Pre-Production Unit: Research - Easter Eggs

[Spoiler Warning for several films!]

This post explains what an Easter Egg is in media and contains examples. I write this post as I plan to hide many easter eggs in my Major Production film.

First: a definition. Easter eggs are defined on 'The Easter Egg Archive' as:

"In the context of software...an Easter Egg is a hidden feature or novelty that the programmers have put in their software. In general, it is any hidden, entertaining thing that a creator hides in their creation only for their own personal reasons. This can be anything from a hidden list of the developers, to hidden commands, to jokes, to funny animations."

So an Easter egg in media is a small secret that is hidden within the diegesis of the media for the audience to find, much like the idea of children hunting for Easter eggs in the season.

The Easter egg could be a throwback; a reference; an inside joke; pretty much anything. It can also relate to the film by foreshadowing or even in some media’s cases, giving away the ending in the first act.

It was through playing the game 'Halo 3' many years ago that I first found interest in Easter eggs. In the game, you can find many Easter Eggs that are all jokes put in by the developers:

A family of monkeys with the face of one of the game's developers.

Another developer in a more natural scenario.

Through reading more about them in other games, films, and shows I started to love them. I regard Easter eggs now as a part of my style: I like to put references, foreshadows, hints etc in all of my films with Grit being no exception. 

There’s just something about finding a little secret that the director, editor or SFX teams have put in that fascinates me. I think it’s partially how very clever and subtle they can be like Scorsese’s The Departed, which uses X’s to hint when a character is about to die.

The X appears several times throughout the Scorsese film.

Or in 'Cloverfield' hiding 3 stills from old monster movies in the film as well as a hidden message in the end credits that says “Help us” but when reversed says: “It’s still alive”.

It’s also how fun they are to find and that sense of reward when you do. It’s like a nice little joke or inside nod personally from the creators. I feel Easter eggs can also be used to add backstory to characters or reveal aspects about them that aren’t spoken of but can just add that little extra bit of character depth.

Here are a few more examples of Easter eggs across several different media:

In the Tarantino film ‘Reservoir Dogs’ the character, Mr Orange, turns out to be the rat in the group of diamond thieves. However this reveal is hinted several times in the film:

Mr. Orange rats out Mr. White for not tipping the waitress.

In David Fincher’s ‘Seven’ the character,  played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is murdered by Kevin Spacey’s killer and her severed head placed in a box. Fincher hints at this shock ending through the framing of Paltrow’s scenes.

This shot is known as ‘cutting off the head’: a direct reference to her fate in the film.

In the TV show Breaking Bad Season 2 ends with a plane crashing in Albuquerque. This is foreshadowed by taking the title of each episode that features a flash forward to a shot of a pink teddy bear, which is from the crashed plane:

These examples are just a very small few of the plethora of hidden secrets that can be found in media. Below is a link that lists 30 Easter Eggs in films and there will be a separate post titled 'Suggestions and Hints' that lists all of the easter eggs in Grit.

http://www.gamesradar.com/30-clever-movie-easter-eggs/

Having seen the many ways to conceal a secret, I intend to include easter eggs into Grit for two reasons:

1) It represents the reality seeping through into the false world. The guilty side trying to snap the delusional side out of it.
2) It encourages multiple viewings.
3) It allows extra information, such as backstory and character traits/developments, to be included without adding more dialogue or exposition. Thus keeping the script streamlined.

Bibliography:


Wolf, Annette & David. (2015) 'FAQ' In: eeggs.com [online] At: http://www.eeggs.com/faq.html (Accessed on 11.10.15)

Cloverfield. (2008) Directed by: Matt Reeves. [Film Still] USA: Bad Robot Productions.

Halo 3. (2007) Developed by: Bungie. [Game Still] USA: Microsoft Game Studios.

Reservoir Dogs. (1992) Directed by: Quentin Tarantino. [Film Still] USA: Live Entertainment. http://dailycontext.com/nota/10936/5-brilliant-clues-hidden-in-the-background-of-movies.html At: (Accessed on: 11.10.15)

Se7en. (1995) Directed by: David Fincher. [Film Still] USA: New Line Cinema.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Framing the Action

I came across a video on Youtube showing how director George Miller framed action sequences in Mad Max: Fury Road to lead the audience's eyes through the sequences without becoming disorientated.




I find this video very interesting and shall use it as handy guide. I never considered that this was an actual thing that is done in filmmaking and to see how effective yet subtle it can be is certainly going to be added to my folder of ideas and methods.

If I remember to I shall make my own short test version of this to see how effective it is. I'll also make the exact same version without this technique as a comparison.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - My Directing and Writing Style Part 2: Directing

Directing:

1. Silences and Ambience

I have a strong passion and appreciation towards sound design and editing that stemmed from the first time I watched the infamous gun fight in Michael Mann’s Heat. Since then I have always thought considerably about the use of sound in my films and how powerful they can. I learned that no dialogue is just as important and informational as using it and I have since adopted that into my repertoire.

My interest in silence and ambience came from when I first heard the song ‘An Ending’ by Brian Eno: a very relaxing and peaceful piece of music and it soon became my favourite song. This song got me interested in minimalistic music and ambient pieces as well as post-rock, ambience and minimalism artists such as Sigur Ros’ ‘Varoeldur' and 'Ekki Múkk'.

My love for these types of music mixed into my film ideas and incorporated itself into what I’ve taken to calling ‘Silent 5’s’. A silent 5 is self-explanatory in that it’s simply 5 seconds of silence. It’s not restricted to just 5 seconds though: it can be any length of time as long as the number changes respectively. There can be silent 3’s; silent 9’s; silent 20’s, any amount of time. I use this to make writing easier and to read easier.

I also like to use silence to emphasise a scenario or after a major event to make the impact that more immense. I intentionally avoid using soundtracks as much as possible as I believe that if the scene is written and performed good enough, you don’t need music to assist in the impact. I’ve seen it on so many occasions in particular films where a big scene happens and then some forced, sad violin or piano music plays. I feel these sometimes take you out of the moment. It was sad enough already and the music can kill that hard work that’s been achieved.

2. Long Takes

My interest in long takes came about when I was about 14/15, when at the time, I was quite an avid gamer. When playing a game you're never separated from the character you play as unless it's in a cut-scene or for the sake of the story. This means the 'action' is never broken by a cut or edit and can then be considered a very, very long take.

This bled into my envisioning of film ideas I was creating at the time and got me thinking of how I could tell a story with as few breaks or cuts as possible. This then moulded into an interest in using long takes.

This level of interest stayed until I read an article years ago about films that used long takes: of these films mentioned, Alfonso Cuaron's 'Children of Men' stood out. It features many long takes that keep you in the moment and really gives an impact to the story.

As I noticed more and more long takes in films I watched, my interest grew and developed. Now I always try to use a long take when possible as I believe a long take keeps the audience in the film longer. A cut momentarily breaks your immersion as you suddenly readjust to the new shot.

My first attempt at a long take wasn't until 2013 when I made a 'short' (is 39 minutes considered short?) film with a couple of friends during my gap year. This featured a couple of 3-5 minute long takes. However these were unscripted and completely improvised instead of being pre-planned. Before we filmed I said where the conversation should go in general but the content wasn't stated. I don't really consider these 'official' long takes due to the lack of planning but they were my first attempt at them.

My next attempt at a long take wasn't until the Directions unit during my first year at university when I shot a 80-second long take consisting of the protagonist walking down a path, up a set of stairs before the camera rotates around her and finishing with the protagonist walking away whilst the camera stays stationary: following her instead with a pan.

This shot was pre-planned with a storyboard but wasn't rehearsed until the actual filming date. The shot included in the blog was the final attempt: number 3. The first had an error in and the second ended abruptly when the battery ran out. There's still mistakes in this take granted, such as the crew's footsteps; the object briefly visible at the start and the sheer length of the shot. Looking back at this shot I'm glad there was a time restraint as otherwise I would have included the entire shot and it would have made the film too slow despite it's loneliness theme.

Despite that: this shot is very close to my combined style of silence, ambience and long takes: using the natural diegetic sounds to emphasise the emotions and themes I wanted.

The next and most recent time I used a long take was for the trailer for our Studio Production Unit's TV show: What You Sayin' where I was DOP for the trailer. Although it doesn't feature the use of silence it does consist of only 4 shots: each one around 20 seconds long. I thoroughly enjoyed this project as it allowed me to test: A) my ability to direct varying long takes and B) to pre-plan said takes. I feel these shots were successful but not without fault such as the occasional out-of-focus moment. Regardless this was a great learning opportunity for me in terms of long takes.




Children of Men - every shot 45 seconds or longer from Refocused Media on Vimeo.

3. Wide Shots

I don't know what exactly influenced me when it came to liking wide shots: possibly due to my interest in focusing on the emotional and psychological aspects of a character but I like to use them as a wide shot exposes the character to their surroundings and makes them appear smaller; this gives an effect of isolation or feeling vulnerable. Perfect for my thematic style.

There are a couple of minor examples in my first year Directions Unit project 'A Journey Through Loneliness'. There are also examples of varying degree in my gap year film: 'Running Out' which contains a wide shot but also smaller framed shots that still leave lots of space around the protagonist.

I like wide shots also because of how provoking they can be. For example a person stood alone looking across a destroyed city leaves a strong impact and provokes you to react to such a scene. Good examples are in Heat and The Walking Dead

Still from Heat [Mann, 1995]

Still from The Walking Dead [2010]

Same as for my writing style: I feel it's unique enough to stand out but not beg for attention or try too hard to get it.

Both the writing and directing styles have been a slow development over the last 6/7 years and have reached a point where I'm comfortable with them and feel natural to myself and how I work.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - My Directing and Writing Style Part 1: Writing

The purpose of this two-part blog is to try and explain my style of writing and directing along with some examples to help out.

I have already written a similar post in the first year for our directions unit but since then I have developed my style more and have been able to pinpoint it more accurately.

We’ll start with writing:

1. Psychology of the characters

I am hugely interested in exploring the psychology of the characters and to put them in vulnerable situations. I believe it was influenced around the time I was at college as my taste in music and films changed. I used to listen to a lot of modern-rock bands such as Linkin Park; System of a Down and other similar artists but then shifted to more ambient and post-rock music and more emotionally provoking songs and pieces (covered in my Directing Style blog).

Some of my favourite films before college included Con Air and National Treasure but then evolved to films like The Green Mile; Oldboy; La Haine; Gran Torino and The Dark Knight.

It was this shift in music and film taste that altered my mindset, way of thinking and how I wrote ideas. I couldn't possibly mention some of my old ideas prior to college as they are so awful looking back at them now but there is a stark difference in where my focus is at: I went from action-based to character-focussed writing.

Personally I am very introverted and like to keep to myself and be alone a lot of the time, this means that a I do a lot of thinking and it's this thinking that allows me to play a lot of scenarios out in my head; be it scenes, quotes etc. and from there I can get into a similar mindset of a particular character. This enables me to think how the character would or to force the character's mindset into that scenario to see how they could behave or cope.

Making a character vulnerable is another aspect of writing I like to do. Similar to the psychology area, vulnerability allows the character to become relatable. I strive for realism in my films and a lot of characters in today's films are almost invincible and appear superhuman. I prefer to show my characters as normal people: like us. This gives them a real presence and to me makes them more likeable and respectable.

2. Emotional Scenes

My interested for this first became apparent when my taste in music changed; ambient music hit a note in me that I hadn't really looked at before. The music would either sound emotional, sad, or would fit in with a very powerful scene. It was this type of music that made me explore emotions more along with all the thinking time I had.

This plays hand-in-hand with the psychology and making a character feel vulnerable so I won't discuss much about this as I feel they are quite the same, but what I will mention is that when it comes to emotion, my writing does extend beyond of just the character.

Although this could be argued as more a directing style I do like to use the world the characters are in help provoke emotions in characters. Predominantly the use of silence (which will be covered in the Directing Style post).

Provoking emotions from the audience allows me to make them feel the same as the character does: thus making the relationship tighter and the audience to feel more engaged and involved in the film.

3. Unpredictable scenarios/endings/unconventional scenes

Again with the shift from secondary school to college and from action to character based stories, my view of tropes and conventions changed. I developed a dislike towards cliches and conventional scenarios such as Deus Ex Machina: which was first introduced in Greek plays as "an actor playing one of the Greek gods who decides at the last minute in the story to descend from on high to save the hero from a trap he couldn't otherwise escape from." [Sauber, 2006: 122].

To me: a scenario where the hero is saved implies that in a real world or even a slightly alternative one, they would die in that situation. Luck in a film is too convenient and to me cheapens the whole plausibility of the scenario, and even potentially the film.

My desire to keep things realistic almost automatically means I deviate from certain conventions such as a happy ending or sometimes closed ones: I like to sometimes leave endings open enough so that the audience can attempt to work out what they've seen; question what they've seen or even create their own ending based of how they reacted to the film or the characters.

This doesn't translate to every idea I write: I aim more to avoid conventions that I do towards getting an ambiguous ending.

Other types of unconventional scenes I like to put in include normal life events such as a couple of characters sat together having a random conversation. I like to include these 'dead scenes' because they can help add background to a character; to show another side to them or to show a relationship between two or more characters. Scenes like these can be considered 'dead' as they generally provide no new information or progress to the plot or the goals of the characters and can tend to slow the pace down. However I believe that if used well; these 'dead scenes' can in fact give you new insight into motives, personality or just seeing a piece of their normal life. This style came about because of my second year at college: it was a 5-day week and every break and lunchtime myself and around 6-10 friends would gather in one particular spot. It was during these that some of the funniest and best moments of my time at college happened and as my style of writing was evolving these moments began to bleed through and influence it. I began to think of what characters' down time would consist of and how it would: based on my down time with friends.

Examples can be found in Quentin Tarantino films like Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Inglourious Basterds (2009) however these are just examples from a filmmaker who has a similarity with myself and not an influence.

Above: Excerpts from Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)

4. Style of language

A style I recently picked up is writing in a combination of a script and a book.

This immediately looks like a big no-no but I feel that the formality of a script is sometimes too vague. A book is very descriptive and builds the world for you to read the story in; I've taken this element and added it on top of the script style. I don't remove the original format of the script but instead describe in more detail certain locations, people or scenes. I feel this gives the script more life.

However, from an actor's perspective they probably won't read all of that, instead just focussing on their lines but I feel it's there for screen direction: for myself (as the person who will be directing the script) like a set of instructions but it's also there for departments also working on the visual side of the film: cinematographer, lighting, costume and sometimes sound too.



5. As aware as the characters

The last of my writing styles is that I ensure that the audience only knows as much as the protagonist does. I do this to create a level playing field between the audience and the film.

If the character doesn’t know or isn’t aware of a certain thing, then we don’t know about it either. This, to me, keeps things realistic and removes the constant understanding that we’re just watching a film. Removing that element of the story means we are closer to the protagonist; we are in the exact same situation as they are and can relate to them easier. This also helps prevent the audience predicting outcomes of scenes, the ending or even being left frustrated or guilty by knowing something the character doesn't.
I'm happy with my writing style: I feel it's fresh enough that it provides a powerful and engaging story to draw people into it but doesn't alienate them to the point of the writing looking as though it's trying too hard to be different.




Bibliography:

Sauber, Howard. (2006) The Power of Film USA: Michael Wiese Productions.

Reservoir Dogs Script, [Online] http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Reservoir-Dogs.html (Accessed on 8.10.15)

Pre-Production Unit: Research - Creating The Title

The name Grit came about for several reasons:

Firstly I wanted a one-word title as, to me, these are the easiest to remember and roll off the tongue really well. I wanted a single word that could tell you about the film but also give it some gravitas too; it needed to be a powerful sounding word. The fact it ends with a ‘T’ sound helps with the emphasis of the word.

Secondly I like thematically, emotionally and psychologically dark, powerful and gritty films. Films that don’t gloss themselves over with anything too fancy that would be regarded as unrealistic such as the majority of 80’s and 90’s action films. I like my films to be human and so Grit fitted that aspect.

When I chose the word Grit I did so because it satisfied the first two reasons but also had some meaning behind it: Grit is used to toughen up an icy road and there’s the phrase ‘grit your teeth’ with also means to toughen up and to get through a difficult situation. Which sums the film up in Sean’s case: he has to grit his teeth to get through the contracts. The film's themes of drugs and crime can also regarded as 'gritty' 

The title did fit the original version of Grit a far lot better than it does now as those original characters had a far worse scenario than Sean does. But I really liked the word and wanted to keep it even if it did lose some of its relevance in the redevelopment of the film because of its simplicity and impact.

I still believe the title has power and when comparing it to the finished film, I think it will still have a fitting purpose.

Pre-Production Unit: Research - First Ideas Part 4: Grit Reborn

With my criteria set I needed to still come up with an idea that would fit these requirements.

I stuck with the drugs and crime route but this time thought of looking at the mental repercussions of doing that job.

This would then give the subconscious character a purpose: they can be a visual representation of the protagonists' emotions.

I began my messy brainstorming again noting anything down:

I thought of trust becoming a major part of the story to give it a psychological purpose. I thought of a tagline "Who can you trust?" which would feature on the poster and be posed to the audience as well as the protagonist. The problem I still had was the strong focus on the plot, for a film that's going to be around 30 minutes, a plot like the one described in the note above combined with a gradual psychological breakdown would just be far too big to fit into that short of a time. 

I was being too ambitious and needed to tone the story down to something more manageable.

I felt as though I was extremely close to a good idea; I just needed to pinpoint it down further. It was then that I suggested multiple characters and making it about them rather than an overall goal or story.

The ending is different to the final version but the plot is the same albeit with a couple of tweaks.

I was very happy with this new approach: I had the psychological aspects I was after along with a rather brain teasing story that would require thinking and possibly several re-viewings.

The ending changed based on my doubt towards the ending proposed above. I liked it for the ambiguity but I felt the 'twist' was a little too predictable and cheap. I decided to leave the ending for now and focus on tightening the story up, hoping that this would naturally give me an ending eventually. Instead, one day, my mum suggested the idea that the protagonist kills himself. She was aware of the plot and that all the characters were one person so she thought of Sean shooting Vision but it then cuts and shows only Vision lying on the floor dead. After playing the idea through I found that this idea worked very well with the film. Vision suddenly dying and then being the only character left in the room would create a conclusion but also enough ambiguity to make the audience think and actively work out what they have seen.

I altered it a little by going from a hard cut to instead having the camera tilt up after Sean shoots Vision: alloying a subtle edit on a single frame when the camera is pointed upwards to set up the next shot with Vision lying alone on the floor.

I'm glad my mum made this suggestion as I was struggling to find a way to end the film with a good combination of satisfaction and ambiguity. I honestly never came up with an idea similar to this!

Pre-Production Unit: Research - First Ideas Part 3: A Blank Slate

I had several problems with this ‘guy likes a girl he lives with’ idea:

- It seemed too sparse of ideas or areas this could lead to.

- It’s set in one location: the house.

- Hardly any character interaction.

These to me were issues and I wanted the opposite of these: several locations; multiple characters and a good deal of content and scenarios happening to keep interest sustained.

I comprised a list of aspects I wanted to have in my major project to help me form an idea around these:

Grit

My planning stage can be messy and unorganised: generally consisting of me typing anything that comes into my head down. I also tend to write these in the 3rd person as if I were talking to a second version of myself like a clone as I find this the easiest way to communicate my ideas to myself.

With these established I played around with combining the two ideas I currently had. I really wanted to keep things such as the subconscious character and the text-on-screen aspects as I felt these would be best features to emphasise the psychological problems the characters encounter.

My biggest problem with trying to combine all these ideas was to have a strong and cohesive story to wrap around it all. Not some half-arsed plot but what I would call a ‘Lex Film’: multiple layers; symbols; suggestions and people we actually care about. I use the term 'Lex Film' because it must contain the following:

- A strong storyline with no errors or inconsistencies.
- An strong use of silence, lack of dialogue and cinematography to provoke specific emotions and thoughts related to the particular scene or one of the themes of the film.
- A focus on the psychology of the character(s).
- My shooting style (explained in separate post).

These are my styles and signatures of writing and directing when once all together in an idea then becomes a film I would gladly make and be proud of. (A full and detailed write-up about my directing and writing style is in a separate post called ‘My Directing and Writing Style).

At this point in time, I had none of the main criteria. My motto and philosophy when it comes to creating a film be it the writing or directing is:

 “A good film makes you watch; a great film makes you care.” 

I stick with this quote whenever I develop an idea, and at this stage I didn’t feel that was the case for the reasons at the top. This meant I needed to come up with something else that did contain the aspects I wanted.