TEMPUS - Rough Cut 1

Firstly, sorry for the voice over... I was experimenting. Though it helps the narrative in terms of understanding, it also doesn't quite fit.

Though we agreed that the first two scenes with my younger brothers are up to our standards, we didn't like the other two scenes and have decided to re-shoot them.

Why didn't they work? Personally, I think it's the lack of interesting and thought-out camera angles. The angles used aren't particularly exciting and also the match-on-action doesn't match up for some of the shots. Especially for the last scene, we rushed it and consistently looked at our scripts. This was hard for me to edit around and evidently made the film look very untidy.

The last scene also has a completely different feel to the rest of the movie. It's quite off putting, as the complete change in tempo is so sudden, and not in a good way. I think when we re-film it, we should change the 3rd scene slightly. Make it brighter and perhaps even change the story because with the rewrite of the ending we need to change some things. For example, it doesn't make sense that he would make his own girlfriend leave him. Unless of course it's justified, in which case we would need to also explain that in the next scene.

Speaking of the girlfriend, she shouldn't leave him through skype. It doesn't look good on camera, and is far to unemotional. We also made it unclear with the actual dialogue that it was a break-up, hence why I did the voice over.

On a positive note, we're happy with the first two scenes and the teleportation effect, which I whipped up... in 3 hours... at 1am.

-BW

Prop: The Vortex Puncher

As with any film that has something to do with time travel, our film features a time machine. Unlike Doctor Who, it's not alien technology,  like the Tardis. And unlike Back To The Future, it's not a bulky, suited-out DeLorean. No. Ours is in the form of a clock face with lots of wires and circuit boards, all wrapped up nicely in glue and sell-o-tape, with the luxury of being able to wear it on your wrist. It's time travel in the form of a big watch, which conveniently runs on AA batteries. Fantastic. Both Stylish and practical, I designed this prop convenience in-mind. We can transport it to any set with ease and I think it looks the part. It's the accessory that every time traveller should be wearing this year.

 

And yes, you can set it to tell you the time, day and month. It's a working clock and it even has a projector on it so you can broadcast the time to any big, flat surface. It's got a catchy name too...

 

-BW

Alternate Ending

As we haven't filmed the ending yet and I've been editing the other footage, I noticed that the film needs something more exciting to happen, as well as something to explain the concept.

Also our actor, Alex, has become hard to get a hold of due to his work commitments. I've written a way around this.It should look fine as we haven't seen his face in the film yet. 

Instead of the pub scene, I've written this one. It takes place in a therapist's office. The basic plot is that it turns out that a future version of Alex (Alex 2) has been playing a joke on his past self and has to logically interrupt the Therapy session, just as past, future versions of himself did before him. 

Time travel is a confusing concept, but it makes the audience think.

Therapy:

INT.OFFICE

ALEX

And that's when I decided to come here.

THERAPIST 

(Mumbles) Not a moment too soon. (Loud) A-hem. Well, Alex, I think it's clear that you need to throw away any kind of idea that this "figure" is even real.

ALEX

What?

THERAPIST

Alex, it's clear to me that this person you've created is all in your mind. Imaginary, if you will.

ALEX

But-

THERAPIST

-I know you may find this surprising, but you need to hear this. He's not real-

(A burst of bright light ignites the room. Another Alex appears)

THERAPIST

Oh my go-

ALEX

What the?

ALEX 2

Well, you nearly had it. And by nearly, I mean not at all.

(Looks at therapist)

And you! Honestly, one unexplainable phenomenon happens in someone's life and suddenly they're "crazy". (To the side) Well, 90 percent of the time they are, (loud) but this time you're wrong!

THERAPIST

I- I-

ALEX

You're... Me?

ALEX 2

Oh right. I should explain that.

(Holds up arm to reveal a watch-like object)

This (indicates to watch) is a Vortex Puncher. In layman's terms, it punches a temporary bridge between 2 points in time and throws the user through there. 

ALEX

And why do you... Sorry, we, have it? 

ALEX 2

Excellent point, me. Here you go.(throws Vortex Puncher to Alex who catches it) For this to make any sense, you've now got to go back in time, take these sticky notes, and visit all the instances where I met you and do exactly the same.

ALEX

How does this make sense!?

ALEX 2

Don't you watch Doctor Who? Kidding! I know we do. Anyway, it's basically an infinite loop of different future versions of us delivering notes to past versions of us. It's very complicated timey-wimey stuff.

So what're you waiting for? Take this hoody and go!

ALEX 

Isn't this hoody stuck in an infinite loop? Used by every version of us ever?

ALEX 2

We don't worry about that... Now go go go!

ALEX

Wait, what'll you do now? 

ALEX 2

I don't know..  Perhaps I'll make a film about this... ANYWAY, GO!

(Alex disappears in a flash. Alex 2 is about to leave the room when he notices the petrified therapist)

ALEX 2

Oh right, I forgot about you... Here's some money for the session (gives handful of change) and uuuurrrr... Have a sticky note. 

(Sticks note to Therapist's head. It reads "The End")

CREDITS ROLL

-BW

The First Shoot

The great comedian, W.C. Fields, is credited with the line, “Never work with children or animals.”

Well... We didn't have animals in our shoot, but we certainly had children. Our first scene involved the youngest member of the cast, my brother, Harry. At the start of the day he seemed extremely happy to take part in this film and was rather excited. When the rest of the cast and crew arrived at my house to start shooting, he got embarrassed and refused to take part. After much crying, he finally agreed to take part under these conditions. No one but me and him be in the room and that he plays with cars instead of soldiers. He's surprisingly good at negotiating for a 3-year-old. This meant that I had to direct this scene on my own and we had to change the story slightly to adjust from toy soldiers to cars. Not too much change, but enough to disrupt us a bit. The first scene took about 1 and a half hours to set up and shoot.
Unfortunately, we have no usable audio for this scene, as all that can be heard is me directing Harry. Give him a break though, he is 3. To rectify this, in editing I'll only use non-diagetic sounds. This will include music and I may dub it over using Foley.

We then moved on to our second scene and arrived at the Hethersett Memorial Playing Fields. Unfortunately, we forgot the football which we originally scripted James laying with. We had to improvise and have him play on some playground equipment. It worked well and I think this was easier to shoot than a scene with a football would've been. The match-on-action was quite easy to account for.
Luckily, James was very cooperative and easy to work with, so we filmed this part very quickly. I think it came out well, though some of his facial expressions were questionable.

The next scene wasn't filmed by me, as I'm in it. So that felt weird.. It took place in a spare room in my house, which we decorated to look like the room of our character, Alex (who is slightly insane at this point). We covered the walls with drawings and sticky notes, hung images on strings from the ceiling, placed a poster of "The Shadower" on the wall and placed the clay figure of "The Shadower" on a shelf with some candles, making a small shrine.
The room looked the part, but unfortunately was very cramped, making it difficult to have discrete lighting. We put the main light outside the open door, this casted shadows and didn't make the room too bright. The ordinary lights in the room made it look orange on the camera, so we opted not to use them. It also proved hard to operate the camera well in the confined space but we tried our best. Because we couldn't move very well, we did have to improvise some shots as the ones we had planned couldn't be used effectively enough.

It was an eventful day but we managed to adapt and push forward. We got all the footage we planned to, plus some other shots which we may slot in if they look good.

We plan to have our second and final shoot soon, at a local pub. We just need to organise it with the owners and then we'll be on our way to completing this film.

-BW

What did I learn from my AS film opening?

Let's begin with the good things which I especially liked. I thought that my use of colour to indicate different themes, such as the dream sequence was quite effective. The purple colouration is something that isn't considered mainstream, yet is effective and gives a good indication that a scene isn't normal. I think I can use a similar technique in "Tempus" to indicate when things are taking place in the past. Using discolouration, I think I can clearly show which scenes take place in the past and which are present.
Though I over-used it a bit in the opening sequence, I liked the focus/defocus. I can see how we could use it in "Tempus", perhaps using a slower focus/ defocus than the one used in this opening, revealing the "Shadower" in the sequence when Alex recalls all the times he's seen the "Shadower".
I found the quick cut-away to an object of importance to be effective. It makes the audience think about the object and what it'll be used for. In "SHOT" (this film opening) I used a very quick one when the phone is ringing. Above anything else, I think it looked nice.

Now, the more important segment "Thing I Didn't Like About My Old Film Opening". From the very beginning, the sound quality isn't great and a lot of wind can be heard. Although a little bit would've been nice to add atmosphere, as it is, there's lots of distortion. It just makes it seem unprofessional. So, to rectify this, in "Tempus", I'm hoping to use a high quality microphone to ensure top audio quality. This should help avoid distortion and make everything much clearer. Audio can really play a big par in film and I think that some people forget this. To improve the audio also, there are very few scenes that take place outside, this should remove most of the wind issues. The scenes that do take place outside also have very little dialogue, which makes things a whole lot easier.
The conversation which that occurs with Riley and Nicholas, which I'll talk about in a second, has unfitting music. It just doesn't work. I felt that this scene lacked something when editing, and it did, so I added music. It's only now when I look back on it that I realise that the music is really unfitting.
The conversation between Riley and Nicholas is really boring. Why? To be honest, the acting isn't very gripping, the camera angles are boring and I think the staging of the scene and location just aren't exciting, there needs to be more going on. Our plan to stop this from happening in "Tempus" is to, first, get a decent enough performance out of our actors and actresses. This way can can hopefully get the audience somewhat emotionally involved. Secondly, we should use lots of relevant camera angle when long exchanges of dialogue are made, if we can get the angles right, we can help the conversation flow and make the who scene more exciting. Thirdly, our big exchange of dialogue is made in a pub. This should fix the boring setting and staging issue. A pub with lots of extras in should be more exiting than my living room and it should give the film a more realistic feel. We've also given the characters motivation to be at the locations, making "Tempus" far more believable than this film opening.

-BW

Tempus - Concept Title #3

This title is a combination of the other two previous ones. Joining the better aspects of both into one super awesome hybrid. However, because it's more complicated, as Rachel said, it still resembles an ident. It I were to remove the tag line then perhaps it'd look more like a title. Otherwise, it looks like we may stick to the first concept title.

-BW

The Teleportation Video FX

Because I'm part of this film project, naturally, there has to be video FX. And not just pointless explosions, which are frankly too easy and relatively boring. I'm talking advanced stuff. Using Adobe After Effects CS6, I'm planning on making a teleportation-like effect for the time-travelling, stalking, "Shadower" guy. This effect probably will only be seen once or twice, but it's the hardest effect in the film and will probably take a few hours to get right.

The first "type" of teleportation I'm looking at, as a basis, is the style of the film "Jumper". I like it because it's fast and quite sci-fi-like, yet rather simple. It's not overdone, hence making it short and sweet. It doesn't draw attention to itself, but because it's not a natural movement it will still be visually pleasing to the audience. It might also make them go "Wow. This is cool". Hopefully. The short action sequence on the right features and is based purely on the teleportation effect from "Jumper". The only major difference between this film effect and the one in our film will be that this effect moves the person from A to B in space, while ours takes the person from A to B in time. Plus I might add a blue-tinge to make it look cool.

The second kind of teleportation involves smoke. It's a bit more mystical, opposed to the sci-fi. To the left is an example of what I'm talking about. Though if I chose this type the smoke wouldn't be as potent. I'd lower the opacity and make it less dark. This different colour would be a lot less devious, unlike the one seen. I think combining some spark effects to this could make it more visually pleasing.

Now, would a standard fade into nothing suffice? Perhaps, I mean it wouldn't be as fun, yet the simplicity of it would be quick and easy. It could also fit a more simplified theme, opposed to magic or sci-fi. However, it wouldn't be as visually pleasing in comparison to the other effects. Also I don't think it's anywhere near as cool...

Alternatively, there could just be no fade at all. He could just disappear and reappear seamlessly. It's a bit lazy, but as you can see from the video on the left, it can be strangely effective.

Yes, this next one is a bit like Star Trek... Ok, it is almost exactly like Star Trek. But I like the style of it. It gives off both a fantasy and science fiction feel. It's very nice to look at too. However, this type of effect could be quite hard and time consuming to produce.

I like how the "slow burn" kind of effects look. They have a degree of detail and grittiness which other effects lack. It gives the audience time to see what's happening and doesn't surprise them when the character disappears, but instead allows them time to watch and enjoy. The downside to this effect is that it's very time-consuming, and it's very easy to see when the editor has made a mistake. One mistake when editing this can spoil the entire illusion of the film.

-BW

Script #2

TEMPUS

DIRECTED BY BW, CM AND RM

WRITTEN BY BW, CM AMD RM

INT. PAN AROUND A CHILD’S PLAYROOM/BEDROOM. THERE IS A GAME OF SOLDIERS GOING ON.

CLOSE UP ON SOME OF THE PLASTIC SOLDIERS.

CUT TO A CHILDS EYES.

PULL BACK SO WE SEE THE WHOLE FACE. THE CHILD IS WEARING A SOLDIERS HAT AND IS UNDERNEATH A TENT SURROUNDED BY A BATTLE.

THE CHILD’S MOTHER CALLS TO HIM.

MOTHER: ALEX DARLING!

HE LOOKS UP BUT DECIDES TO IGNORE WHAT SHE IS SAYING.

MOTHER: ALEX!

CLOSE UP ON THE CHILDS HANDS HE DROPS THE SOLDIERS LEAVING THEM DISCARDED.  CLOSE UP ON FEET. THE DOOR BANGS SHUT.

WITH THE CAMERA STILL ON A CLOSE UP OF THE SOLDIERS A SHADOW PASSES OVER AND A HAND SWOOPS DOWN PICKS UP A SOLDIER AND THEN MOVES THE SOLDIER OUT OF THE SHOT.

SECONDS PASS AND THE SOLDIER IS BACK INTO SHOT BUT IT HAS A NOTE SELLOTAPED ONTO IT.

“I’M HIT”

THE CAMERA PANS ROUND THE ROOM AND SETTLES ON SOME UNSETTLED PIECES OF PAPER THAT ARE STILL FALLING TO THE FLOOR. WE DON’T SEE WHO IS POSTING THE NOTES.

SECONDS LATER THW DOOR CREEKS OPEN AND ALEX RUNS IN ECU OF HIS FEET WALKING IN.

TILT SHOT HE IS HOLDING AN ANY-WAY-UP-CUP FULL OF JUICE. HE STOPS IN FRONT OF THE TENT AND A CLOSE UP OF HIS CONFUSED FACE.

HE DROPS THE CUP CLOSE UP OF HIS HAND AS HE PICKS UP THE SOLDIER.

SHOT REVERSE SHOT. OF SOLDIER THEN CLOSE UP OF FACE THEN THE SOLDIER AGAIN.

CLOSE UP OF SOLDIER, ALEX RIPS THE NOTE OFF AND TAKES IT TO THE BIN.

END OF PART 1.

PART TWO

EXT. A MAN AND A WOMAN ARE SITTING ON A BENCH TALKING. WHILST AN OLDER ALEX IS RUNNING AROUND KICKING A BALL.

POV OF THE BALL BEING KICKED. HAND HELD CAMERA.

THE BALL IS KICKED FAR AWAY. SHOT TO WHERE THE BALL IS.

WHIP PAN AS BOY LOOKS UP TO SEE WHERE HIS PARENTS ARE HE SMILES AND WAVES THEY ARE NOT REGISTERING THAT HE IS THERE. SHOT REVERSE SHOT.

THE BOY SHRUGS HIS SHOULDERS AND RUNS OVER TO THE FOOTBALL. HAND HELD CAMERA OF THE FLOOR AND HIS FEET.

CUT TO ECU ON A MAN’S FOOT ON THE BALL. SHOT REVERSE SHOT. THE BOY STOPS HALF WAY. THE MAN’S FOOT. THE BOY’S WORRIED FACE.

TRACKING SHOT OF THE BOY WALKING TOWARDS THE BALL HE STOPS ABOUT 3ft AWAY FROM THE MAN.

ECU ON THE MAN’S SMILE. ECU ON HIS HAND IN HIS JACKET POCKET. HE PULLS HIS HAND OUT AND IN IT IS THE TOY SOLDIER FROM THE PREVIOUS SCENE.

ECU ON THE TOY SOLDIER IN THE PALM OF THE MAN’S HAND.

THE BOY PICKS IT UP FROM THE HAND.

CLOSE UP OF THE BOY LOOKING AT THE SOLDIER HE LOOKS UP AND STARES.

WHIP PAN THE MAN IS NO LONGER THERE. THE BOY COMPLETELY FORGETS ABOUT THE BALL AND RUNS TO HIS PARENTS.

HE LOOKS DOWN TO HIS PALM.

TILT SHOT HE IS HOLDING SAND. HE LOOKS BACK AT HIS PARENTS. THEY ARE CALLING HIM.

FATHER: ALEX WE’RE GOING. HE RUNS.

END OF PART TWO.

PART THREE

INT. THE BOYS BEDROOM BUT IT IS SEEMINGLY DIFFERENT THE YEARS HAVE CHANGED AND SO HAS THE LITTLE BOY. ALL OVER HIS ROOM ARE PICTURES OF THE FIGURE. PAN AROUND THE ROOM THERE IS EVEN A CLAY FIGURINE. THE ROOM HAS A GLOOMY EERIE FEEL TO IT.

STOP ON THE BOY SITTING AT HIS DESK. GRADUAL CLOSE UP. HE IS SKYPING HIS GIRLFRIEND. THEY’RE ARGUING.

MID CONVERSATION. SHOT REVERSE SHOT ON SCREEN AND ON HIM.

GIRLFRIEND:…YOU’RE NEVER THERE FOR ME I LOOKED LIKE A FOOL TONIGHT.

ALEX: I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO.

GIRLFRIEND: I WANT YOU TO ACT NORMAL, ALEX!

ALEX IS LOOKING AT A PAD ON THE TABLE HIS LATEST DRAWING OF THE FIGURE.

ALEX: HUH!

GIRLFRIEND: YOU’RE NOT EVEN PAYING ATTENTION. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

ALEX: DRAWING.

GIRLFRIEND: NOT ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR PICTURES. ALEX IT’S REALLY CREEPY. YOU’RE SCARING ME AT THE MOMENT. THAT’S IT I CAN’T STAND IT ANYMORE.

ALEX: WHAT? LIL?! BABE!

GIRLFRIEND: SEE YA ALEX!

SHE LOGS OFF.

ALEX: LIL? BABE? AHHHHHH.

SHOT ON HIM HE LOOKS AT THE PICTURE OF THE FIGURE AND STARTS TO RIP IT UP. THE CAMERA PANS ONTO ANOTHER PICTURE ON THE WALL HIS HAND COMES INTO VIEW AS HE RIPS THEM OFF THE WALL AND STARTS TO TEAR THEM UP. HE FINALLY COMES TO THE CLAY FIGURINE AND THROWS IT AGAINST THE WALL. HE FALLS TO THE FLOOR DISTRAUGHT.

BACKWARDS TRACKING SHOT OF THE ROOM AND THE STATE IT IS IN.

CUT TO CLOSE UP OF ALEX. HE JUMPS AS HIS PHONE GOES.

BIRDS EYE VIEW SHOT OF HIM AND THE PHONE. HE PICKS UP THE PHONE.

CLOSE UP OF PHONE. IT’S AN UNKNOWN NUMBER HE OPENS THE TEXT.

IT READS

“TOO BAD MATE”

HE DELETES IT.

ECU ON HIS EYES THEY SHOWS TERROR.

END OF PART THREE.

PART FOUR.

EXT. ALEX IS SITTING ON HIS OWN WAITING FOR SOMEONE. HE GLANCES AT HIS WATCH.

OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT. HIS MATES ARE COMING TOWARDS HIM WITH DRINKS.

THEY SIT DOWN AND HAVE A CHAT. THEY’RE ALL DRINKING THEIR PINTS HE FINISHES AND TURNS TO LOOK AT THE TELEVISION. THERE’S A MATCH ON.

HE LOOKS DOWN AND THE HEAD OF THE CLAY FIGURINE IS SITTING IN HIS EMPTY PINT GLASS.

TILT SHOT. THE MAN IS STANDING THERE SIMLING HE PULLS HIS HOOD OFF AND SMILES ALEX MOVES UP. THE MAN SITS DOWN. HE STARTS TO SPEAK.

MAN: HEY THIS IS A GOOD MATCH.

ALEX: YYYYOUR…………

THE MAN TURNS HIS HEAD AND SMILES.

ECU INTO HIS EYE THE CAMERA TURNS SLIGHTLY.UNTIL WE GET A FULL SHOT OF THE EYE.

END OF PART FOUR.

PART FIVE.

THE EVENTS THAT HAVE ALL HAPPENED REWIND BUT IN THE MAN’S POV.

EVERYTIME WE SEE ALEX IT GOES IN REWIND. BUT THEN SLOWS DOWN TO UNVEIL THE MAN’S FACE.

FINALLY TO THE POINT WHERE THE MAN PICKS UP THE CLAY HEAD PUTS A BLANKET OVER A SLEEPING TEENAGER ALEX AND STEPS BACKWARDS. AS HE STEPS BACKWARDS HE VANISHES.

END OF PART FIVE

PART SIX.

CAMERA PULLS OUT OF SHOT OF THE MANS EYE AND SHAKES HANDS WITH ALEX. HE STANDS UP LOOKS AT THE MATCH ON SCREEN WHILST SOMEONE SCORES THEY ALL SCREAM AND CHEER WHILST ALEX IS LOOKING ABASHED AT THE MAN. POV SHOT OF THE MAN HE LOOKS OUT INTO THE DOOR.

ECU OF HIS FOOT. HE LIFTS IT UP AND STOMPS WITH THAT HE IS GONE.

END OF PART SIX.

 

-CM

Prop List

• SOLDIER’S HAT.
• CHILDREN’S TOYS, BRICKS ETC.
• PLASTIC SOLDIERS.
• A TENT.
• POST-IT-NOTES.
• AN-WAY-UP-CUP.
• BIN.
• A FOOTBALL.
• LAPTOP.
• DRAWINGS OF THE SHADOWER.
• CLAY FIGURINE OF THE SHADOWER.
• A PAD.
• A PEN.
• A BLANKET.

-CM

Tempus - Title Concept 2

I think this looks a little more light hearted than the other title, plus a bit cooler and more advanced. Also I like making witty taglines.
The spinning parts are made to resemble that of a clock, one spinning forwards, the other backwards. This puts forth the idea of moving backwards and forwards in time. Or at least it's supposed to.












-BW