Hitchhikers Inspiration - Bronson

'Bronson' (directed by Nicolas Winding Refn) is a biopic about Charles Arthur "Charlie" Salvador (better known as Charles Bronson and born Michael Gordon "Mickey" Peterson) who is known as 'Britain's most violent prisoner'. The film stars Tom Hardy as Charles Bronson, and displays his time in and out of prison. 

The reason this film is inspiration to me is because it deals with some very serious situations, but manages to make light and comedy out of them. For example, there is a scene where Bronson is sent to a psychiatric unit and the film display's many different mental disabilities that people suffer with, but the film manages to make the viewer laugh but also heavily disturbed at what is happening. 

Nicolas Winding Refn also manages to get the viewer to support Bronson throughout the film, despite the crimes he commits.

The film also inspires me by its use of camera shots. most of the film is set inside a prison, therefore the camera is used in a way to make the viewer feel a sense of claustrophobia and makes them feel strapped, similar to Bronson. This is a similar feel that I want the viewers of my short film to have.

Directors/Inspiration - The Coen Brothers

Joel and Ethan Coen are two directors known for films such as Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Burn After Reading and The Big Lebowski. 

The 'Shot, Reverse Shot' is a method that is used during dialogue where two (or more) camera's are placed opposite each other so the camera gives both views of a conversation. Most films use this as a simple method to record dialogue, but the Coen brothers have their own distinct style of the common shot, reverse shot. This video describes the distinct way that the Coen brothers film dialogue. The Coen brothers film dialogue in an original way by placing the camera inside the space of the conversation so each of the characters get separate shots, whereas most other films place the camera behind one of the actors; for example, like Paul Greengrass who places the camera behind the shoulder of one of the actors on a long lens, so that the viewer feels like their spying. The Coen's and Roger Deakins however, use a wide lens whilst closer to the character to give off a sense of presence to the viewer.

I want to use a similar method in my short film, the Coen's style of the simple shot, reverse shot can be used very effectively in small spaces like a car, which most of my film will be shot in. This type of shot can also be used for a dynamic combination of both drama and comedy. As the video states, Comedy typically uses a long shot, whereas close-ups are reserved for drama, in order to show the face. 

Hitchhikers Inspiration - Burn After Reading

Because most/a large majority of the film will take place in a car, it can be much more difficult to do physical comedy (due to the reduced space). This is why I have used this scene from Joel and Ethan Coen's 'Burn After Reading' as heavy inspiration for the type of comedy I would like to strive for as it manages to master physical comedy while being enclosed into the space of a small car.

This scene from Burn After Reading is one of my favorite scenes from any Coen movie, this is purely because of the acting and the characters (the scene is much better if the viewer has watched the rest of the film, as to see the characters motivations and personalities develop) rather than the script itself. Although their are a few lines in the scene that are funny, most of the comedy is down to the performances of Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. The comedy first starts with the use of props, Brad Pitt arrives on a bicycle while on a bicycle and wearing a safety helmet (these are explained earlier on in the film with the main character being an fitness obsessed idiot) which is funny due to the serious nature of the conversation that the two characters are going to have. The visual comedy is carried on when Brad Pitt enters the car and imitates Malkovich by squinting. The real comedy of the scene is within the inflection of both Brad Pitt and John Malkovich. The way that each of them deliver their lines is what makes the scene funny. This will be very hard to achieve in my short film, which is why I will be using this scene as a frame of reference.

Hitchhikers - Inspiration

Hitchhikers is a Black Comedy inspired by other dark comedy films such as:

In Bruges - Black Comedy
The Lobster - Very Dark Comedy
Shaun of The Dead - Comedy, Action, Zombie
The World's End - Comedy, Action
Hot Fuzz - Comedy, Action, Crime
This is the End - Comedy
Bronson - Comedy, Crime, Biography
Four Lions - Comedy, Crime, Drama
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Comedy

The link that all of these films have is that they all make light of very dark or serious subjects. Four Lions, for example, is a film about a group of terrorists that plan to perform a suicide bombing during the London marathon; despite the very dark and serious nature of the film subject, the movie manages to create a very funny atmosphere with original and entertaining characters that the viewer is somehow able to sympathies with even though they plan to commit a horrible act. Bronson is very similar to this as it gets the viewer to empathize with a violent, psychotic criminal, but also manages to be funny and entertaining.

In Bruges is also a Black Comedy that has two assassins escape to hide in Bruges and tackles subjects like suicide and the murder of a child; whilst also managing to be funny. This is the exact type of comedy I want to achieve.

Hitchhikers is also inspired by films like Hot Fuzz and The Grand Budapest Hotel because of the directors' very distinct style of comedy; Edgar Wright and Wes Anderson are both very good at visual comedy, which can be hard to achieve. This is inspiration to me because I would like a blend of both visual comedy and comedy through dialogue. The difficulty in this is understanding what makes something funny, laughing at something is easy to understand, but understanding why something makes you laugh is extremely difficult as it can be hard to clarify what makes something funny.

Hitchhikers Short Film - Rough Plan

Short Film for media - 5 mins
Very Rough Plan

Horror/Comedy/Dark Comedy
Aiming for a blend of both visual comedy and dialogue comedy; inspired by directors like Wes Anderson and Edgar Wright.

Possible Names:

• Hitchhikers 
• Hitchhikers guide to murdering 

Rough Synopsis:

Two serial killers.
Serial Killer 1: a serial killer who's signature kill is to pick up a hitchhiker, drive them to a remote place and murder's them.
Serial Killer 2: a serial killer who's signature kill is to be a hitchhiker and murder the person who is driving them.
Start with a news broadcast, newspaper article or website... stories about these two serial killers (possibly the news thinks that its only one serial killer) in order to set up the story.
Follow with Serial Killer 2 practicing how he is going to kill his victim, also practicing the one-liners he is going to use [have a short montage of him awkwardly trying to decide on a on-liner and a murder weapon]
Serial Killer 1 picks up Serial Killer 2 with the goal of killing him/her, but both quickly realize that they both have the same goal. 

1 mentions that he is going to kill 2, 2 then replies saying he was going to the same. Both laugh and they start talking. 1 recognizes 2 from the news and proclaims that he is a huge fan of him.
2 then says 1's killer nickname, they both have a laugh and get to talking.
[dialogue humor, they both recall their favorite kills and talk about what they have in common: both exchange emails/business card at the end or something along those lines]

Directors - Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson is a Director of films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom and The Fantastic Mr Fox. Wes Anderson is known for his distinct visual style.

This video describes what is so unique about Wes Anderson as a director. The video emphasizes Anderson's visual themes and style; it also talks about the actors that he uses and how they impact the scenes he films.


Visual Style

The video explains why Wes Anderson's visual style is so recognizable and unique. Anderson explains how he wants his sets to look 2 dimensional or flat because Anderson said that he always wanted to work in the theater. Additionally, Anderson draws similarities with theater by his use of long takes (usually tracking shots) where actors have to perform for a longer of period of time; Anderson likes this method as he feel it gets the best out of his actors as they are challenged by the difficulty of performing for extended periods of time without cuts; Anderson said that he '"likes to see the actors play the scene through".


Wes Anderson typically has the main focus of the scene in the exact middle of the frame, this is another unique method that Anderson uses; usually, the main focus is placed slightly to the left or right of the middle as to match the viewers eye line, but Anderson places the focus in the middle so that the viewer has to concentrate on the middle.

AS Coursework Analysis

Synopsis


The main purpose of our opening sequence was to mainly portray social divides and stereotypes. The two stereotypes we mainly wanted to highlight is people's perception of upper class people vs lower class people; we mainly emphasized this through exaggerating these stereotypes and using them to make it obvious to the viewer. We chose not to use dialogue so that we could try to emphasize these stereotypes based on purely looks and the characters actions alone; because of this, we had to make sure that the characters 'looked the part' so that it would be clear what we were trying to achieve. The characters costumes were inspired by what most people would assume that upper class and lower class citizens would wear . For our typical 'lower class' character, we had him wear very basic and plain (non-designer) clothes; a plain jacket, simple jeans and inexpensive shoes as to not draw too much attention which suits both the story and the character himself. For the typical 'upper class' character, we had him wear a formal jacket along with a shirt and tie and formal boots in order to give off a rich businessman vibe to the viewer; we also had the rich businessman carry a formal bag/briefcase, which we drew a lot of attention to (by using tracking shots on only the bag to make sure that the viewer knew it would be an important aspect of the story) to highlight the businessman vibe we were going for.


Areas of Success


I believe that we succeeded in highlighting every main point we wanted to. The main points we wanted to highlight were the stereotypical look of upper class vs lower class people and the viewers opinion on them, we also wanted to create a sense of mystery surrounding the briefcase by highlighting how important it was from the very beginning of the opening sequence. We also wanted to create a cliffhanger to draw the viewer in and make them want a continuation of the story.

I believe we succeeded in highlighting the stereotypes by the costumes and the actions that the characters made. For example, the lower class character is in very plain and cheap clothes whereas the upper class character is in a formal jacket, shirt, tie, trousers and formal boots; I believe that we succeeded in this area because we made it very clear to the viewer what we were going for.

I believe we also succeeded in making the viewer know that the briefcase was important before the twist was shown. We drew attention to the briefcase by focusing on it during the build up, especially when we used a long tracking shot of the briefcase to highlight its importance.

I also believe we succeeded in creating a sense of mystery at the end of the opening sequence making the viewer want to see more; we did this by leaving the opening sequence on a cliffhanger.


Areas for Improvement


We could have improved the sound of the opening sequence. I feel that the soundtrack ruined the tone of the opening sequence because t felt cheap and didn't really give off the right vibe. I believe that the opening sequence would have been greatly improved if we had used natural sounds or a much more subtle song to give off a much more subtle and eerie vibe.

The opening sequence could have also been a bit longer as the original was only 1:30, whereas it would have been much better if the opening sequence was around the 2:00 mark.

I believe that one of the worst aspects of the opening sequence is definitely the lighting; it is too bright for the type of atmosphere we were going for. I think we should have waited until it was slightly darker as that would have created a much scarier and mysterious feel to the opening sequence.


Audience Feedback


The feedback we received after we had some people watch the opening sequence was rather mixed. Many agreed on aspects that I had established we thought we did well i.e. the costumes and the intriguing story, but they also had complaints about the short length and the lack of any dialogue or proper characters as there is no talking in the opening sequence or proper character development; the only moment that has any character development is where one of the main characters finds a file about them in a strangers bag. Although we wanted to give off a mystery vibe, I do not think we translated or executed the idea very well, which is something that I am looking to improve on in A2