The Call of Adventure: Treatment.

Introduction:

It’s all well and good for Frodo and Sam to take the One Ring to Mordor and throw it in the fires of Mt.Doom, but what about the bar-man at the Prancing Pony in Bree or the local blacksmith of Minas Tirith? What is their story? What’s their perspective on events?

This project isn’t about the heroes who save the day, it’s about the secondary characters who pour they’re drinks and watch from the sidelines.

Aims:

I wish to tell a story from a new perspective and provide a small and limited view of a large and epic fantasy world.

 I also aim to fully take advantage of the visual and audio aspects of the film and use them to explore the themes of a new perspective and a limited view of a larger story.

 It is also important to create deep and well rounded characters, because shallow and pointless characters can really bring down a good story.

Description:

The film will be shot in monochrome and with minimal lighting. Not only will this create a film noir aesthetic but will also to make things simpler, for example I will needed fewer props and the set becomes less important, and this would make setting the film in a fantasy steam-punk world a lot easier.

 I will use atmospheric sound and music, used minimally to focus on the characters and the actions. Sound and music will be used to complement the film and create an atmosphere.

I will also balance the narrative between the storyline of the protagonist and the ‘heroes’, the ‘heroes’ are important but the protagonist is the main focus of the story.

Methods:

I will need to learn to use the camera as this will be the first time I am behind the camera and I wish to have a more hands on approach to the camerawork.

I will experiment with lighting, sound and other aspects of the film in tests. The aim of these will be attempt to use them to create a certain effect.

 I will need to finish the script and make sure it is as good as it can be. I don’t think that the film can be good unless the script is good.

 I will also need to organise actors, crew and location, it will be important to organise these earlier and not leave them to the last minute.

Requirements:

I will require a cannon 5D, since it is the camera I am used to and I find it intuitive and easy to use, and 24 – 70 lens, which a very versatile lens.  I will also need a tripod to get the shots intended.

For sound I need a marantz and microphone, another option is to use the zoom but I will need to learn how to use and experiment with it first.

I will need a rustic looking bar to serve as the location. I do have one in mind, namely the warehouse bar in C103, a nightclub on Union Street. It is very rustic and beaten looking and should be perfect. I am also very familiar with it.

Lastly I will require four actors, two women and two men, including voice actress for the protagonist. I have one person from college in mind for one of the male characters. I feel he perfectly suits the role and should be willing to take part. 

Position your Practice

Identifying your particular or distinctive contribution:

I enjoy turning the established on its head and subverting it somehow in order to provide new and strange perspectives.

I value symbolism, meaning and subtext in a story. I like for there to be a message and for it to mean something.

I am primarily concerned with narrative and characters. I consider myself primarily a story teller.

I enjoy humour, I find it hard to take things seriously and enjoy things that don’t take themselves too seriously.

I also like things to have a bit of darkness to them. If there isn’t any darkness I will quite often be put off. I also find victims and villains more interesting characters then heroes, I find them more compelling and complex characters.

Defining your area of practice:

I like a darker and stranger view on life. I find things more interesting that way. For most of my life I have been a big fan of Tim Burton, ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ is one of a number of films I can’t remember watching for the first time, I have simply always loved it. I love how it’s bright and vivid, darkly strange and so very unique. I think that watching this film at a very young age may have began my love of dark and strangely unique things.

I also consider myself a ‘metal-head’ and I think my love of heavy metal music is another example of my love of a dark and strange view of things. Metal at its best embraces the things that most music would rather ignore. It revels in the dark, the evil and the grossly horrific and accepts the darker emotions like sorrow, anger and hate as well as the lighter ones like love and joy. I love this different approach to things typically considered ‘bad’ and try to apply it to my own practices.

I also revel in what is perhaps best described as ‘Over-Written’ Dialogue. Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino are good examples of this. Kevin Smith is my favourite director and is perhaps my biggest influence in regard to film-making. Not only do I love his charmingly simplistic approach to film, for example the camerawork in ‘Clerks’ is as simple as it can get, but the long monologue-esque speech is the kind of conversations I love to have. I’m honestly not sure which came first, my love for ‘Over-Written’ Dialogue or long in-depth conversations in real life.

I have only in recent years have been introduced to the genius that is Quentin Tarantino and he has quickly become one of my favourite film makers of all time. The dialogue in his films have a great way of engrossing you and bringing you in, and that, for me, is because they are infinitely more interesting that everyday conversations.

The dialogue in the ‘Legacy of Kain’ game series is also another example of characters talking in nothing but long monologues. The dialogue in the cut scenes is beautifully epic and paints a picture with words in a way that inspires me. It also has a strange and dark take on serious and ‘heavy’ themes like fate and free-will, which may also go towards explaining my love of it.

I’m not sure why I respect and value symbolism, narrative and meaning as much as I do. There’s probably something I watched or played as a child that started it but I’m not sure what that is. Two great examples of these things being used perfectly are the works of Alan Moore and the video game Silent Hill 2. The stories that Alan Moore tells, like ‘Watchmen’, ‘V for Vendetta’ and ‘The Killing Joke’, really feel like they matter, because they’re about something more than just entertaining an audience, they’re about ideas of power, political ideologies and sometimes something as simple as trying to stop fighting with enemies before it’s too late.

Another thing I love is meta-humour and pop-culture references. My love of comedy is simple enough to explain, I love it because I don’t like to take things too seriously. To me pop-culture references, when subtle and tastefully done, are a playful wink to the audience and the sign of someone who has a love for what they do. Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino do this and that to me displays that they honestly love films and wish to share that love with their fans.  

An old love of mine is probably to blame for this obsession, and that love is the ‘Monkey Island’ series of adventure games. ‘Monkey Island’ is smart, witty, and silly. It never takes itself seriously and actively pokes fun at itself. I have played these games since childhood and still enjoy them as much as ever.  

TV series like ‘Community’ and ‘Spaced’ are also clearly made for and by fans and are frequently filled with references and meta-humour.

That last thing to mention is a providing a limited View of larger world/story. To me, providing a limited view of something bigger makes it seem epically huge and vast, while providing a full view of it only makes it seem small. For example the horrific monsters of H.P. Lovecraft feel terrifyingly colossal on an almost un-imaginable scale. It makes you feel small and insignificant, providing the feeling inevitable doom that makes Lovecraft’s story so great.

The games in the ‘Myst’ series on the other hand allow you to explore a unique and strangely beautiful world whilst providing a story that is told almost exclusively through journal entries. This makes the story feel epic and larger than just your part in it. It also forces the player to take a more active role in the story-telling, the story is not simply handed to them on a silver platter, they have to work for it and it is that work that makes the player appreciate the story all the more and feel like the game respects their intelligence.

Your plans to sustain your practice:

To sustain my practice I intend to pursue a variety of creative outlets like Films, Books, and Music etc after college in free time. I feel that a loose and free approach is best and will help my creativity best as well as attempting build a career and audience.

Your Plans to ‘Get your work out there’:

One of my intended methods for building a career and audiences is the creation of a YouTube channel, which I feel is both be entertaining as well as prove to be a great resource for creating an audience. I also intend to make use of film festivals and possibly podcasting.