Character development 1 (Frederick)

I contacted a psichotherapist in order to get information about my character's personality and derivated behaviours. Based on the ancient sufi teaching of the enneagram, which is nowadays applied to psichology, this psichotherapist suggested me that my character belongs to the "social subtype" of the "type 3" personality.

This subtype characteristics incluye:

- He is a person that needs the world to recognize his value. When that value lacks in the childhood, it gets overdeveloped when older.
- Usually a brilliant image of himself to compensate for a poor childhood.
- Usually grown up in a situation in which he was under considered, so that it takes him to compensate that lack.
- A profound feeling of emptiness and low-self steem within himself.
- His natural desire for being important develops into a passion and lives for the prestige, the need to be recognized and his personal importance.

These are just some of the characteristics that I'll have to play with when developing the script, which have been by the way quite important in order to develop my ideas.
When you know your character, the things that happen to him just come by themselves.

Pictures of the location (flat)

This flat will hold the scenes for the inside of the mind of my character. The overall white color will make for the feeling of emptyness that I'm looking for. Besides, there is a nice view to Canary Wharf, which also relates to the situation of my character, who was a business man.

Development of ideas for the script 1

I developed the idea of the character being withdrawn from the Poker table and taken to the inside of his mind. The character will be taken to a flat's living room, I want the room to be completely empty. This character is going to be a business man that apparently is going through a bad time of his life (lost his job, because of this his girlfriend broke up with him, he ). In the first scene that he is taken to the living room of that flat, he will not be able to open the doors or escape from that room. He will be visibly desperate. The idea is that he will have to complete tasks that will allow him to open the doors. This tasks will relate to problems of the real life that he has to solve in order to be happy and back to his previous life. Remember that the flat will represent the inside of his mind.
As he completes the tasks that allow him to open the doors, his game at the poker table will change. I want to use the simple action-reaction structure.

I will have a psichotherapist consultant who will help me analise the mind of a person like my character, body lenguage, different kinds of nervous breakdowns and so on.

Interesting quotes regarding story telling within short films

"The freedom of the short film relative to the long film lies in the possibilities of using metaphor and other literary devices to tell the story. This is a luxury not available in the comercially driven, realism-oriented long film. Indeed, one of our major points about the short film is its linkages to other literary forms"(Introduction xv)

"Often the story will unfold around a choice that presents itself to the character who never returns to his or her former state. And closure is attained by virtue of making or avoiding that choice."(Introduction xv)

"The catalytic event that would begin the action of the film, which could be viewed as the beginning of act II, must come much more quickly than a quarter of the way into the film. Indeed in the short film, if we use the long-form act proportion or three act structure, one finds that both act I and act II are very short because to set up the story (Act I) must be fast."(Introduction xvi)

* Cooper, Pat; Dancyger, Ken. Writing the short film. 1st edition (Focal Press, USA, 1994)

Image quality comparison between HG20 and HM-100

Above: HM-100 Indoors

HG20 Indoors

HM-100 Outdoors

HG20 Outdoors

This comparison has been carried out in order to clarify what camera will be used to shoot my film. If I finally get to use the 35mm adapter, the HG20 seems to be good enough for the purpose. It has a very good behaviour in low light conditions. The pros from the HM-100 would be the vivid generated colors and a sharper picture. However, the HG20 was set on Cinemode which could have interferred with the sharpness. Further tests must be made when the adapter is ready, as with the adapter and less attached there it will be a one stop of light loss.

DoF Adaptor problem

I recently purchased a DoF Adaptor which was meant to be used for the shooting of my film, this adaptor creates a shallow deph of field that contributes to achieve a film look while working on video, it also allows to attach 35mm lenses to it, which adds several possibilities in terms of lens' choice to obtain different results. The problem is that my Canon HG20 is not able to focus properly on the Ground Glass of the adaptor. I need to zoom into the GG until it covers the entire frame, and whereas the camera focuses it properly when the zoom is back, it is unable to do it when I zoom in. I will keep on trying different options to focus. If it is not possible, I will need to use the University cameras for the shooting.

Title of the film

The title I chose for my short film is FORTUN3. The reason is that Fortune is what the film is about, you can call it luck, but Fortune also refers to wealth and money, so in a way this word contains 2 important aspects of my film and Poker itself. The number 3 represents the twist that I am giving to my film, which does not rely solely on Poker but also on psichology, a field that is hard to understand. Metaphorically I would like the audience to turn the number around and complete the word, which can only be done if the message is understood.

Initial pitch

1.INTRODUCTION

a)Theme: Fortun3 is a psichological film on Poker. The message that I will try to send to the audience is that "What's happening within us will create what happens outside of us"

b)Synopsis: There will be 3 or 4 people playing Poker at an unknown place for the audience. The story will be focused on 1 player. This player at the beginning thinks that Poker depends on luck and by the end of the film he will realise it depends on him. This realisation will happen because he will be taken away from the game, within his mind, realising here that whatever he changes in his mind will change the game.

c)Aesthetics: I want my film to be a psichological film containing bits of surrealism to represent the moments in which we are within the character's mind.

d)Audience: The target audience would be 18+, I reckon that the key message would not be understood by someone younger than that. I would be sending the film to film festivals and exhibitions.

2.CONTEXT

a)Relation to my previous work: My last short film, "Forever Together" was also dealing with psichological matters. It seems that I am very influenced by my surroundings and that is why I usually go for this kind of themes.

b)Relation to a wider context: Poker is well famous nowadays, maybe this way I get the people to watch the film and get the message of it. I find particularly interesting to make a film on Poker, but not about Poker. There is too much already of cliched films on Poker as I have previously shown in this blog.

3.RESEARCH

At the moment my reasearch is primarily based on Youtube videos and a documentary from which I took the message that my film will contain. Youtube films on Poker are been useful for me in order to create something different, something that will not be "one more film about Poker". The documentary I am talking about is "What the Bleep do we Know"(William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente, 2004, USA)It talks about spirituality and emotions and I found quite interesting to work on that phrase that served me as the message for my short film.

4.PREPRODUCTION

I will be shooting the main scene of the poker table at the studio at Middlesex university, they have black curtains to place behind in order to create that dark background that I want to achieve for the film.

5.METHODOLOGY

a)Techniques and resources: I am going to build a dolly to create smooth camera movements and the important dolly in and out of the character that will take us to another place (his mind).
I will use Casting Call Pro website (www.uk.castingcallpro.com) to get the actors needed as I did last year for my last short film.
I will need to practice with the lighting and dolly in the studio some days before filming to achieve what I want.
I could be using a DoF Adapter (Modo35) with my Canon HG20 and a Rode Videomic for the film, if this is not possible the university cameras and a separated boom mic will be used.
I contacted a 3D animator to create the beginning and ending titles(and anything else required).
I also contacted a sound designer to create for me the sound effects and perhaps the music as well.

b)Schedule: I am planning to have the script written by the end of Christmas so that I have time to find and cast the actors in January. The shooting is planned for February, that would leave me a month for post production issues, editing, creating the soundtrack, adding the 3D material and so on.

Influences 2 and message of the film.

Influences 1

Proposal

Poker short film proposal

Title: TBC

1. PROPOSAL

This short film will be dealing with Poker and how the human mind works under pressure. There it will be 4 to 7 character sitting at a poker table, the background will be black or white, to allow us focusing on the players. The only parts in which the audience would be withdrawn from the table will be when the characters try to guess the personality -and therefore their cards- of the rest, which will be represented by several -funny- shots.

2. INITIAL PLAN

The main scene at the Poker table will be shot at a university’s room, as long I get the permission to do so. The only problem about shooting at the university is that I would like to have people smoking in the film and this is probably not allowed. I am watching quite a lot of Poker videos and tips on Youtube to get as much information as possible. Besides, I am attending to a live Poker tournament so that I learn how the action develops throughout the whole game. The proper use of the camera and lighting will be a must, so I am studying the book Cinematography.

The most challenging aspect of the project would be to build a consistent story that will keep audience entertained and intrigued by the end of the film. Also, I will need to rehearse a few days before shooting in order to get perfect knowledge of camera movements along the room, dolly positions, and lighting situation. The coordination of the crew members should be perfect. I chose this topic because I know about Poker and I think the story has a great creative potential.

I bought a Poker table which will be used for the film and I am planning to build a dolly with rails. The player’s cards will be displayed on the screen, for which I contacted a graphic designer who will create the animations for me. In terms of sound I also contacted a sound designer who will create the music and some sound effects for the film.

I want to finish the script by Christmas so that I can start shooting at the end of January-beginning of February. This will allow me to have at least one extra month for editing or re-shooting in case anything goes wrong.

3. INITIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

Although the inspiration for this film comes mostly from my own experience, as I said I am attending a live Poker tournament in London, held by www.ThePokerTree.com. The book Cinematography by Blain Brown (Focal Press, 2002) is serving me as a very useful reference and it is giving me ideas for different kind of shots that I would like to include in the film. The idea of displaying the player’s cards on screen came from Youtube videos of the most important tournaments around the world. An example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC1N3iIX9MY

Cliches. Things that shouldn't be done.

Things such as betting more than money -your house, watch and so on- must be avoided. I watched a few short films on poker that deal with pretty much the same thing all of them, someone losing all of his money, someone getting killed because he owes money, a lack of story on most of them, no real focus and work on characters and a strong sense of "i've seen this before" on all of them.

Lighting example.

This is an approximation of what I want to achieve with the lighting. Dark Background to allow the audience focusing on the players.

Poker table

This is the table that will be used for the short film. Not sure whether i should buy professional chips or not.

Task. Music example for sound designer.

Ask the sound designer to create a similar track for the film.

Poker tells by Daniel Negreanu

Poker tells by Daniel Negreanu, one of the best Poker players nowadays.

Ten best poker tells. Info about players, situations, behaviour in Poker

The ten best poker tells.

Poker video Youtube. Example of shots

Idea for short film

Poker table short film idea:
5-9 Players on the table.
Black or white background.
Only the table and players lit.
Smoke in the room.
Dolly for moving shots.
Master shot showing all the table and players.

As the game develops, different shots will show what are the players thinking of the rest.
Funny-comedy style shots where possible.
American beauty spoof shot.

My first flash animation.