Latest Project Intro- Music Video

This is just an introductory post to tell you about what my latest project is. So we have just been given a client who is a local band called Lost State of Dance, they are an 80s style pop/electro band, and I actually think they're quite good, which will help in the long run. We have been given three songs (which haven't been released so I can't say much about) to make a music video for. As of yet we do not know which song we have of the three but we have been put into groups and from here me and my group have planned an idea for each of the songs and pitched it. I will do a post for each idea about the idea and my research into the themes and visuals of each one. This was mainly a post to be a start point for my other posts on this module so for now I will sign off this post.

Brush Stroke- Inspirations and Influences

This post is to highlight what I was inspired by when I thought up the narrative and concept of Brush Stroke. Just to highlight the films narrative: Michael is a starving artist who loses his inspiration and has a very hard life. He then rediscovers his inspiration by literally entering paintings, he enters three in total and then creates a masterpiece that takes elements from all three. At the end of the film Michael discovers his best friend (who he loves without telling her) is engaged, he loses his job and is evicted, all in one day. After this Michael goes straight to his painting and finishes it off before he hangs himself to live in his painting. The ending however isn't that simple because we do not know if Michael is dead or if he is in the painting because Michael was unable to prove his power to Shannon and she said that he must have been day dreaming.

My first inspiration for this was Inception, the 2010 Christopher Nolan film which was best known for being somewhat confusing but it was remembered more by audiences because of its ambiguous ending where we are unsure which 'world' the main character is in, basically whether he is dreaming or not. (Photo taken from: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/inception-ending-christopher-nolan-finally-discusses-the-meaning-behind-that-spinning-top-10294480.html)

This was my inspiration because I love the way this film made you doubt what you had been shown before you and then leaves you hanging and to think what you want to. From here I wanted to make something similar but obviously I couldn't just copy the plot and the setting of going into dreams at will so I had to think of  a new twist on this. This is where my second inspiration comes into play.

(Photo taken from: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepursuitofhappyness/)

As you can see this is the Pursuit of Happyness, in this film the main character is really down on his luck and struggling for money, it was this aspect that I wanted to put into my film that the main character is just a normal guy on the outside but behind that he is struggling and just looking for an escape from his harsh reality. However in this film it is a physical escape as he gets a solution by getting an internship, in my film he is just hiding from his problems by escaping into a new world. The third aspect of my film that I got inspiration for came from two places, one from a video game:

(Photo taken from: http://e-aagh.net/2011/11/remembering-oblivion/) 

This is from the video game oblivion, there is a quest where you have to go into a painting to save the artist of it who has gone in but is now trapped in there. This is a clear inspiration of mine as it is someone literally trying to escape their problems by entering a painting, however, it differs from mine as Michael doesn't do it intentionally but rather he discovers the ability by accident and has little control of when it works for him. The second inspiration for the painting worlds was What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams.

(Photo taken from: https://www.yahoo.com/movies/robin-williams-fans-turn-toward-visions-of-him-in-94564567702.html)

In this film he isn't in the painting as a form of escapism but he is actually dead and is inside one of his wife's paintings. This also differs from mine because in this the world it is literally painted, whereas in mine it will look and feel like the real world but we know it isn't due to the set up. However this was still a strong inspiration for may film as this and the Oblivion game gave me the idea of 'What would it be like to be able to go into a painting?'

Brush Stroke- Character- Shannon

This is my inspiration and a description of the protagonist's best friend Shannon, as I mentioned in my other post she is something of an opposite to Michael. Shannon is an attractive, successful bank worker who is essentially a desirable woman for any man. My first inspiration for this character (and actually the face I see when I imagine the character) is Scarlett Johansson, in particular the role she plays in the movie Chef. (Photo taken from: https://www.pinterest.com/jessielo1109/hair/)

This character served as inspiration for me as she is a no nonsense, conscience type character that plays off of the protagonist to guide him somewhat and give an escape from mounting pressures that surround him, in Chef she helps the character cope with the stress of not being able to cook what he wants, in my story Shannon helps Michael with the stress of being bullied at work as well as his mounting money troubles. However, Shannon differs this character because this character isn't overly successful and she isn't someone that the protagonist wants to be in a relationship with.

From the top of my head I couldn't think of an existing character from something else that reflects the professional nature of Shannon so I did some research into this and found that Sandra Bullock's character in the proposal represented what I wanted to portray quite well. (Photo taken from: Amazon.com: The Proposal (Single-Disc Edition): Sandra Bullock ...)

Though I do not feel this film was very good, or that the character was anything special, I do think that she portrays the professional, almost robotic side of Shannon that is quite devoid of creativity and any artistic skill. This is of course the opposite of Michael who is a starving artist. However this character is a lot more cold than Shannon and therefore would not fit Shannon's role because she doesn't have that warmth and honesty that the example from Chef portrayed, but as the character is layered I believe a hybrid of these characters do marry together well.

Shannon will be something of a mix of these two characters and thus I think will be a very believable character that will play off of Michael very well because of that.

Brush Stroke- Character- Michael

This is to show you my protagonist for the script I am writing. My character's name is Michael and he works in an Italian restaurant where everyone except him is Italian, as a result of this he is bullied somewhat, couple this with the fact that he doesn't get paid much and is given all of the dirty work and you see why Michael hates his job and his co-workers. I chose this because my film is about escapism and by giving the protagonist a poor standard of day to day life it highlights his need for an escape (which I will talk about shortly). Moreover it sets up the image of 'poverty' that I want Michael to live in, Michael is struggling for money and has a lot of back rent that he cannot pay, this adds to the job issue to show that Michael has a very hard life at this part of his life and he also has few friends, in fact the only one I have portrayed in this film is Shannon, the polar opposite of Michael, but I will do another one of these posts for her. When writing this character I had a few characters from other films that inspired me somewhat.

One such inspiration was the narrator of Fight Club, this is because of his complete lack of care for his work and his limited social interactions with people, not to mention his lack of friends, also it is of note that I mean the narrator at the beginning rather than the end as anyone who has seen the film will know that he undergoes a large transformation. (photo taken from: zombiesruineverything.com)

Despite Michael's poverty, he is actually a very good artist, landscapes are his preferred type of painting, this serves as Michael's escape from the harsh reality he finds himself in, however as the story progresses this also becomes a physical escape as he enters the world of other people's paintings. In this sense Michael becomes a lot like one of my other inspirations, Will Hunting from Good Will Hunting, this is because this character is a hidden genius, although he is talented at maths and not at art but the premise is similar.

Although I have identified similarities with the two characters, Will Hunting is much more confident and willing to stand up for himself, whereas my character is more likely to let people ride him than stand up for himself. Moreover, Will is younger and more successful with women than Michael. Michael is more of the type that only wants one person but that person is otherwise accounted for. (Photo taken from ctcmr.com)

There is one other character I thought about when I was creating this character and that is Chris Gardner from the Pursuit of Happyness, I looked at this character for inspiration because he too lives in a similar kind of poverty to Michael, although perhaps his is more extreme than that of Michael (Michael at the start of my film anyway).

Of the three, Chris shares the least with Michael in terms of character traits, however I believe that the two react in similar ways to scenarios that befall them due to their shared strife, I therefore thought of this character at times because I know Michael would react similarly. (Photo taken from: www.fanpop.com)