HEATHER LOUIS FILMS
PRODUCTION FOLDER
CONTENT
Coming up with the idea behind ‘Wraith’ stemmed from my own personal feelings towards memories. For me, even the most mundane memories are very important in painting a picture of who I am. I also feel that memories are fragile and it becomes increasingly hard to recall details over time. This then led me to start thinking about the act of preserving memories, something many people do in one way or another. Collecting photographs, videos and other keepsakes as reminders of the past are very common acts. I feel these acts reveal the frailty of memories, the need to preserve them and how integral they are to our lives. I want to explore the importance of memories and how far we will go to try to preserve them through this film.
The idea I have developed for ‘Wraith’, centres around a man whose life’s purpose is to retrace the moments of his past by obsessively tracking down locations of vivid memories.
The character obsessively collects maps to try and locate the places in all of his childhood photographs. This character believes the only thing that will make him truly happy is reliving moments from the past when we was happier. He ultimately faces the reality of the futility of trying to physically relive his past memories and realises they can only exist in the mind.
The development from idea conception to now has shaped the concept of my project greatly. At idea conception, I had a basic theme of memory, which I wanted to explore through the medium of film, yet I did not have any valuable questions to answer through this film. It is when I began to question my own feelings towards my personal memories that I began to develop an interesting concept for the project of whether it is possible to emotionally and physically relive memories, or do these memories purely exist in our minds.
To further develop my contextual understanding of what is already out there, I have looked into films which deal with similar themes. Firstly I looked into ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, directed by Michel Gondry. This film also explores the concept of memory and creates a surreal experience inside the mind of the main character played by Jim Carrey. I find this film very valuable to my production development as it uses a surreal style to tell a surreal story. I found Gondry’s use of fragmentation of scenes very interesting, and feel that this depicts how it feels when you begin to forget fragments of the past. I was also able to empathise with the fusion of memories, which can sometimes happen through dreams. It gave me a sense of not being able to tell what was real and what was not.
'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' (2004)
Another film I feel is contextually similar to my idea is ‘Caterwaul’. This indie film directed by Ian Samuels tells the story of the loneliness of an ageing fisherman. However, the film “tells” the story using no dialogue. This is an aspect which instantly drew me in to the film. I feel that when films depict characters who are lonely, the silence is what makes a character’s loneliness deeper and they feel very much like real people. As my film depicts a similar character who also finds himself isolated, I plan for there to be no dialogue, in order to reinforce the lack of other characters in the film. I believe this enables the audience to focus on the work I have put into my character much more closely.
'Caterwaul' (2012)
STYLISTICS
As someone who has a great interest in visual creativity, the look and feel of ‘Wraith’ is very important in reinforcing the vision I have for this film. As the film will have very little dialogue, I believe that it is even more important that the audio and visual aspects of the film are strong in order to maintain an audiences interest. In order to develop a strong style for the film, I have taken inspiration from a number of artists. These artists range from big budget directors such as Derek Cianfrance and lesser-known independent filmmakers such as Emily Kai Bock. As the film will be set both in a run down apartment and outdoors in cold and dim environments, I want the film to have a somewhat gritty vibe to the visuals. In order to achieve this, looking at other artists I am currently inspired by which use a similar visual style, have helped me develop the techniques I will take through to all stages of production. One consistent aspect I found which ran through all of the artists’ work I was inspired by, was that they all shoot on film stock. Shooting on film enables there to be a “dirty” feel to the footage, as the grain may sometimes have pieces of dust over it. I feel that the texture of film adds an interesting depth to their images.
"Haerts - Wings" music video by Emily Kai Bock
"Clapping for the Wrong Reasons" by Hiro Murai
To recreate this visual aesthetic digitally, I used a 16MM film stock overlay, which I blended onto my footage. Although it does not look as authentic as real film stock, I believe that it does provide the interesting gritty texture that I was looking for.
16MM FILM OVERLAY WITHOUT OVERLAY
I also feel that using this editing technique will also contribute to the themes and value of the film. When thinking of memories, old photographs are essential artefacts in helping you to remember a time or place. By adding a film grain to this study of memory, perhaps it could also be seen as a document of the past to be revisited in the future, much like old photographs. I believe this technique will give more context and depth into the premise of this film.
In terms of directing techniques, I have been inspired heavily by Derek Cianfrance’s style of observing his actors. His films tend to include a lot of improvised scenes which would not of been included had he not been observing them with cameras constantly. Cianfrance talks of shooting silent takes between the actors, and believes that these were the takes that had the most truth and secrets within them. This observation and films with no dialogue such as ‘Caterwaul’, have also inspired me to tell my story using no dialogue. I hope for this stylistic choice to introduce an element of mystery between my character and the audience.
"We'd do some silent takes between the actors and that's where it felt it had the most truth, the most secrets in them."
- Derek Cianfrance
IMPACT
Throughout planning this project, I have been reminded of how exciting it is to be embarking on something new. As this will be the debut of my filmmaking career, I want my film to make an impact in the media environment around me and for my voice to be heard. Although I may not have as much experience as other media practitioners established around me, I do intend to make myself known as a filmmaker who has something to say about the world and human beings.
Entering my film into film festivals will be a starting point in my distribution. There are also many local film events, which enable local filmmakers to showcase their work and make connections in the local film scene. This will be a great opportunity to get my work seen and to also see which projects people around me are producing. Although local film festivals and events will be a good starting point in distribution of the project, I do not want to limit myself. I believe that I have the potential to create something a much wider audience will be interested in. Taking opportunities that are not limited to the UK is something I am excited to undertake. I believe this will be the first project I have produced which will be executed to a high enough standard for festival release and therefore would like to enter as many festivals as I am able to.
Some of the festivals I have been looking into are:
I have found that taking note of the film festivals that are available to enter, has made me more aware of the specific requirements you need to provide in order to enter. As well as strict requirements on your films length and genre, there are entry fees ranging from £10 - £60. As I do not want to limit myself to film festivals with no entry fee, I will have to include costs of entry fees into the distribution budget. This way I will be able to submit my film to more prestigious film festivals and will thus likely have a better chance at finding some exposure with this project.
I believe that the more consideration I take with the distribution stage of production, the more successful my film will be in terms of gaining exposure outside of my university and making an impact in the current media environment. I want to look into how I can reach out to people beyond my university and start to broaden my professional profile as a filmmaker. One way of gaining exposure would be through journalism. I think that the press would want to write about this film, as I believe the film makes interesting observations about the way we as humans think about our past. I question why we may sometimes romanticise our past and how we may tend to overlook the bad parts of our past. I believe that others will find an interest in this premise, as it challenges something we may not consciously think about.
LOGISTICS
To make sure that I will be able to produce this film, I have looked into how much it will realistically cost by conducting research into my expenses. To do this, I have researched industry-standard costs for equipment, cast and crew as well as other expenses such as travelling. This is to make sure that I understand what other filmmakers typically spend on a film production, as well as making sure my project is viable.
Budget
Below I have collated cost information taken from the Coventry University Media Production Rate Card to collate a breakdown of what each piece of equipment or crew will cost.
Cast & Crew:
Camera Operator - £468
DoP (Cinematographer) - £674
Sound Mixer - £469
Actor - £400
Boom Operator - £377
Editor - £674
Sound Editor - £674
Equipment Hire:
Canon 5D MKII inc 24-105mm f4 - £75
Sennheiser ME66 Rifle Mic - £15
DV Pro Location Mixer - £20
Headphones - £5
Boom Pole - £4
Cables - £4
Shoulder Mount - £10
Other:
Catering - £50
Travel - £100
Distribution (Festival Entry Fees) - £100
Total = £4336
If I was not a student at University, this is realistically how much my production would cost to make. However, having access to a wide range of equipment and colleagues at University enables me to cut the cost of my production down considerably. As I will already have access to equipment and crew, my budget will be:
Actor - £400
Catering - £50
Travel - £100
Distribution (Festival Entry Fees) - £100
Total = £650
This is a much more practical budget to work with, as I would not have been able to realistically fund a £4000+ production. To fund the remaining £650 cost of the production, I plan to set up an Indie GoGo page for my film. This page will outline the vision of my film through various artefacts, which will give my audience an idea of the film and can also give people the chance to become a part of this production. Through this page, people will be able to become credited producers of the film by donating money to the project.
Production schedule:
Taking part in a graduates’ final project last year gave me an insight into the importance of planning a production schedule. As I will be the main source of creative direction throughout this project, I believe that working with a schedule and reasonable time limits will help me to keep my production on the right track. My FMP will be the first film I produce which includes actors and will be on a much larger scale than smaller projects I have produced. As this is a much larger production, I have outlined a schedule I plan to follow in order to see this project through successfully.
Late January/Early February: Finish script and begin casting.
Mid-Late February: Auditions and Finalise Cast.
March: Shoot production.
Early April: Begin Post-Production.
Mid-Late April: Finalise Edit.
May onwards: Distribution.
I believe that this schedule gives me a reasonable amount of time to complete each of the stages of production and will give me a solid framework to produce a professional project.
As I am yet to cast the film, I have taken into consideration how to approach a professional actor and have looked into the consent I will need in order to film with a cast. For the safety of myself, the university and the actor, I will need to obtain proof of consent to film with this actor and consent to film in certain locations. Below I have sourced the legal documents I will need to provide.
To ensure that I find experienced actors to take part in auditioning for this role, I have signed up with a professional casting website, ‘Casting Call Pro’. Through this website, I will be able to advertise the role and specifics I am looking for in a potential actor. The website also allows me to search manually for actors available on the website database. Through already browsing the actors available in my area, I have found watching their performance showreels a great convenience. I am able to watch a few of their best performances so that I can get an idea of who would suit the character I am looking for. I plan to continue to use this convenient website to set up auditions for the role in February.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ASFF (2015) Aesthetica Short Film Festival [online] available from <http://www.asff.co.uk/enter/> [20 January 2015]
CineFringe (2015) CineFringe Film Festival [online] available from <http://festival.cinefringe.com/> [20 January 2015]
Coventry University (2015) Media Production Rate Card [online] available from <https://cumoodle.coventry.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/691840/mod_resource/content/1/Media_Production_Rate_Card_201213.pdf> [20 January 2015]
Edinburgh Short Film Festival (2015) ESFF 2015 [online] available from <http://www.edinburghshortfilmfestival.com/> [20 January 2015]
Fluxus Online (2015) Fluxus [online] available from <http://www.fluxusonline.com/2014/> [20 January 2015]
Vimeo (2015) Caterwaul [online] available from <https://vimeo.com/42806579> [20 January 2015]
Vimeo (2015) Insight: Derek Cianfrance [online] available from <https://vimeo.com/88793208> [20 January 2015]