I myself had 3 ideas, one clear and two rather vivid. I went forth and filled out the concept checklist with my solid and most favourable idea throughout the week. I added to it as ideas and inspiration made their way to my mind. The outcome was what I shared today in class. So far the synopsis was the most developed area, along with originality. I believe the concept of my script is both original and practical, but the problem areas lie with the ability to pin down my ideas into two 10 minute scrips or one 20 minute script. The way this whole concept had panned out in my head was certainly feature film length.
The concept itself is based around a young unemployed man living in London. Through a series of swift and unexpected events the man buys an ex-service black cab illegally, and begins driving it picking up fares. The film revolves around this life of the man in the taxi meeting new people and the emergence of unlikely friendships. The film has a feel-good factor to it which makes up the thick layer, the things we see and force us to feel. The deeper layers of the film are made up with Marxist and Weberian perspectives on the social order or large cities such as London. The character development throughout the film entices the audience into critical thinking. We become critical of the structure within London, and how people are ignorant in the face of one another. The general representation of London as the main location is that it is very cold and distant. People walk by one another on the street without any acknowledgement. Our main protagonist in the taxi driver sees this and acts upon it, spreading awareness and love amongst the passengers he picks up.
Character influences and visual influences. Below are images from the films Nightcrawler and Taxi Driver. My idea and concept of the film is heavily influenced by these two films. I took a lot of inspiration from how Martin Scorsese directs the character of Travis Bickle through the streets of New York in a spectacular visual fashion. The film focuses primarily around the unstable nature of the protagonist, the same goes for the character of Lou in Nightcrawler. These films both had a hold on me long after the credits rolled. I believe this is because these kinds of characters are underrepresented in cinema. These are self made humans, coming from a less than privileged background. Both of these characters are also very intriguing. Lou is a self-made man who teaches himself how to run a business and manipulate corporations to suit his needs. It is a very complex rags to riches story that I will be similarly trying to put across within Black Cabbie. Travis from Taxi Driver on the other hand has immense character depth from the fact he was a soldier in Vietnam. From this we understand his unstable nature and obsession with putting forth his affection onto the female character companion in the film. It is evident Travis has went through some trauma in his life, despite not showing this on screen we feel it and are very subtly hinting toward it.
Visually, the film takes inspiration from both of these films through how they represent their locations. Both set in major cities, they both achieve the distant effect and atmosphere I aim to create. Within Taxi Driver, Travis sees the harsh and disgusting stench of nightlife in New York. Lou also sees the same in Los Angeles, and both characters take full advantage of the cities corruption. Both films use very low key lighting which makes rare use of bright colours really stand out. In both instances it is the colour of the vehicles that stand out. The yellow taxi in Taxi Driver and the red Mustang in Nightcrawler. This can be interpreted in different ways. The way I see it is the colours are reflective of the nature and attributes of the characters. The Yellow cab represents the simple existence of Travis and his simplistic spirit. On the other hand the red mustang represents the dangerous and unstable nature of Lou. He is fast paced, gets things done and acts with upmost integrity.
In the context of Black Cabbie, the black cab shows the dark origins of the character. He is very discreet and his whole life revolves around remaining hidden, and hiding in plain sight of everyday life. Not only this but the colour of the cab is linked to the actual colour palette of the film and the use of lighting. The low key lighting and night-time scenes enable the cab to become camouflage. In turn this connects the vehicle and the character and shows their similarities, the cab blends in with the location whilst the character blends in with other people.
Character influences and visual influences. Below are images from the films Nightcrawler and Taxi Driver. My idea and concept of the film is heavily influenced by these two films. I took a lot of inspiration from how Martin Scorsese directs the character of Travis Bickle through the streets of New York in a spectacular visual fashion. The film focuses primarily around the unstable nature of the protagonist, the same goes for the character of Lou in Nightcrawler. These films both had a hold on me long after the credits rolled. I believe this is because these kinds of characters are underrepresented in cinema. These are self made humans, coming from a less than privileged background. Both of these characters are also very intriguing. Lou is a self-made man who teaches himself how to run a business and manipulate corporations to suit his needs. It is a very complex rags to riches story that I will be similarly trying to put across within Black Cabbie. Travis from Taxi Driver on the other hand has immense character depth from the fact he was a soldier in Vietnam. From this we understand his unstable nature and obsession with putting forth his affection onto the female character companion in the film. It is evident Travis has went through some trauma in his life, despite not showing this on screen we feel it and are very subtly hinting toward it.
Visually, the film takes inspiration from both of these films through how they represent their locations. Both set in major cities, they both achieve the distant effect and atmosphere I aim to create. Within Taxi Driver, Travis sees the harsh and disgusting stench of nightlife in New York. Lou also sees the same in Los Angeles, and both characters take full advantage of the cities corruption. Both films use very low key lighting which makes rare use of bright colours really stand out. In both instances it is the colour of the vehicles that stand out. The yellow taxi in Taxi Driver and the red Mustang in Nightcrawler. This can be interpreted in different ways. The way I see it is the colours are reflective of the nature and attributes of the characters. The Yellow cab represents the simple existence of Travis and his simplistic spirit. On the other hand the red mustang represents the dangerous and unstable nature of Lou. He is fast paced, gets things done and acts with upmost integrity.
In the context of Black Cabbie, the black cab shows the dark origins of the character. He is very discreet and his whole life revolves around remaining hidden, and hiding in plain sight of everyday life. Not only this but the colour of the cab is linked to the actual colour palette of the film and the use of lighting. The low key lighting and night-time scenes enable the cab to become camouflage. In turn this connects the vehicle and the character and shows their similarities, the cab blends in with the location whilst the character blends in with other people.
Within our scriptwriting session on 26th October we looked at 10 step and 20 step outlines into our scripts. These exercises are used to enhance the specifics and more intricate details of our scrips. I started off with the ten step outline, working out the key events chronologically of my narrative. Starting with the character buying the black cab and ending with the post disequilibrium events, which leads the character back into a new equilibrium and state of peace.
The 20 step outline comes after the 10 step outline and adds even more depth to the script. The 10 step outline more or less outlines the key events of the film, such as key scenes and arrival of key characters or catalysts within the narrative. The 20 step outline adds detail between each key event or scene, giving me room to work with character development and establishing the setting of each scene or piece of dialogue.
Below are some scanned images of my 10 step outline of the concept.
No comments:
Post a Comment