The Scenario:
My idea was to have the character to start off being quite relaxed or bored, but for there also to be a bit of a nervous atmosphere - I want the audience to suspect something is going to happen. When someone starts knocking on the door, the character is surprised and then nervous themselves as the knock becomings louder and more aggressive (the character was possibly even waiting for someone before, but the nature of the knocking on the door tells them that it is not who they were expecting). They go nervously to open the door, but when they do it turns out to be someone they know, and there is relief and release of tension! I wanted to play around with these very different atmospheres of relief and relaxation and suspense and nervousness.
Some Research:
Christopher Nolan's "Doodlebug", that we watched at the beginning of the project, was a good inspiration as the whole film had this very edgy atmosphere to it, which is what I wanted for the main part of my film. I also wanted to use the door in the room as a strong feature, as doors are often featured dynamically or symbolically in film visuals... (a few random examples here)
Telling the Story:
So, to tell this story I needed to use the cinematic elements of;
1) The design of the shots
2) Lighting
3) Sound effects
4) Editing and pacing
First off, in the storyboarding phase, I thought a lot about the layout of the shots. The shots need to help establish a certain atmosphere. So for the more suspenseful scenes I opted for the over-dramatic tilted shots for that sense of unease. The door was to be an ominous element in the room too. I wanted camera shots looking up at the door, almost a point of view shot from the characters nervous state of mind.
As for the lighting - I went for a yellow, warmish glow in the beginning around the character, but the door (and the source of the knocking) to be in shadow. In the middle part the character is then walking towards this shadow, and when the door opens and the character is relaxed again, we see the character and the room in warm light again.
The door knock sound effect was also to begin normally and become more aggressive and agitated. My flatmate knocked on a door for me and I recorded the sound; originally I had been recording myself, but it was good to have someone else take on the role of knocking on the door as it turned out to be much better. I got a sound effect a little different from what I had expected and it gave me a little extra perspective - somebody else's point of view/idea of what an angry knock should be!
As for editing and timing; I wanted it to begin and end quite slow and relaxed, but the driving middle part to be cut quickly and for the shots to become shorter and shorter leading to when the character opens the door. Although the slower pace was used to try and establish a more relaxed atmosphere, this is also quite good for again driving tension. When the character goes to open the door, there is then a longish pause in the darkness, waiting for the door to be opened - another attempt to make the scene suspenseful.
The Result:
This project has been great practice for thinking about and practicing the cinematic elements of lighting, camera shots, editing and sound effects! I think with my final film, I somewhat achieved what I was hoping for, but I could have pushed it much further. In particualar there are a few things to note of what I would change in the final film;
- The stop-frame animation is not as smooth and convincing as I would like. There are also some unwanted camera movements which was carelessness on my part - not noticing that while shooting. This is my first time doing proper stop-frame and using the 3D space (so I blame it on that!), but I think for the future now I will be better with having had practice. It was good fun doing stop-frame for a change anyhow!
- The sort-of-suspensful scene in the middle part is too short. This action happens fairly quickly so there isn't that much time for building tension! I wanted the scenes to be cut quickly to drive tension, but the overall walking to the door and opening action should last longer than it does in the final film (but then again, it was only supposed to be 30 seconds).
Overall with more time I would generally sharpen up the shots and editing, but I am quite happy with the result. This was a good exercise.
So, here are my storyboards put together in animatic form:
And here is the final film of "The World in a Room":
The World in a Room from Ali MacPherson on Vimeo.
