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PSYCHOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES
Written and directed by Steven Knight, Locke is a masterclass in how to create tension, drama and deep characterization with no more than one location (a moving car) and a protagonist that only communicates with other unseen characters via a mobile phone. The cinematography of Locke periodically makes strong use of shallow focus photography that mimics the road weary eyes of a late-night driver. The main body of the films shot design suggests the quietly collapsing psychology of a man who prides himself on being firmly in control using carefully chosen shifts in angle. The minimal set up of Locke has inspired me further to write the screenplay for Cycle, a story that will revolve around a protagonist who is trapped in one location in the early hours of the morning with only his addiction and a repeating call for help that masquerades as a phone conversation for company. This is a film that I am sure I will come back to time and time again for inspiration. Johnathon Glazer’s hypnotic, experimental meditation on human emotional connection features several scenes that take place inside a dark, ominous, shapeless void within the confines of a mundane house. I would like to use a similar stylistic approach to location design for Cycle, entrapping Rob on his sofa in a pitch-black void that will allow the visual focus of the film to remain squarely on his crumbling emotional state. This void represents the cavernous emptiness that lies festering inside Rob's psyche, a cancer of the mind brought about by the need to fuel his drug habit while unwittingly exiling all other aspects of his existence to the endless void of his addiction. I very distinctly remember watching this short film, centred around a white-collar office worker who becomes stuck in an hour long time loop, back in the mid-90s on channel 4. The fate of its protagonist, Myron Castleman, played by Kurtwood Smith, has often occupied my mind since. Directed by Jonathan Heap, 12:01 can be read as a social commentary on the drudgery and repetition of being stuck in the rut of everyday modern life and the futility of the brief connections we make with the people around us. While exploring similar ideas and repeating elements of story structure, 12:01 has a downbeat tone that contrasts sharply with the comedy and positive character growth of Groundhog Day. Myron finds no resolution come the end of the story, learning that he has the power to change everything immediately around him but not the trajectory of the despairing thought process that has held him back from moving forward in his life for a very long time. www.dailyscript.com/scripts/groundhogday.pdf Probably the most well received and revered film to ever feature a story about a person stuck in a time loop, Groundhog Day set in stone the main theme of personal betterment and repeating story structure that defines this type of story as its own genre. With its repeating visual motif of an alarm clock ticking over signifying the start of a day long time loop, the structure of Groundhog Days screenplay repeats several encounters within the same time frame again and again. The films protagonist, weather man Phil Connors, learns to become more attentive and caring towards the people around him and their feelings with each passing encounter. Only when he learns to put others fully before himself and contribute positively to their life’s is he able to break free of the time loop and continue his own life with a renewed vigour. In relation to Cycle, I will employ the same repeating structural elements on a smaller scale, the start of the time loop being signified by the repeating words at the beginning of a phone conversation, the end of the loop coming just as the cocaine starts to take effect. As the story moves forward, while repeating the same conversational elements towards different outcomes, my protagonist will learn to re-evaluate his addiction and the way it controls him while interacting with the one person that can help him move beyond it. http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/picture/upload/Requiem%20For%20A%20Dream%20(2000)(1).pdf Darren Aronofsky’s second feature length follows the addictions of four Coney Island residents through three seasons, the realization of their dreams and the nightmarish downward spiral brought about by their dependency. The cinematography of Requiem for a Dream is very heavily stylized, utilising a dizzying range of bold techniques. Split screen suggests that two physically close characters are very much individuals trapped within themselves in the context of their feelings for one another. In other scenes, very wide-angle fish eye lenses capture close ups that suggest a distortion of the minds ability to focus once drug dependency rears its ugly head. Some of the most visually striking scenes in the film portray the selling and taking of drugs in a repetitive and ritualistic whirl of rapid fire editing and extreme close up montages. I would like to shoot the drug taking scenes in Cycle as similar rapid-fire montages that are in direct opposition in pace to the rest of the film. This will visually communicate, through macro photography, the extreme focus that Rob places on the process of his addiction, while the speed of the editing and exaggerated sound design communicates his heightened and excitable mentality towards snorting cocaine. TITLE: Cycle GENRE: Experimental Drama, Time Loop LOGLINE: A strung-out cocaine addict willingly manipulates his neighbour for money whilst trapped in a time loop that forces him to confront the emotional cycle of his addiction. SYNOPSIS: Cycle is the foreboding and repetitious tale of cocaine addict Rob, ill-fated to repeat the same phone conversation with his entrusting neighbor Amy, a conversation he will never experience the after effects of. As Rob slouches on his sofa, adrift among a void of darkness, his mind is conflicted by the lack of the drug he craves, intoning a silent plea for help through the phone to Amy that only he can hear. Feeling content as he snorts the last of his stash, Rob’s feelings turn doubtful as he closes his eyes. An inexplicable flash of brilliant white light sends Rob back to the start of his conversation with Amy. The realization that something is familiar hits hard as he takes advantage of the suspected time loop to manipulate Amy into unwittingly parting with her money to satisfy his ever-increasing need for more. Feeling self-satisfied, Rob again more snorts the last of his stash. Once again, a flash of brilliant white light sends Rob back to the start of his conversation with Amy, the repetition of which, coupled with the withdrawal effects he is now starting to feel, drive him to increasingly manic behavior that destroys any chance of help that Amy may be able to offer. In deep shock and desperate to satisfy his craving before withdrawal starts, Rob tears himself from the sofa and storms of towards Amy’s flat. For a third time, a flash of brilliant white light sends Rob back to the start of his conversation with Amy and his slouched position on the sofa. Rob, now feeling guilty and ashamed for his previous behavior, reaches out to Amy for help while growing increasingly sick with withdrawal. He sorrowfully stares down at the last of his stash on the table. A fourth flash of brilliant white light sends Rob back to the beginning of their conversation. Rob, pale as a ghost, his whole-body shuddering is resigned to his lonely fate, left abandoned within the dark void. Amy will never arrive to help him and Rob will be doomed to hear her voice repeat the same words again and again never finding any meaningful respite or escape from his cycle of addiction. CHARACTER PROFILES: ROB In his early 30s, Rob is gaunt in stature and sickly in appearance. He is single mindedly focused on the cocaine that he is dependent upon. Rob knows deep down inside that his habit is destroying him but has not consciously taken any steps to help himself until now. AMY The voice of reason on the other end of the phone, Amy is Rob’s neighbor who lives below him. In her mid 20s, Amy is tired but hopeful and entrusting. She hasn’t known Rob for long and is unaware of his drug habit although she suspects something is amiss with him. LOCATION: The film will be shot in the TV studio at the campus on Loxton Road. This will isolate Rob in a void of darkness and loneliness where only him and the cocaine he craves will be visible while representing the singular nature of focus his addiction has thrust his psyche into. AESTHETICS: The film will be lit via Light Steel Blue lighting gels. This will simulate the cold colour palette of moonlight that is both appropriate for the early hours of the morning that the story takes place in and is a visual indication of the desolation that Rob feels from being unable to break away from his habit. The film will be shot digitally using two Canon C100 cameras in two setups at once to fully match the continuity of the actor’s performance during the phone conversations. SCHEDULE: Cycle will be shot over the course of one day on 30/10/17. Final edit will be completed for screening on 07/11/17. |
AuthorMy name is Clay Sandford and I am currently studying an FDA in Film and Media Production at University Centre Weston. I have a keen interest in directing, cinematography and camera operating. ArchivesCategories |