The Whole Thing

[No Handle]

EDIT: This is a link to the most recent version -> http://vimeo.com/11791874


I was hesitant about posting anything on this before getting it done. This is my first attempt at making a fictional film from beginning to end, first time directing actors, first time shooting on a HDSLR (T2i), first time just about everything. If there's any interest, I'll post some notes on how it was made.

"A half dozen murders have put two detectives on the trail of a mysterious serial killer. "

http://vimeo.com/groups/beyondthestill/videos/11450283

 

[No Handle]

Set design, Detective Franks office

Set design, Detective Franks office

I wasn't sure how to fake a detective's office, and was uncertain whether I wanted to set the short in the past (say, mid-late 1980's, in the 90's, or in this decade), the era would be determined by what cop car we were able to rent. Because of that, I tried to keep the office fairly generic.

The room used for the office was 9 ft 8inches by 9 ft 8 inches, wall to wall. It had the perfect desk in it, like it could have come right out of a Barney Miller episode, or something that might still exist in a low rent detective bureau to this day.

One problem was that the only window (the whole southern wall) had multiple breaks in the exterior plate of glass... damn kids throwing rocks. I wanted the office to seem low rent, but not that low rent, and so made the decision to shoot around the broken window, reducing my shot selection quite a bit.

So the office had a desk already in it. There was a large stand-up filing cabinet I brought in, a large stand up metal locker, a set of metal shelves, a retro 70's chair to place near the door, and another chair that remained off camera since it was next to the broken window. That was it for the furniture.

On the desk, I put an inbox, an old phone, a rolodex, a coffee cup, a magnifying glass, and few other things.

On the east wall a generic plaque and a certificate.

On north wall was a prop calendar and clock, the shelf and filing cabinet, some boring binders and books, other semi-plausible knick knacks.

On the west wall was the Murder Board and the locker.

The Murder Board, I'd decided, would definitely be the focus of the scene, kind of like a third character, so I tried to give it a little texture. I ran out of time and ideas to really 'busy up' the board, but thought the information was enough to occupy the camera.

Visually, and storywise, I wanted the position of the crime scenes to evoke a clock (early drafts of the script called for the clock locations to reveal the location of the next murder) and the orientation of the bodies to simulate the falling of a clocks hands at the 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, and 10:00 positions.

I ran with the idea, even though it ended up being dropped. I pinned photos of victims to the locations, then tried to fill the remaining space with a lot of junk that might temporarily fool the viewer into paying attention. I figure it was close enough.

So that was that. Borrowed some furniture, threw some knick knacks around, pinned some info to the wall. Not really sure if it was convincing at all, but I think I might have learned something from the process. I guarantee there is some obvious thing I forgot to add that would be easy and lend the set more credibility, I just don't know what the damn thing is. Maybe a name plate on the door and one on the desk?

 

[vnguyen972]

Maybe a desktop computer?

 

[No Handle]

About putting a computer on the desktop... When we shot the office, I still wasn't sure what decade the short was going to be set in. I was holding out hope that we could get a mid to late-80's cop car, and didn't want to reshoot minus the computer if that worked out. Of course, the detective's gun was all wrong for the mid-80's, so I guess we were doomed to be in the 90's or later anyway.

If pressed on it, here's a very lame excuse (lie) I cooked up to explain why there's no computer on the desk: "It was an artistic choice meant to convey that Frank is an old school detective who has no time for sitting in an office or pushing paper. He's too busy out following leads, busting bad guys, kicking ass."
-

I uploaded the script to flickr as photos, you can read it here:
Script: The Whole Thing


Can anyone recommend a good site to upload pdfs of a script? Flickr ain't cut out for it, as far as I can tell.

 

[Jon Starr]

Pretty well done. I liked it. funny, well directed and put together. The fancy flashy cutting worked well for the feel.

Well done.

 

[No Handle]

Thanks J. It was pretty rushed but I'll take the compliment on a rough draft.

Since I first uploaded it, I've been tinkering around the edges and got it to a place where I think me and the crew can be happy with it. We all knew going in that it wasn't no Shakespeare we were working on, but the first draft was too rough. It couldn't stand.

This is a far better cut...

http://vimeo.com/11791874

*I've updated the original post with the new link.

**There are still some things that bother me about this cut, but I can live with em.

 

[Kent OGP]

Pretty good, clever title haha. The bike chase/shootout was my favorite part.