Blue ruin- a suspense film

I saw this film last week, it is directed by Jeremy Saulnier. The story is a mysterious outsider's quiet life is turned upside down when he returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of vengeance. Proving himself an amateur assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family.

There is a scene without dialog, just the actor's action with some music. I like it and it related to my project. Using action for storytelling is a good way to enhance the emotion of the film. I am going to design a scene like this, just using actions for the story. However, there is some disadvantage of this film. The rhythm of this film is slow, and the connections between the people is not clear enough.

The color of this film is amazing. There are some scenes using blue as the background, this color can improve the atmosphere of the tense, but I don't know how to shoot the film in blue color.

So the film is a good example from the color and some scenes, but the story should make it more clear and the guns and blood are not suitable for students' work. It is just providing some idea of my final film, I need more focus on my script.

After reading the book- the Film director's intuition

It is written by Judith Weston, I just read Chapter 10: Question everything. There are some questions to ask about the characters. He said :"Every time you ask one of these or any other questions about the character, ask it also about yourself."

I pick up some of the questions which relating to my work. Like : Look for ways that he makes mistakes. I use it in my practice: 'two thieves', I ask Roy for look for ways that he makes mistakes to show his careless. He shows me some actions to make mistakes, like use tools to knock the box, and drink water when he enters the room. 

The second one is how is the character different at the end of the script (or scene) than at the beginning? I ask Roy about it in my second practice :'a drop water', he told me he became hopeless about the broken water-tap because he run out of his strength for fixing it. Then I realize the emotion change from the beginning and the end.

I have not finished this book yet, so I need find more intuition for directors directing actors.

The double- a suspense film

This week I go to Broadway to watch 'The double', it is directed by Richard Ayoade,it tells a story about Simon is a timid man, scratching out an isolated existence in an indifferent world. He is overlooked at work, scorned by his mother, and ignored by the woman of his dreams. He feels powerless to change any of these things. The arrival of a new co-worker, James, serves to upset the balance. James is both Simons exact physical double and his opposite - confident, charismatic and good with women. To Simons horror, James slowly starts taking over his life.

I find it is interesting because it includes body language and suspense. For body language, I remember there is a scene in a bar, Simon and James are talking and their face are different. Simon and James is the same person with same face but different character, Simon shows his powerless by his emotions, but for James his emotion is very confident.

Here are the comparison between Simon and James' emotions. The first is Simon, his finger is moving to show his powerless, and his face is nervous.

The second is James, there is a little contempt on his face, and his tone is strong to show his confident.

For suspense, this film use fast rhythm violin to show the film rhythm, I think it is useful and powerful to show suspense. Also, use two character in one scene is an effective way.

To conclude, it is a useful film for my project with body language, and the use of music to enhance suspense.

The book: Understanding Body Language

I finish this book, and I find some chapters are useful for my project.

The first one I have mentioned in the formal journal, so I am going to the second one. It is about the hand signals:

clenched hands: when speaking, clenched hands indicate that what is being talked about is frustrating, or was a painful experience.

hiding the thumbs inside the fist: difficulty in analyzing a problem.

rubbing the hands together: quick rubbing indicates a pleasurable sense of satisfaction or expectation, while slow rubbing or wringing of the hands reveals that a 'con' is about to be perpetrated.

hands pressed together, as if in prayer: demonstrates a desire to persuade, or underline a point gently but firmly.

The third one is how to spot a liar. The nervous system is the most important. A dry mouth, produced by fear, will cause the liar to lick his or her lips more often- and perhaps swallow nervously. There may be more throat-clearing than usual too. Breathing may become more uneven- another stress reaction which is easily observed. Meantime, the feet and legs are the most difficult parts of your body to control consciously. When someone chooses to lie during a conversation, he or she will often suddenly cross arms or legs simultaneously. It suggests advance self-defense against challenge.And tell-tale foot signals may include feet pointing towards the exit- revealing a desire to escape the situation - or a lot of foot tapping or jabbing movements in the air, meaning that the person wants to get out.

To conclude, it is a very useful book for body language, and I have learn the knowledge of the eyes, the hands and how to spot a liar by watching the body languages. Also I want create a liar in my film, so this knowledge is useful for that character and make me control it.

a drop water- second practice.

This is the second practice, I use one actor and try to find his respond to a sound. So I decide to make him respond to a broken water-tap.

Comparing the two practice, I improve my directing skills. In the first practice, I spoke with two actors,so that I needed to understand their thoughts about the characters. However, in the second practice, I just spoke with one actor, it is easier to understand his thoughts.

As for the camera, in the first practice, I put the camera behind the box so that I can see the two actors' face and emotions, and I use close-up shots on the main actor. In the second practice, I use two different angles to show the actor's respond to the broken water-tap. In the end I use blur to show the actor is helpless with the broken water-tap.

To conclude, it is a useful way to practice. I learn how to direct the scenario, how to communicate with actor. The way I speak to my actors is from the book called <The film director's intuition>, there is a chapter about question everything. I speak with Roy and Terry in my first practice, they tell me about how they think of their character. So I create two thieves with different character. So I use the knowledge in my directing actors. It is useful.

The Book Thief- a warm film.

I go to Broadway Cinema today to watch 'The Book Thief'. It is directed by Brian Percival, it is adapted by a novel with same name. It tells a story about a spirited and courageous young girl who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a foster family in World War II Germany.

As for the actors' acting, i have to say it is great! The little girl is fully acted the character, and she shows a brave and strong girl.Her body language is well, too.There is a scene when max got sick, she slipped into the house for stealing books. She was focusing on every details so that the host couldn't find her. I am moved by the relationship and acting of the girl and her papa. I also like the 'papa' character, his warm and smile can add warm to the film, and he loves his wife and the adopted girl. His excellent play of accordion is another element to add his up.

The music, is very strong for creating the character's emotions. It use soft music for the family getting together and the girl and boy, use tension music for the police searching the basement.

To conclude, it is a very emotional film and the girl's acting is very professional. By the way, it is interesting some people watching this film and crying, the audiences are moved by the acting as well.

a practice in Broadway cinema.

The script is written by Roger, we use 4 lights to create the scene. We use two lights for the cinema screen to reflect the light. And we use one light nearby the actors, use reflector to reflect.

Meanwhile, we use 3 cameras to shoot this scene, from 3 different angles, and use two close-up shots, and one mid shot.

The actors acting is brilliant, and we talk with them, tell them the story, and they give us a outline of the actor, so what we can do is communicate with actors and let actors tell us what the character is.

To conclude, it is a useful practice no matter in setting lights or shooting or editing. I know how to set lights in a room now.