Treatment

Driver

Our film is a dark thriller that builds tension through suspense and anticipation. We establish this with our camera work indulging in over dramatic shots including ECUs, CUs, LAs and tracking shots. Most of our movie will be filmed in this way so the concentration is on the characters and their movements whether it’s a raised eyebrow or slight hand movement to insinuate something.

Our film will have a slow pace to begin with and a disturbance of equilibrium early on to engross the viewer right away. The film plays around this disruption and makes the audience feel uncomfortable as they anticipate what is likely to happen. The tension then builds slowly to reach the climax only to leave the audience in suspense as they wait to find out what has happened.

Andy is a displeased, nightshift car park attendant who takes out his dissatisfaction through playing golf with pedestrians on the street below. The only thing is they don’t know they’re playing. One night in particular sets off Andy’s fuse as he meets Vinnie during work. They say opposites attract but is it always a good thing? Driver is a psychological thriller that puts you on both sides of the gun leaving you feeling empathetic for the character of your moral preference.

Driver look

This is a shot from american psycho. My idea of having the main character as someone that isn't all there in the head and actually enjoys what he is going to do. High definition in the smile and generally facial expressions will be key in establishing a character.

From the same film again, i really like this shot as the fiction has no idea that he is there yet it is so blatant to the viewer which gives a sense of uneasiness. 

This is a shot from Se7en which says to me that "no-one can help you". As our film will be shot on the top of a car park, i thought this would be relevant to the kind of shot we want to portray

Different types of shots make the film more interesting and especially in shots like this where it makes that audience feel threatened.

This is From The Machurian Candidate. I like that you are so close to the person threatening you and he's not trying to hide his face but the way it has been shot makes you question who it is. It also gives a sense of mystery to the character and even if he isn't important, it adds that little bit to the film.

Driver

I have decided to be the producer for our new brief in moving image. I want to give this a try as i want to know what what it feels like to be responsible for a group of workers and see if i am capable. I see my role as someone who keeps everyone in line and makes sure everyone is putting out the work they need to be to create a finished product. In terms of the film itself, i hold myself responsible for where it is going to go in terms of advertising, presenting the film (competitions, cinema?) or whether it will just be used for a portfolio if i decide to continue my studies in moving image.

Rendering problems

A massive problem to the timing of my work is the rendering of ym project. Without anticipation, my project is going to take at least 6 hours to render the frames alone. This isn't taking into consideration how long it will take to render through premier. This doesn't help me with things such as analysing my work after it is complete. Other problems i had with rendering were some of the animations such as the doors. Once i had looked through my animation, for some reason the doors wouldn't open even though the key frames were in the right place. I reset the morpher and repeated the sequence but still there was no animation. Due to my time frame i was forced to leave it how it is. This may hinder the full finish of my animation.

Visual and Conceptual Influences

Initially my superhero was always going to be a simple man who had a vengeance. I noticed that there isn’t any mystery about the character if he is going to be like that. I then gave him the power of telekinesis. The primary weapon still exists as blades but he can therefore use his telekinesis to throw objects and his knives. I liked the idea of a superhero not hiding his identity like “the Punisher”. This gives the audience a question of how is he a superhero and therefore makes him more mysterious. To show the telekinesis I tried to give him a sense of aura that he was controlling. Costume was vital in making him the character that he is. Sketching in a pad is limiting to variable colours and textures so I made the decision to draw a standard image, scan it into Illustrator and draw over the lines. This gave me freedom to play about with different colours as much as I wanted until I found something that suited. I really liked the way it looked on the computer as it gave it a more comic feel and really brought out the lines. Personality wise I had the idea in my head that he would be a vigilante that works alone. This let the weapons follow and his facial expressions easier to draw out.

All of this links to my building. As he looks like a man, I wanted to put across that he likes to live as a man with strange aspects. The building as a structure is very standard looking. For example the brick walls, marble floor, tables, chairs and televisions. The other aspect in the scene is the obscurity of it. This includes the dome glass roof, weapons wall, big open spaces and tall galleries. To directly link my building with my character, I used the animation to show his telekinesis with the doors and stairs. This also played on the environment. I made it look like the building was in space. Every superhero has a vehicle so I created a car that he could use to make fly down to earth from space. The character is meant to be a “bad ass” but he does care about what is going on in the world, therefore I thought it was appropriate for him to have multiple large TV screens with the news on and multiple computer screens in the office. The overall look of the place was established after seeing the lairs of “Smallville” and “Thor” which indicate large open spaces and rich materials. I tried to get this across with the trophies, pillars and large glass tables. Linking with the mystery on the character, I set the lighting so is had a very narrow distance but strong shadows to give highlight certain objects.

Overall I thought my project went well and linked nicely between my concepts drawings and building.

Concept class 2

Our second class was to help us draw our character in movement. First we drew the mannequin as it stood to try and capure the movement that way. The mannequin was moved to try and give a 3-D element. I started to try and turn the mannequin into a body. 

Following this I created a person that looked like it was running and holding someone based on the mannequins position. I've learnt that drawing from a mannequin in different positions can really help me elaborate my character and further my drawing skills.

We were then asked to use the mannequin and the element of movement to create a superpower for it. The first pose automatically made me think of a strong man pose so i tried to exaggerate the muscles. The second image i gave shading a shot to see if it would bring the shape out and make it look a little less stiff. I also created a simple little badge based on his power.

My character 1st draft

I wanted to create a Vigilante. This is someone that fights for what they believe in but does in their own way. This guys is a bit of a bad ass. I chose to make him look like a cowboy as back in those days, the law wasn't really an issue to people then. Therefore I want that to come across with my character. If you notice he doesn't have a gun and you can't see any weapon on him. There is always a sense of mystery about a character that draws the audience in more. This is his "alter ego" costume so to speak. Although this is how he always dresses. When he has to physically fight, his jacket comes off and his character is transformed into someone that is fast and isn't afraid to fight. I thought it would be a good idea for his to use blades as his weapon of choice because they are easily concealed and there is a lot of room for the imagination to take over. I now need to do another drawing of him without his jacket on in a stance that could represent how he fights.