Pre-Production Unit: Research - Certain Shots

There are a few shots I want to achieve in Grit: that are going to be trickier or require more clever thinking than the rest. They will be listed here along with examples and solutions.



1. Through the Car

The first shot with Sean will be shot partially in a single take.

I envisioned the camera to start outside the car; sliding parallel to the side of the car and then entering through the window. The camera would then stay on Sean until Vision enters the car; where it then pans to him entering before moving into the back of the car beside Vision where the rest of the lines are said.

This shot was inspired by the Indonesian film 'The Raid 2' (Edwards, 2014) which features a similar shot but the camera instead, goes through the car and out the rear side window (4:23 - 4:41 in the below video).

My plan to create this shot was to use three camera operators: one would take the camera into the car; the second would be concealed in the footwell of the front passenger seat who would then take over the camera before passing it over the third operator seated in the back left of the car to then catch the rest of the shot.

I knew from the get-go that this shot would be one of the hardest to do in Grit because of the use of three camera operators and the sheer trickiness of passing the camera without too much shake two whole times.




A behind the scenes video shows that The Raid 2 used three camera operators to achieve the shot but creatively concealed one inside a fake seat costume. The third was sat outside the vehicle ready to hold the camera up.



2. The Mirror Shot

I intended to have a shot where Sean would stare at himself since the idea became the new version of Grit, I wanted to have the camera facing the mirror and create the look of a camera never even being there but instead almost seeing this through the character's eyes.

This shot reminded me of a similar one done in Matthiew Kassovitz's French film 'La Haine' (1995):




This shot was achieved by using a body double for the foreground figure and having the actor, Vincent Cassel, facing the camera through a hole in a wall built on set. Cassel and the body double then mimic each other's actions and therefore creating the effect that the camera is simply facing a mirror.

I find these types of shot very clever when done well, to create a scenario where we're suddenly made aware that the camera isn't visible immediately adds a sense of realism to the film: like the film is actually happening in front of us because there is no camera being reflected.

My strategy to achieve this shot was to do two shots: the first being a shot of just the mirror and the tiles around it with a green piece of card placed over the mirror. The second shot would then be of the actor stood in the room where the mirror is going to be and perform the scene. We would then take the shot into post-production, chroma keying the actor's scene over the green card covering the mirror and then flipping it horizontally to get the mirrored shot.



3. Face Shot

This shot will be used for the scene where Sean stumbles over and is briefly exposed to the real world.

I envision this shot to be set with the camera attached to the actor's chest and the camera to be pointing at their face. Some research into this informed me that the shot had a genuine name: Snorricam, and there are numerous examples in film and TV. I was concerned I wouldn't be able to find sufficient examples as I had no idea what to describe it as.

Here are some examples:

In the music video for The Pistolas song: 'Take It With A Kiss'





In Martin Scorsese's film Mean Streets (1973)




I like this shot for how disorientating it is and how we become uncomfortably close to the character. It really creates that feeling of claustrophobia and would work perfectly with the scene in my film because of how Sean suddenly struggles in and out of reality.

These three shots in particular will be the most challenging in the film or require some thinking to achieve the desired shot. I'm confident that they can be done as the solutions seem straightforward enough, all that's needed is some rehearsal prior to the filming.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Grit Suggestions and Hints

This post lists every single hint or suggestion towards the true meaning of the film.



1. Fridge Magnets Spell Out Hints

This hint is straightforward enough: use fridge magnets to spell out certain things in the background as Vision's attempts to pull Sean back into reality.


2. Each Chapter Is A message

I found out about this method through the video game 'Dead Space' [Spoiler Warning] the first letter of each chapter reveals the plot twist at the end of the game:

I found this out a few years ago and have always wanted to utilise this in a film but this would require chapters. I decided to include chapters in Grit partially to be able to use this hint; the other reason being the fact I could use the titles themselves to also be hints (more on that shortly).

I didn't want a lot of chapter titles so I needed a short word that would hint at the ending or the truth about the film. I came up the word UNREAL defined on dictionary.com as:

This would require 6 chapters: in a 30 minute film that's one every 5 minutes: entirely possible.

The titles themselves are also planned to be hints:

U -


N - Nine


R - Rapariga Misteriosa

This translates from to English as 'Mysterious Girl' to go with the scene when Sean follows an unknown woman who met up with one of his contracts.


E -


A - Aiding Me

This is simply an anagram of the word 'Imagined' it fits in with the film as Sean helps Perry with the deal and the subsequent shootout.


L - L

Mention the fact they get messed up too



3. The Reflections Say All

The only character that will have a reflection is Vision: this is to suggest that he is real and the others aren't.

With the updated version of Grit: Sean, Zoe, Perry and Vision are all real people. However as only Vision is physically real in the delusion he will still be the only character with a reflection.


4. The Extras

There will only be 4 extras in Grit for about 8 or so roles, therefore characters in the background in one shot will be played by the same person in a different shot.  This is to suggest at the idea that when we are dreaming, we don't pay attention to the 'decorations' in these dreams. When we dream, based on my experiences, we don't create too much detail for people that are populating the dreams that aren't directly a part of that dream. Therefore by making the 'filler people' the same few faces this may help to suggest towards this or at least provoke questions from the audience.


5. The First Rule...

There are 2 Fight Club references in Grit: the first is a copy of the film in the background and the other is a line said by Perry: "The first rule of drug dealing is you don't talk about drug dealing." This is because of how similar the base plots are between Grit and Fight Club: a character creating a false lifestyle for themselves.


6. None of The Characters Touch Each Other

This is again to hint towards the fact that all the characters are just one person. Because the True Protagonist is being all of these people he cannot physically be one person and touch another. This is to provoke questions also.


7. Only Sean See's Vision.

Although Grit tricks the audience into thinking Vision is Sean's imaginary friend, the fact that only these two can communicate with one another suggests that they are the same person: Vision being the reality side and Sean being the delusional side.


8. Single Frame Splices

These are hints towards the fact that Sean and Vision are the same person. There will be two single frame splices of Vision overlaying a shot of Sean. One of which will be during the mirror scene.


9. Robson or Jensen?

The fact that everyone seems to forget Robson's name and instead call him Jensen is a direct reference towards the drug Respidoral that the True Protagonist is taking. One of the side effects being memory loss. It also hints at the inconsistency of the film and makes us question why they forgot such a thing as someone's name: especially Perry who mentions him as if he's known him for some time.

10. Infinite Ammo

The gunfight exposes this inconsistency the most: Sean and anyone else for that matter ever reloads their gun. This is not a mistake in continuity but instead a hint that what we're seeing isn't as real as we thought it was. Something like not reloading a gun is quite synonymous in actions these days and a lot of people seem to notice this continuity error. By placing it in Grit it helps to provoke questioning on the believability of the world.


11. What Was It Called?

The drugs Perry is selling are going to be called Resps. which is an abbreviation for Respidoral: a drug used to combat psychological disorders and the drug that the True Protagonist will be taking. Respidoral helps the taker to think clearly and

12. Passing Comments

Throughout the film Vision makes two cryptic comments:

This clue is Vision (AKA the side of the TP aware that he's having delusions) suggesting that Sean (AKA the delusional side of the TP) is an addict. This could be a reference to the treatment drugs the TP is using or the fact that the TP is a drug addict: drugs being one of the main causes for Delusional Disorders.

This clue is, in it's simplest form, the delusional side of the TP telling his reality side that he's betraying him. We know that Perry isn't real and therefore is being controlled by Sean AKA the delusional side of the TP. So Sean might as well be saying this himself but is so far into his delusion he has forged a false conversation to make this point. Vision then accuses Sean of saying it: clocking onto the fact that he knows it's Sean saying this really. Sean, obviously delusional, denies it: instead saying that it was Perry.

Confusing I know but a very subtle hint.


13. Time and Date

The time is only showed twice in the film but the time depicted is the exact same: 19:26 and the date is only referred to as "the third". Translate those to letters and you get SZC, rearrange them to spell SCZ and you then have the medical acronym for Schizophrenia.

This hint could be regarded as clutching at straws for being so obscure but it's there for the dedicated hunters. I do like to just hide as many hints into a film as possible, no matter how hard to spot they are.


14. Character's Names

Take the first letter of each character in order that we see them:

Update: Emmet's surname is now Nash.

We get Schizophrenia. 

Pre-Production Unit: Research - The Hidden Backstory

With this new research helping me find the reason for why the events in Grit are happening I now needed to create a backstory for the True Protagonist.

My idea was that True Protagonist lived a normal life: sharing a house with his girlfriend Zoe Olsen. Tragically she died and this set off a case of extreme stress for the TP. He created a false world where Zoe was still alive and he was a contract killer. 

The film was intentionally misinformed on real life aspects sun as how drugs are dealt and what a contract killer does: this is because all of the events are taking place inside the TP's head and therefore are based on solely his knowledge, which, as a normal person, was very little.

The 'Hidden' part of the post title was that the trigger point for the events and his Delusional Disorder (DD) would be hinted at throughout the film. 

Examples I had were:

- The drugs Perry deals are called Respidoral: the drug used to treat DD

- A photograph of Vision and Zoe would be in the background: to hint at who the real person is and that Zoe was also real.

- A programme for the funeral of Zoe on a table.

There was a huge problem with the 'Zoe's dead' idea however: if her death triggered the events and the Grandiose type of DD then what is Sean's AKA the TP's goal in Grit?

He needs to feel like he has worth and/or power to fit with the Grandiose: so how does he accomplish that?

The idea of him being a contract killer worked in the sense that he gets power from it and Zoe's acceptance was in fact him controlling her actions as this is in his head but what is his goal?

I did intentionally make Grit without a goal because this was meant to be a 'day in the life' type of film where what we see is gradually altered and challenged. 

I still feel this idea worked to an extent but the audience would probably struggle to understand.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - More Research

After Mike had read through the script, he made one particular suggestion that stuck in my head: that Sean is a patient.

I knew already that mental illness was the reason behind the story but I hadn't researched much further into it.

After Mike's suggestions I searched online into psychological disorders to see if there was any particular disorder that would fit with what we are seeing aside from Schizophrenia.

I found a page about Psychological Disorders that described a condition called 'Delusional Disorder'. It defines the condition as:

This condition fits in with what Sean is experiencing and is different to Schizophrenia in that it focusses strongly on visual delusions rather than auditory ones. The fact that sufferers can continue to socialise and behave normally also helps with the fact that the characters also act calmly and no suspicion is raised.

Although Delusional Disorder fits better with the film, I can't jump to any conclusions yet until more has been read about the condition.

Further down the page the condition was broken down into different types:

Grandiose fits in with Grit almost perfectly: Sean believes he is a contract killer, to kill someone gives that sense of power that the Grandiose type describes. Perry is a drug dealer and gets his power from making money by selling drugs and Zoe has a sense of worth and identity through her paintings.

With this in mind I felt quite set with using this condition as the reason for the film happening. However I began to think about the 'why' of the film. I don't mean the purpose of Grit but instead why is Sean a contract killer; Perry a dealer and Zoe a painter? Why these roles and why is the True Protagonist suffering from a mental illness?

The website also lists several causes for the condition: one in particular being stress as a trigger. This would be the easiest cause to hint and place inside the film to give the necessary backstory.

I began to think about the possibility of Zoe or Perry being based on someone who was real; someone the True Protagonist knew who perhaps had an accident and ultimately caused a great deal of stress for the TP. What if either Zoe or Perry died? A close friend or relative of the TP's and this was the trigger point.
This would make the film plausible and the character(s) involved more purpose for being in the film. This also gives Grit more emotional context and when deeper into the film would be a surprise and tragic backstory for the audience to find.

With the pieces coming together I looked at how Delusional Disorder is treated, if it can be, and whether it adds anything else to the film. Particularly as a sub-plot is Perry preparing to do a big deal.

I chose a drug from random, Risperdal, and read more to see how this drug helps out the condition. To my surprise, Risperdal is used to help sufferers think clearly: which sounds a lot like what Vision tries to do. I could use Vision as a signal that the True Protagonist has taken some Risperdal and Vision is trying to make him think clearer.

With the majority of drugs though, there are side effects, and I had to see whether these would be an issue if the True Protagonist were to take this drug:

A lot of these side effects are fairly noticeable with the exception of anxiety: which is apparent in the scenes where Sean questions his 'occupation'. I decided to look more into anxiety and came across a website that listed more possible side effects from Risperidone: an ingredient in Respidoral.

Aggressive behaviour; loss of balance control, and memory problems all stood out for me as they already exist within my script:

Agressive Behaviour:

- Sean's solution to the three men blocking his path.
- The extreme ending to Sean and Vision's argument.

Loss of Balance Control:

- Sean, after killing the three men blocking his way, stumbles over for a moment.

Memory Problems:

- Robson's name is changed to Jensen: only Vision notices this. This would work under the assumption that Vision only appears once Risperdal is taken: as the memory problem he notices is a side effect.


Other effects like skin rash or itching can be implemented subtly into the film with Sean scratching his arm every now and then after Vision appears.

I feel like I've gotten lucky in finding this condition as the resulting causes and treatment drugs actually support a lot of the events that happen in the film.

All I would need to do now is A) hide or suggest these in the film and B) Create and hide the trigger for the condition.

These will be looked at in a separate post titled 'The Hidden Backstory'.



Bibliography:


'Mental Health: Delusional Disorder' At: webmd.com http://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/guide/delusional-disorder (Accessed on: 6.10.15)

'Risperdal Side Effects in Detail' At: drugs.com http://www.drugs.com/sfx/risperdal-side-effects.html (Accessed on: 6.10.15)

Pre-Production Unit: Pre-Production - Mike's Read Through & Suggestions

Mike read through the first draft of the script; as my Cinematographer it helps him to understand what the film is going to consist of and the kind of content he is going to be shooting.


This post also contains a list of every suggestion Mike has made towards the script or visual aesthetic of the film. It will be updated regularly.



These are his comments:

1. “First card scene can be cut down a bit.”

2. “I don’t see him as a contract killer but rather a muscle for hire/gangs”

3. “The first kill could potentially start from the actual kill rather than starting shortly before it.”

4. What if Sean is a patient and his doctor is the voice of reason [Vision]? House doctor who comes to see him?

This would be hidden in background.

5. Final scene hides the truth in plain sight: a reflection of vision holding a gun to his head can be seen in a mirror or something.

Suggestions:

1. The further into the film we go and the more it breaks, the less saturation there is in the shots: as we separate from the real.

Pre-Production Unit: Pre-Production - Grit Script 1st Draft

First draft for the script:

I wrote this draft during the summer as I wanted to have something ready for when we came back. 

I'm quite happy with this draft: it's cohesive and, I feel, pretty well written.

However there are problems: as with all first drafts. At 39 pages Grit is looking like quite a long film. Is this going to be practical? Granted there are some long descriptions but there is a significant amount of dialogue.

There are possibly a couple of scenes that could be shortened or even removed; such as the card game on page 12. At 7 pages long, this is quite an elongated scene. I'm reluctant to remove it due to my desire to want to show the characters in 'down time' or non-action moments but I do have to consider the run time and whether this is going to unnecessarily extend my production schedule.

With the prospect of another 4-6 drafts or even more it's good to know what the biggest issues are at this stage so future re-drafts are less difficult to do.

Grit Script First Draft

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Grit Explained

[Spoiler Warning]

This blog is going to reveal a huge spoiler for Grit...

The overall idea/premise/setting of Grit is that none of what we see is real.

The entire film is taking place inside the protagonist’s head. This is because the protagonist suffers from a mental illness.

Sean isn’t the protagonist: Vision is. Vision is the True Protagonist and the only person who is real. He is the person who has imagined everything we have seen and his impression into this fake diegesis is simply his subconscious trying to make him realise the falsehood and to come out of his delusion.

In short: the vision we see is the True Protagonist’s subconscious.

Zoe isn’t real. Perry isn’t real. Everyone aside from Vision is a figment or creation of the TP’s mind.

More detail into the hints, suggestions of this are in a separate post: Grit Easter Eggs

The next question about this reveal is ‘why?’

The Vision represents the TP’s sensible and self-aware side. Occasionally pointing out things that don’t make sense in a bid to break the ‘dream’.

Sean is the side of the TP who is trying to fight back against the confrontations. He’s trying to deny the facts the Vision is saying and is striving to prevent him from ending the ‘dream’.

This is evidenced on several occasions when every time the Vision points out an inconsistency, the film ‘breaks’.

This is why the film ends in the extreme manner it shows: this is Sean attempting to get rid of any suggestions that what he is experiencing is false. He 'shoots' Vision because he believes that his world is real and that Vision is just his imagination. Like how we would try to not think of something unpleasant that we have just seen. In reality or from an outside perspective it is simply the True Protagonist shooting himself. Hence why only Vision is left in the aftermath of the argument. The 'dream' has ended and the final shot is us back in reality. The only outside perspective we get of the True Protagonists' life.

I did some research over the summer into Schizophrenia to see if it fitted with the events that occur in Grit:

The most common type of hallucinations are auditory ones; this, to an extent, fits with the film. If only Vision is real then in theory every other character doesn't have a physical presence. Meaning they are in Vision's head and therefore voices. 

I could say that the visual senses are affected and that the characters do have a presence but I feel this would be too convenient or typical of a film of this genre.

Perry shows a paranoia towards police; mentioning them twice in the film and could be argued as an attribute of delusions with Schizophrenia. This one however is trickier to make plausible. 

This is where my problem with the film lied: making a believable reason for the events shown. 

I left the story as this for the mean time and chose to focus more on the script and getting a first draft done.