Since my last post I set myself the task of coming up with a rough story line/plot for my final year project. To get this I was inspired by a scene in an episode in the first series of True Detective. The scene contains a 6 minute unedited tracking shot that follows the main character through the projects as a gun fight breaks out between gang members and bikers.(link below). This inspired me to include my own tracking shot for my project. The main focus of the shot is to follow Matthew McConaughey's character, but throughout the clip the camera breaks off to show other events occurring in the scene, although eventually returning to the path McConaughey is following; I believe this would be an engaging and interesting method to use for my project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_HuFuKiq8U
As I said in my last post, I like the idea of basing my animation in space, therefore I have come up with a rough storyline for a continuous tracking shot for my project using this idea:
Idea No.1
The animation opens with a shot of an retro looking tape player playing some sort of old soul/blues song, (something like Ray Charles/Otis Redding). The camera slowly zooms out to show the tape player floating in zero gravity around a section of a clean, friendly looking space craft/station.
Both the camera and tape player start to float through the corridors of the ship. The tape player in this animation will be the main focus of the shot; although having no character, the tape player provides the backing track for the whole piece and gives the animation more and more atmosphere as the scene progresses.
As the camera and player float through the first pathway of the ship, the camera will start to break off and focus on different elements contained in the environment, e.g. a photo floating by possibly of the crew of the ship, or passing by windows showing the vast space landscape, maybe showing a near by asteroid field or nebula.
Throughout the animation, the space craft will appear to be spinning allowing me to use sunlight to come through windows in ever changing directions and angles, creating interesting shadows and lighting.
Everything seems fine as the camera continues to tour the homely, bright space craft, however, slowly the camera will pick up on peculiar elements of the environment that will start to change the atmosphere of the animation; perhaps a warning light flashing or an alarm sounding.
The further the tape player and camera move through the ship, the more strange and darker the environment gets. The camera will turn down a pathway only lit by the ominous glow of a warning light with the occasional burst of sparks from severed overhead cables.
Suddenly the friendly calming blues song echoing out from the tape player seems a lot more eerie and sinister.
The camera moves further into a corridor containing chunks of debris floating around and many flashing warning lights. A strange red liquid, possibly blood, floating around passes by the camera with a few droplets splattering on the lens. Loud metallic creaking sounds can be heard echoing through the corridors, enhancing the sense of damage.
Another corner turned reveals a near enough half destroyed room showing sparks, fire, debris and flashing lights. The camera, continuing to follow the tape player, will focus on more elements of the environment trying to put together what happened on this space craft. It will show the first glimpses of humans on the ship; a sliding door trying to close but repeatedly getting stuck on the end of the lifeless leg of a body, or a hand sliding down the outside of a window leaving a bloody smudge on the glass.
Both camera and tape player turn a final corner of the ship to show the corridor ahead ripped off/destroyed. Camera and tape player both float out of the hole, slowly moving further and further away from the ship revealing the wreckage and empty vastness of space behind it.
Hey Will, just dropping by to say I like your thinking here; the idea of a story opening up before us, and using the tracking shot as a device. It reminds me of this piece by a student from the course a couple of years back now:
ReplyDeletehttps://vimeo.com/45870516
The challenge here would be to ensure that your film packs an emotional punch too, as opposed to it feeling just like an opening shot to a film - in other words, you need to ensure that it feels like a complete thing, as opposed to the beginning of the beginning of something.
You need to think too about your music, as copyright will preclude the use of lots of material you're probably thinking of. It did occur to me that what could be playing on the tape recorder could be an audio recording from relatives back on earth; i.e. the person to whom the recording belonged has a bunch of cassette tapes brought up from earth, which he/she listens to for comfort on those long nights in space; perhaps it's the wife talking, perhaps it's his/her child talking. The idea of having a scripted element here means you can really up the emotional resonance as the film plays out; for example, it could be a recording in which the participant is saying 'really looking forward to having you home' etc... Anyway, the idea of a single uninterrupted shot unravelling some kind of calamity feels promising to me :)