there are no questions about his name or age because they aren’t what’s questioned or seen as a topic in The Bible or The Quran. I’ve left a lot more hidden secrets that are either expressed visually or vocally but I don’t want to reveal everything. This is a story that I have thought about a lot in terms of its intrigue in story and characters. The only thing I am scared of is falling down the same hole as I did last year when I had a similar case like this. Having a story I think will be amazing but when it comes to producing it, I really let myself down because I am bad and hate producing. It makes me hate the whole experience and I don’t want to go back to that because this film would have to be great in terms of it’s casting, location, lighting etc. I feel like the first idea isn’t much of a pain (but still difficult) because of its genre and topic. The genre can allow bad acting at times and random settings because that’s’ the whole point of it. I don’t want this opportunity with Upstairs to be squandered and feel like it would be best to wait for more experience and a better crew or possibly even develop the script rather than visualise it now. I feel like I have a solid script know but I don’t want to ruin it like I did with my stories last year. Idea 3: Analysing Films, TV and Video Games on YouTube This is something I’ve wanted to do in general interest but I have never really just done it. I saw the brief and was thinking if I could possibly do videos analysing and breaking down different forms of mediums for Unit 13. I got inspired by other YouTube channels that operate around this topic and share the same interests as the video creators and really enjoy watching them. It’s an area in film, which I think I excel in the most, analysing and researching. I love doing it and spotting and breaking down everything that happens in a moment of a film. I have lists of films and stuff I have spotted within them that I really want to talk about in a video essay of some kind but if I could do it for my Unit 13, this could be the moment were I start. Like how David Mackenzie filters in as much information as possible in his recently directed film, Hell or High Water or talk about a theory that I have developed called the “Risk with No Reward” Effect and plays around with a moment in a game or film when the main protagonist gives their all to help but sees no reward and is only punished for their heroism as appose to the more typical route where the protagonist always makes it out alive no matter what. It’s something I want to do no matter if it’s for Unit 13 or not but if it is for Unit 13 then I feel like I can really research and do a lot with this and have so many video ideas that I have and want to do for this. It will benefit my editing, social media, how to project my voice and use sound equipment and possibly even improve my camera skills and how I position them if I plan to use a FaceCam as part of my videos. It’s an area I want to explore, research and enjoy doing which I know I will. |
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