I really enjoy screenwriting and it is very easy for me to get carried away. Usually a the rule is that one page of script is the equivalent of one minute of screen time.
So after doing some complicated math, I would have needed to write a two-pager to fit in the two minutes. Well... I accidentally wrote five.
I understand it is implausible to turn a five-page script into a two-minute film, but I was mainly focused on developing and completing the idea
I obviously don't expect anyone reading to actually read the script, but the gist of it was that Trevor (the main character and killer) began to creep on his neighbor (Lily) and then pretended a mannequin was her, and then pretended to be her dog and killed her.
It's strange and convoluted, I know.
Aside from it being way too long for the purpose of our project, it also did not stay true to the story my partner and I wanted to tell. The character was too creepy and the story did not have the same weight as movies we drew our inspiration from like Taxi Driver or Nightcrawler.
Trevor (the name I gave to the main character and also the killer) he was too concrete in his approach. He just narrowed his focus on his neighbor and killed her without any real thematic implications and there wasn't any nuance in his actions. There was no contemplation or did not have any believable sympathy for his victims.
It also lacked direction since it gave zero insight as to would happen in the rest of movie, all it did was introduce the character with the wrong intent.
Retrospectively, I definitely should have written this script with way more intent, but I guess it is a good lesson for the future. Back to the drawing board!
We drew a lot of inspiration from Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver....
Yes... that Travis Bickle.
He has become quite the inspiration because of the complexity of his persona. As I mentioned in the previous post, his motives and actions do not align in terms of morality.
With Trevor, we are planning to make him a very emotive character. We want him to kill his victims, not because of a twisted desire to "wear people's faces" like in Silence of the Lambs, but out of his love for his victims.
I had an idea where Trevor would tear up his victims into little pieces and store them in boxes, lbelled with a name and photo. He would keep them as if they were his friends, so he essentially believes that by killing them, he is able to be friends with them forever.
He is twisted and evil, but we need to be able to express that despite his horrible actions, his actions are rooted in profound insecurities and good intentions.
Sunday, February 24, 2019
The Kubrick Stare and Other Cheesy Psychos
In my last post, I briefly touched upon Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and how I did not want my protagonist to be like him because I wanted my character to be more serious and pensive, not comedic and showy.
After a bit more research into the characters of psychological thrillers, I stumbled into none other than Stanley Kubrick. He has three movies that are very obvious psychological thrillers, but I always found his movies to be a little more funny than scary, and I think I found out what it is...
IT'S THE STARE!
I have never really liked any of Kubrick's movies. I always felt like the actors were trying to hard and overacting, and I think I was able to pinpoint the root of the problem in the Kubrick Stare. And as it turns out, I am not the only one that shares this sentiment.
Apparently the Kubrick Stare is a popular term and has become almost synonymous with cheesy serial killers in movies.
Cheesiness is something I want to try to avoid in my film opening. I want to adhere to a lot of genre conventions like having one main protagonist (most likely a male), making him mentally disturbed, and use physical violence to evoke psychological responses from his victims or from himself.
I kind of want my film to be a lot more serious than American Psycho, but films like The Shining aren't supposed to be funny, yet I find them so brutally cheesy that I cannot help but have a laugh. So, I have to avoid overacting or things like the Kubrick Stare, so I can have more tonal control throughout the opening and not confuse audience as to whether they should be terrified or cracking up.
I know I have done some obscure research on genres and representation that don't really follow any coherent pattern, but I have recently become more interested in a new genre... the psychological thriller.
This is a genre of movies that I can safely say is my favorite because of the dark tones and character-centric approach to storytelling. Assume what you'd like about me based on my morbid tastes, but this genre is not limited to just slasher movies or "torture porn" like the Saw movie franchise.
Some of the more brilliant approaches to this genre either just barely teeter on the edge of being horror or become so distinct from horror that it almost defines a new genre.
Definitely a unique film within the realm of psychological thrillers was Whiplash (2014). I found an interview with lead actor Miles Teller touching upon the idea that Whiplash is a completely different beast of a movie that is borderline a horror movie.
Although there is so much truth in the idea that Whiplash is a thriller because of the constant emotional abuse from the character of Fletcher, but in my film opening, I think I am going to take a more traditional approach to the genre.
A pretty traditional psychological thriller, in my opinion, is the movie Se7en because of its strong focus on one unstable character reeking absolute havoc on a city.
The character John Doe played by Kevin Spacey has some interesting characteristics that I would definitely want to adapt when making my project. He is very meticulous about the way he kills his victims and the kills are so personal to him. There is a bigger picture to his murders, it isn't just killing to satisfy twisted cravings. I obviously can't rip off the novel idea of killing based on the seven deadly sins, but an omniscient killer is something I want in my film.
Speaking of a main character with unmotivated, impersonal kills, I think the character of Patrick Bateman from American Psycho is not something I would like to replicate.
This movie has very powerful themes of materialism and consumerism in America, but it is a borderline comedy because of the gimmicky personality and attitude of Bateman. His motivations aren't rooted in real desires to fix himself or issues around him, it is purely out of outrageous and comical reasoning.
In contrast, the movie that my preferred approach is the film Taxi Driver.
Martin Scorsese uses the character of Travis in a more unique way. He is driven by very complicated morals and motives, which is pointed out in the movie...
"He's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction.
A walking contradiction."
This one quote sums up the themes of what, in my opinion, makes a good psychological thriller. Travis becomes fixated on helping a teenage prostitute named Iris, but his motivation to do so is a bit selfish because he wants to be her savior. Likewise, he is concerned with getting rid of all the "scum" in New York, but actively takes part in immoral activities. There is something deeply personal about his actions, but it is hard to distinguish whether the audience should sympathize with the character.
Similarly, the movie Nightcrawler explores the idea of having an unlikeable protagonist in a psychological thriller.
Making my character very passionate, personal, yet unlikable is something I intend to portray in my film opening because it adds a lot of nuance to the murderer. Unlike horror movies, psychological thrillers are able to justify being their own genre because the antagonists aren't masked killers, they are everyday people and they are the protagonists and antagonists at the same time.
Resources:
Mecholsky, Kristopher. “The Psychological Thriller: An Overview.” Louisiana State University, 2013.
Jewish people have been for a very long time the butt of a lot of jokes and have been a prominent stereotype in mass media. They are depicted as being wealthy and cheap and they obtain that wealth through immoral or unethical means. They have long noses and curly hair and speak in an accent that does not really have a name and is colloquially known as the "Jewish accent." They work as doctors, pharmacists, or lawyers and often push their children to pursue the same careers. Another stereotype of Jews is that they control mass media and many of the people involved in television and film are Jewish, which is why some people joke that to win an Oscar you have to make a period piece about the holocaust.
Media Example #1 - Family Guy (Mort Goldman)
Mort Goldman is a pharmacist who is often portrayed as being very cheap and going to extreme lengths just to save a little bit of money. He has curly hair and speaks with a silly exaggerated accent
Media example #2 - Annie Hall (Alvy Singer)
The character of Alvy Singer is a stereotypical Jewish New Yorker, who is nerdy, short, fast-talking, and has the same accent mentioned above. He is often found complaining and is very nonconfronatational and also works as a television writer, feeding into the theory that Jews control the media.
A lot of the stereotypes of Jews are based in reality if you were to generalize the group, except for the fact that they are unethical and evil. They are hardworking people who are very concerned about their families which is why they usually tend to follow in the steps of their parents regarding career choices and they care about the financial future of their children. I would portray Jewish person as being what they really are, which is familial and caring, but also normal and not these humorous, short, fast-talking characters.
Resources
Maoz, Samantha. “Jews on TV: A Snapshot of Modern Television’s Representation of Jewish Characters.” Elon Journal of Undergraduate Research in Communications, 2018.
- Different world either in the future or in a distant place.
- Deals with a wide range of conflicts and characters, but the futuristic element still remains at least as the background.
- Can have inhuman characters, unseen technologies, and occasionally blend with ystopiaqn elements.
- Combines human and inhuman elements.
Production Techniques-
- Lots of special effects or computer-generated images
- More modern sci-fi movies use shallow depth of field or low key lighting or both
- Complex set design and costume design to create a futuristic world
Institutional/Marketing-
- Uses big name actors to sell a lot of movies
- Can have very large budgets allocated not only to the costly computer generated images, but also for marketing
- Many were first comics and piggyback off the success and audience of the comics
- Use flashy marketing to make the CGI advances more pronounced.
Sample 1 - Star Wars:
Star wars is an adventure movie playing on old western storylines and archetypes, but placing the characters in a futuristic world in space and different planets. It embodies the genre because of it's heavy use of special effects and its inclusion of inhuman and human characters using technology that does not exist yet.
Sample 2 - Back to the Future:
Back to the future is a science fiction movie because the character of McFly travels back in time, in a time travel machine, which is a technology that does not exist yet. There is also an inclusion of the archetype of the mad scientist, exemplified by Doc Brown.
Resources
Bufam, Noelle. “Science Fiction.” The Script Lab, 26 Mar. 2011, thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/982-science-fiction/.
- Characters are usually young or act very childish in a way.
- Deal with mostly close relationships like families, close friends, or couples.
- Characters are quirky and tend to have very pronounced insecurities.
- Often incorporate some kind of coming-of-age storyline as well.
- Main topic is usually something very heavy and dramatic, but told in a comedic way.
- Focused on natural performances.
- Includes a lot of juxtapositions to create comedic effect.
- Dry humor is typical in a dramedy.
Production techniques-
- High-key lighting most of the time.
- Deep depth of field and wider shots to focus mostly on character's and how they interact with each other
- Mise-en-scene juxtaposes the movie's themes. The setting is usually bright and upbeat even though movie deals with heavy themes like depression, suicide, cancer, divorce, etc.
- Lots of pastel colors. Two very common colors are yellows and greens because they symbolize curiosity and youth.
- Don't usually have original scores and use soundtracks from indie-rock bands or musicians from the 70s (it isn't a real dramedy without Simon and Garfunkel or Sufjan Stevens).
- If possible, it most likely was shot on film, preferably 16mm to really get more of that nostalgic film grain.
- There is always some kind of nostalgic element to it whether it's through 70s music, older cars, using paper maps, etc.
- No laugh tracks or very many non diegetic sounds.
Institutional/marketing-
- Marketed to mostly younger adults (16-29) audiences
- Use warm colors or pastels in posters.
- Tend to get selected by film festivals and academy awards because of excellent screenplays or natural, nuanced performances.
- Tend to be released in the summer or late spring.
- Trailers tend to play out a scene from the movie instead of showing flashy imagery because the movies are very much about characters and relationships, so by familiarizing the viewer with the characters, they will like them and see the movie.
Sample 1 - Garden State: This movie follows a struggling actor who is known for his role as a "disabled quarterback" and has to cope with his crippling depression and the death of his mother whom he disabled because he pushed her as a kid. He meets a girl who has epilepsy and is a compulsive liar. These characters have a lot of baggage and deal with some very serious issues, yet they are quirky and there are some humorous moments like when the main character is given a shirt made from the wallpaper in the newly redecorated bathroom, so he blends into the background. The characters give very natural performances, the humor is dry, the lighting is high key, it is set in a small town in New Jersey, and it has a soundtrack composed of indie-rock songs, most notably "The Only Living Boy in New York" by none other than Simon and Garfunkel.
Sample 2 - Little Miss Sunshine: This movie follows a family who is really quirky and also have a lot of baggage: a gay uncle who is suicidal, an "ugly" little girl who wants to win a beauty pageant, a nihilistic, mute teenager who wants to become a pilot, a raunchy grandpa, and a motivational speaker father who is a loser. Obviously there are serious themes being presented in this movie like suicide, but it still maintains a comedic tone. The nostalgic feel is very prevalent, exemplified by the yellow Kombi the family drives. It takes place in mostly a suburban neighborhood or in isolated areas. It also includes a soundtrack consisting mostly of another artist that is common in many dramedies, Sufjan Stevens.
Resources:
Ho, Andrew. “50/50 Defines ‘Dramedy’ Genre.” Technique, 29 Sept. 2011, nique.net/entertainment/2011/09/29/5050-defines-%E2%80%9Cdramedy%E2%80%9D-genre/. Taflinger, Richard F. “Sitcom: What It Is, How It Works Dramedy: Thought-Based Situation Comedies.” Dramedy: Thought-Based Situation Comedies, 30 May 1996, public.wsu.edu/~taflinge/dramedy.html.
