Bouncing Ball

I have absolutely no idea why it has rendered that way.

Re-take on Chase scene

Cast:

-         Maurice (Painter)

-         André (Painter)

-         Bruno (Little Boy)

-         Lola (Little Girl)

-         Lorenzo (Shop Keeper)

Action Sequence: 

Inside joke shop,

            Bruno and Lola enter the shop, a mischievous smile taped to their face. We see a door in the background, it is ajar and on it is written – Staff Only -. They reach the counter, and point at a pile of small paper bags behind the counter. Bruno shows the number two on his fingers. Lorenzo turns around with a gentle fatherly smile. He gives them the bags, showing a sign saying 2 Francs for 2 bags. While he is pointing at the sign the two child share a knowing look.

            Suddenly, instead of paying, they start to spring towards the door. They sprint through the door as the Lorenzo starts to chase after them. As he is quit aged he cannot keep up.

We see a quick shot of the kids running up the stairs as Lorenzo goes through the door himself.

Outside joke shop,

            We get a close up of the faces of our two painters, who are completely unconcerned and unknowing of what is about to happen. Their faces imply their discussions, which will include laughs, weird faces, etc.

Inside joke shop,

            We go back to Bruno and Lola, who are sprinting up the stairs. Lorenzo is struggling behind them. He loses sight of them.

Outside joke shop,

            We go back to a close up of our two partners, as one pulls out a cigarette.

Inside joke shop,

            We alternate quickly back to the kids, as Lorenzo reaches the second floor, and sees that the door of his own apartment is also ajar. We know it is his apartment as we see him go through the door and the door bell appears with his name on it.

Outside joke shop,

We keep looking at them as Maurice pulls out a match box.

Inside joke shop,

The two kids run up the last set of stairs, reaching outside. Lorenzo sees through his window the two painters. We notice a fire extinguisher next to the window. He walks towards the window, determination present on his face.

Outside joke shop,

            We get a look at the kids barging through the door, and running towards the edge of the wall where the platform is attached. As they reach the edge we have one last look at Maurice who cracks a match. We look back at the two kids who through their projectiles at the two seated men. André is observing a paint bucket he is about to use.

            We alternate between the falling bags and the match reaching the cigarette. This alternates twice when suddenly we zoom out to get a full shot of the two characters and the exploding bags next to them.

            We get a close of their face, complete surprise and incredulity etched on their faces, when they suddenly start to scratch themselves. The match falls and sets fire to Maurice. André drops his paint bucket, breaking the platform. The two men start falling, Maurice still on fire, when they grab the edge of their platform, in a manner similar to trapeze artists. We see Lorenzo from outside coming in through the window, and grabbing the fire extinguisher and spraying the poor Maurice.

            This sets in motion the platform structure which sends Maurice and André spinning around.

Notes:

            The physics of the platform is essential to the credibility of the whole spinning scene. When the Bruno and Lola run towards the edge of the wall, we get a look at its construction. It sticks out from the edge, and the parts holding the platform show that it can move in a lot of different ways. This explains the type of movement the two painters will go through, until they smash into each other.

            Lorenzo is convinced that the two naughty kids have entered his own home. He goes towards the window determined to ask the two men if they know anything. This will be shown by the determination on his face.

             

Psycho is a film that defined a genre, and stupefied generations. Its ground breaking innovations in the field of horror at the time today look as if they where made in the modern day. The absolute success of its recipe lies in its essential simplicity. An eternal script leads to an eternal film. This film is successful through the role of its actors. For me this is a film that relies solely on the performance of the actors to achieve perfection. Though epitomized by Anthony Perkins stellar performance, the other characters play the roles that allow Perkin to come out.

Fig. 1 - The meeting between Norman and Marion

The story starts with the introduction of the first main character. Janet Leigh plays Marion Crane and for most of the first part of the film, we are convinced that she is the main character and I must admit being quit surprised by her death. As Roger Erbert confirms, “no moviegoer could have anticipated the surprises Hitchcock had in store--the murder of Marion (Janet Leigh), the apparent heroine, only a third of the way into the film, and the secret of Norman's mother.” (Erbert:1998) Today, one really gets used to the whole story of the main character being alive all along. She steals 40, 000 Dollars, a consequent sum in those days. Her lack of loyalty is quit appalling, her loathsome attitude not representative of her position. She leaves the town in a hurry, being stopped by a macho cliché of an American cop. He finds her suspicious, yet I found his role quit useless on the long term. While he could have played an interesting role, he is only useful in the beginning adding a touch of suspense. Yet he is a bit vague in his whereabouts as if he had simply been put there to give Marion an antagonist.

She arrives at the motel, and we get to meet the ace character of the film. Anthony Perkins turns an interesting first act into a legendary second act. He is a bit edgy, yet nothing implies his character at first. He acts a bit weird, has an argument with his mother, and comes down to have dinner. Here is first implied the use of mommies, where we get to see some stuffed birds, also a prelude to Birds. His attitude is misleading. Marion takes a shower, and in a seen of anthology is murdered by Norman. The victim’s sister then decides to hire a private detective, who finds his way to the Bates Motel. There he is also murdered after investigating the house behind the motel, a now classic and foreboding building, perched high on top of a hill, a chromatic inverse of what could have been a Hopper painting.

Fig. 2 - Norman Bates

The story then takes an interesting take as Marion’s boyfriend and sister, Sam Loomis and Lila Crane, head towards the motel to investigate. Here we get a closer look at Norman, who really starts to come out as an odd only half understood character. Something is wrong with him, yet, at first it is quit hard to understand what is. One scene almost ruins it for the film. When he brings his mom to the fruit cellar, as he carries her she is completely limp, while she had been shouting loudly to not touch her. The visual effect was not to successful, but nothing major that impeded the success of the film. As we reach the end, we find out in an amazing scene, where Lila goes into the cellar, and finds the mummified corpse of the real “mother”. Here Norman tries to kill her, dressed up as a woman, but Sam stops him. We are then taken to the prison, where we get a last shot of Norman, as he has completely shifted to his mother persona, giving probably the best and most unsettling looks ever seen on film.

The film is shot through an interesting use of angles, with extreme close-ups of the character turning quit banal scenes into rather unsettling moments. As the BBC film reviewer David Wood precises, “the proceedings are of course shot through with Hitchcock¹s sly, mordant and slightly sadistic humour which revels in the consequences of the oedipally induced madness and the sardonic irony of much of the dialogue” (Wood:2000) The strange relationship between mother and son is accentuated by those shots, the mother always show in the dark or as an outline at the window. The last shot in the cell is both perfect in composition and in setting, and the slight superposition of his face with his mother’s corpse face is simply stunning, a slight moment of supernatural to finish a masterpiece.

Fig. 3 - The Eyes

Psycho is probably one of the most influential films of the last century, as it defined a genre and shocked generations before the coming as such failures as Saw or Final Destination. As David Jenkings from Time Out London, Psycho “offers perfect case studies of suspense, paranoia and montage for lazy film-studies tutors." (Jenkings:2010) I end this knowing that I will never forget the depth of Anthony Perkins eyes when he stairs back at the camera saying he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Bibliography.

- http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19981206/REVIEWS08/401010353/1023

- http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2000/12/13/psycho_1960_review.shtml#

- http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/71535/psycho.html

Images.

- Poster: http://www.cardboardposters.com/psycho-movie-124-p-653.html

- Fig .1: http://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2010/07/psycho-alfred-hitchcock-1960.html

- Fig. 2: http://mysteryshrink.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/psycho8.jpg

- Fig. 3: http://fascinationwithfear.blogspot.com/2010/10/31-days-31-faves-psycho-1960.html

Week Two Time Table.

Right so I have decided to do small time table for each week to keep focused and give a check list to stick to.

Tuesday:

1. Film Birds by Hitchcock. Done
2. Finish the review for Psycho. Done
3. Continue research on La Jetée. Done
4. Review story board based on received comments.
5. Maya.


Wednesday:

1. Start drawing character sheets for André and Maurice.
2. Write film review for Birds.
3. Start clear influence maps on the setting.
4. Start drawing basic aerial plans for each shot.
5. Maya.


Thursday:

1. Start some research for theory presentation
2. Write stories for the rest of the characters.
3. Start there drawn character sheets.
4. Start fleshing out the architecture of the set.
5. Maya.


Friday:

1. Maya and Premier Pro Tutorials.

Sribd Screenplay

I did this quit quickly, Ill spend more time on the layout when the story will be at a higher level of completion.

Unwilling Artists