Film Opening- Planning

Film Opening- Planning

The narrative of the film opening my partner and I are creating revolves on the suffering of an unappreciated artist who is degraded and harassed by those outside his surroundings. In the middle of the film after the artist displays his work he is mocked and attacked by three critics and the audience, leaving him in despair and going on their merry way. As the opening continues, it becomes apparent that the artist is not only tormented by the cruel reality he is part of but also an illusion, a being from the reality of his own head that once represented his love for art, now an entity that despises him for failing her known as the muse. As he gathers what little fortitude he has left, the muse pins him down, ready to stab and slice away. Only the illusion vanishes and reality sets back in revealing that the stranger above him isn't trying to kill him, but rather save the artist from committing suicide. The opening ends with the two walking out and the illusion still lurking in the dark.

The setting and filming locations will take place in Portishead, Bristol, UK such as the church at the end of Nore Road and a drama room located in Gordano School. The time of filming for the Unveiling and Hallucination scenes will be in the drama room(s) of Gordano School on the 4th of December 2013.

Characters for this film include The Artist, our protagonist who suffers for his work and the torment placed upon him by those around him and the festering madness in his mind, slowly becoming a danger to himself; a suit and paint stains on our actor will go good, possibly some make-up to make him appear sleep-depraved and miserable. The Muse: the antagonist and a product of The Artist's madness, a once beautiful representation of the Artist's work and ambition now distorted into a sinister foe due to his countless failures, now the illusion desires the demise of the Artist for ruining her. For this character, we must consider the style of the costume, possibly similar to that of the Ancient Greek myth of The Muses, colours must be considered when applying make-up to the actress and the possibility of having her face concealed. The Three Critics: inspired by the idea of the Three Stooges, differences would be that these three dispense violence towards the protagonist, these three must be wearing suits and faces concealed by masks; the Audience members will be wearing their casual middle-class clothing.

Props must also be gathered such as chairs for the Unveiling scene, masks must be gathered, prop weapons for The Three Critics must be chosen, a prop knife for The Muse must be made or purchased; there is also the problem of The Muse's costume, due to the location of the drama room, we must respect the wishes of the anonymous person who has lent us the room and use crumpled balls of paper ( and possibly other props) to throw at The Artist rather than fresh tomatoes; paintbrushes and a canvas of a bizarre, abstract art piece.

Camera work and editing will mostly be done by my partner. Rorschach  inkblots and bizarre art pieces have been made and will be edited in the opening as flash, split-seconds to imitate hallucinations and The Artist's growing inability to distinguish reality from his crumbling mind. Some sound effects may need to be added such as the assault on the Artist or the distorted screaming sounds that will be added; the background music is yet to be decided however it's use must be contrapuntal. The candidate pieces of music include: "Crazy"(1961) by Patsy Cline, an extract from Beethoven's "9th Symphony, 4th Movement"; an extract of Bach's "Jesus bleibet meine Freunde", an extract from Bach's "Air on G String", Verdi's "Anvil Chorus", "Cold, Cold Heart"(1951) by Tony Bennett, or an extract from Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers".

The title of the film is: "An Artist's Suffering", a haiku will first be displayed that revolves on the narrative of the opening; like most opening sequences the title will first be displayed than a list of the actors and actresses, than the names of those involved with the creation and development of the film which will all be embedded within the sequence of the opening.