This should have probably been posted earlier, but we casted our actor (as you could see)! My older brother, Robert Thomas, agreed to fill the role of our main character, Lionel. We felt that he would be a good fit for the role due to his stoic nature, which is very akin to the desired personality and feel of the main character in our title sequence.
(From the left) Katelyn Wagner, my group member and cinematographer, and Robert, my older brother and actor
Our protagonist, Lionel, is a young man who has become stripped of his memories and emotions from the head trauma that he has supposedly experienced. He is cold and generally unfeeling at the time of the opening as he tries to remember what occurred and what keeps haunting him.
We felt that my brother, whose general disposition is stolid, would fit this role perfectly, as he could achieve this affect within his features without having to focus on it. And since we don’t have A-grade actors at our disposal, we thought “the more similar the character’s personality is to the actor, the better.”
In addition, we casted our own cinematographer and group member, Katelyn Wagner, as the mysterious female figure who haunts Lionel in the opening sequence. She can be seen in the picture above. We do have another female in our group who could play the part, but she’s a bit more vertically challenged than Katelyn (sorry, not sorry Bianca).
Not only was Bianca not as comfortable with portraying this role, but Katelyn’s height was seen as a large positive for the role. Having a tall figure looming behind the main character will most likely have a greater effect on the audience than a shorter figure (again – sorry, not sorry Bianca).
Anyway, we thought that Katelyn was great for the role as well and would act it well. As the director and scriptwriter, it’s was my job to present the motives and personalities of the characters to the actors to help them best embody these fictional characters.
Luckily, we found a motel, Super 8 Motel, to be exact, which seems to best fit the needs of the script. Both the living area and the bathroom seem suitable.
To begin, the area of the room seems to be closer to that of an apartment than a hotel room and the separation between the bedroom and the living area can allow for a distinct separation when Lionel switches area. This was the largest selling point for me. Unlike the hotel rooms, the door can close off the bedroom in the background if we choose to have our character migrate into that room.
These two room are separated by a door, as seen in the first picture
There’s also the point of the components that come in the suite. According the website, this room contains a color TV, cups, a kitchenette area, a microwave, and mini refrigerator. Having these amenities, as well as the props we are bringing, will be useful in making it seem like this is an area that Lionel has resided in for a lengthy period of time, like it’s a place that he is comfortable with and knows well.
There is also the positive of the bathroom, which, from the pictures, seems like it will fit the look that we are hoping for. A white bathroom with dull, bland colors residing within and sufficient space to allow for a little wiggle room when it comes to camera angles and shots we hope to get. Since this is where the most important action will take place, it needed to fit our vision.
As previously stated, the room ended up costing about $120 at the end of the day, which is more than we’d hoped to spend. Our collective budget for a motel room setting was projected to be at most $100. Nonetheless, we are willing to spend what we have to in order to get the setting that we hoped for.
Hopefully this area will live up to our expectations and allow us to make the best opening and get the best shots that we possibly can!
The journey to find and secure our location was a long and arduous one. One that, frankly, I’m glad is over.
Our group member, Bianca, was the primary person in our group to search for the setting of our film. This being said, we all collaborated to find a suitable area for our opening sequence and, being the director and scriptwriter, I also had to have a decent amount of say in what setting we chose as it would have a great effect on the meaning of the film.
Nonetheless, my input wasn’t that vital at the beginning anyway as we began looking for a suitable setting way back in early February, long before the concrete script was actually conceptualized. At that point, we all had the same general idea of what our film was about, which, needless to say, wasn’t much.
We did, however, know that we wanted our opening to take place within a dream sequence. This would mean that the setting would most likely be something from the main character’s, now named Lionel’s, memory. The setting would not only have to reflect this, but it would also have to reflect his mental state and personality. A dilapidated, run down house or motel room was the first idea that we had and tried to run with. In the first few drafts and ideas that I formed, as stated in a previous post, we had planned to have Lionel in a messy living space before hearing dripping and eventually finding himself in a disconcertingly clean bathroom.
These were planned to be taken in two different areas, one run down living area and one very clean house, with a very clean, white bathroom. The latter was easy to attain, with many friends with large homes being kind enough to let us use their house’s bathroom for filming on a designated day. It was the former, the run down house, that began to give us problems.
You see, in Hollywood films, the sets that are made to be shabby and battered, only look shabby and battered. They are designed in a way that purposefully makes the scene look as genuine as possible without the actual risk. Filmmakers have the liberty of creating the ‘sense of a threat or discomfort’ in a set without actually having the issue of there being a real threat or unnecessary discomfort. When your budget is virtually nonexistent, you don’t have that liberty.
To find a set that looks run down enough to pass as dilapidated in the scene, it has to actually be run down.
And never mind the lack of comfort and possible diseases that linger in these settings, the sketchy neighborhoods were what we were really worried about. Being in an area where you could get snatched and never heard from again isn’t the kind of area where shot creativity thrives. One area that Bianca suggested was the Rainbow Motel, which had virtually no lights around it judging from the picture. This wouldn’t be such a problem if we didn’t plan to film at night.
The reviews on this motel provide fairly decent scores and give the little motel some pretty high praise.
And the overall score of the 75 Google reviews were summed up as “Good” by Google
Nonetheless, certain reviews also contained pictures from the inside of one of the motel rooms. This was pretty uncommon among the hotels. Unfortunately, the interior of this establishment didn’t seem like it would suit our film.
Any area that was run down enough to pass in the final product, either didn’t fit the needs of the project or didn’t provide enough comfort for the group.
Subsequently, we decided to change our focus from “run down house, clean bathroom” to “suitable bedroom area that can be traversed and suitable bathroom.” These boundaries seemed more attainable, but still kept the general idea of our opening intact.
Searching for locations was still tough, though. We ran into the problem of expense initially. Any hotel that we tried to find with a nice interior always leaned into the monetary range of $150 – 300 dollars, which we were all not willing to personally pay. However, anything less, hotel or motel wise, resulted in a small room that would not be suitable for filming. As most motels and hotels are generally open concept and each separate room doesn’t contain a door posed problems, as the background that would show up in certain shots would possibly be a bit too dense and busy for the audience.
An example of how rooms merge together in hotel rooms
We also tried to find a bathroom and motel/hotel room together so that we could not only spend the one day filming in the motel, but also because of the ‘open concept’ issue. The initial bathroom area in hotels and motels, often don’t have doors. If this area was shown in the shot, we would either have a problem with continuity or have to put in more effort covering up the fact that this area doesn’t exist in the second area that we’d be shooting in (a different bathroom).
Luckily, we found a motel, Super 8 Motel, to be exact, which seems to be a good mix of what we are looking for. I believe it is the best fit for the needs of the script.
Since this post is quite long as is, I’ll elaborate on the qualifications of the Super 8 Motel in the next post.
Well, remember when I said in a previous post that we didn’t plan to be at the motel past 12:00 midnight? Well, we were. We left the motel closer to 1:00 am than 12:00 am, actually.
Me when I realized that we were in for a long night of filming
I’ll just go ahead and say this: there’s A LOT of problems that I have with the shooting process – the set itself, the filming process and the final product.
Of course, I know it’s not the “final, final” product, but essentially, there’s a lot of stuff I hope to change, you know, the usual with a rough cut.
In terms of the rough cut itself, it’s done! Thanks to the quick work of our editor, Ben Isaacs, we got the clips together.
Overall, all things considered, like the fact that we filmed this all in one day and we have nowhere close to professional equipment to shoot this opening, I’m happy with the product. The story is pretty solid, the thriller effects are fairly apparent and the scares and creepy atmosphere affect the viewer as desired.
That being said, a lot of fundamental parts of the rough cut that we had hoped to be in there are missing and the overall effect that we had hoped for was not fully realized. I know that’s vague, but I’ll go more into detail about this later.
I might as well put out the disclaimer that none of these issues with the projects are aimed at the editor of our rough cut, nor any of my group members. Not the cinematographer/actor or the production designer. If anything, I’m more upset at the director (a.k.a me) for not considering these issues that we encountered.
Anyway, after building up this topic so much, it seems kind of mean to postpone this discussion, but that’s what’s happening. I still have to talk about a few things that I discovered and should have posted before our rough cut. I’ll be getting those out of the way first before going into this discussion, but don’t worry, it’s on its way.
We didn’t form anything concrete for our film shoot today, but the following is how we plan to go about filming today and transportation to the location.
12:00 PM
Robert Thomas (actor), Katelyn Wagner (cinematographer) and I (director/scriptwriter) plan to meet at my residence where Katelyn and I will exchange on the information that we have gathered about the cameras we have been researching.
After this is finished, we will carpool to the Super 8 Motel in Tampa, Florida
2:00 PM
We will check-in to our room at the motel and bring all of the items that pertain to the shoot into the room
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Robert, Katelyn and I will observe the room and any problems that we may foresee. If we believe we will encounter any problems either shooting, we will revise the script or planned process accordingly.
We will also take this time to set up any necessary elements (ex. lighting, props, etc). It will be best have as much completed and prepared as possible so that we are ready to shoot when the last two group members arrive.
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
The last two group members, Ben Isaacs (editor) and Bianca Raby (production designer) should be arriving around this time. At this point, we can begin filming
5:00 PM – APPROX. 10:00 PM
We project to begin and complete filming in the estimated time period. It might take a longer or shorter amount of time, but we do not plan to spend the night and will be leaving sometime the same night.
Hopefully, this general schedule will benefit us and help us to complete the project in the desired time. I don’t plan, nor do I hope, to be at the motel past 12:00 midnight. I’m hoping that we complete everything before then.
Although I’ve never done an update that focuses more on my emotional state than the logistics and specifics of something I’ve been researching or recently completing, I felt that this one was warranted. My group is finally planning to film our first rough cut, on Saturday, March 2, and there’s a lot of preparation that I want to make sure to have in line. Tomorrow is the only day that we’ll be shooting, and it’s rather stressful, so I’m hoping that everything is properly in place before we go to our planned location tomorrow.
Canon T4i – the camera I borrowed to use for filming
First is the technology that stresses me out. I don’t know how to use it. I’ve borrowed a Canon T4i for the shoot, but I only borrowed it recently and have never actually touched an official camera before today, let alone use it. This is a risky move on our part, seeing as we plan to use this camera that we currently don’t know about, and it would seem that using a phone camera would be more of a viable option for our group to utilize.
However, our group came to the consensus that we wanted a rack focus at least once in our opening. A rack focus is the filmmaking technique of changing the focus of the lens during a continuous shot. When a shot “racks” it changes the depth of field from one object in the frame to another (Studio Binder). This cannot be achieved with a normal phone camera, where the focusing aspects are much more automatic than manual. In order to achieve this technique, we need a more advanced camera that can change the focus manually to a desired object. Besides, if the camera is more advanced and official, it may capture a better image than the phone camera.
Second, the location. We secured the location a little while ago, as stated in a previous post. However, all we have to go off of was the photos presented on the website. I’m trying to be optimistic about it, however I have a constant nagging thought that hotels often embellish on the quality of the rooms in their pictures. I’m hoping that this isn’t the same.
I’m worried that these pictures have heavy filters over them
But never mind that. That’s just me stressing about stuff I can no longer control. What I can control is the props and items that my group plans to bring to the set.
Bianca, the production designer, was in charge of garnering the majority of the props. She traveled to multiple stores to get the items that will be placed in the room and the costuming for our character, sleepwear and a robe. I aided in this endeavor as well. I gathered more options for the costuming, different variations of sleepwear, to allow for some choice and revision if needed. As we have yet to actually place our actor in the costume, this worried me and I opted for this plan of action.
I also am bringing a lot of tools for lighting. A motel room is an enclosed area and I’m not sure how many windows the room will contain. Besides, we plan to have a darkened setting and I’m not sure how well our recording devices pick up light in a dark area. As I stated, I don’t know the camera I borrowed very well yet. As a result, I decided to bring a multitude of lighting sources to brighten the room we’ll be filming in.
The two largest light sources are a LED lantern light that shines brighter than it probably should. They both have emit a fluorescent, white light that may be useful depending on the situation. There are also two yard lights that I’m bringing that emit a large, yellow light that might end up also being useful.
This “lantern” consists of LED lights, so it doesn’t get hot and is still very bright
Mostly, I’m just hoping all goes well. It’s a lot to take on the whole filming process in one day. Especially since we won’t be able to go back to reshoot, since this one night at the motel will cost over $100 (I’m quite bitter about that if you cannot tell).
It’s a lot to take on, so I’m just hoping we’re able to complete everything and still maintain a quality and creative project.
Behold the gorgeous piece of art that is our film’s storyboard, brought to you by a group partner and our cinematographer, Katelyn! In order to get a better visual as to the shots that would show up, as designated by the script, a storyboard was in order. A storyboard is a sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a movie or television production. You can get the gist of the shots we plan to use.
The masterpiece
I have offered to redraw this storyboard and any future
storyboards that may be necessary if we choose to alter the film to give a
clearer image of how the film will play out shot by shot. I have a bit more experience
with art, so I will hopefully be able to clear up any misconceptions that may
occur with the current storyboard (if you’re reading this Katelyn, no offense).
However, I want to make it clear that this storyboard and
any ensuing storyboards are originally the work of Katelyn and are created in
direct collaboration with her. I am just acting as her connection between her
brain and the paper, so she can properly and clearly present her thoughts and
ideas.
Either way, a walkthrough of the shots portrayed in the
storyboard would probably be for the best.
The title sequence is planned to begin with an
establishing shot of the Super 8 motel, where we plan to shoot. This will orient
the audience to the setting in which the action will take place.
An aerial shot will follow directly after, the
camera positioned above the character, Lionel. The audience push in, drawing
closer to Lionel’s sleeping figure.
After a few shots of Lionel waking up confused,
he will grab a red cloth off his nightstand before sitting up on the edge of
the bed. A mid shot of him is then planned to occur, a figure in a red dress appearing
suddenly behind him. Her face will be obscured in dark lighting and by Lionel’s
own figure, so the audience will not be able to see her.
After turning around and finding that the girl
behind him is not truly there, Lionel will walk into the bathroom with the
cloth still in hand. A rack focus, in which Lionel is in focus in the
foreground before the sink comes into focus in the foreground, will occur. This
will draw attention to the sink.
As Lionel comes up to the sink, we will get another
aerial shot, seeing a phone lying in the sink, ringing. We will see Lionel confused
before he picks up the phone
During his conversation with the mysterious man,
he is told to get in a now full tub of water. Lionel is planned to sink slowly
into the water, the red cloth still in hand (I know it looks like he doesn’t
have any clothes on in the drawing, but I assure you, he will).
Of course, all of this is subject to change, like the
script, but this is the general plan and how we plan to go about the title sequence
going into it.
I secured the location for our film opening! We plan to film at the Super 8 Motel, which seems suitable for everything that we wish to film! It’s located all the way in Tampa, which is slightly inconvenient, but since it should only be for one day, I don’t think that it will pose too much of a problem.
In order to shoot at this motel, we had to book a room to shoot in. After perusing their possibilities, I landed on the 1 King Bed, Efficiency, Non-Smoking room that they had available. It not only seemed like the biggest room they had, but it also had a lot of amenities that made it seem closer to an apartment room than a motel room.
I’ll go into detail in a later post about why I found this to be a vital aspect.
I was tasked with book the room and securing the location, which is a very new concept to me. I’ve never booked a hotel/motel room before, for fairly obvious reasons (hint, hint – you can’t book a room without a credit card. Besides, I’ve had no reason to).
My dad offered to let me use his credit card to pay for the hotel room although, of course, we’ll have to pay him back later.
The process was rather painless, but also mildly terrifying. I had no idea what they were going to ask for or what I needed to say to the person on the other side of the phone. Luckily, the nice receptionist on the opposite end of the line did most of the talking and lead the conversation with most of the questions – like ‘which room would you look to book?’ and ‘when do you plan to check out?” – so I didn’t have to act too much on intuition.
It was essentially like taking a class and learning all of the information, but not studying for an upcoming test, but luckily it’s a verbal test were the teacher gives hints to jog your memory of how to respond. Mildly terrifying, but not quite completely terrifying.
As I go along this project, I realize that I’m learning a lot of new stuff, both film and non-film related things that will most likly benefit me in the future.
In the end, the price of the room for literally one night was $120. ONE NIGHT! In a motel!
A video of me wasting my money on this motel
However, it is split between four people and my dad has agreed to take on $20 dollars of the total expense.
BUT he also said that he’d work it off of me with extra chores down the road. So moral of the story is, my groups members owe me.
This is the official script I created for our title sequence! We’re one step closer to actually filming something! It is worth noting that things are subject to change and onset changes or difficulties with certain shots might divert the way we go with the opening. However, this is the projected idea and what we plan to cohere to.
If the text in this post is too hard to read, a link to a Google Document housing the same text will be provided at the end. Enjoy!
Screenplay
FADE IN:
EXT. MOTEL – EVENING
A two-story, brick motel stands against an urban landscape, the setting sun gleaming from behind the building
INT. MOTEL ROOM 1 – EVENING
We see the windows, the faint light of the fading sun peeking in. It is almost night. The television is on, the sound of a static-filled news report droning on in the background.
CUT TO:
Corners of the plain, beige room. The air conditioner, magazines spread across a table. The droning of the news station grows quieter. In its place, the sound of a water droplet falling against a body of water emerges.
A push in towards the face of a young adult who is sleeping in a bed in the middle of the bedroom. He is LIONEL. The dripping grows to a crescendo, stopping abruptly with an echo as we see Lionel open his eyes. He gazes around the room for a brief moment before sitting up in bed. He is dressed in his pajamas.
Lionel reaches over to the nightstand to his right, grasping for the remote. Instead, he grabs a bright red cloth. Slightly confused, he glimpses downward at the cloth before shifting it to his other hand, reaching again for the remote. He glances at the remote briefly, searching for the power button, before shutting the television off. The room is silent, except for a faint dripping.
Lionel swings his feet off of the bed, placing his bare feet onto the deep blue carpet. A mid shot of Lionel. We see a blurry image of a figure dressed in a red gown appear behind him on the opposite side of the bed, their face and figure obscured by his. He swivels his head quickly, only to see nothing there.
Unmoved, Lionel stands up and walks forward, his attention recaptured by the dripping.
INT. MOTEL ROOM 2 – NIGHT
Lionel opens the door to his room, following the sound. He finds himself in a separate room, as plain and beige as the first. This room is filled with furniture: a table, a couch, a sink. This sink is not dripping.
Lionel walks further into the room, still clutching the cloth.
INT. MOTEL BATHROOM – CONTINUOUS
A wide shot. We see Lionel walk and stop in the frame of the bathroom door. In the foreground, a faucet that is out of focus. Lionel turns his head towards the faucet. The focus shifts. The dripping faucet is now in focus. Lionel walks into bathroom, looming over the bathroom sink. We are looking up at him. He twists the handle, stopping the drip.
CUT TO:
We are now above Lionel, looking into the sink with him. The sink is full of water. A phone is submerged in it. Lionel looks harder, slightly confused. The phone begins to ring, garbled and distorted beneath the water. Only slightly surprised, Lionel lifts the phone out of the water and shakes it slightly.
He looks to his left, towards the innards of the bathroom. All seems normal. The towels and rags are neatly placed. The bathtub is empty.
Lionel picks up the phone. A young man’s voice says over the line:
VOICE
(over phone)
Do you remember… anything?
The voice pauses at odd intervals and is dull and hushed. His voice is distorted and full of static. Lionel stares blankly. He does not reply.
There is an uncomfortable pause. Silence, except for the unsecure phone line, which is crackling slightly.
VOICE
(over phone)
It is of utmost importance… that you remember… what happened.
There is a slight pause.
VOICE
(over phone)
Do not fear. I will help you… remember. I will heal you.
The dripping sound begins once again. We see Lionel from the right. He turns to the left, looking into the bathroom once again. A faucet is dripping slowly into the bathtub. It is full of water.
The voice continues.
VOICE
(over phone)
Step in.
The call ends abruptly. The disconnect tone sounds loudly in Lionel’s ear. He releases the phone, the handset dropping rapidly to the floor.
CUT TO:
We see the phone hanging in the foreground, dripping water. Lionel is walking towards the bathtub. He is mesmerized by the water.
Lionel walks slowly into the bathroom, the disconnect tone fading. His feet stop just before the tub and he peers down into the tub of water. He slowly lifts his right foot and steps in.
CUT TO:
We see Lionel from outside the door of the bathroom as he puts his feet into the bathtub and sits down in the water. Some water spills out of the side of the tub and splashes onto the floor.
Lionel slowly lowers himself into the water, short, small, bodiless whispers rising in volume in the background. These seem to encourage his actions, all merging together into an overwhelming mass of sound. He is still clutching the red cloth.
He finally lowers his head into the water, continuing to hold the red cloth as he submerges himself completely. The whispers grow to a crescendo, now sounding more like soft yelling. A close-up of his hand holding the cloth is seen, being the last part of his body to enter the tub.
Lucid Elucidation's Explanations 