Summer of the 100 Frame shot.

This summer I want to practice making an emotional impact in a short amount of frames, and having a focused clarity around the gear change.

I’m spending a little more time in ‘base camp’ to make sure I know exactly what I want before I touch the computer, which will hopefully make the whole process a little easier. I figured the best way to do this would be to give myself some restrictions (100 frames, no dialogue) and some clear goals. They are:

Real situations and context.

Clarity in emotional change.

Instantly relatable.

Make an impact in 100 frames.

 

x100 Shot: Busy Body Butler

Planning!

THE PITCH: Hotel butler walking down hall delivering a platter with champange, glasses and roses. Pauses before knocking and leans into listen to the door. Moaning noises…pauses…lusty smile, quickly checks hallway then gets on knees to peer in the peephole. Does a take to show the payoff.

WHERE: A luxurious hotel. Stone, brass, wood, carpet and craftmenship should be the tone.  The door being peered through leads to the main suite and is in a long, wide hallway.

WHO: The person being peered upon is the wealthy woman, young and attractive.  Perhaps she’s recently inherited an estate and is now pursuing her love of stablemen.
The  butler (carlton) is 40-45, and has worked for the very prestigious hotel for many years. He is the epitome of the white glove, picture perfect butler, off duty he would be considerably more relaxed, enjoys wearing expensive clothes Deep down Carlton is quite lonely, and a bit starved for normal contact. He finds the guests drama extremely interesting and loves collecting secrets. Carlton loves to dance and act like the hotel is his own home when he’s alone. Occasionally he’s almost caught.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
Carlton wears a black silk shirt, white tie, has black buttons and white gloves. His shoes are black and very shiny. He’s clean shaven and trimmed He is of an extremely portly build and quite rotund.

MOMENT BEFORE:
Carlton has headed up from the bar with a bottle of very expensive champagne and some roses left at the front desk. He knows he is about to start a romantic evening.

WHAT IS CHARACTER THINKING AT THIS POINT?

Must deliver this to 27c, extra cold dom perignon. This is it, time to lets them kno….WAIT! Was that…YES! Sexy noises… I MUST see whats happening.. Is anyone around? What are they….oh there they go…..OOHHH MYYYYY….

WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO SEE?
I would like to see a very stiff character melt into someone hungrily looking through the peephole. There should be a pop and sparkle in their eye There should be a take once they are looking in the peephole that sells what they see has just gotten VERY interesting.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
After a very dignified stop and being about to knock at the door, some very lusty noises reach him, and cause him to pause almost midknock. We see the clear, lusty registration, melting out of the knock pose while checking the hallway is empty and then the hungry scramble to peer though the peephole. A final sting to show the payoff.

 

x100 Shot: Surgical Slipup

Planning!

THE PITCH: Surgeon at work, all white and blue. Glasses slip off head into patient, grabs them a distastefully pulls them out grossed out

WHERE: This is taking place in a surgical operating theater. The primary colors seen are blue and white, with little splashes of red.Behind the surgeon are operating light, and white tile.The patient is laid out flat, and has a blue divider sheet between their head and chest.

WHO: The surgeon is a little tired and ragged after a particularly long procedure. He is a very professional man who rarely makes mistakes and has a dry sense of humor. Deep down The surgeon thinks maybe he’s seen it all and not much fazes him anymore.Most of his movements are mechanical and memorized from years of practice. He cares about his patients although has started just seeing bodies instead of people.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
The surgeon is dressed in blue and white, with surgical gloves, withcoat, facial shield and glasses. The surgeons entire face will be visible and easily seen. He is of an skinny build and quite tall. He’s in his late 30’s, looks quite sharp and is an African american.

MOMENT BEFORE:

He’s at a critical point in the procedure and is concentrating intensely. He’s just begun to sweat and has certain organs/ribs pulled out of the way for the next tricky point. There is a large cavity in the patient.

WHAT IS CHARACTER THINKING AT THIS POINT?

I’ve just about got this, concentrating quite hard.My glasses are a bit loose, I should adjust them as soon as I have this….oh my they’re slipping, ARRGHGHGGHHH! They’re in the patient! I’ve got to get them out ewwwwww….poke around….grab the arm….ughhhh…they’re covered in goooo. Who saw that? Now what?

WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO SEE?
I would like to see the surgeon move from precise and assured to panicking and then settle into a long gross out moment as they pull them out and back on? There should be a second beat at which point the surgeon looks around to see who saw him.
I would like to see the surgeons pacing and proficiency interrupted by something unexpected, and their reaction to it. Hopefully I feel a little bit grossed out alongside the surgeon.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
A close up of intense concentration, assured movements. Looks away, then back, glasses slide off and into the patient. Realization, and rapid scramble to retrieve them and the long gross out examination of them. Guilty look around.

x100 Shot: Tennis Tantrum

Planning!

THE PITCH: Pro tennis player barely loses championship tennis game, builds into a barely contained fury

WHERE: On a professional tennis court, green.
Visible is the net, court, a green wall behind them and some tennis style odds and ends littering the end of the court. Perhaps the ajudicators chair is visible. The crowd is not visible, but heard. Also heard are other games going on with various squeaks and racket impacts.

WHO: The tennis star is 27, in his prime and a bit of a rock star. The tennis star is used to winning and quite confident of cleaning up in this supposedly easy match. He doesn’t react well when things don’t go well and has a history for throwing fits during his occasional losses.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
He is rocking out short shorts with a primary color, and a headband/wristbands. He’s tall and thin, and considered handsome. Blonde hair. Beard.

MOMENT BEFORE:

This is the qualifying match before a big championship.  He was suprised with a much harder game than expected and
even fell behind. However, he fought his way back and eveything depends on this next shot. If he is sucessful. He
wins, if not, he loses and is eliminated from the tourneyment.

WHAT IS CHARACTER THINKING AT THIS POINT?

I can’t fucking believe it’s gotten this close, I just have to hit this for game point and NNOOOOOOOOOO, out of
boundsss! I CAN’T…I…NO….I…..ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGgggghhhh…..

WHAT WOULD I LIKE TO SEE?
I would like to see the tail end, or mid point of some very physical action, register the failure on their face and
the BUILD into some truly monumental anger. The registration should be mostly within a held pose and the reaction be
a slow build using his entire body as he walks off the court.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
A big physical action, a clear registration and then enormous fury, barely contained that is built up with the entire body.

 

Next Steps?

I’ve got all the building blocks in place. Next step is finishing up shooting reference for all the shots, and then start blocking in my golden poses. I’ve taken on three shots at once so I hop between them as I work to keep my eye a little fresher and to better emulate a real production environment. In short, all that’s left is to start putting time, passion and thought behind these. Once the blocking pass is done on them all, I’ll post again!