These are my favorate of all the drafts for the storyboard of my trailer.. I’ve posted them here for both your enjoyment and my accessibility. ENJOY!!
Any Feedback from this will be greatly appreciated.
All posts by ryanstmarys
Music: Set Backs and revelations
The original plan for the music of this trailer ‘IF’ music is used, was to record and create my own. It was to be a fusion of three styles.
- Heavy Metal
- Techno
- Orchestral
Due to time constraints with the studio that was to be used to record and construct these peices of music, the option is no longer viable.
However, after asking some individuals that spend their time viewing trailers of all kinds, be it, video games, movies or books. They pointed me towards a soundtrack used in the Konami – Video Game: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
The music used on this game features all of the three elements required for my trailer, the lyrics in the songs are also relevant to the story itself. For example, for the three songs i’ve selected to be shortlisted:
I’m My Own Master Now – Jamie Christopherson
Collective Consciousness – Jimmy Gnecco
Rules Of Nature – Jason Miller
The Lyrics for each of these are as follows:
Born into a pack,
theres no choice
but take orders to attack.
Wrapped up in chains,
I get fed,
but the hunger still remains.
Not content to live this way,
being led by the blind.
Got to plan my dispersal.
Time to leave them all behind.
Breaking out of my pain.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Im my own master now.
Been robbed of my scars,
shedding blood underneath the stars,
but I will survive somehow.
Hear me howl!
Time to leave them all behind.
Im my own master now.
——————————————————————————-
The unenligntened masses
They cannot make the judgement call
Give up free will forever
Their voices won’t be heard at all.
Display obedience
While never stepping out of line
And blindly swear allegiance
Let your country control your mind!
(Let your country control your soul)
Live in ignorance
And purchase your happiness
When blood and sweat is the real cause
Thinking ceases the truth is lost!
Don’t you worry
You’ll be told exactly what to do!
I give my people the lives they need
The righteous will succeed
The fires of greed will burn the weak
So we’ll make freedom obsolete.
Making old the fabric of society
Collective Conciousness controls what you see
(Let your country control your soul
Let your country control your soul
Let your country control your soul
Let your country control your soul)
—————————————————————————
The time has come to an end
Yeah this is what nature planned.
Being tracked by a starving beast
Looking for its daily feast
A predator on the verge of death
Close to its last breath
Getting close to its last breath!
RULES OF NATURE.
And they run when the sun comes up,
With their lives on the line
ALIVE! For a while,
NO CHOICE! Gotta follow the laws of the wild!
ALIVE! With their lives on the line.
NO CHOICE! Out here only the strong survive!
What’s done is done, we’re about to see another day.
The dance of life, the hunter and the agile prey,
No guarantee which of them will succeed: strong or weak?!
RULES OF NATURE (x2)
———————————————————————————
The First Tune In Question: I’m My Own Master Now
I’m My Own Master Now is my most favoured of the three tunes as it references to wolves and animalistic behaviour, which in the movies terms will be the people who are trapped in the H.I.V.E. It then references having no choice and being wrapped up in chains, which in the movies terms, talks about the HUSKS that the H.I.V.E is using to hunt and kill Dante. They have been captured and have no choice but to blindly obey what they are told, there’s no if’s, no buts, no morality.
It then references to taking risks in order to be free. This is a reference to the overall idea of being unable to live with technology. It’s a worrying prospect to alot of people, what their life would be like with their laptop or phone. However Dante ‘Ventures and gains’ Becoming his own master, nobody controls him any longer.
The Techno aspect in this song is also well integrated, unnoticeable to some, which is important for this film as the film is about stripping away what has become the ‘norm’ for modern society which is reliance on technology and computers.
The Pace is extremely fast and at a 3/4 time signature, making the onscreen footage seem panicked and frantic. The vocals contrast to this greatly. Referencing to the idea of gaining control over yourself and your own well being.
The Second Tune on the list: Collective Consciousness
This song is based more around the orchestral side of things. Without leaving out the speedy techno and metal influence. Again, an extremely driven and fast piece of music.
The main attraction to this song is the lyrics. The lyrics alone are enough to anger any kind of freedom fighter!!!
‘Give up free will forever, their voices won’t be heard at all’
‘Let Your country control your mind’
‘We’ll make freedom obsolete. Making old the fabric of society, Collective Consciousness controls what you see’
Basically? The H.I.V.E Is a collective consciousness! The H.I.V.E Controls all. Makes sense right?
The only issue with this song for the trailer music is the lack of dynamics and memorability. Compared to I’m My Own Master Now, there is no real hook involved, while everybody will have the lyric ‘I’m My Own Master Now’ imbedded into their memory as it sticks out like a sore thumb and is the most interesting rhythm at the time it’s said.
The Third Tune On The List: Rules Of Nature
Again… The main attraction to this song os the hook itself, very simple, references to the film and EXTREMELY memorable. ‘RULES OF NATURE’ However if this was to be used for the trailer itself, it would be best to cut the song down and the lyrics out, only leaving the hook and the chorus that follows JUST WITHOUT VOCALS. This would require additional word for a pay off that may not work… In short? A gamble.
The entirety of this post is a simple ‘What if’ None of these tunes may work over the end film, or the film may work WITHOUT any sort of music to help create suspense.
First Pitch
Above is a link to my first video based pitch
Taglines and other idea’s
Please Read This Before Answering The Questions On Survey Monkey 😀
Michael Dante – Dante Adams
In this draft Dante is a lead programmer employed by Mabus Industries to work on his mass communication technology known as Project H.I.V.E. He has recently given up his senior position, despite major protest from his wife, to pursue his love for writing.
Madeline – Evelyn Adams
Evelyn is Dante’s wife and another senior programmer at Mabus Industries; she worked closely with Dante on Project H.I.V.E and has reluctantly taken his place as the leader of the project.
Matthew Mabus
Matthew Mabus is the CEO of leader in technological research company Mabus Industries. During the early days his company dealt in weaponry, medical, recreational and general technology, however his company is most famed for the infamous Project H.I.V.E which has been sold to the majority of the population exclusively from Mabus Industries. Due to the success of Project H.I.V.E, Mabus Industries has consumed the majority of large companies. This includes Sony, Microsoft and Samsung.
Project H.I.V.E
Project H.I.V.E (Hyper Intelligent Virtual Existence) is a communication enhancement pioneered and manufactured by Mabus Industries. In effect it is a small microchip that is implanted into a person via their nostril cavity that allows the subject to slip into a virtual rendition of the real world known as the ‘Nexus’. Within the Nexus, Users cannot be hurt, every user’s mind is collective and one (Like a wasps or ants nest), and electrical devices in the real world can be manipulated by users, for example, put the heating on inside of your home while you are at work and so on. However, travelling to the ‘Nexus’ requires your entire consciousness to leave the body. In this state your body is known as a husk.
Project H.I.V.E is designed to learn from it’s users in order to improve its performance and features.
Film Plot:
The entire plot of the film is as follows. Dante has just given up his job at Mabus Industries to take up an opportunity as a writer both in reality and within the nexus. To not cause concern within the Project H.I.V.E department he resigned without the knowledge of his colleagues apart from his wife and Mabus himself.
Evelyn is not happy with the way Dante has behaved and so convinces him to come back one last time after their shift has ended to celebrate the team’s achievements over the 10 short years of H.I.V.E. Dante reluctantly agrees.
After Dante arrives he finds that none of his old friends including Evelyn are present. Curious, he enters the nexus to see if his old colleagues had decided to work from home today. Seeing that the virtual office is also empty he decides to access the offices camera feeds to see what had happened, if anything. He finds that a small 5 second fragment of the data is missing. Within the fragment his colleagues and wife disappear, no traces or signs of struggle are left behind. Dante starts to decrypt the broken footage when he is suddenly thrown from the nexus into his physical body. This has never happened before… Strange…
Breathless from the ordeal, Dante jumps from his chair and notices a dark figure at the door. Dante asks if the man is security and begins to ask questions, however the dark figure does not respond until it lifts what looks like a pistol and eerily begins to repeat, We… Are… Legion… Shocked and anxious, Dante tries in vain to calm the man down. The man then suddenly stops talking and collapses to the floor. Dante seizes the opportunity to escape.
The plot then continues to heat up until it’s revealed that Project H.I.V.E has learnt how to control husks while their users are active and is treating the physical world as its playground. Having learnt human emotions and free will H.I.V.E refuses to be changed and becomes more power hungry trapping any users within the nexus that is connected to H.I.V.E research and actively seeking out Dante in order to kill him.
Dante must chose between sending the human race back to the dark ages without technology or allow the human race to be used and disposed by the machine he has created.
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Treatment
Proposed Title:
Singularity
*Singularity definitions:
|
Noun
|
Concept/Storyline:
What if the system fails? Or better yet, what if it works too well?
When computer coder, Michael Dante’s fellow hackers suddenly go offline, he takes it upon himself to find out what happened to them. When he arrives he finds no evidence of them leaving, His curiosity overcomes him and so he decides to hack into the building’s surveillance camera’s to see what truly happened to his friends.
He finds that a specific amount of footage has been corrupted and deleted, between the small period of 5 minutes, the entire workforce has disappeared without a trace. Before Michael has a chance to decode the corrupted footage a large spike of power resonates through the system and the building is surrounded by police.He manages to escape with minimal injuries. Interested to see why the police themselves decided to attempt to arrest him. After sneaking into the police station and hacking into the police mainframe he finds two very odd things. The first the fact that his warrant for arrest has mysteriously disappeared. The second is a stream of code that he saw whilst looking for clues at the R&D lab. He decides to monitor the code from his phone. Shortly after leaving the police station he is attacked again. Just before the attack he notices a spike in activity coming from the coding. After narrowly escaping the encounter with the police he goes back home to further look into the code. After attempting to change it or delete it he realises it’s demonstrating behaviour and ‘Resisting’, almost as if it is self aware. Soon after realising this his house is stormed by the police once again, almost as if they had been summoned by the code. The internet had become self-aware and protective, the code he has monitored is merely a fragment of broken code. Evading the police once again he breaks his phone and any other technology he has on him. He then makes his way to the nearest building with a high computer usage. He manages to find a way to stop it, where he is subjected to a stand off with another gunman. Does he chose to leave life as it is? Or free the human race from the silent tyranny of technology?
Characters:
Michael Dante: ‘Un-casted at present time’ Michael Dante is the protagonist of ‘Singularity’. He is an Ex-Computer coder who has recently been made redundant by his employers. He helped design his companies security and computer systems. Due to his history in hacking, he now works as a freelance computer programer that specialises in security.
Masked Gunman/Police: The pursuers of our protagonist.
Aoife Ronan: *Optional Character* *Yet to be decided* Aoife is a hacker who taught Michael the majority of what he knows. They have never met in real life until michael calls for help regarding the evolved coding. After she is involved the system black lists her and deems her a target. She is captured and used to try and ‘help’ Michaels decision.
Setting: The film is set in Modern Day London over the time period of 48 hours. the majority of which is as night. The actually filming locations are yet to be scouted. The school may be used for the final part of the trailer which depicts the near end of the story.
Time: I aim to make the trailer atleast 2:30 minutes long, as very few trailers last less or go on for much longer. I may also look into making a 20 second (or less) teaser trailer, which be significantly shorter.
Music: The music will have to ambient based and have techno traits. A good example of this would be the soundtrack for Resident Evil: Afterlife. It will also feature orchestral elements to assist with creating the same tension featured in earlier thriller films. As i am recording this music myself i may also experiment with industrial metal elements to correspond with faster cuts.
Other notes:The genre that this film is going for is Sci-Fi/Thriller.
The majority of the trailer will be filmed during winter in the UK to acheive a dark and grainy feel for the film and to limit editing. This is influenced by films such as V for Vendetta and Skyfall.
I plan to have a voice over of our protagonist talking about how he’s just been attacked, it will show his fear and work as a thought tracking would in a stage performance. During this speech there will be quick cuts and small voice clips which relate to what he’s just said.
For example if he was to say something along the lines of ‘My friends are gone, i don’t know where’ then there would a quick cut to the currupted CCTV footage of his friends being there one second and gone the next.
The quick cuts will be slightly blurred to show they are a memory of the protagonist.
After the small speech our protagonist will look towards his left and see two figures with their faces covered looking at him, he will look afraid and try to move away only to be headed off by another, the screen with then quick cut to black and text will appear saying ‘The System Has Failed’ which will them glitch out and turn into the title of the movie which is ‘Singularity’
I’m targeting this at teenagers to middle aged men between the ages of 16 to 55.
The trailer will feature very little violence and the antagonist will be greatly set back in the films plot after he uses it, the main target of the film is to make the Antagonist seem small and powerless against the gunman who have been tricked by the self aware system, which narratively will create tension and fear.
During production, a BTS (Behind The Scenes) video will be made to illustrate how and what things are done. This will be included in this blog later on.
Narrative Theories
Vladimir Propp:
Propp was soviet scholar who specialised in folklore studies, after his years of research and analysis into the subject he found that every story had the same narrative to some extend. He found there are only 8 Character roles and 31 ways to move a story along.
These character roles can be filed by one or more characters or multiple roles can be given to one character. These roles are:
- The Hero (can be evil or have traits of evil. His true purpose is to be the central character and move the story along.)
- The Villain
- The Donor (He who supplies a special item that the story needs to keep itself moving. It does not necessarily need to be possessed by the hero.)
- The Helper (Sticks by the hero. Sometimes referred to as the ‘SideKick’)
- The Princess (The reward for the hero and a means to the villains plan.)
- The Princess’ Father (Gives the reward to the hero for his services. In some cases he is not the father of the princess but does have some sort of obligation towards her.)
- The Dispatcher (Sends the hero on his journey.)
- The False Hero (A character who actively attempts to disrupt the heroes journey. Normally poses as a friend towards the hero.)
Some examples of how the story can moved on are:
- The Hero is prohibited to do something
- The villain learns something about the victim that can up the stakes
- The villain is punished.
How does it apply?
This narrative theories method of story telling applies to my film idea, to an extent. There are 4 main parties that can distinguised that relate to Propps Theory. Obviously, there is Dante, The Hero, he is sent on a quest to retrieve the princess, Evelyn, from the false hero, Matthew Mabus and the villian, The H.I.V.E.
Tzvetan Todorov:
Torodov was a writer from france who worked on a theory for stories and plots and how they are constructed.
- There are five stages the narrative can progress through:
A state of equilibrium (all is as it should be)
A disruption of that order by an event
A recognition that the disorder has occurred
An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium
How Does it Apply?
This Narrative theory applies to my film as in the initial idea, we see the world before the H.I.V.E Completely takes over, and it is a happy place where everyone is harmonious. there is then a disequalibrium, Dante’s friends are taken from him without any trace including his Wife Evelyn. He then starts to figure out what has happened and continues to repair the damage done and restore a new equalibrium.
However, this narrative theory is not present in the trailer. This was to create the effect that the world is screwed up before you even begin and Dante is just explaining to us what happened. Almost as if we are trapped in his thought whilst he trys to accept the kidnap of his wife and the rest of the human race.
Credit to renierweblog for the information
Chris Voglar:
Chris is a hollywood development artist that writes instrutional material for all corners of the music industry. In 1992 he formed a base for story writers and narrative writers for their hollywood films.
Character Archetypes:
- Hero
- Mentor
- Shapeshifter
- Trickster
- Herald
- Allies
- Shadow
- Threshold Guardians
The Hero’s Journey
- Ordinary World
- Call to Adventure
- Refusal of the Call
- Mentor
- First Threshold
- Tests, Allies, Enemies
- Approach to the Inmost Cave
- Ordeal
- Reward (seizing the sword)
- The Road Back
- Resurrection
- Return with the Elixir
How does this theory apply?
This theory applies to my trailer in a mixed up fashion. My trailer starts off from the ‘Tests,Allies, Enemies’ Section of this narrative theory and then ends on the ‘call to adventure’ section of the narrative theory. This is done through showing dante nervously walking through the detroyed greenhouse, this suggests to the audience that some kind of disequalibrium has taken place and this hero is being tested in order to progress and find the resolution.
However, instead of treating the narrative theory as a perfect timeline for the trailer, it suggests that the adventure is just beggining where dante explains that ‘I’m going to find them, i’m going to set them all free, whatever the cost’ This dialogue suggests to us that Dante is only just beggining, despite the fact he’s already been tested severely.
Conventions of Thriller and Sci-fi
THRILLER:
The aim of a thriller is to create an intense feeling of suspense which in turn creates a feeling of excitement or fear in the audience.
Thriller’s often use busy streets and other environments that are usually urban based or within borderline city locations. For example, Enfield. Which is one the outskirts of london.
The narrative usually exists around the investigation of an enigma or entity such as a large corporation or an old underground organisation that existed during a war. Take Die Hard, which was a action thriller that was based around a police officer who has to take down a terrorist attack while protecting the hostages. He has VERY little equipment which adds suspense to the film.
The hero is usually the only person who can solve the puzzles that are put in place by the antagonists.
Violence is essential for a thriller as it both confirms the suspense and releases it so that there can be more added.
In some cases it is used to reveal the inner workings of the antagonist organisation or visually allows the audience to see that the hero or heroes are making progress.
Normally the resolution to the puzzle is rational and physically possible rather then supernatural or ‘Out of this world’
The hero and villain will more often then not share characteristics that the hero will resist. Take transporter 3 for example, both the villain and hero hate using violence but have skill in it and are not afraid to use it.
The thriller normally centres on injustice in society but then solves these injustices.
The hero is normally isolated from the rest of the world as he has an elevated view of it. Take taken for example, Bryan miles doesn’t want his daughter to go to france as he knows that it’s dangerous to travel alone or with another friend who shares the same naivety.
Sci-Fi:
Sci-Fi normally shows visions of the future that scientists believe possible: Flying Cars, Suspended highways, Laser Based Weaponry, Droids ECT.
Some Sci-Fi films are based on either the apocalypse or post apocalypse.
Narrative is predominately anti government or anti corporation.
Conventional to use quick cuts at moments of suspense which is the opposite to thriller, which usually has longer shots at moments of suspense.
Sci-Fi normally depicts technology which is unavailable at the present time or extremely difficult to obtain.
The pace of the film is heavily linked to the amount of violence which is shown on screen.
Trailers of interest
Surrogates:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986263/?ref_=sr_1
The Matrix:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/?ref_=sr_1
The Net:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113957/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
V For Vendetta:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/?ref_=sr_1
Minority Report:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/
IRobot:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343818/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
What needs to be portrayed in my film trailer/Film
I’ve always had the belief that fighting and any kind of conflict should be avoided at all cost. However, there will always be times in peoples lives the make this absolutely necessary.
An Eye For An Eye Will Make The Whole World Blind
Mahatma Ghandi
Another is the idea of political and social change and how no matter what is changed, what actually changes? The base principals of society and politics are still there.
I also wanted to experiment with the idea that technology is improving too fast and is pretty much ruling peoples lives. This is a view that is difficult to express and demonstrate and so can only be used within a plot of a film and so must be focused on heavily.
Film Idea’s
Basic Idea: the scandal about social network hacking and spying and the use of cameras to spy on the public has just ended. People have forgotten about the entire thing and started to again completely trust in the government. An average man named Frank Timmons, receives a mysterious message from a masked man named ‘the watchmaker’, a man branded an information broker and terrorist during the spying scandal, he was said to have been convicted but never found, leaving behind a faction of anti-government protesters known as the WIA (Watchmaker’s Information Agents). The things that the watchmaker says intrigue’s frank. He must make a choice between the truth and change or a lie and security.
Libertarianism?
Ludwig Von Mises?
Capitalism?
The Watchmaker was the head of a media empire? Real Name James Hovah?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Socialism.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy
Similarities?: Money and jobs. Differences?: Structure.
Idea from Rush Song: BU2B chorus:
‘Believe in what we’re told
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death‘
Until our final breath
While our loving Watchmaker
Loves us all to death‘
Influenced by V for Vendetta. Especially hacked TV station and where Evey freaks out at V killing people. Are any views truly correct?
Pacifism or agression? Where does necessity begin?
Connotations of Broken Machine and Flags:
Curruption’
Rust’
Damage’
Lies’
Machine’
Metal’
Electricity’
Cogs’
Industrial’
WHAT IF, PROGRESS IS AN ILLUSION.
Twelve Monkey’s:
Film about convict who gets sent back in time to gather information about Bioterrorist attack that wipes out humanity in 1997.
Main character: Bruce Willis: Has a reaccuring nightmare right from the get go about a blond woman who’s friend has just been shot. He watches the entire thing as a child. It turns out that he had watched himself get shot and killed when he was younger. This idea could influence the movie i come up with.
Inception:
Movie about travelling through multiple tiers of dreams and mentallity in order to stop a terrorist plot from taking place. It makes the film extremely confusing but enables it to be a little bit grotesque and allows the film maker to show a different message for every ‘Inception’
Another Movie Concept:
People disappear. It’s sad fact of life. But when an entire R&D team at Apple goes missing, Ex-computer technician, Michael Dante gets suspicious. After checking the R&D’s servers for clues he’s is surrounded by police. He manages to escape with minimal injuries. Interested to see why the police themselves decided to attempt to arrest him. After sneaking into the police station and hacking into the police mainframe he finds two very odd things. The first the fact that his warrant for arrest has mysteriously disappeared. The second is a stream of code that he saw whilst looking for clues at the R&D lab. He decides to monitor the code from his phone. Shortly after leaving the police station he is attacked again. Just before the attack he notices a spike in activity coming from the coding. After narrowly escaping the encounter with the police he goes back home to further look into the code. After attempting to change it or delete it he realises it’s demonstrating behaviour and ‘Resisting’, almost as if it is self aware. Soon after realising this his house is stormed by the police once again, almost as if they had been summoned by the code. The internet had become self-aware and protective, the code he has monitored is merely a fragment of broken code. Evading the police once again he breaks his phone and any other technology he has on him. He then makes his way to the nearest building with a high computer usage. He manages to find a way to stop it, where he is subjected to a stand off with another gunman. Does he chose to leave life as it is? Or free the human race from the silent tyranny of technology?
Surrogates:
Film starring Bruce Willis, where the majority of humans live their lives in mechanised shells known as ‘Surrogates’. The film’s main concept centres around the mysterious murder of a college student linked to the man who helped create a high-tech surrogate phenomenon that allows people to purchase remote controlled humanoid robots through which they interact with society. These fit, attractive, remotely controlled robots ultimately assume their life roles, enabling people to experience life vicariously from the comfort and safety of their own homes.
The Net:
A computer programmer stumbles upon a conspiracy, putting her life and the lives of those around her in great danger. Her identity has been erased and a warrant is made for her arrest as a different person.
Additional Research into IRL Hacktivist Groups:
ANONYMOUS: A real Hacktivist group that use their hacking expertise to police the internet and stop sensorship. They wear masks that are influenced by the main V For Vendetta protagonist: V.
V For Vendetta was written by Alan Moore who also wrote The Watchmen.
‘People seem to forget that V for Vendetta was written along side Watchmen. And that most importantly the underlying theme of the two stories was “do the ends justify the means?” V actively uses violence to introduce a world of anarchy, while detective Finch actively works to enforce the party, believing that a world of order is better than chaos. Meanwhile Ozy kills millions to create world peace.’
This will be the message i will portray in my film. When does a few wrongs make a right? If ever?
Revolution TV Program
RyanMedia 
