The product of pseudo-depression (a short movie, yay)
I feel tired even though I'm not doing anything. I feel tired because of thinking, hoping, getting my hopes up, having them pulled down, and sighing. I can't stop time or turn reality into a lie so all I can do now is cry. I just want to cry because right now crying feels good. I am not an emo kid, my friends will tell you so too, but it just feels nice in a weird way... I know. It seems like there's no emotion as well. Somehow, crying has turned into a functional cleansing task. I know. Things are getting weirder with me hehe. I just want to cry and drown my self in glasses of water and watch Lost In Translation. But I forgot my CD in a damned hotel room. Fuck. (And if you are Raphael don't bother emailing or leaving anonymous comments or tags because you asking, and bugging will just ruin things more than help because nothing is really very wrong. Besides I don't need people asking are you alright? Because I am solving things by my own here. I just want to get it out.
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That bit above was typed last night but I didn't get to post it.
So I talked to my mom and I talked to my dad, plus I ranted to my grandmother. My dad gets irritated because I kept on sobbing. God, maybe Perks Of Being a Wallflower just got to me. haha What with Charlie and his panick attacks. Anyway, my dad thought I wasn't doing anything about it. But the truth was I had it all planned out. But then, I thought, if I'm not going to pursue the US plan then I'm not going to know, ever, what could have happened. It's a huge risk and everybody in the family is willing to take the risk (they love me so much, eh?) I want to be optimistic though. I'll eventually get scholarship there or some other form of financial aid. Although if I don't, it'd suck to go back here to the Philippines :D Oh man, that'd be so funny.
So what have I done since waking up this morning with my eyes smaller than when I got sore eyes?
I listened to a bunch of opening and ending songs from certain animes. I haven't taken any drugs, and will probably not, but now I see why some people like the psychedelic feelings. It's because it's psychedelic. Trying it would be loads different but I like to think having "Mountains A Go Go" on the background while staring at the Battery: Randomization swishy swishy colors in Windows Media Player is a good simulation of it.
After that I realized that the Battery skin think was very much like the ones they project onto screens and large hanging white balls in that certain bar scene in Lost In Translation.
After that, I found out that watching Pingu while listening to Apocalypse Please on earphones is a great combination of things to do. Don't forget to use earphones or it'll be different. (Don't you get that feeling of being in a movie when you walk outside or walk around listening to something through earphones? I get that feeling.)
It's also a great feeling watching Care Bears but not hearing anything because you have your earphones on listening to Stockholme Syndrome while drinking Orange-Mango juice.
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The Little Movie I Might Eventually Start Making (with Dixi)
I realized that if I'm going to make a movie, and if it's applicable, there should be a whole scene where in the character just sits in front of the TV at night with the lights off, watching Smurf, Care Bear or Pingu reruns. And then Muse songs would be the background music for the whole scene.
At first something very mellow like Endlessly would be playing in the background while Pingu or Smurfs is on TV. The main character's just sitting there with a blank but confused expression. And then when the song ends there'd be a commercial break. No background music there. And the shot would be a semi-close up (waist up) of the girl from the side. She's sitting on the floor and leaning at the end of the bed, facing the TV. And then Apocalypse Please starts playing. There's something that our main character here couldn't take and she just starts to somehow cry and Care Bears is on TV. The song is fade entered into the scene by the way.
And then there'd be a schizo scene where the character would be staring into blank space and then she'd chuckle every 10 seconds or sob later on, all in between those staring-into-blank-space deal (very Sisa, huh?). And what would be playing in the background? Muse's Hysteria. And then the character later decides to go to a bar. Everybody's dancing in the background and getting high and all but she, okay, she's a She now, anyway... everybody's having fun and being like how they are in bars but she's just sitting there, wasting money on drinks and Muse's Blackout would be playing in the background.
Yes, you guessed it. I'm listening to Absolution at the moment. If you notice, Hysteria and Blackout's even mentioned in order of their track arrangement in the album.
Anyway, continuing with my little movie here... The actress should be really good, so that she communicates that lost and confused feeling. At 3:08 of the song Blackout, she starts to get up and walk outside the bar. She walks through the middle of the dance floor so she gets bumped and thrown off by wild partay people. And so when she gets out, she sits outside in the gutter and tries to sort her life then and there. This is when Butterflies and Hurricanes comes playing. I love how the first line goes: Change / everything you are / and everything you want. And then the scene shifts at 0:49 of the song. She's already driving down the road and there are lights everywhere.
Starting 1:32 she starts resting her head on the wheel, but she still needs to drive, of course. And then it turns out she's going to some guy's apartment. (Yeah, I figured out this would be about something as commonplace as being left by somebody). The scene cuts to her climbing a flight of stairs when the song reaches 2:38. It's a stop motion kind of thing but not: Three seconds of her walking, and then it cuts to a close up of her feet, a close up of her hands, cuts to her walking, something like that. At 3:02 she stops in front of the guy's door and just stands there until 3:19. She's still standing there but she keeps on talking to the door. It is not yet directly implied that some dude left her here. At 4:19 the camera focuses on the doorknob turning and jiggling, somebody's about to come out.
There's a bit of laughter that can be heard from the inside of the apartment room. And then at 4:23 it cuts to a camera shot about 10 meters from the girl. It's a sideways shot again, parallel to the wall and the apartment railings, so you see her just standing there. At exactly 4:23 the apartment door opens. So from that angle, the darkness outside and the light spilling out from inside the apartment room is emphasized. And then there's a semi-focus of the guy for about 9 seconds, you can see a small party going on inside the room. And everybody inside's just laughing at each other. He looks a bit confused but then he starts to smirk. And then there's a semi-focus of the girl. Looking very blank. By this time, the song ends and then the camera cuts to a semi-focus (meaning waist-up) shot of them from the side so you see them facing each other, the guy somewhat frozen in mid-act of trying to go out the door, he's still there, standing in an awkward position with his hand on the door knob. There's 4 seconds of silence and the only one breathing heavily is the guy.
And then, after the long litany the girl made while the door was closed she opens her mouth and says just this: Fuck you.
And she walks away, and the guy stops smirking and looks even more confused. Falling Away With You stars to play, the guy slowly closes the door (he steps out) at the same time, trying to figure out what the girl just said (even though it's only 2 words hahaha). And then at o:09 the girl turns around and says something (that I kinda stole from Perks of Being A Wallflower): You know what I figured out? I can die for you. But I can never live for you.
And then the focus continues on the guy. You know, he gets confused and discreetly emo. When the song reaches 0:24 the shot is now focused on the girl. She's climbing down the stairs and leaving the apartment. And then at 1:13 the camera cuts to another shot of her driving. City lights are everywhere. And then at 1:25 the camera pans from a shot of the girl to outside the window and the rest of the remaining city lights. At 2:04 the scene cuts to the girl crying but smiling and then she starts laughing quietly. Go figure.
So, that's a whole driving thing. Feel free to imagine what sort of different shots happen. At 2:23 the shot pans towards the window again, the camera sort of "comes out of the car," the camera turns around showing the lights and cars and then the girl's car is shown moving away. 2:34 is focused on the wheels of a car that's driving by. 2:38 is a driver's POV, there's a shot from inside showing only the tops of the car's wheel and somebody's driving it. But it's a different car from the girl's. At 2:50 something there's a moving shot with the city lights and other cars streaming behind. It's like somebody lying down on top of a car with a camera and everything's just streaming by. At 3:10 the camera turns to the road, at the cars, and one car zooms by fast. And then a but later on it turns to a shot of the girl. Imagine whatever melodramatic as long as by 3:50 the car slows down and at 4:01 she pulls out in a parking lot between 2 other cars. And then the shot sort of comes from the car's hood at 4:11 so that it shows a bit of her car and the car beside her on the left and then the apartments on the right. And then she walks away, of course the focus is on her. By 4:28 she's already in the distance, climbing a flight of stairs and then a push in happens (it's when for example the foreground is blurred and the background's clear, and then the background suddenly blurs and the foreground clear). So the girl becomes blurred and we finally notice the foreground and a guy shadowed inside the girl's car, watching her. Yes, it's teh ex-boyfriend.
Beautiful.
I have to pitch this idea to Dixi.
I suggest after reading everything, you go download those songs I mentioned and then play it in order and follow the timecodes here, so that you get the idea. It's gonna be fun. And don't forget to tell me what you think. Please, please, please comment on this even if I don't know you or you don't know me or you think I hate you or you think you hate me :D (I don't really hate by the way.) Run through it with the songs again, it'd be tons better with the songs. And do it just so you have something to do. It's summer anyway :D
Oh, and, I like how the songs seem to fit. And Muse's lyrics are great. And I guess you really have to listen to it while "watching" the whole thing. (And yes, the bar scene song is sort of mellow and sad on purpose.)
---
That bit above was typed last night but I didn't get to post it.
So I talked to my mom and I talked to my dad, plus I ranted to my grandmother. My dad gets irritated because I kept on sobbing. God, maybe Perks Of Being a Wallflower just got to me. haha What with Charlie and his panick attacks. Anyway, my dad thought I wasn't doing anything about it. But the truth was I had it all planned out. But then, I thought, if I'm not going to pursue the US plan then I'm not going to know, ever, what could have happened. It's a huge risk and everybody in the family is willing to take the risk (they love me so much, eh?) I want to be optimistic though. I'll eventually get scholarship there or some other form of financial aid. Although if I don't, it'd suck to go back here to the Philippines :D Oh man, that'd be so funny.
So what have I done since waking up this morning with my eyes smaller than when I got sore eyes?
---
The Little Movie I Might Eventually Start Making (with Dixi)
I realized that if I'm going to make a movie, and if it's applicable, there should be a whole scene where in the character just sits in front of the TV at night with the lights off, watching Smurf, Care Bear or Pingu reruns. And then Muse songs would be the background music for the whole scene.
At first something very mellow like Endlessly would be playing in the background while Pingu or Smurfs is on TV. The main character's just sitting there with a blank but confused expression. And then when the song ends there'd be a commercial break. No background music there. And the shot would be a semi-close up (waist up) of the girl from the side. She's sitting on the floor and leaning at the end of the bed, facing the TV. And then Apocalypse Please starts playing. There's something that our main character here couldn't take and she just starts to somehow cry and Care Bears is on TV. The song is fade entered into the scene by the way.
And then there'd be a schizo scene where the character would be staring into blank space and then she'd chuckle every 10 seconds or sob later on, all in between those staring-into-blank-space deal (very Sisa, huh?). And what would be playing in the background? Muse's Hysteria. And then the character later decides to go to a bar. Everybody's dancing in the background and getting high and all but she, okay, she's a She now, anyway... everybody's having fun and being like how they are in bars but she's just sitting there, wasting money on drinks and Muse's Blackout would be playing in the background.
Yes, you guessed it. I'm listening to Absolution at the moment. If you notice, Hysteria and Blackout's even mentioned in order of their track arrangement in the album.
Anyway, continuing with my little movie here... The actress should be really good, so that she communicates that lost and confused feeling. At 3:08 of the song Blackout, she starts to get up and walk outside the bar. She walks through the middle of the dance floor so she gets bumped and thrown off by wild partay people. And so when she gets out, she sits outside in the gutter and tries to sort her life then and there. This is when Butterflies and Hurricanes comes playing. I love how the first line goes: Change / everything you are / and everything you want. And then the scene shifts at 0:49 of the song. She's already driving down the road and there are lights everywhere.
Starting 1:32 she starts resting her head on the wheel, but she still needs to drive, of course. And then it turns out she's going to some guy's apartment. (Yeah, I figured out this would be about something as commonplace as being left by somebody). The scene cuts to her climbing a flight of stairs when the song reaches 2:38. It's a stop motion kind of thing but not: Three seconds of her walking, and then it cuts to a close up of her feet, a close up of her hands, cuts to her walking, something like that. At 3:02 she stops in front of the guy's door and just stands there until 3:19. She's still standing there but she keeps on talking to the door. It is not yet directly implied that some dude left her here. At 4:19 the camera focuses on the doorknob turning and jiggling, somebody's about to come out.
There's a bit of laughter that can be heard from the inside of the apartment room. And then at 4:23 it cuts to a camera shot about 10 meters from the girl. It's a sideways shot again, parallel to the wall and the apartment railings, so you see her just standing there. At exactly 4:23 the apartment door opens. So from that angle, the darkness outside and the light spilling out from inside the apartment room is emphasized. And then there's a semi-focus of the guy for about 9 seconds, you can see a small party going on inside the room. And everybody inside's just laughing at each other. He looks a bit confused but then he starts to smirk. And then there's a semi-focus of the girl. Looking very blank. By this time, the song ends and then the camera cuts to a semi-focus (meaning waist-up) shot of them from the side so you see them facing each other, the guy somewhat frozen in mid-act of trying to go out the door, he's still there, standing in an awkward position with his hand on the door knob. There's 4 seconds of silence and the only one breathing heavily is the guy.
And then, after the long litany the girl made while the door was closed she opens her mouth and says just this: Fuck you.
And she walks away, and the guy stops smirking and looks even more confused. Falling Away With You stars to play, the guy slowly closes the door (he steps out) at the same time, trying to figure out what the girl just said (even though it's only 2 words hahaha). And then at o:09 the girl turns around and says something (that I kinda stole from Perks of Being A Wallflower): You know what I figured out? I can die for you. But I can never live for you.
And then the focus continues on the guy. You know, he gets confused and discreetly emo. When the song reaches 0:24 the shot is now focused on the girl. She's climbing down the stairs and leaving the apartment. And then at 1:13 the camera cuts to another shot of her driving. City lights are everywhere. And then at 1:25 the camera pans from a shot of the girl to outside the window and the rest of the remaining city lights. At 2:04 the scene cuts to the girl crying but smiling and then she starts laughing quietly. Go figure.
So, that's a whole driving thing. Feel free to imagine what sort of different shots happen. At 2:23 the shot pans towards the window again, the camera sort of "comes out of the car," the camera turns around showing the lights and cars and then the girl's car is shown moving away. 2:34 is focused on the wheels of a car that's driving by. 2:38 is a driver's POV, there's a shot from inside showing only the tops of the car's wheel and somebody's driving it. But it's a different car from the girl's. At 2:50 something there's a moving shot with the city lights and other cars streaming behind. It's like somebody lying down on top of a car with a camera and everything's just streaming by. At 3:10 the camera turns to the road, at the cars, and one car zooms by fast. And then a but later on it turns to a shot of the girl. Imagine whatever melodramatic as long as by 3:50 the car slows down and at 4:01 she pulls out in a parking lot between 2 other cars. And then the shot sort of comes from the car's hood at 4:11 so that it shows a bit of her car and the car beside her on the left and then the apartments on the right. And then she walks away, of course the focus is on her. By 4:28 she's already in the distance, climbing a flight of stairs and then a push in happens (it's when for example the foreground is blurred and the background's clear, and then the background suddenly blurs and the foreground clear). So the girl becomes blurred and we finally notice the foreground and a guy shadowed inside the girl's car, watching her. Yes, it's teh ex-boyfriend.
Beautiful.
I have to pitch this idea to Dixi.
I suggest after reading everything, you go download those songs I mentioned and then play it in order and follow the timecodes here, so that you get the idea. It's gonna be fun. And don't forget to tell me what you think. Please, please, please comment on this even if I don't know you or you don't know me or you think I hate you or you think you hate me :D (I don't really hate by the way.) Run through it with the songs again, it'd be tons better with the songs. And do it just so you have something to do. It's summer anyway :D
Oh, and, I like how the songs seem to fit. And Muse's lyrics are great. And I guess you really have to listen to it while "watching" the whole thing. (And yes, the bar scene song is sort of mellow and sad on purpose.)
posted by Byeong | 12:23:00 PM
2 Comments:
Well, the music video, er, the short movie, er.. the short movie could also serve the purpose of several interlinked music videos that could be released separately, much like Hoobastank's "The Reason" and "Same Direction" being linked.
Good idea though, the fact that actions speak louder than words, and that Charlie Chaplin's silent movies are far more effective than too-much-conversation-driven ones we have today, although I still think dialogue is an effective part of any movie.
You could cast Jeon Ji Hyun there, hehe. I'm just plugging lol. She just conveys any emotion even without words, damn, (why can't anybody agree with me?!?!).
And the vehicle shots, kinda cool. I liked to do that back in grade school, seeing those electric post lines moving closer and moving farther apart, if you could picture what I mean. Hm.. be sure to have more than one camera, or lots of patience. :)
Darn, I'm actually ticked off because I can't finish the movie I'm watching right now, and I'm leaving for enrollment. Darn. Anyways.
The blurring and panning things could be very effective if done properly. There's this movie called Christmas in August (Korean name: Palwolui Christmas) where there's lots of silence, lots of darkness, and yet lots of emotion. The last 2 scenes of the film actually are deafeningly silent, yet it is the perfect ending to it. Well, the film's about a person dealing with his impending death by some sickness unmentioned in the film.
And of course, Ringu is a revolutionary horror film because it doesn't focus on conversations, makeup and all that budget, but on quick camera panning and people's weak hearts.
The thing that could really challenge anybody shooting a film is the location. I hope you have already found perfect places for the scene, and I won't be surprised if many won't be in this country, coz it's such a mess to shoot at.
And oh, why not silence instead of music? But then, you based your story on silence.
I've been thinkin' bout a full-length story this past year, and with my luck, haven't found none. And yes, I'm thinkin of a "relationship" story that crosses boundaries. Your story gave me an idea for a possible scene.
And yes, applaud yourself for an idea that won't fit any genre.. Yes that's what the world's cinema needs right now. :)
And many bigtime stars are going indie these times.. Yahoo for indie. Don't be so sad.. Once you make this film, things'll turn out better.. and you know what? I'll haggle for a copy of it once you decide to finish it. :) Kudos.
Yeah, it's kind of a music video, or a fused number of music videos but I realized I'd incorporate this one into a number of others.
I decided to add something to the driving scene in the end portion. There are going to be shots of the different people in the other cars. Hmm... I'm updating this one.
You're right about the dialogue, it's an effective part but I guess I'd go for the evocative/emotive kind for my firsts.
Sorry I don't know Jeon Ji Hyun (addict ka na ba sa asian actors/actresses? hehehe)
Dixi and I are going to post the movie online for everybody to download. hehehe (I wonder where the hell we're going to host it though.) Yay for free movies.
And oh, Lost In Translation's inspired me too much.
The whole thing's going to be done here although I'm wondering how the hell we're going to pull of the whole driving scene >_<
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