For this assignment I have chosen the everyday scenario of having lunch at work and will represent it in an atmosphere of paranoia.

Paranoia is a mental state that is characterised by a person having fears that are exaggerated and where there is no evidence that these fears are true. Generally the person believes that others will cause something bad to happen to them and they feel an overwhelming sense of threat that may lead them to become delusional.

For my sequence, I decided that the character, Joe, would be paranoid about his work colleagues trying to poison his food. (As an aside, this particular paranoid behaviour is based on an actual case.)

Inspired by Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, in their use of starkly unnatural lighting, I plan to incorporate this type of lighting and associated meanings into my sequence. In addition, I was captivated by Krzysztof Kieslowski’s use of colour in his classic The Three Colours Trilogy, and therefore plan to use colour in not only the lighting, but also the clothes, setting and props to contribute to the atmosphere and by denoting Joe’s mental state at any moment. When he is feeling reasonably safe, the colour blue will dominate, whereas the red will be most prevalent when he perceives a threat. Joe wears a white shirt so as to reflect either the red or blue lights in the shot.

Joe will start off with a blue (safe) lunchbox however, by the end of the sequence this will have changed.

To signify Joe’s paranoia, many of the shots will be hand-held and unstable, with some jarring transitions, fast pull-backs and, I plan to experiment with a disorientating upside-down shot.

Most of the early shots will be devoid of any unnecessary props and furniture so as to focus the audience on the character and create a feeling that the scene is only marginally based on reality. The mise-en-scene will change in the later part of the sequence when Joe starts to feel trapped; in these shots he will be surrounded by shelves that have a lot of clutter on them – effectively blocking off his escape and closing in on him as he get more paranoid.

It is the intention to create an atmosphere that is so intensely paranoid that at the end, the viewer will be unsure about how much of what has taken place is real and how much is a reflection of Joe’s mental state.

NOTE: The revised and final version of this Assignment is found in post ‘Assignment 2- Tutor Feedback and Final Version’.

 

Shot 1: This shot is intended to establish a solid visual of Joe, as later in the sequence it will be necessary for the viewer to know what Joe looks like to understand that Joe is his biggest danger to himself. The shot is balanced and apparently innocuous. As the camera zooms out and holds a MCU, the colour changes to slightly blue. Joe is clicking a pen and staring into a mid-distance. This is intended to create a sense of dis-ease and indicate that all may not be well with Joe.

Shot 2: This is a high overhead shot of Joe’s hand and part of his shoulder. The shot will appear to be upside down. He tosses down the blue pen and checks his watch – lunch time. His phone has an image with red in it – signifying that Joe perceives lunch time as a threatening part of his day. He opens his desk drawer and there is a blue lunch box and water bottle sitting in it. The camera zooms to the blue lunch box and transitions to the next shot by zoom out from the blue light in corridor. The lunchbox is blue, signifying that at moment Joe considers his food to be safe.

Shot 3: Once the transition is complete, the shot is established with a low angle down an empty corridor and the camera pulls back steadily. As the camera pulls back, Joe enters the corridor carrying his lunch box and water protectively. He walks down the corridor and hesitates a few feet away from one of the doors that is emitting a red light and then continues to walk, looking in as he walks. The shot is dark and with Joe walking from blue light into darkness and then confronted by the dangerous red light coming from the door. These lights are completely unnatural in this setting and it is the intention that the viewer now starts to wonder if what they are seeing is real or a projection of Joe’s mental state.

Shot 4: This is a tracking shot from Joe’s POV as he passes the door. This is a delusional scene. As Joe looks inside the room, he sees himself staring back!  This is a key shot for understanding the video and why the viewer needed to see Joe’s face in the opening shot. Joe sees himself, signifying to the viewer that the entire atmosphere is driven by Joe’s own paranoia.

Shot 5: Low shot down the corridor. Joe continues walking past the camera. The camera follows Joe as he walks past and in so doing, will flip upside-down and hold this position until Joe exits the frame. The intention is to create the sense that Joe’s experience of seeing himself has turned his world upside for a moment while he processes what he has seen.

Shot 6: Eye level shot through two doors. Frame of the glass respecting rule of thirds. Joe walks through first door, hesitates and peers through the glass of the second door and then walks through. The lighting reflects Joe’s mental state as he moves away from the perceived danger of the previous shot.  Prior to opening the second door he is washed with red light, but as he escapes this danger he enters a very blue and safe environment.

Shot 7: Starts as a MCU of Joe eating lunch in a storeroom, then zooms out to an eye-level shot taken from behind the shelves and tracking around them to end up with a second MCU of Joe.

The shot is mostly dark with Joe initially being lit in blue light. He is eating his lunch and although nervous believes he has managed to find a safe hiding place. Until the sound of the door opening – when the blue light is replaced by red light as the people entering the room are perceived by Joe as extremely dangerous to his wellbeing. The shelves are cluttered and Joe is sitting between some of the shelves at a small table. His is effectively trapped in this small space with nowhere to escape.

Shot 8: POV shot (Joe) starting at knees and tilting upwards to end on medium close up of both characters. They are smiling and friendly but at the same time the lighting is making them look menacing. This is to create confusion regarding their intentions.

Shot 9: MCU of Joe through the two characters with the lunchbox visible on the table. The last part of the Shot 8 sentence is spoken from this shot. Joe stares up at the two characters, holds for a few seconds and then looks down at his lunchbox.

Shot 10: Medium wide shot of all three sitting around the table eating. The two characters are chatting happily and trying to get Joe to join in but he is fairly monosyllabic. Camera tracks to Character 1 and pushes in. Character 1 asks Joe if he would like some strawberries. Joe very quickly says no. Character 1 looks at Character 2.

Shot 11: CU reaction shot from Character 2. He is confused or unhappy with Joe’s refusal.

Shot 12: Medium wide shot of all three still at the table. They are quiet as the conversation has become awkward. There is a sudden noise of the generator failing. The light goes off. After a second of silence, Joe say, – ‘Hey guys, what’s happened?’ Silence. “Guys, are you there?’ Silence. Lights go on and the camera has pushed in on Joe so that it is unclear whether the other two characters are in the room or not. The lighting has changed to blue, implying that possibly the others are not in the room. He looks down at his lunchbox. It is now red and instead of sandwiches it contains red fruits!

Storyboards

Reflection on the final sequence

Overall the sequence creates the sense of non-realism that is associated with paranoia. The use of lighting and a colour theme has added to the intensity and meaning of the scenario. Juxta-positioning of people and items in front of the main character, use of perspective and lighting has added depth to the shots. Up to the point where Joe enters the storeroom, the space in the mise-en-scene is stark and empty. This contrasts well with the clutter and disorder of the space in the remaining shots where Joe is feeling trapped.

The choice to try some creative shots such as the upside down views paid off and added to the sense of non-realism that I was trying to create.

I managed to stick fairly closely to the storyboards, however it must be added that I did a significant amount of location test footage and preplanning before committing to the development of the storyboards. I found that testing the location in advance gave me lot of ideas about how to visualise the shots, but more importantly, helped me to determine what was technically possible given the limitations of the available lighting and sound equipment.

I have my doubts as to whether the pacing of the first part of the sequence is correct. There are two clear parts in the sequence; before the storeroom, and in the storeroom. For the first part, the pacing is driven by slower, longer duration shots; however Shot 2 and the transition to Shot 3 are quick and disorientating which could be disturbing the pace.

My major concern had been whether I had built too complex a story/atmosphere into a three minute sequence and that the subtly of the story would not be realised. It was a real challenge to complete the project in 12 shots. I tested out the video on a number of my colleagues and all of them understood the colour theme without difficulty, some understood the meaning of Joe seeing himself in the red light and nearly all recognised that the lunchbox had switched from blue to red at the end. When I asked if they thought the sequence was real or not, their opinions were divided; and that is exactly what I set out to achieve, so I was very happy with that result.

Technically, I was not completely successful with the use of the coloured lighting. In shots where big spaces needed to be lit (e.g. shot 7), the blue lighting was a bit weak and trying to fix this in post was only partially effective. I did not succeed in making the main character stand out clearly enough from his background when he was in the storeroom. I made use of a small backlight to try to achieve this separation but unfortunately the moment I introduced white light, it caused the coloured lights to weaken.

Lighting scenes is an area where I need to develop my skills, both technically (while filming and on post) and creatively. I will also explore how to achieve more definition and sharpness in low light shots.

Sound however is my biggest challenge. I edit the sound on my system and it sounds good, but then am often disappointed when I hear the video played on other systems. I am not sure where to strike the balance between different quality sound systems.

Overall though, I am cautiously satisfied with the result particularly because I knew I had chosen a particularly challenging story/setting.