Is it TOO real???

nantnee

nantnee

Well-known member
Hey, guys.

I just finished writing a 12 page screenplay. The story is focused around a young man and his family. The problem is that the young man is blind, and his parents find a doctor to give him back his eye sight. Now, the story is being told from the perspective the young blind man. So, for the first 7min or so, the entire screen is black. To keep the audiences attention, I added flowing figures that fade in a fade out (more or less to show emotion) in the background.

So, since most of it will be black, I obviously am relying heavily on sound. The sound will make it or break it.

I tried to keep it down, but is 7min of darkness too long?


thanks guys,

anthony
 
I agree with Dory somewhat. If you can really do a good job, and create something special with the audio that will keep the audience in, then it could be amazing. I don't think it is bad that over half of the film is dark, but remember to do something unique with the audio and you should be fine.
 
In the most general of terms, you might want to reconsider this. It can work, sure, but films are suppose to be motion pictures. What you have is 7 minutes of radio.

The idea makes me think of that old Twighlight Zone episode where that woman is having the bandages removed after cosmetic surgery. It's done from her POV.
 
I understand what Brian is saying. In fact, I was going to say something very similar earlier when I figured that this could work if it was done well. The thing is, you might want to try filming it from a third person perspective but then rely a lot on POV shots from the blind man. This way you could do more to create dramatic effect. Just a thought, but I still think if your idea was done right, it could be cool.
 
brianluce said:
What you have is 7 minutes of radio. .
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I understand what you're saying. I had a hard time establishing the beginning and middle. I was hoping to keep it around 5min, but I need to add some dialogue.

However, after watching some german expressionism film (not saying this is one obviously), I wanted to show, what I think, a blind man sees. Tell a story from the mind of a blind person. Tell it how it is, or how they see (hear) the world.

Hitchcock said "If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on."

So what I wanted to do was take away the visual. Tell a story through sound.

This is going off subject but, lets face it, in horror movies, whats behind the corner is nearly as scary as the sound that comes with it.

Not saying you could make a feature with only sound, just saying it would be nice for a change.

This is also off topic - remember when you were little and you heard your parents arguing on the other side of door. You didnt have to see what was going on for it to scare you.


sorry for the long reply.


obliged,
anthony
 
You know, there's blind and then there's blind.

Your character's blindness doesn't have to mean totally, absolutely black. His vision could be blurred to the point of being almost useless -- yet it would still give lights and darks, colors, shapes, etc. In other words, your character could be legally blind without being totally and completely blind. The images seen from the POV of your character would be almost completely unrecognizable, and yet they would still provide a visual stimulus for the audience.

My biggest concern is your dialogue. I worry that, in compensating for what you're not able to SHOW the audience, you might have way too much dialogue that attempts to EXPLAIN what's happening. That would get boring in a real hurry.

Still, it's hard to judge whether it works or not without actually reading your script. It's an intriguing idea, though. Good luck with it!
 
chapelgrovefilms said:
You know, there's blind and then there's blind.
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Totally agree. I was thinking about, "well, how blind should he be?" I wanted the surgery to be a spectacle.

And one thing that was on my mind is - do you know when you wake up to go to the bathroom, and you turn the light on, and eyes hurt?

Well, I wanted the audiences eyes to adjust to the black. And as soon, AS SOON, as the surgery takes place, BAM! WHITE. I want to make them squint.

But hey, better to have a few ideas floating around then just one. So, adding really quick cuts of images might keep the audience attention better.

thanks,

anthony
 
I agree that it definitely could work but I think showing more than just black would help. Maybe go ahead and film the scenes but really process them in post with heavy blurring and light and dark areas. Just enough to make people wonder what they are seeing. Sound design as mentioned will be extremely important though. I'd really focus on good foley to help tell the visual story and good dialogue too. The binaural recording sounds cool. I dont know much about it but it would probably help.
 
You idea of flipping Hitckcock's quote backwards is interesting, but also implies we can absorb information with our ears as fast and efficiently as we can with our eyes. No quite the case our brains process visual information better than hearing.

Short sections are good, in situations such as the deaf girl's subjective audio cuts in Babel. However these get a lot more weight to them by cutting back into "regular" style so the contrasts is that much sharper and the message clearer. And many people would think their TVs were broken while watching.

One of my favorite audio only sections is in "Cast Away" after the airplane goes down and you hear the storm get softer and fading away, representing a matter of hours that you'd probably need time-lapse footage of the storm to replicate visually.

One other thing, you can't communicate to the audience the sense of touch, smell, or taste the blind man has. Which become much more important when you're deaf, so visuals could also be focused on CUs of surroundings as well. See his feet walking up some stairs, his hand on the railing, so that the viewer knows what he knows even if you don't show what he's walking towards.
 
bfischinger - that sounded pretty awesome. I would like to use that, however,

it says "Once recorded, the binaural effect can be reproduced only using headphones."

If i could find away around that, it would be pretty sick (as in good)

much thanks,
anthony
 
nantnee said:
And one thing that was on my mind is - do you know when you wake up to go to the bathroom, and you turn the light on, and eyes hurt?

Well, I wanted the audiences eyes to adjust to the black. And as soon, AS SOON, as the surgery takes place, BAM! WHITE. I want to make them squint.
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It seems this would only work if the audience was watching your movie in an actual theater. If they're watching on DVD at home, they're probably going to have the room lights on, and that would dilute the effect you're going for. Except, of course, for those fortunate enough to have big screens and home theaters.
 
a completely black screen is never a great idea, half your audience will think there's something wrong with the film. Ditto for a completely silent film. Unless the audience is told to expect it, they'll be confused.

I'd go for dark and blurry, so dark and blurry that the audience takes 30 seconds or so to even work out what they're seeing. Then you can still have your 'Bam! White!' transition after the surgery
 
if the film is being shown in a theatre with 5.1 sound you don't need headphones. it only says headphones because youtube broadcasts audio mono.

but you should see the diving bell and the butterfly. they achieve the same effect.

5 minutes of black would turn a LOT of people off though. i hate to say it but in a 12 minute film...its just not reasonable.


very few blind people cannot see AT ALL...so i think you have a lot of room to work within the scope of a "blind" person's perspective.
 
what if you tried showing what he thought he saw and what it really was in quick flashes...
like if someone helped him up stairs he pictured green ones, when they were red, or what someone looked like?
Does someone who has never seen visualize exactly? Maybe use color for sound, like a wavy line, when another character talks another line, maybe show what he "sees" and how he distinguishes each sound...so the audience knows red is neighbor or blue is dog, like two blue close to the same hue, but he can tell theres two different dogs, but he doesn't call them by color...

does that make sense? just trying to help...
 
slightly off topic but derek jarman did a feature film 'blue' where the screen only showed - well blue. subject matter was completely different but after a minue or 2 of thinking this is going to drive me mad it started to pull me in. as i say it is not in anyway similar to your film but it shows that having no moving image to look at can still create a compelling piece of cinema. having said that most people i've spoken to about this film didn't like it
 
thematthewbone said:
if the film is being shown in a theatre with 5.1 sound you don't need headphones. it only says headphones because youtube broadcasts audio mono.
but you should see the diving bell and the butterfly. they achieve the same effect.
5 minutes of black would turn a LOT of people off though. i hate to say it but in a 12 minute film...its just not reasonable.
quote]

Thats true about the 5.1. I didn't think about that. I do plan to submit it to a local theatre where I live. And i understand about turning people off. I was trying to keep to a person being BLIND (no visuals at all) and seeing shapes. Sort of like when your eyes are closed at night. And like Orlandowriter said, adding quickcuts could be helpful. Maybe during the most emotional parts, something could flash. Something to keep the audience engaged.

The butterfly works with just two mics? right? Two mics - one camera. Is that hard to mix?

appreciate the feedback guys. Everything is still in works.


-anthony
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I'm guessing no opening credits, or would they be spoken credits? If I could hear the movie, but see nothing, I'd be yelling at a manager. With my luck, I'd leave just about the time it's explained that he's blind and it's not a projector problem. I'd have the same problem with the occasional cuts to video from black. I'd assume that's a wiring problem.

I would start visual. Has the guy been blind since birth? If so, I'm thinking it should have him going blind, maybe it fades to black over a minute or two? I've included an example:


BLIND GUY (not blind yet)
Mama, my eyes hurt!

MAMA
Stop the lies!

The Not Yet Blind Guy weeps.

SLOW FADE TO BLACK:


Ok, that's a bad example, but the blank screen would be better understood. Or start with him just getting his sight, and going back to the 'dark' times.

On the bright side, you'd have 12 minutes of screen time and like 5 you'd actually have to worry about lighting, cinematography, etc. I may use that, just mention that all the characters have temporary blindness, and I won't have to worry about those pesky boom shadows. Why didn't I think of that?

Last point. I don't remember how they represent blindness in "Ray", but I'm fairly certain no theater managers were harassed about it. I didn't even know Ray Charles was blind until I saw that movie!

Ty
 
I love the Idea. That can put a unbelivable tension on the audience up to the point where some guys leaving the theatre. It will be extreamly polarizing and that´s good.

Don´t start corupting that idea by weaken it with blury effects or whatever.

here is my advice:

1. Have a propper title and credits so everybody knows the film is running as usual.

2. Take 5.1 to the limit. Also power up all noises (insects, motors, doors andwhatnot) to the same level or even more than dialog.

3. I would not do the "bam - light" thing.
I think you can make more of it if it is a slow process as his eyes become used to the new function - also the sound design changes to normal levels - the eyes take over.

Maybe during operation you start with some red comming in - slowly get all the colour together while still blurry. Special camera movement (out of focus/out of frame/strange tilts and pans) can tell a story of eyes that are not yet used to work propperly. Maybe use a swing tilt effect.

good luck,

Frank
 
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