Inspirations: Bout's Cinematography

There is a film in particular I will be drawing on for inspiration in design the look of 'Bout'.

John Huston's 1972 Fat City has some excellent understated but effective cinematography. The film too  is about a boxer who is finding life tough. Shot by Conrad Hall the film makes effective use of natural light, most notably in a wide shot of a bar whereby the camera, sitting at the back of the bar looking forward to the barely open windows, sees almost just the outlines of everything in the bar. This creates an excellent 'down in the dumps' type mood that I would love to capture for Bout. Further on through the scene in the bar, while the main character of the film, Stacey Keach's Billy, is talking to Susan Tyrrell's alcoholic bar fly Oma the 'lack of light' and presence of shading as well as shadow really help to emphasise the hopelessness of the situation of the characters which is something I really want to harness. I want to use this technique to show the bleak situation of Bouts' main character, the reason for his frustration.

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Preview of Initial Storyboards for 'Bout'

Bout: Cinematography

Ben has written a script from the 'Observe Someone' idea and now we have begun discussing the look and lighting of the film.
The film follows a boxer who has been kicked of the boxing 'circuit' and is finding hard to live life without boxing. He becomes frustrated in social situations and this is the emotion we are trying to portray.
Ben has told me he would like a moody, almost noir-ish look for the film, with which I agreed as it would suit the emotion of frustration. I thought that using shadows within the frame to try and fragment the boxers face and body, making him be read as conflicted, and to try and isolate him with in the frame, so that he would look alone.

I have begun drawing initial storyboards and impressions of shots that I think will help Ben achieve his goal of portraying the emotion of frustration. My intention is then to take them to Ben so we can sit down together and he can tell me what he likes, if there is anything he would like to change or to have and to work towards having a set of shots that he and I are happy with for the final film.

2 Minute Film: Idea

For the two minute film, I have come with an idea about a boxer who has been kicked off 'the circuit' and is now finding it hard to do something else with his life.
This idea came from the 'Observe Someone' task. I observed a man in old jogging gear holding a leather gym bag. The man was still and meditative. I thought he must be wondering what he was going to do (with his life) now that he cant box anymore. He looked pent up inside as if he was itching to box. I wanted to turn this idea into the two minute film whereby we would see the man in the early days of him not boxing anymore. The emotion I am trying to portray in this primarily is frustration. Frustration first at the fact that he cant box anymore, and thats all he wants to do, but also at the fact that he's not very good at much else; not good at any other job, with the opposite sex or just living a life that doesn't contain boxing.
As Ben Wilson took directorial charge for the two minute film it made sense to us in the group that he should take the idea and script it.

Killing Them Softly

Andrew Dominik's 'Killing Them Softly', based on George V Higgins' 1974 novel 'Cogan's Trade', tells the events of an illegal poker robbery and the subsequent aftermath within the gangster underworld. The film pays a good tribute to Higgin's writing style, whereby dialogue heavy scenes are presented to the reader/viewer and it is up to the audience to fish for the plot. Much of the film consists of these dialogue scenes, almost vignettes, of talk between mob men, hit men and the rest of the criminal world. The direction through these parts is superb, recalling the cool reserved direction of the 1970s just as much as some of the film's cars do. The film also contains set pieces which are quite a contrast to the dialogue scenes. A drive-by shooting, night time beat-up and car explosion are much less reserved, with slow-mo glass shatter, music and close-up shaky camera,  and seem almost over eager. Surely action and violence of this sort speaks for itself and would even be more penetrating if played in the reserved (more realistic?) fashion. Instead, these scenes can feel over egged in comparison to a much better assassination scene which is much more powerful for having reserved direction. However, this is not to say that Killing is not an extremely enjoyable crime flick that in fact I am looking forward to seeing again. Part of this is due to the well played dialogue scenes but also of the performances by Brad Pitt as hitman Jackie Cogan, Richard Jenkins as suited mob man and Scoot McNairy as out of his depth hoodlum Frankie.
However, Dominik doesnt just present us with the crime plot, but uses the world of the New Orleans gangsters to stand as microcosm representing the 'system' with the United States. Dominik does this through background radio and television commentary of the Bush Obama presidential race. How effective this mode of commentary injection is I am skeptical, surly better to have the metaphor better blended with all of films elements rather than just, effectively, a voice over. This is perhaps hard considering Higgins' novels consist heavily of talk. Perhaps if Dominick really wanted to get this point across maybe he should of created a new story and script to more effectively deliver the message, rather than playing the radio over the top and changing the location from Boston to New Orleans. Not to say that radio and location change doesn't work, it does, and the mob world of the film I think is great to watch as the metaphor they represent, but I just feel the radio does stick out from the film, so much so that you could probably remove it and be left with a great crime film.