locations

in the first scene i have in mind, i am planning to use a space in my school, a maintenance area above the assembly hall. i wish to use this location as i feel the orange filtered light which seeps into the dark room gives an exotic and fiery atmosphere. also, the metal and wooden struts which span much of the space in here will only add to the oriental feel, which is vital as this scene is supposedly set in hong kong. another thing to note is that the panel which filters the light coming into the room, stretches for a long way, which will set me up very well for an epic panoramic panning shot.

for the following scene which needs to be set in a sort of futuristic communications hub, i need to find a location which looks modern and artificial, perhaps with whitewashed walls, much like the room in 'alien' (Ridley Scott 1979) in which the characters can interact with the ships artificial intelligence. i believe the cellar of my house to be an ideal location for this scene as the walls are white, there is plenty of artificial light, and the technology that is already there (i.e. an apple mac computer) looks futuristic, and i will add to this by actively placing more pieces of technology in this room to fill out the shot.

in the next scene, a short one which merely shows a robot/cyborg being activated the criteria for the location is that the lighting is low enough that a flashing light can be seen clearly on the body of the robot, and it must look like a hidden space in which the robot has been stored. for this, a wardrobe springs to mind but i will consider other locations in this time, as well. 

for the final scene, in which a character fires a machine gun at the rapidly approaching, and dodging, robot, i need the robot to emerge from some trees, and the surrounding area to fit the idea of a different future. there are areas in saffron walden with a backdrop of trees, but i need to choose one which looks too odd to be in the present day.

Actors

a line up of the characters i want to present in my film, and who i could enlist to play them.

ming

in my proposed scene where a man sits alone, on a chair, in front of an orange backlight, i want this character to have a handlebar moustache and small triangular goatee, something like the image of a stereotypical asian farmer, perhaps with a pointed hat to fit with the image, as i think this rural looking character will fit well with the fiery wooden backdrop. i will have this character sipping green tea and i need an actor who has an oriental, exotic look about them, as well as being able to portray a jumpy, nervous air. this person will be hunted and has locked themselves away, but in my scene, the hunter will catch up with the hunted.

although the name of this character will not be mentioned in my piece, they may well be called ming, as a homage to someone that they will resemble quite closely: ming the merciless from flash gordon

a picture of the kind of asian rice farmer that i have in mind:

when it comes to actors for this part, i originally thought i would have to compromise and enlist a friend of mine who is of distant malaysian descent, but when this subject came up today in conversation, a classmate of mine overheard and agreed to play the part; he is from china, however, the entire scene concerned will be extremely dark in terms of lighting, so the actual appearance of the actor is not too important. this scene will deal mainly with silhouettes.

robots/cyborgs

robots and half-human cyborgs will appear extremely frequently in the film, as they highlight the technological advances that have been achieved by this date in the future, and make up the security firm that has been hired to asassinate the main characters. the main objective when constructing these robot characters is to hide their human features, such as any skin and their faces, and to give them a modern, futuristic look, with wires and helmets and such. so i can have any actors to play these robots, as their actual appearance will be hidden, but taller actors will command more presence, and the movement of the robots needs to be noticeably different to that of humans, yet they are ultimately more agile. some cyborgs/robots will be assassins, some information/communications. some robots' appearances will reference biblical images. some cyborgs will have a visible human face

i will craft the appearances of the robots so that they somewhat resemble traditional representations of robots such as:

and

rambo-like character:

for the last scene i have in mind, i need a character that can mimic the characteristics of Rambo in the very scene depicted here, as my scene is similar in its use of the mounted heavy machine gun, the rural setting and the vibrations the character will be subjected to due to the shaking of the gun. i will dress this actor in an orange bandana as a headband, camouflage trousers, boots and a corduroy shirt manufactured by the arms company 'smith and wesson'.

the gun i am building as a prop will look good enough from afar to be realistic, but is not detailed enough to look real close up.

in terms of actors i could enlist to play this part, it is likely that i will have to play it myself, despite not being the right build, as this is the kind of scene that might require multiple takes and a far away location, so other people might not be happy to put in this time and effort.

potential target audience

taking my cues from previous sci-fi thrillers, my film will also be targeted at a largely male audience, due to it including a plot based around violence, which appeals to the male mind. the first two minutes will not include any romantic love interest, to attract women, but most films wouldn't establish this factor until later in the film anyway. the age range will be generally young-ish, about 15-25, because of the futuristic twist, which will appeal to people who have grown up with new technology. 'boy's toys' feature heavily in the film, such as guns and knives, which will, obviously, appeal to men.

research into similar products: rambo (50. cal machine gun scene)

research into similar products: the matrix opening scene

the matrix is a kind of sci-fi/thriller that toys with philosophical ideas just as my proposed film will, so i am going to look into how they have constructed their opening scene, in detail. click here for the first four minutes of the matrix.




the first shot pans across from a profile view of a policeman, with gun, in close up, (who quickly goes out of focus) to a medium shot of another policeman, now in focus, who edges past the camera (which pans to follow him) with gun in hand. this establishing shot portrays that there is a unit of policemen, acting very cautiously, which implies to the audience that there is something very dangerous, that is yet to be revealed, which puts the viewer on edge. the next shot shows the two said policemen advancing down an industrial looking corridor, passing other officers with torches in the shadows, with dangling electrical wiring and grubby walls on show, guns clutched in hand, whilst the camera tracks from behind. these first two shots employ very little diegetic sound, with only the hushed and hurried footsteps making any noise. the non-diegetic soundtrack is very sparse, again building tension.




the shot changes to the two policemen reaching the door at the end of the hallway and the camera tracks around them (foreshadowing one of the recurring characteristics of the matrix: bullet-time), starting from behind them as before and ending 90 degrees around to the left so that we can see the face of one policeman as he nods to someone behind him. the shot changes to show the two policemen (now apparently joined by two more men in back up) from the viewpoint of the door, so that the men are in medium shot and two of them stand to each side of the frame, perfectly framing a large man who stands at the dead centre of the frame and proceeds to kick the door down.




match on action is employed in a flurry of expertly cut, split second shots, and then the police advance into the room towards the camera, shouting 'freeze!' at the suspect. cut to show the back of a woman illuminated in the torches' spotlights, in long shot, sitting next to a phone on a desk; she stays deadly still. the next shot tracks upwards from under the desk so that we finally see the face of the woman in closeup, as she puts her hands up, with four glaring torches in the space behind her. there is an orchestral swell of sound leading up to changing to the next shot, implying that this woman who has just been revealed will become very significant to the audience. the camera pans down, next, outside, at night time, a vertically aligned, electrical sign, heralding 'heart o' the city hotel, which we automatically assume is evidently the building that events have just unfolded in. the fact that it takes no explaining to inform to audience of this fact, shows that the text is well constructed to allow readers to fill in the gaps with their imagination. also now that we know that the scenes seen earlier of gritty looking industrial dilapidation are supposed to be inside a hotel, we know that this film will be ultra-stylized, as no realistic hotel, renting out rooms, would conform quite so well to this extremely dark feel.




next is a birds-eye view of a black executive car pulling up into a street full of police cars with their lights flashing and it cuts to a troupe of 3, black-suited, sun-glassed men getting out of the car. the evident leader of the 3 men (we know this as the camera focuses on him and he stands at the forefront) proceeds to converse with the police lieutenant (cue shot reverse shot) who eventually says 'i think we can handle one little girl...i sent two units, they're bringing her down now' and the ensuing shot of the man in the suit as he walks off and turns back to the man, his face in close up as the soundtrack swells, assures us that these words of the policeman will be famous last words, and sure enough, the suited man says 'no lieutenant, your men are already dead.'




the next shot is back inside with the woman and her captors, showing one policeman's hands at his waist as he advances on the woman who is in the background. next it shows an extreme close up of the woman's eye as she glances back over her shoulder at the advancing policeman, and proceeds to kill him and his men. the next few shots show that she kills all of the men in the room and in showing this, she goes into the aforementioned bullet time (where the camera shows her in ultra slow motion and tracks around her 180 degrees in a short space of time, as she aerially prepares for a flying kick before time reverts to normal and she connects her kick with him), she runs up the wall and moves very quickly, giving us a hint that she seems to have powers beyond what we thought physically possible, feeding our intrigue and interest.




when the next shot shows that she stands alone in a room full of dead men, in birds eye view, and consequently that the 3 men have entered the hotel and are coming to get her, she finally gets on to the phone and talks to someone about the line being traced.




it is worth noting that there is a definite green tint or hue on absolutely everything that is shown in these first 2 minutes, which gives the text a strong dark, shadowy feel.

sam sawtell
film title: immanence
genre: sci-fi thriller

summary: in the year 2052, the age of robots, cyborgs, cloaking devices and the like, a small group of humans have attained solid evidence that the concept of god is an elaborate scheme, upheld by a secret organisation. the secret society is above any government in terms of power and resources, and various robot and cyborg mercenaries are dispatched to dispose of the men who could bring the human race's christian belief system to its knees.

lol