This blogpost details our planning of Untelevised. Our presentation, seen in Blogpost 8, was a major success, so we've decided to go through with our ideas seen in the presentation.
We first tried brainstorming for title names - some of our ideas include the humorous Endertainment, and more serious proposals like Clickbait, Mesmer, Signal, Corruption, and The Killing Channel. In the end, we decided on Untelevised, as we thought that it sounded most like the title of a movie.
The film, an action thriller and a satire on modern media consumption, will have a noir-style chase through the world, with the villains always one step ahead of the protagonists. As everything builds up, it becomes increasingly clear that the protagonists are racing against the clock, with situations with escalating danger. In adhering to thriller conventions, there would be a twist at the end which establishes the villains' goals as morally grey and the protagonists' goals as morally grey too. This is to parody the rest of the film, where everything is black and white and shows that the real world is not as simple as it seems on television.
Some of the thriller conventions we came up with for the film were:
Tense atmosphere, created through technical codes such as tense music, low-key lighting, and sudden fluctuations in things such as the volume of the music and sudden jump-cuts
Dramatic music
narrative structures such as:
Crime contains a clue (foreshadowing)
Working against the clock
Elements of suspense
Escalating danger
We then came up with key themes for the film. These themes emphasize postmodernity, as our idea is to portray the human condition in the 21st century.
Addiction (to the Internet, to drugs, etc.)
Globalization
Pointless violence
What it means to live in the 21st Century
Judgement of humanity
Capitalist realism
Descent into hell and chaos (in terms of the protagonists' actions, which become increasingly violence)
Our final idea is a postmodern thriller. For the opening, we've decided to emphasize the action parts sooner, jumping straight into it in the opening instead of later in the film. It'll be a deal between gangsters, ending with a shootout with law enforcement once they've been discovered. The main object in the deal is a USB, based on Infinite Jest's "The Entertainment". The USB contains a file which kills people if they watch it. However, the nature of this USB is initially an enigma, and what the gangsters buying the USB will do with it is also an enigma - it's never mentioned exactly what they'll do, but they do say that they've been planning this for years. In terms of narrative theory, we have a break of equilibrium in Todorov's theories through a shootout occuring so early in the narrative. Lévi-Strauss' dichotomies are also in play, such as through the interaction of East vs West and Criminals vs The Law.
The main plot of the film revolves around the plans of certain criminals to try and stop the human race from becoming completely absorbed by media at any cost. This cult-like organization is, at the end, revealed to be morally grey, as they ultimately just want to help humanity out of a more dangerous conspiracy. This organization wants to show the video in certain places like the Super Bowl to do a Thanos-like sweep of the Earth.
The movie is intended to be thriller - it is intended to thrill, as the antagonists are always one step ahead of the protagonists until the end. The music is supposed to be dark and tense. The movie is serious, but it uses things like the obscuring of objects in a frame and low-key lighting, supposed to increase the sense of tension.
Below is the script for the scene, which I wrote:
You might have noticed that I have a new logo in use. We chose it among all our logos because it was the most thriller of the ones we made. I redid the sound, making it much deeper, and I changed the color scheme to look a bit nicer. The palette in question, being blue, is still reflective of CRT monitors, but it isn't as retro as the green version. My new version of the logo is shown below, and if you want to compare it to my older version of my logo, you can check the old logo out in Blogpost 4 here.
Here are our characters. The names are really unnecessary - they're just for the script so we can make them out easier, but the ages are roughly what we're aiming for them to look like.
- Ivan, 30 (Boss) - 1911, Slicked back hair, the admirable leader, serious and scar on side of head.
- Vladmir, 28 (Right-hand man) - Revolver, Toothpick in mouth, playful, points gun at people who make him angry (as a joke).
- Danil, 35 (The muscle) - AK-74, stands still, silent, intimidating and emotionless.
- Han, ? - Reckless, young, hot-headed, scar on his lip, Dandy, very loyal, although he sometimes steps out of line, prideful
- Shanzhu, 40 (The boss) - Simple hair, a scar on his left cheek, looks impatient, establishes a big presence without even talking, lack of hesitation when it comes to bad things, but still knows how to have fun.
- Gin, ? (The muscle) - Carries an MP5, has a long scar running down his cheek.
For reference, to the right there are some of the people in our main cast - all pretty young, but we don't really have much else to work with, so we're going to have to deal with it, unfortunately. Most of the characters in action thrillers are adults, so filming with a crew of teenagers is a problem.
Our ideal characters would look like the pictures down below: rough, in smart suits, and looking to be around 30-40 (or older).
For props, we have the following - many of these can be sourced from our homes (we have a resident gun nut), so it should be rather low budget:
- Pack of cigarettes
- Pills
- Phones
- Cans of beer
- Computer
- USB (in case)
- Suits
- Armor
- Guns
- AK-74
- MP5
- Revolver
- 1911/Beretta 92
- Additional guns for additional characters
The first four props mentioned are merely symbolic, used to emphasize the theme of addiction - aside from phones (which are addictive, too), these props are drugs, which connects the main theme of addiction to media with addiction to drugs. These props give the movie a mature feel.
The computer, USB, and tactical armor are used to create a modern feel. The suits (dark) help create a feel of seriousness, which helps with the establishment of genre. Guns are used to be consistent with the characters, but also establish the genre of action thriller.
We will also add make-up to characters - we're all kids, so we're going to need to add wrinkles and blemishes to make us look more older and tired, such as eye bags and smile lines.
As for equipment, I do not believe we will need much: We need a camera (gimbal optional, but it would be nice to have one), a microphone, and tripods to support the camera. We will probably not want lights due to the lighting being low-key. We only require a small setup for the camera, but it would be nice to have a high-quality camera and especially a good microphone.
Our dream location is someplace that looks modern, shady, but still characteristically Chinese. We want a place that looks like a good place for a shady business deal to happen, such as a Chinese restaurant or a rich person's room. We take this influence from settings such as those from Asian gangster movies and other media such as the Yakuza video games. Such a location would be perfect for establishing our general tone of crime. Low-key lighting would contribute to the creation of a thriller-esque feel. We're also thinking of adding old, upbeat Chinese songs such as those from the 20s and 30s to create a sense of irony as a place devolves into violence.
However, if we cannot find a place like the dream location described above, we have a Plan B: one of our acquaintances owns a small house with large rooms dedicated to business meetings. These rooms are decorated with a traditional Chinese motif, much like the location described above, and the conference tables can easily fit 10 people. There is also ample space for the cameraman to move flexibly about the set.
We're planning on using a variety of shots and angles to establish the relationship between the characters. If possible, the main Chinese boss's face will be partially obscured, while the other gangsters will have their faces more exposed to the light. We're also thinking of his face not really being visible most of the time through putting the camera behind him. We might also make a similar effect by making him feel distant, as he is supposed to be seated at the head of the table - we could film from the other end of the table, making him seem distant while the gangsters making a deal with him are closer. We want to use the cinematic technique of the "rule of three", in which three characters are in the main frame. There are three people on both sides of the deal, and three of them are seated.
As for lighting, we're planning on making it low-key to reflect the thriller genre and the criminal nature of the deal taking place. The atmosphere should also be cool to emphasize this. We're not planning on using color symbolically, but we could use the presence or absence of light to mark a symbolic divide between, say, law enforcement and the gangsters.
Most of the sound will be diegetic, as mentioned above with the 20s-30s Chinese music (playing in the location), as well as with gunshots and dialogue. I intend to use rather upbeat music as contrapuntal sound, too, to give off a comedic and morbid feeling as violence unfolds, signifying the insignificance of the modern person. However, there will be non-diegetic music in the title sequence and probably at the end of the scene as a way to build tension and increase the impact of the action.
Here is our main storyboard:
For our title sequence, we're planning on only using the Snow Crash Productions logo, as it's the most appropriate of the three for the movie we want to make (sci-fi thriller). The titles are most likely going to be in a font reminiscent of late 20th-century TVs, and the text will be masked so that movement will reveal or wipe away the text. Our plan for the title sequence is inspired by the title sequence for Lord of War (2005), in that it traces the life of the main USB like Lord of War traces the life of a bullet. The music we're going to use is likely Television, the Drug of the Nation by The Disposable Heroes of Hipophrisy - it reflects our main theme of addiction to media, and the music has a nice experimental touch to it. The song is copyrighted, but we intend to use it for educational purposes.
Much of the title sequence will revolve around computers and shady dealings - this is established by the first shot we've planned, showing a developer of the USB getting shot and having the USB stolen off of him. All of the main cast and crew are planned to be in the title sequence, including me as the director.
We would ideally film within one day over the holidays. The shot will hopefully take 2 hours at most. We're planning on meeting up at around noon at our set, upon which we set things up and start shooting. We should be done by the afternoon.
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