Evaluation

In retrospect, I feel like this project has been successful despite it's slight issues with actors, as I believe it has worked well at achieving the conventions of the films made by film auteur David Lynch - my biggest inspiration as a filmmaker. Personally I feel I have developed my skills, as I had the task of writing, producing and directing this myself, and so I believe I feel I have enhanced my abilities in terms of leadership and motivation in order to get the vision I had in my head when this project began. As I said during the feedback I think a few things could have been improved to the film, and I think some of the conventions could have been emphasised or included in a more obvious way had my original idea of three characters been the same. Despite this, I also think the two characters worked well because it made the scene more intense, like some of the scenes between two characters in Lynch's films. This therefore has made me more self-confident with my ability to problem solve, particularly when put on the spot, if a shoot or script idea cannot go to plan, as I know there's always creative ways to get around these problems. This in turn makes me confident for future projects I am to work on, and also more excited for them.
 If I was to improve anything when doing this assignment, I probably would have evenly spaced out the amount of time spent on each section. I spent a longer period of time on pre-production and research for example, but only a few hours shooting and about an hour's editing time. In production and post-production it took a lot less time to do than I anticipated, and so I could have spent extra time getting more footage just for extra coverage and more time totally refining the edit. I probably would have taken extra care and thought into exactly how I wanted the film to look as well; for example, although it turned out successful, most of the 'look' like the set design and lighting was done on the shoot day just from trial and error guesswork until I thought it looked reasonable. From the director's point of view I should have known really how I wanted it to look already with what I had available, particularly after writing the script.
 Overall I am happy with what I have achieved and I think it couldn't have been much better considering I had no budget, not much time, no actors and no crew readily available. I hope to continue working hard towards my inspirations and influences of the filmmaking industry in the future. 

Feedback in class

In class we screened our films to each other, so that we could explain our journey making it and get feedback on what we had produced. Everyone seemed to like my film, in the sense that it was easily identifiable as a David Lynch style film, and so I had achieved to fulfil the assignment brief. The only things I had noticed that could have been better were better colour grading on the scenes of my male character (to be redder like the wide shot) and perhaps the ambient sounds to be turned down in volume a little bit, as it was very loud in comparison to the dialogue; however, people seemed to think this actually worked. 

The Colour of Blood edited film

Here is my complete finished film, 'the Colour of Blood'. I think it could have been better if I hadn't have needed to changed the script as much, but the edit did turn out a lot better than I thought it would, especially after adding the atmospheric background sounds. Overall, I am pleased with the result as I believe it displays conventions of David Lynch films. 

Editing Process

The editing process for my film was very simple; I initially thought that this would take the longest time and effort but instead I actually spent more on pre-production.  I used Sony Vegas Movie Studio 11.0 because this is the software I had installed on my laptop which I find the easiest to use (considering I'm not an editor). 

I used the wide shot of the scene as a base to work from, and simply cut in mid-close up shots of the characters throughout, to break up the scene. I also used these shots because Lynch uses a lot of these, in an obscure framing method, to make the audience feel uncomfortable, which is what I aimed for. 

 I made a rough cut first, and then went through my clips and changed the pacing to make sure it was correct. The difficult thing was Lynch films are renowned for their slow and awkward pacing in order to make the audience feel uncomfortable to add to the surreal tone, and so i had to make sure i achieved this; I simply played around with the length of the clips until I was happy with it. 

I didn't do too much colour grading - I only made the telephone shots slightly bluer to match the blue filter on the wide shot, and lowered saturation in some parts. On the close-up of the pistol, I had filmed a reverse shot from the opposite side so that the manufacturing logo wasn't in view and so I flipped this clip to make sure it was the right way around in the film, using the crop/pan tools.

In terms of the sound, I simply downloaded a copyright-free ambient drone track, inspired by the sound design of Lynch's Eraserhead, and then messed around with the volume and distortion on the sound control panel. I feel like this really worked to bring a strange and on-edge atmosphere to the film.

On the last shot I cut abruptly on a shot that made it look like the character was about to say something else. This is because Lynch tends to end his films quite suddenly without explanation, and I thought the cliffhanger this way would keep the audience mystified, as most Lynch films aim to do. 

Other than that the editing was a very easy process that didn't bring many problems.

Script final draft

Here is the script I actually used on the shoot day, where I changed the story a bit due to lack of actors. I now only had two characters, so my set-up would be more like the two-shot of the couple in Lost Highway on the sofa instead. Also, the female switches between being blonde, girly and innocent to the crazy brunette with blood on her face, as the same actress. This again, is inspired by the character changes with the same actors in Lost Highway, to further add to the insanity of the world it is set. I also changed the reveal of the male's name as Robert to simply spoken instead of being read on his ID as I thought it would be easier. 

Shoot Day

The shoot day overall was a success, but it did start off very difficult. First of all, all of my actors cancelled last minute, and so I had to change the script last minute so that I could still shoot, but I would have to act in it alongside someone else who agreed to help me. With now only two characters, male and female, there would be no lesbianism involved and so no contrasting blonde and brunette lead characters. Still wanting to keep the contrast of light and dark as a Lynch convention I decided to try a new approach, similar to the one used in Lost Highway, which I had considered previously. This involves the same female actress playing both a light haired and a dark haired girl in the film, so essentially they are the same person but in different circumstances (one potentially being in a dream sequence, which is why this character change would make more sense). 
Firstly I dressed the set, which involved putting a black cloth over the leather sofa, putting a glass table in front of it with whiskey glasses on top and adding a unique-looking side table with vintage phone on top. When setting up the camera though, we realised it was far too bright to shoot when trying to get the eerie effect that I wanted; it was sunnier outside than I anticipated. To overcome this, I had to run into town to pick up some pegs, to hold up opague fabrics over the curtain rails to block out more light. Although it did help a bit, it was still quite bright so I decided to take a new approach. I added a blue gel and a red gel over each of the two redhead lights I was using, to create an eerie filter over the scene using this light as well as the natural light. This is a convention of Lynch films anyway, as seen in Inland Empire and Rabbits, to make the scene more surreal and distorted, representing the subconscious darker parts of the mind, and not just what we see on the surface in the real world. 
 After a few run-through rehearsals, we shot the scene. It was difficult to direct and act at the same time, but it also meant I could act exactly as I wanted the character(s) to be. I asked my camera operator to shoot a wide shot (two-shot), two mid-shots from each character (at obscure unconventional angles), and then a few close-ups and cutaways of the main props in the set that showed significance (telephone, whiskey, pistol etc.). We first went through all the lines with me dressed as the blonde character, and then through the ones where I had my normal hair and a new outfit. Each time something didn't go how I wanted, I simply asked to repeat until it was how I intended, as well as giving useful tips. 
 Overall, the shoot day was alright but I got the footage I needed to create a David Lynch style film now, which I think which look better once it has been edited together properly. 

First Draft Script

Here is the first draft script for my Lynch film - so far it doesn't have a name. I decided to combine the elements of all the films I looked at, whilst trying to keep it short and simple. I decided on three characters - the cute blonde and the seductive brunette, as well the the well-dressed authoritative male. Using Blue Velvet's noir style, I made the male a gang leader, trying to convince his sister, the blonde, to join him. Eventually he gets shot. Using inspiration from Mulholland Drive, I decided to make the two female characters have a lesbian kiss scene at the end. The whole conversation is quite nonsensical as the viewer doesn't know who the characters are talking about (Robert), until it is revealed that the male himself is Robert, much alike to the reveal of true characters in Mulholland Drive. Like Rabbits, the three characters are all sat in a room much like a sitcom set-up, as I thought this would be easy to replicate. Also like in Rabbits, some of the dialogue is in a different order, such as 'what colour is the blood' and 'the blood is red'. I have included this as part of a conversation on the telephone, as the telephone is iconic in most of Lynch's films. 

Location

The location for my film was quite an easy one. Lynch, in his films, tends to use either big, beautiful houses, or very simplistic minimal sets, such as the small houses used in Lost Highway or Inland Empire that the couples in the films live in. I decided the best to use inspiration for would be the latter, so that it was less difficult for me to achieve. The characters are typically seen on the sofa - something that represents comfort and homeliness, yet the scenes tend to be far from this, which makes it all the more surreal for the audience. I therefore decided to make this the focal point of my set. 

 A friend of mine, who is a director, had agreed to help me shoot the film with his camera, and also happened to have a very large, plain living room in his flat which was perfect for me to shoot in; all I have to do would be to dress the set with a few Lynch-like props and set the scene around the sofa. This would also make it a sitcom-style set-up which was my original inspiration from the Rabbits web-series (also seen in Inland Empire) to keep the narrative seem more surreal if in quite a realistic setting.

(My chosen location, before set dressing)

Props and costume preparation

In Lynch's films, he always seems to have two female characters: a brunette femme fatal type character with seductive, dark outfits, and a more innocent and sweet blonde character who wears paler, girly outfits. This is to represent the two parts of the human mind - the moral and the tempted. As a typical Lynch convention, I think it's a good idea to use this in my film, and so I will have two female characters who fit these categories. 

I therefore have bought a floral dress and blonde wig for one character, and a dark red, tight dress for the other character, as I fit these will fit the stereotypes well.

(dress for my brunette actress) (dress for my blonde actress)

The male character in Lynch films always tends to be well-dressed and authoritative in some way - usually dressed in a suit. I have therefore got a black suit for my male character to have, and in my script try and make him adopt this kind of persona. Thinking of the film noir style in Blue Velvet, and my idea of death being a theme, he could be the leader of a gangster mob perhaps.

(costume for my male character)

In terms of props, as forementioned a telephone is a common piece of production design used in these films. This is a good way to get information across between characters, but also as a metaphorical way of connecting worlds together. I thus decided to use one in my film; I happened to have a pale, unique old-fashioned telephone which I thought would work well, as the sets in the films seem to be quite fancy and ornate, and so I plan to use this within my script somehow.

Ideas for my film - cinematography

Cinematography is an iconic part of Lynch's work, particularly because it breaks a lot of rules to make his films seem so wonderfully weird. For a start, he uses a lot of mid-shots and close-ups of people's faces when they are speaking, usually without any head room, and from either high or low angles so their faces look distorted. This adds to the surreal nature of the scenes to confuse the viewers and make them more curious as to what is going on, as well as to make Lynch's style of filmmaking more unique. I intend to use these techniques in my film as it will be mostly a conversational piece, as not much action can take place in something so short.

Another aspect of cinematography used by Lynch is a two shot, because it shows the contrast between two characters (where Lynch uses thematically opposite qualities to represent different parts of the human mind). This usually is the case for his two lead female characters, who  he uses to show the light and dark sides of our personalities, however he uses it for conversations between most characters also. I plan on using this shot for my film as it is something that can be done very easily, especially because I won't be using many characters for such a short film, to emphasize the difference and similarities in character identities. 

Ideas for my film - script and dialogue

The brief for my film states that it should be between 2 and 4 minutes long; although David Lynch has created many shorts before, it was his feature films I was most inspired by, and therefore I had to come up with a way of putting identifiable elements from his feature films into a small short of my own. I decided to combine all my research from a different number of his films to create my script - particularly from Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire as they all seem to follow similar themes and formats.

  One of the main themes involved in all of these themes is death - at least one or more of the characters die. This fits with the film noir style of the narratives, particularly  and therefore I feel it is a good idea to involve a murder perhaps in my script. I think this would be best done with a gun of some kind, considering it has to be a quick, easy death to fit with the short time frame I have to portray the story in.
 I also think due to the time frame that not much action can happen (other than perhaps the death) and so a more conversational piece will be easier to create.

Based on conversation scenes in Lynch films, such as the 'cowboy' scene in Mulholland Drive and the 'gypsy woman' scene in Inland Empire, the conversations work most effective if quite nonsensical, to add to the typical 'Lynchian' dystopian atmosphere. In addition to this, like in Rabbits, if it seems nonsensical at first but there's more meaning to it (all of the lines would actually make sense if they were read in a particular order) then this would be more of an interesting reveal to the audience when they can make at least a bit of sense out of a totally surreal world. I therefore intend to make my script achieve this.
 Another interesting idea which is involved in a lot of his films, is how characters are revealed to be someone not initially assumed. For example, due to dream sequences and actor switches and distorted reality, a character's backstory may be totally different to what the audience is shown at the start (a major part of the plot in Mulholland Drive). This could be a simple concept to create, which I intend to use; this could be done with the characters talking about a person, only for it to be revealed that one of them is in fact that person. 

 The whole of the dialogue should be slow and exaggerated, as this is what typical Lynch films are widely known for. Again, this adds to the dreamlike world in which the narratives are set. 

David Lynch: Blue Velvet

Blue Velvet is one of Lynch's most iconic, well known films in the Hollywood industry. It is a modern American mystery film that combines psychological horror with film noir, with themes such as murder, lust and revenge. The reason it has inspired me is because of just how famous it became as a cult classic of the 1980's - as a more popular of Lynch's works I feel it would be important to include some elements of it when making my own film to demonstrate how I can replicate his ideas. 
It contains key themes like crime, violence and sexuality which are all important to portray the genre, but are also important themes for Lynch as a way of representing subconscious human nature - a focus point of most of his films.  These are therefore perhaps themes for me to consider in my film. 

David Lynch: Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire

Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire all have very similar qualities when it comes to conventions of David Lynch films. The most obvious one is the narrative; none of these films have a clear linear structure and most of the scenes are in an unusual order which would initially be nonsensical to the audience. The dialogue itself in these scenes also occasionally is quite nonsensical, making the audience uncomfortable as they don't know what entirely is going on. Dream sequences are a common aspect of the film (often explaining why nothing makes any sense) which usually involves obscure angles and lighting to differentiate from the real world.  

Colour and production design in these films is also important to Lynch - most of the main body of the film involves exaggerated colours, expensive cars and unique decor, to both represent the Hollywood industry and the American Dream, as well as to contrast against the harsher and darker sides of the story. In the sequences where things typically get more messed up, the lighting is much darker, usually with tinted filters (particularly in dream sequences) such as the red tinted prostitute dance sequence or the blue tinted sex scene in Inland Empire. 

Other conventions to note of David Lynch films are the use of lesbian activity (mostly apparent in Mulholland Drive) and telephone scenes (most apparent in Lost Highway), which appear often as something iconic. The two main female characters are almost always a blonde and a brunette also, to exaggerate a contrast in the characters, and by extension, represent the light and dark sides of human personality.
 The reason these films inspire me is because I admire how Lynch can take a concept of a Hollywood film that seems so simple and then turn it into something completely insane, yet so beautifully put together to make it seem artistic as a way of portraying meaning to the audience. He doesn't make films like this particularly for a certain audience in the way other Hollywood films are made for the purpose of the audience's entertainment; these films are what Lynch makes from his own ideas for himself to simply show an audience his own feelings towards the industry itself. 

David Lynch: Eraserhead

David Lynch - Eraserhead

Eraserhead is a film I have looked at a lot in close detail because it is my favourite Lynch film, particularly because of it's symbolism and imagery in relation to sexual and religious metaphors. These are themes common in Lynch films, and so could be something I can consider. 
 The use of sound is also a very iconic feature of this film - the constant hum/drone that makes up most of the soundtrack adds to the industrial feel of the film, and therefore emphasising the running theme of oppression in the world Henry, the main character, lives in. This sound design inspired me because of the way it creates the effect of a setting for an audience, which is something I could look at using in my film. 
 The black and white effect is also something which inspired me because it is something not many modern films use as it isn't very realistic; for Lynch this is a good thing because it adds to the surreal nature of this artistic film, and so together with the dream sequence it makes the audience more intrigued by what it actually means. 

David Lynch: Rabbits

David Lynch - Rabbits

Rabbits is a web series created by David Lynch in the style of a sitcom, using techniques such as a simple set for the main house in the shot, canned laughter, and a mix of male and female characters. However the use of these is done for irony; none of the speech is actually comical in any way and makes very little sense (it is all said in the wrong order), and uses typical Lynch style pauses between the dialogue for dramatic effect. The characters are all also rabbits - human form such as body type and mannerisms and the ability to speak, but their limbs are furry and they have giant rabbit heads.

All of these things are used to make the audience feel uncomfortable, because of how surreal and nonsensical it is. This inspired me because the creativity behind it intrigues me - how did Lynch come up with this idea? Nobody knows. It is still very different to anything I've seen before, but still very 'typical Lynch' through the use of dark colour and confusing dialogue that puts an audience on edge in such an artistic way. 

Another reason for me looking at this web series is how simple it was to make, which could be useful for my film. The whole thing is in one location - just one small, square living room set, which basic furnishings. The camera is stationary and there is minimal editing, it all seems to be done in one take. The only really distinctly surreal element is in the costume and dialogue, which is something very achievable. All of this simplicity is something very easy to make in a short film, which is why it inspired me as one of the main styles of film by Lynch to look at when making my own.

My Chosen Director:

David Lynch

David Lynch is a director from an art background, attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and was interested in painting and drawing from and early age. He is also a professional composer, who has always had an interest in music also (which is what his career is mainly focussed on now). He became a film director through his artistic background; his creativity lead him to experiment with film in a different way to what the world had seen before, making more abstract pieces with complex, disturbing or confusing narratives, if there was any narrative at all. 

He inspired me because I am interested in the artistic side of film - expressionism from the perspective of the filmmaker rather than consumerism and making something purely for the audience. Therefore most of his films, coming from his own imagination, leave audiences feeling baffled because they are down to personal interpretation; I think this is important because I believe art is subjective, where filmmaking most certainly is an art.