[Geo669]

Hey everyone,
I dont normally do this, seeing as I can always come up with an idea, but i'm seriously stuck.

I have to make a mood film, on a film camera with very low resources.
And i've got no ideas, except that i know i want it to be dark. I have to convey the mood through the use of lighting.

Does anyone have any ideas? Anything at all?

[Kerrigan]

you could film the dark, reclusive life of people posting on forums at night

[Geo669]

I should mention thats its only 50ft of film, so its not long at all..

A mockumentary about the dark life of forum addicts would be quite good, for someone making a proper film.

[Cubeoid]

A 3.5 hour documentary about the MacNN forums and the social networks and/or/if relationships therein.

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by Geo669

Hey everyone,
I dont normally do this, seeing as I can always come up with an idea, but i'm seriously stuck.

I have to make a mood film, on a film camera with very low resources.
And i've got no ideas, except that i know i want it to be dark. I have to convey the mood through the use of lighting.

Does anyone have any ideas? Anything at all?

50 feet of film runs how long (minutes & seconds)? And is that edited time or will it be shorter after it is edited?

[SirCastor]

50 feet of film?! Geeze. That's not much time to make anything. Since the computer stuff is being played on, let me throw this out there.

Get a shot of a guy sitting at his computer.
Then get a day shot, a dusk shot, and a night shot.
Cut the three together. Describe the user's situation of never leaving his computer. The lighting in the Interior shot remains the same, describing the unchanging situation.

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by Geo669

only 50ft of film,

That's a little over a minute on 16mm, even less on 35mm.

That's the challenge of writing short films, not much to work with. I've been trying to write a 15 minute short that I want to shoot in 16mm, but as soon as I get a script that "works" for me, it always ends up way over 15min.

Major props to the filmmakers that write compelling shorts.

[red rocket]

You could fake your own suicide, have a friend film it and hand it in for you. Very dark and depressing, the judges won't know whether you're dead or not, and if you've done it properly, they'll also think it's their fault for giving you such a depressing brief in the first place.

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

That's a little over a minute on 16mm, even less on 35mm.

That's the challenge of writing short films, not much to work with. I've been trying to write a 15 minute short that I want to shoot in 16mm, but as soon as I get a script that "works" for me, it always ends up way over 15min.

Major props to the filmmakers that write compelling shorts.

Ok, the length of a TV commercial. Get your favorite product in your home or car or office etc.

Then amp up your love quotient for that item as though it were a person - but don't make it stupidly* obvious that you are fawning and getting romantic over your RIGHT GUARD DEODORANT or something. (*Although you can't really fake intelligence...sigh.)

An interesting take on this theme might be to use a DIFFERENT emotion than love.

Trust, bewilderment, loyalty, fear of loss, greed...you get the idea.

The mood you create using lighting needn't be dark (although I LIKE dark, too!).

Let's say you are devising a scheme to win money at the race track by using the newspaper to handicap the races. And you look at the Racing Forum as your co-conspirator. What you are going to do is LEGAL but because it's a system YOU devised, you are very secretive and feel very cloak and daggerish about the whole thing. And the Racing Forum is CRUCIAL to any hope you'll have because your system is based on the results published there every day and you write in the margins all your secret formulas for computing each race and the winner.

Then treat the Forum as your partner who might do anything a human partner might do.

You would be the unseen real person and the film would be shot from your POV and the STAR of your film would be the Forum.

Something like that.

[mojo2]

Or, use juxtaposition to play with the mood.

First establish the effect (dark or whatever) but then, for your payoff you'd insert an element that really doesn't belong.

The shadow of two unknown, unseen entities in rhythmic motion might make someone believe intercourse is taking place but when the figures are seen in the shot they aren't screwing, or it is a mechanical device or something like that.

Find someone who is adept at hand shadows. They probably don't get much call for work and might LOVE to get the exposure.

Bulletin boards, radio stations, classified ads, talent agencies or maybe hand surgeons might know where to find someone with this talent. Hey, maybe do a google.

[Geo669]

Thanks for all the ideas.
Yes, its for a uni assignment, I've got 1 day to film it, with the limited recources there. 50ft is not long at all.. its a decent commercial, as others have said..

I agree that the mood doesn't have to be dark athough i would love it to be, its always harder to do something dark without it looking tacy and ameturish.
Its such an annoying assignment, with so little time, and hardly any recources, we were told that we dont even have to use actors, and to stay away from horror (thats a given)

Its always bad doing a half baked chase scene. Its just racking my brain trying to think of something.
Thanks for all the feedback once again

[mojo2]

Mystery.

In a Catholic Church maybe there is a place in the courtyard or a rotunda or the chapel where rays of light filter in, creating a strong feel. You slowly move (pan, dolly, tilt, etc.) to the confessional and a middle aged woman walks out, crosses herself and we see a smile on her face...naughty, playful, joyous??? We don't know.

Then the priest exits the confessional and his expression is quite serious, he may even look sad. We can't tell for sure. He says nothing and walks out of the frame. The camera lingers on the two sides of the now empty confessional.

What happened?

Who knows?

No one will talk.

The mind will re-visit that scene many times.

[Geo669]

Also Mojo2, I love the idea of the use of juxtaposition.

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by Geo669

Thanks for all the ideas.
Yes, its for a uni assignment, I've got 1 day to film it, with the limited recources there. 50ft is not long at all.. its a decent commercial, as others have said..

I agree that the mood doesn't have to be dark athough i would love it to be, its always harder to do something dark without it looking tacy and ameturish.
Its such an annoying assignment, with so little time, and hardly any recources, we were told that we dont even have to use actors, and to stay away from horror (thats a given)

Its always bad doing a half baked chase scene. Its just racking my brain trying to think of something.
Thanks for all the feedback once again

Sound or silent?

[Geo669]

Silent..gotta love those bolex cameras

[mojo2]

Ok. Can you get ANY actors at all to do a quickie with you? They needn't be convincing actors, either. Just live bodies.

[Geo669]

yeh, I can, easily.

[mojo2]

Scene: A room where light comes into a room few people ever visit. Eery, unsettling.

Dress & makeup to make it appear as though one person is fitting a vest or belt or bulky garment of some type onto another person. Both will appear swarthy or dark skinned as though they might be from the middle east.

What is the person fitting the other with? They both seem to be in a hurry and appear nervous. Finally, the job is done and one wishes the other good luck.

Then the camera is pointed straight into a spotlight that is on a college auditorium stage and we see that the person was a guy being fitted for a 'pregnant suit" and he is an actor on stage dancing around in drag and doing a number like the WB Frog.

EDIT: If these don't work for you give me feedback so I can get it closer to what you need. And hurry up I'm getting tired.

EDIT 2: See WB Frog above and I could see this being done in B&W. Or just B&W for the first part, then Color for the stage part.

[Geo669]

hehhe, thats seems pretty cool, but dude, this aint your problem.. meaning, you can go to sleep, and thanks so much for your ideas.

I really dont know why i posted this here, just hearing ideas, sparks off my creativity. In this case, it hasnt but its getting annoying and late here, too late for me to be thinking.

So i'm going to do something really cliche, Isolation, get a guy to stand in a popular people place at uni, use some fast motion with him sanding still, then slow it all down, and get some close ups. Nothing flash, something done to death, but its all that i can do tomorrow.

Unless you have a brilliant stroke of genius, before you sleep.. Its the best i'm getting in my thick head.

Its all B&W

[ghporter]

Ah, the Bolex... Love those little boxes!

For darkness of mood there are a lot of things you can do. If the "web lurker" concept interests you, think about how the guy might keep almost posting in threads, but can't get up the courage... A montage of typing and editing, pondering and being inspired, developing a huge post, and just not quite being able to click on "Send." The subject can make the mood, and the inability to post accentuates it.

But you gotta digitize the final film and post it so we can see!

[mojo2]

Originally Posted by Geo669

hehhe, thats seems pretty cool, but dude, this aint your problem.. meaning, you can go to sleep, and thanks so much for your ideas.

I really dont know why i posted this here, just hearing ideas, sparks off my creativity. In this case, it hasnt but its getting annoying and late here, too late for me to be thinking.

So i'm going to do something really cliche, Isolation, get a guy to stand in a popular people place at uni, use some fast motion with him sanding still, then slow it all down, and get some close ups. Nothing flash, something done to death, but its all that i can do tomorrow.

Unless you have a brilliant stroke of genius, before you sleep.. Its the best i'm getting in my thick head.

Ok. Take your idea of the guy in slow motion, but make him look kinda like this expression on his face:

Then at the end have him pull out a package of laxatives and show his look of determination as though he is going off to war and he knows he will be victorious!

OK. Good luck and let us know.

P.S. I wouldn't be hurt at all if you don't use any of my suggestions. Sparking YOUR creative juices is the primary goal.

[Geo669]

I dislike my idea in every way, and am despiratly stuggling to come up with a new one.
A dellusion mood, with low lighting in a dark room, maybe some key lighting on a part of someones face.

Or take the idea of isolation, with the slow motion, and use the darkness, with lights on areas of his face to express what his feeling inside, then by the end of it, go back to the fast motion of people outside..

Like escapism.. I dont know.. shoot me now.