Website to look at~

I was looking at this website when I was writing the inception essay and saw on the right hand corner there were rolls of movies and their pipelines/one liners.

Maybe good for when deciding what ours will be~

http://www.moviequotesandmore.com/inception-quotes.html

Important Trailer

I believe the trailer for Inception is a good example of a great trailer (except for the fact they show you the entire movie ).

The main hook are the unusual scenes aka, the bending city, floating people. The speech taken from the movie tells the audience a summary of the plot, 1. looking at dreams, protagonist wants to go back home, he needs to finish one last job.

If we can take what they've done here and put it into our work I think we will come up with a very good trailer.

Getting a move on

Today we've finally gotten something like a plot and we've delegated researching roles which will all add up to our final goal.

Things are finally getting exciting!

A Quick Summary

Just thought I'd type up a quick summary on where our thoughts are at the moment, after a great chat with Phil, and pre-empting meeting with Alan today.

• A Postmodern Plot
• A postmodernist plot can be described as 'centrifugal', a fragmentation of something once whole. This is in comparison to the more typical 'centripetal' plot, where elements come to together in some kind of satisfactory completion.
• A film such as Double Indemnity (1944) (Review pending...) has a tragic plot during everything slips through the protagonists fingers. Yet is still completes its arc, the strands come together to form a satisfying conclusion, Walter Neff gets his closure and some form of redemption for his crimes.
• A postmodern film such as Blue Velvet (1986) creates a parody of this format. After their terrifying journey through the dregs of the underworld; Jeffrey and Sandy settle down for a happily-ever-after. But this idyllic milieu is portrayed as completely artificial, shallow and without depth. Our two protagonists lose any depth they had throughout the film, becoming shallow 'images' of perfect people. It is suggested that actually the underworld was a more genuine, more meaningful existence than the fake 'American dream'. 
• A Quest of Redemption
• Creating a film with pastiche and postmodernism in mind allows us an extraordinary degree of creativity and knowing use of cliché and stereotype.
• We have discussed our main character as being a detective, the typical anti-hero, a rough-diamond. An icon of film noir. Whether through corruption, a failed investigation or incidence of neglect, our detective goes on a soul-searching journey, looking for closure and redemption.
• However, fragmenting the self through self-reflection and analysis doesn't necessarily lead to a conclusion, infact our character is left, perhaps more corrupt and splintered than he first was, unable to break the role life has given him.
• A wry commentary on the credit crunch, the unfulfilled promise of change within the financial system.
• The Nuts and Bolts
• As Phil pointed out, intellectually we're doing well, with some interesting ideas. We now need to find the wheels to carry our idea, begin outlaying the actual plot that will convey our meaning to the audience.

The Heinz Dilemma

Heinz Dilemma

Scenario 1

A woman was near death from a unique kind of cancer. There is a drug that might save her. The drug costs $4,000 per dosage. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about $2,000. He asked the doctor scientist who discovered the drug for a discount or let him pay later. But the doctor scientist refused.

Should Heinz break into the laboratory to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?

Scenario 2

Heinz broke into the laboratory and stole the drug. The next day, the newspapers reported the break-in and theft. Brown, a police officer and a friend of Heinz remembered seeing Heinz last evening, behaving suspiciously near the laboratory. Later that night, he saw Heinz running away from the laboratory.

Should Brown report what he saw? Why or why not?

Scenario 3

Officer Brown reported what he saw. Heinz was arrested and brought to court. If convicted, he faces up to two years' jail. Heinz was found guilty.

Should the judge sentence Heinz to prison? Why or why not?

Now I'm thinking we may be able to take this and use it for a plot, the woman described could be "The woman on Los Feliz" we could she a picture (framed) of two people when happy then to the present where something has happened to her (this can along with Johnny's idea of having a riot and she gets caught in the middle) and the partner of this woman is poor so in order to save her he has to do some drastic things.

Some notes you may find useful...

I've begun some research into postmodernism in film, and thought you might find these notes useful. We are essentially creating a pastiche, representing parts of the past out of context, with a history/future that represents our purpose.

Postmodern Hollywood

What’s new in film and why it makes us feel so strange.

M. Keith Booker, 2007

United States of America: Praeger Publishers

Opening Notes

Booker begins by establishing the elusive nature of Postmodernism; stating that as a “historical and cultural phenomenom” it often runs somewhat “counter to the dictates of what has come to be regarded as “common sense,”… difficult for the ordinary person to grasp”. But he goes on to stress the importance of understanding, pointing out postmodernism’s “impact on virtually every area of contemporary cultural production”. Being still quite vague in my understanding of postmodernism, I hope to discern its relevance and consequences through this book. The briefing Phil gave on Wednesday piqued my curiosity and I’m keen to get to grips with this, even if it seems like grasping at smoke.

The author’s promise to reference contemporary and popular films is encouraging, and his initial analysis of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) is certainly interesting. He states the importance of understanding that Lynch’s intentions are not to portray reality, but rather “other representations of reality”. Its ambiguous time period, “removed from history”, allows it to exist as more of an “idea than as a reality,” becoming a vehicle for thought and message than true representation. While its inspirations are clearly drawn from the 1950s, the “logic of them film seems specifically meant to undermine the kinds of idealized visions of small-town, nuclear family life”.

Then, Booker goes on to state this as a defining feature of Postmodern art, that “pastiche”, a “cannibalization of all the styles of the past” that undermines past values, portraying them merely as images, “spectacles”. As Phil did, Booker brings up the schizophrenic nature of Postmodernism, that the “loss of individual temporal continuity… contributes to a larger loss of any sense of historical continuity…experience of the pass [becomes] irrelevant”. Its fractal natures leads to the confusion of “ontological levels and boundaries,” a questioning of existence and its logic.

How does Booker’s introduction leave me then? I have slightly better understanding of what postmodernism actually means in terms of noticing it and it applicability. I also begin to perceive the importance of striving to understand and digest it, and the uses the knowledge has. I’m keen to explore its fractious nature, and fully comprehend the use of pastiche and historical in-continuity. It tantalizing and I’m looking forward to exploring it more…

Plot lines I have though about

These are ideas which are not complete however parts of them can be used or even worked upon in the future.

1. Pictures were taken of this mysterious woman that always seems to be seen at the scene of 'a' crime, but no one knows who she is.
Blurred pictures of her in the background of various crime scene investigations (her standing behind yellow tape amongst other civilians which could all be in silhouette except her )
The woman went missing on such and such day, people are now looking for her but they only find people that reassemble her frequently but can never get close enough to talk to her.

2. Based of the real murder in Los Feliz, the couple murder in this piece also had a young child who managed to survive the horrific attack by hiding behind the sofa. The killer left "something" behind/she got a glimpse of his face and since that day she's been looking for who killed her parents.

She became a femme fatal. learned of the henchmen who followed her parents killers and one by one lures them in close enough to trap them and forces them to tell the location of their boss.
The first few are loyal and spill no information so they get killed. She tends to dress up to get in close to each henchmen regarding on their favourite kind of woman, which she has on file after observing them for a few years.

as she goes up the henchmen ladder so does her style of killing, one by gun, the other by poison in the drink, or a poisonous kiss.

she finally finds the where about of the killer but realises she can not just run in and try to assassinate him she wanted him to suffer and to do so she would need to get close to him. He frequented a cafe, so she got a job as a waitress and flirted with him until he began to take her out. Once tricking him into relaxing his guard and allowing himself to be handcuffed she digs a small blade into his side and forces him to remember who he killed on such and such day and where (possibly the same exact day and place of the actual murder).

Once she feels she can finally let go of her pain, she kills him.

3. (This is just a written storyboard for a trailer version)

"There were sightings of a mysterious woman seen with the victims a day before they killed.

          [Polaroids slide onto the screen]

"The only guy to survive said it was something in her eyes. we haven't seen him since." 

 [while the speech above is said, first person view - peeking at her walking down the street ]

{after speech}

* recreated photo of the actual murder appears on screen with the guy they had spoken to*

"Beauty that can stop the sun, and eyes that can melt a man's heart, could she really be"

{While scene above is rolling}

[first person camera follows her into a cafe / hotel (somewhere with seats) as she's about to turn around he /we sit down and promptly put a newspaper in front of him/us.]

[pauses for a bit]

says "Could she really be"

[As he begins lowering the paper we see her bent over the table, staring into his/our eyes and smiles]

end

Personally I like bits of 2 and 2 or even number twos plots with number threes storyboard~

What do you guys think?

The first is a 3D film called "Film Noir".

What I like about this trailer is that what would of been written on screen is voiced by a detective/dated narrator, it creates the right kind of atmosphere.  Also, like "Sin city" they only highlight red.

This second one is called "Double Indemnity" (1944)

If we took abit of the plot of this one she could be a femme fatal, who murdered a couple in thier home and is trying to escape capture by making a man help her flee/get of the hook.

This trailer like the first also did not have much writing, mainly just a narrator.

Third Movie: Brick 2007

If we had a watered down version of this trailer that seems good to me, its about a missing girl (woman) can altar it to be more on a narrative version i.e. we see her from the eyes of another like stalking her, but if he looks away for one second she'd either be mysteriously gone or right in front of his face. But I digress I will make another post with my plot ideas later.

My Number one choice *La Noir*

I personally think we should take on this kind of trailer (could show the bodies of her victims if she's a killer etc) if we just switch some of the scenes with our own I think we could have a great trailer :D

(I completely forgot about this and its right up our alley what a great game)

Or even this one the words would be 'relevant' (with a bit of altering) to the plot ~ I personally like the beginning entrance to the trailer just that starting atmosphere and talk.

So what do you guys think?

Fashion Influence Maps

Fashion and Music Research

The Woman on Los Feliz Research Please excuse the out of place 'Introduction' and 'contents' heading, I have been trying all night to correct them to no avail.

Notes on Film Noir

Here are some of my notes outlining the basics of film noir. I'll begin posting more critcal and topical notes as I continue my research. Hopefully this will be  help to you guys:


Film Noir Notes

Notes from last meeting

The Woman on Los Feliz Notes

And so it begins...

Right, the blog's up and running, awaiting design and name changes.

Meeting notes, ideas, and story suggestions are going to begin to appear, as well and relvant material and research.

We look forward to sharing our development process with you!

-Group One