the subjunctivist

Monday, March 23, 2009

color scheme ideas

i would like to have a muted primary color scheme in my sugarcoat film.

stuff...

i like the way these screens are set up

and this is interesting...the shots are boring but I like the idea

The main thing I learned from my test shoot is that I need WAAAYY MORE sugar. I dumped spoonfuls on my model, and it looked silly. SO I am going to mix up at least 3 bowls of pink sugar and dump them on my model by the bowlful. I have also decided to have my models use sugar as makeup, and they will also have falsie eyelashes that I can get sugar stuck in. The close up shots were by far more interesting than the medium shots. So I would like to focus more on facial features and the texture that the sugar makes. I'm thinking about ending the shots by dumping water on the models to make the makeup and sugar run. The lighting setup was 2 lights, one major rim backlight to make the sugar look extra glittery, and the other light was at a 45 degree angle from my model with the silver umbrella over it. I'll need to change the lighting for the close ups, some of them looked a little bit murky. I'm also considering mixing glitter in with the sugar, just to give it that extra pop. Also, I need some feedback on if I should have only sugar falling on the models or if I should incorporate some more sugary foods. The color scheme for the final piece will be pink, blue, and yellow.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

a more organized breakdown

1. script breakdown

a. number and types of actors-3 women

b.scenes/length-each woman will be in about 1:30 seconds of the movie, making about a 5 minute movie

c. 3 locations-my apartment-kitchen, bathroom. the MCA stage.

d. no stunts, no special effects

e. frilly, lacy bras/underwear. frilly/lacy dancer dresses

f. sugar sugar sugar...plastic gloves

2.number of days to shoot-1 to 2

shot sequence diagram

preproduction/sugar test

characters-3 women, dressed in only lacy frilly bras and underwear, maybe wigs to make them look a bit alike

locations-(my apartment) kitchen, bathroom, stage at MCA

costuming-lacy frilly bras and underwear

script ideas- okay, i'm torn between a few ideas-either I want to have each of the women tell a story of a time a man treated them unfairly, but they would tell the story in kuchar brothers style campy voices. or i don't want them to speak at all. maybe incorporate a voice over later, or maybe let the images do the talking, and have circus music playing. i am leaning toward that one.

shot/scene sequence-

scene 1-the kitchen-
each of the 3 women are filmed seprately, on the floor in the kitchen, sitting against the blue wall
progression of sugar coating. no sugar, just a medium shot of the woman in her frilly bra. the woman will be cropped below the nose, i won't show the top part of their faces. various close ups of the hands in clear plastic gloves pouring sugar on the woman being sugarcoated. shot where the woman's face is in the lower part of the frame, but she is waving her hair around to obstruct her face as the (backlit) sugar falls on her. The women's movements create an arch of action. She starts out in full use of her body, moving and whatnot while being sugarcoated. as the sugarcoating progresses, the women move less and less, until they become puppets for the hands. variety of close up shots on her body to capture the texture and movement of the sugar. one woman will roll in the sugar, like a fruit being sugarcoated. the hands will always be in the screen fussing with the sugar, and finally stuffing the woman's mouth with a hostess snowball and lighting a candle in it. These actions take place for all 3 women and i plan on cross-cutting the shots together

scene 2-the stage
the three women are dressed in glittery, frilly costumes, and they perform a short choreographed dance as glittery sugar falls on them. medium shots from behind the women. spotlit.

scene 3-the bathtub
one woman will be drowned in a bathtub full of blue water (after being sugarcoated) someone will dump sugar from above the bathtub onto the woman being drowned. overhead shot, cut to a medium shot of the side of the bathtub, the hand drowning the woman, and the woman being drowned. close ups on the sugar falling, and the way the sugar looks when it hits the water.

color scheme-muted primarys

pink sugar

sugar test results-the sugar can be dyed with food coloring. i think i'll go with this obnoxious pink. granulated sugar sticks better to wet skin and is more glittery than confectioner's. the confectioner's has a nice floury clumpy texture though. I might use both. but i definitely want to backlight the pink sugar to give it a nice glittery feel as it falls onto the women.