Sounds of Violence

I've studied a number of violent scenes in films, paying close attention to the foley effects and the way in which they add or detract from the drama for inspiration in our own piece.

Edward Norton on another violent rampage in American History X (1998), this infamous curb stomp scene is made that much more painful by the amplified sound of the victims teeth scraping against the pavement before his foot is brought down.

Speaking of history, this scene in which Viggo Mortensen's character inverts another mans face in David Croneberg's A History of Violence (2005) features  very convincing 'crunching' effects to accompany the ruining of his nose.

Both of the above films feature complex characters that commit extreme acts of brutality and yet the audience is led to sympathise with them at some point or another, something that we will also try to convey in our film.

Speaking of Viggo Mortensen, here he is once again engaged in mortal kombat for David Kronenberg in Eastern Promises (2007). Though the some of the sound effects are a little 'choppy' and sound overly familiar, this is still one of the most gripping struggles in recent cinema. With Mortensen's lack of clothing rendering him extremely vulnerable, the audience sympathises with his desperate situation against the two hit-men, however it falls short of the primal agression displayed by Oliver Reed and Alan Webb in their nude fire-side wrestle in Women In Love (1969).

This powerful scene from This is England (2006) relies on a more nuanced approach in the sound design grounded in realism. The blows themselves are not exaggerated and it is the weight of the drama and Stephen Graham's performance underpinned by Einaudi's haunting score that makes the scene so poignant.

I'm already a big fan of Ludovico Einaudi's elegant piano works which are often minimalistic yet extremely emotive.  I'm sure his influence will be evident in our films score to some extent.

Back to the ultra violence now with another head stomping scene courtesy of Ryan Gosling in Drive (2011). 

The skull buggery is preceded by a tender kiss between Gosling and Mulligan which makes the violence all the more gruesome by contrast. I counted seventeen stomps which is tenacious to say the least, but I think it had the desired result. The stomps become progressively more gooey with each footfall even though the inflicted damage is off-screen until a shot reveals Gosling's foot standing where the would-be assassins head used to reside. 

Another example of someones head being pounded into the concrete can be found in Sin City (2005), when Haritgan gives that Yellow Bastard a deserving end. Whilst director Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's comics are both renowned for their exaggerated style, Hartigan observes 'after a while all i'm doing is pounding wet chunks of bone into the floorboards', which is certainly evidenced in the sound design, again with a progression in the 'splatting'. 

Sin City is one of several comic-book adaptations I've studied featuring a more stylised action sequence with more in depth fight choreography.

Although this is a far-cry from the kind of fight we will portray in our film, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) still features a visceral one sided beat-down courtesy of Tom Hardy's formidable Bane. There is a good range of pitches to the blows inflicted and you really get the impression that no bone is left untouched, especially when hearing it for the first time in IMAX screens. The crunching of bone when he finally 'breaks the bat' is very convincing, even if the speedy recovery of Bruce Wayne's shattered vertebrae is not.

True to the panels of the original comic, this fight scene from the opening of Zack Snyder's Watchmen (2009) adaptation features notable exaggeration in the characters physical capabilities, and the accompanying sound effects are no exception. Snyder's trademark use of slow-motion is evident here and these blows in particular stand out. Every punch thrown is carried by an underlying 'swoosh' which lends itself to the comic styling.

The Bourne trilogy is often praised for grounding the action genre in gritty realism, however this fight scene is still laced with 'swooshes' accentuating each swing and some fairly standard thuds. It does not detract from the intensity of the action between these two trained killers though and effectively conveys their deadly capabilities.

I'm not sure if you've been watching every example clip posted here, but this next entry demands your undivided attention. Like our film the scene involves a conflict between two males whilst a woman tries  to intervene. If I were director I would endeavour to film a shot for shot remake of the following fight for our own short drama.

A prime example of the choppy, over the top foley laden in almost all martial arts films, Undefeatable (1993) boasts some of the most pants-wetting war cries ever recorded, with a ferocious mullet on display to further bolster Sting-rays intimidating presence. I can only dream that we're capable of coaching a similar performance from our actors.

Fight Club and Fighting Foley

I've posted on just about everything except sound up until now, so its time to dive in. This beat-down on Jared Leto has been largely inspiration on the visualisation of the fight in our film, we also want it to be a one sided fight with Dean mounting Tom and battering away at his facey bits, with some point of view shots showing Dean's rage and Toms helplessness. If we can get our actor to look even half as brutalised as Jared Leto's 'beautiful' face we'll consider it a job well done.

What makes the brawls in David Fincher's Fight Club (1999) stand out so much are the visceral sounds made by each blow of the fist, which brings a whole new dynamic of realism that had seldom been achieved with the previous stock libraries that have become so familiar. 'Realism' is perhaps a little inaccurate as sound in film will always be exaggerated in some capacity for dramatic effect, and real punches seldom make the pounding thud that films have accustomed us to, but the aim of sound designers is to get under the audiences skin, to make these impact sounds resonate to the point they can be felt.

This is especially evident in Fight Club and Ren Klyce, Malcolm Fife and John Roesch eschewed the generic fighting effects in favour of creating a diverse library of bone crunching blows that they could orchestrate into a unique symphony of pain for each individual fight.

http://filmsound.org/studiosound/pp_fightclub.html

The above article details some of the unorthodox foley methods employed to get the unique sounds, such as 'Shattering chicken carcasses with baseball bats, cracking walnuts inside them, smacking around slabs of meat with pigs' feet, and then processing them... We've done it all, and as a result of this project our 'punch' library has become quite extensive.' 

I look forward to adopting a similar approach in my pursuit of foley effects, bludgeoning melons and chickens with blunt objects should be extremely fun, though it will pain me to waste food like that.

The article also details the problems encountered when bringing together the separate elements of foley, atmosphere and score tracks that may have worked well individually, but do not mesh well together. Whether the elements are all fighting for the same frequency spaces or the individuals responsible for their creation had differing visions, it is a common problem encountered on collaborative films that is often realised to late to rectify. As I'm responsible for all of these factors I will fortunately be able to experiment with what works together and what doesn't from the offset and should be able to amend anything that sounds amiss long before the final edit.

In his Sound Effects Bible Ric Viers offers several suggestions for creating a punching sound, from hitting items covered in leather with baseball bats to the more traditional meat route. He says 'Personally. I like to start with a leather impact and sweeten it with some vegetable splats to help emphasise the fleshy tone of the punch. you can also layer one breaks and other impacts underneath the punch.' (p. 255) In my previous experience in sound design I have found that layering several sounds together produces the most effective results, spanning the frequency range for a full sounding effect.

Viers also details how a body fall can be recreated using a leather jacket stuffed with a pillow and some phone books, which is something I will experiment with also. 

Viers, R. (2008) The Sound Effects Bible, California: Michael Wiese Productions

Some more Blade Runner scenes... just because

Fake Blood/Knuckle Prosthesis

On sunday we had a practice shoot to determine whether or not the footage would work in reverse. We also began to experiment with fake blood to see how it would look on camera. We mixed food colouring with strawberry sauce for a thick, sticky consistency that was suitably dark in the black and white format we were using.

We will need to use a large amount for the sink shot as it will be rapidly washed away.

I also began to mould some swollen and shredded knuckles out of liquid latex.

Chiaroscuro influence on Conceptualisation/Pre-production

As we are shooting in black and white we plan to use chiaroscuro lighting to convey the emotional progression of the character Dean as his suspicions and doubts begin to take root in the anger that will consume him. In the middle act Dean follows Jenny, fearing he is being lied to. As an exterior scene triggered by deception and suspicions this gives us the opportunity to include some dynamic shots reminiscent of iconic noir cinema whilst retaining a more contemporary aesthetic in realism. Whilst location scouting we sought out places that would present us with the opportunity to capture shots with a voyeuristic quality that would help offer the audience an insight into Deans perspective as he stalks his girlfriend, as well as locations that provide a degree of concealment for the characters with dramatic changes in lighting.

The First location we confirmed was an underpass, something everyone already had in mind, the particular one we found had minimal lighting with only a few patches at intervals. Though I'm well aware we're far from the first students to frame a Sheffield underpass before a lens the seedy connotations associated with it fits the tone of the scene well.

We shot some test footage to practice a camera movement that would swing between the two characters, as one stepped into the light the others face would remain shrouded in shadow whilst the light from the end of the tunnel silhouettes them from behind.

The tunnel shots are reminiscent of the iconic sewer sequence from The Third Man (1949) which has been largely influential on how I imagined the film to look, and it lends an air of claustrophobic menace representative of the inescapable path of thoughts driving dean further into his insecure suspicions.

This underpass clip from Harry Brown (2009) creates an eerie tension through the lack of light and the unknown threat concealed in the darkness.

The second location for the stalking scene was a high vantage point on top of a car park, where the camera will be placed, almost as if in surveillance of the characters down below. Momentarily this will take the audience out of the subjective viewpoint of Dean and turn them into the voyeur, which in itself should lend a further insight into his obsessive observations.

It is at this point when Deans fears are confirmed when Jenny meets Tom outside a restaurant. The camera positioning will allow us to show the two meeting whilst Dean lurks around the corner, before cutting to a close up of his reaction. The meeting point is a Chinese restaurant called Won Ting which is not accidental, and is a nod to the noir films that have been influential on the development. Chinatown has been used as the seedy backdrop of the criminal underworld in Bladerunner (1982) and unsurprisingly; Chinatown (1974), a milling hub for lowlifes illuminated in neon.

The protagonists in these films are both familiar with this environment and it is where they will eventually have to take their own personal course of action to deal with the crime they are solving that will force them 'to define his own concept of morality and justice' (Cawelti, 43), just as Dean will soon discover.

I've already shot from this location before, and helped a friend on a photography project which coincidentally was also an homage to Blade Runner and the original Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Posing as replicants

The use of shadow to convey characters doubts and uncertainties in Blade Runner is something that would work well in our film and I imagine Dean slipping further and further into darkness as his anger consumes him.  The same interior projection into the exterior is used in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), as previously mentioned, which would represent Deans loss of control and surrendering of his emotions when he beats Tom into a bloody pulp.

I had a friend draw a storyboard based on a modest stick-man outline I'd scrawled, with emphasis on the lighting, with Jenny remaining in the light whilst Dean and Tom roll into the Darkness.

Deans emotional evolution throughout the piece follows the framework of what I will call the Jedi Principle, or theory of the Dark Side. His fears lead him to anger/hatred which results in the suffering of Tom and Jenny and he himself succumbs to his darkness. It sounds a lot better when Yoda explains it...

Reference:

Cawelti, J. G. (1977) Adventure, Mystery, and Romance, Chicago: Chicago University Press. P.43

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro found its origins in the Renaissance period and used strong contrasts between dark and light in its compositions. The use of light can draw attention to certain details or its lack thereof can conceal them entirely, requiring a closer examination of what is being represented. The connotations between light and life, and death, darkness and the unknown have long been associated with one another, and this presence has been explored and enhanced through the use of chiaroscuro by many artists,  notably Caravaggio.

St. Jerome

Renowned for his unorthodox realism and exaggerated chiaroscuro (which became known as Tenebrism),  Caravaggio lived a volatile life and was often arrested for brawling. After one of these brawls resulted in him killing someone, a death warrant was placed on his head and he fled Rome.

His later works exhibit his anxieties surrounding the possibility of his impending death, incorporating  self-portraits into biblical tableus that feature depictions of decapitation shrouded in shadow.

Judith Beheading Holofernes

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

David with the Head of Goliath

Chiaroscuro found continued use with the advent of photography and later cinema. Many have observed the inextricable relationship between photography and death. Both being representative of an eternal stasis, photography captures an image of a frozen moment in time, gone forever, just as in death the subjects time is now past and they are forever condemned to stillness.

In classic cinema the use of shadow would accentuate all of the qualities inherent in noir storytelling; the deception and danger that is concealed from the vulnerable protagonist through a web of seduction and lies that threatens to consume him is perfectly represented by the connotations between shadows and that which is unknown.

Cinematographers such as Robert Krasker and John Alton capitalised on the use of Chiaroscuro to enhance the mystery surrounding characters and create a brooding atmosphere typical of post-war era films that borrows heavily from German Expressionism.

The most prominent film of this movement is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) which succeeds in projecting the subjective interior of a character into the exterior. The characters are surrounded by jagged shadows throughout which later come to greater prominence with their knife-like resemblance which reflects Cesare's intentions of killing.

Robert Krasker's cinematography in Carol Reeds noir thriller The Third Man (1949) casts heavy shadows from buildings to counter the dramatic lighting and envelope the characters into the unknown, favouring low angles to aid concealment. 

 The atmosphere created by the combination of harsh lighting and distorted camera angles can perhaps be best evidenced in the climatic chase through the sewers of Vienna as Orson Welles' character Harry Lime is pursued by the police. This youtube clip has inexplicably replaced the iconic score with 'Ich Will' by German industrial-metal band Rammstein, which though perplexing and perhaps even seen as defilement for some, the inclusion of Rammstein can only ever improve something in my opinion. (Perhaps the user was making a tenuous connection between Austrian sewers and German Metallers? I'm at a bit of a loss...) 

Ridley Scott's Neo-noir masterpiece Bladerunner (1982) casts its characters in shadow from artificial lights usually positioned behind them to reflect their doubts over the nature of their reality, and whether or not they are artificial 'replicants'. 

(I didn't mean to bombard this many images but there is just to much awesomeness concerning this film and omission proved too difficult)

When Rachel is introduced she is illuminated by the sun, however her face becomes cloaked in shadow when she is being tested as she begins to doubt whether or not she is really alive. Deckard is often cast in a similar light (or lack of) as his status as a possible replicant remains ambiguous throughout the film and is subject to interpretation. (There are several different cuts of the film, some which confirm his being a replicant and others which affirm his humanity)

The Rules of Attraction

Our first port of call research-wise was the use of reverse footage as this would be the most difficult aspect of production to achieve well. Aside from music videos the first thing I recalled was Roger Avary's 'The Rules of Attraction' (2002). Following the relationships between three college students, their individual narrative will run its discourse up until a point before their actions are rewinded, taking them back to the central social hub (in all cases a party), where a different character will be introduced and their actions followed.

This is used several times throughout the film and is and interestingly unique way to intertwine individual character arcs within the narrative.

full introduction clip but low quality

Screenplay

Obviously blogger isn't the ideal format for screenplays but you get the gist..

A Short Story In Brutality

By

Robin Booker

and

Jordan Deakin

INT. WHITE, CLEAN BATHROOM. 20:00. PRESENT DAY.

In the cold bathroom time runs backwards as Dean,(20)

strong, calm and collected, finishes washing his hands. He

stares down methodically rubbing away a drop of blood that

fell, forming a ring around his ring finger.

Off screen a jewelery box snaps shut.

Before that he was washing even more blood from his hands,

the water, taps and sink are stained red with it. He scrubs

and scrubs as in reverse more and more blood appears.

JENNY (O.S.)

I’m really sorry, I have to go.

DEAN (O.S.)

Go? Why?

JENNY (O.S.)

That was my mum. Shes not well, I’m

sorry.

DEAN (O.S.)

No I get it.

Time keeps revering, the tap turns of, hes hands are

drenched. He pauses before backwards he leaves the bathroom,

clean and white once again.

INT. SIMPLE LOOKING LIVING ROOM. REVERSE CONT.

In the living room pretty boy Tom holds his face, blood

dripping through his hands. Next to him sits Jenny beautiful

despite the tears, the cause of the damage.

DEAN (O.S.)

We’re ok though right?

JENNY (O.S.)

Of course.

DEAN (O.S.)

Good I’m glad we’re back on track.

JENNY (O.S.)

Yeah.

Off screen Jenny’s phone goes off again.

The beating Tom got starts to unfold backwards on screen.

Dean is pounding on his face, pinning him to the sofa while

Jenny screams and claws at his shoulder.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 2.

JENNY (O.S.)

I really have to go.

DEAN (O.S.)

Sure.

Off screen a door opens.

DEAN (O.S.)

I do love you.

JENNY (O.S.)

Yeah you too. Goodnight.

DEAN (O.S.)

Night.

Dean steps back from Tom who is shouting, putting his hands

up defensively, as Dean’s intrusion is reversed.

The door closes. This syncs with the door closing behind

Dean as time runs backwards. The unsuspecting Tom and Jenny

are on the sofa pulling each others clothes off.

Dean watches through the window.

EXT. STREETS OF SHEFFIELD. REVERSE CONT.

In reverse Dean stalks Jenny and Tom through the streets,

back to the point they meet in a long tunnel. He followed

her all the way from his house as time runs backwards he is

visible, watching, waiting.

Time goes all the way back to him staring at her phone in

the doorway, the text reads "see you in 5, the tunnel."

TOM (O.S.)

Who the fuck are you?

JENNY (O.S.)

Dean, its not what it looks like.

TOM (O.S.)

Get the fuck out of my house!

Dean’s hand is behind his back as he waves Jenny goodbye. As

the hug at the door, his lips say "I love you" as he takes

the phone from her pocket.

Off screen the fight has begun, Tom and Jenny scream, the

sound of Dean’s fists hitting Toms face are louder than the

any cry.

3.

INT. SMALL KITCHEN/ DOORWAY. REVERSE CONT.

Backwards Jenny’s lips read that she has to go. They stand

and talk in reverse in the kitchen, her one word replies are

clear even when you can’t hear them. Each one lands like the

punches on the sound track.

Backwards Dean moves to the living room where he is sat in

comfort. Jenny is already in the doorway to the kitchen

ready to leave, telling him lies.

The sounds of beatings stop as she leaves the room, phone to

ear, in the kitchen for privacy. Water runs, loud.

Sat by himself Dean brings a red jewelery box out of his

packet, it snaps open. The ring is beautiful, he smiles at

it. Its going to solve all of their problems.

SFX

One aspect to be considered is creating convincing special effects make-up for the beaten and bloody Tom and for Deans knuckles. In my A-level film class we made a zombie film and had to come up with similar wounds and fake-blood formulas. The most common would be the food colouring and syrup mixture which creates a realistic consistency, however when it dries the colour is too bright, but this should not be a problem as it will be freshly applied for shooting our scene. Another involves petroleum jelly (such as vaseline), cocoa powder and colouring for crustier wounds.

To create the wounds themselves I sculpted them using layers of liquid latex which was then blended in with make-up.

In the coming days I will practice making swollen and shredded knuckles for the sink shot and when I find a willing volunteer; extreme facial damage.

Drop

Reversing footage is a technique most commonly used in music videos. Of the many videos out there my favourite by far is Spike Jonze's video for The Pharcyde's 'Drop'. This video takes the technique one step further in that the rappers learnt to mime the lyrics backwards and the movement in the video was all choreographed in reverse so that the progression in the video appears conventional when the footage is played backwards.

One Page Outline

Crew: Robin Booker (producer) Jordan Deakin (director) Joe Butterworth (cinematography) Joel Danby-Irons (sound) Amy Jackson (post production) Christi Elkins (art direction)

Working title: A Short Story in Brutality

Film Genre: Drama

Length: 2 minutes

Target Audience: 15+

Synopsis: Dean, a young man has grown suspicious of his girlfriend, Jenny, and fears that she is cheating on him. After walking her to the train station he hangs around to see if his doubts are true. He stalks her as she as she meets her lover, Tom, and follows them back to his apartment. After waiting outside for what seems an eternity for Dean he finally enters Tom’s home where his suspicions are confirmed. He savagely beats Tom in a fit of rage and frustration while Jenny can do no more than sit and watch in horror. After the attack Dean calmly steps up and begins washing the blood off his hands in the sink as if cleaning away his guilt.

Visual Style: this film is like no other dramas of its kind as the whole story is told in reverse, and we see Deans story unfold backwards. As the sound is non-sync then this is possible. The overall tone of the score should be atmospheric. The film will be converted to black and white in post production in a nod to classic film noir productions.



What perhaps isn't made fully clear here is our intention of visually telling the narrative in reverse whilst the sound will be sequentially linear creating a striking contrast between what is seen and what is heard. The conversion to black and white will further our experimentation with contrast, focusing on the use of light and dark and the prominence of shadow through the use of chiaroscuro that was integral to the noir films of the forties. We have also considered using a chroma-key effect for a single injection of colour to highlight the blood spilled and a gift-box containing a ring. Reversing the footage will inevitably carry complications, especially with continuity regarding the injuries sustained from the fight. On saturday we will have a practice shoot as a 'proof of concept' to make sure that the idea can be executed without drastic complications.

First Day Back + Character Study + Group Formation

This year  I hope to frequent my blog a great deal more than I did last semester and show a more intricate development of the ideas that formulate in my grey matter as production progresses.

Having missed the first lesson owing to being in Denmark at the time, I returned to find the class had prepared character studies and invented a history of a stranger they had observed. The ideas the others came up with were quite remarkable given the mundane circumstances of their encounters with their characters, and it was a welcome reminder of the ease in which inspiration can be found everywhere you look. I recalled a busker in Copenhagen whom I began to formulate my own backstory for.

Standing on a bridge with a saxophone wailing sultry blue-note jazz that resonated over several blocks is where our character was to be found. Slightly unkempt in appearance, with stubble that betrays his disregard for the use of a razor, and comb-shy matted hair that didn't quite reach his shoulders. I imagined him to have at one time been one of the up and coming greats in the Danish jazz scene. Somewhere along the way however the dark side of temptation that inevitably comes with success began to take hold as he developed a habit for the old peruvian marching powder and began to alienate those around him. His over-indulgence became his downfall. Now disgraced among his band-mates and peers in the scene, with nothing left but his sax, he takes to the streets to express his sorrows and regrets as one is want to do through the medium of jazz.

This does however seem somewhat of a cliché, so much so that it has even been used in The Simpsons,

so I began formulating another idea that the man was a mute, and that he found his voice through his saxophone.

Also in the session we watched several clips from films where emotion is conveyed through alternative means than dialogue. Focusing on body language is one of the more obvious techniques, however the most effective of the clips we were shown for me was the use of split-screen in (500) Days of Summer to present the characters expectations against the reality of what happened. In doing this Mark Webb generates audience sympathy with the character as it is a very relatable scenario that everyone will have experienced in some way or another and come out of it disappointed because their fantasies were never made manifest.

We also formed our groups and assigned roles for our films. Once again I'm working with Christy, Joe and Jordan with whom I made the documentary with last semester. We collaborated well however the biggest issue  with our last project was our lack of organisation which can be attributed to our non-existant producer role. This time however Robin has taken that position and has risen to the occasion with a very promising start, already producing a manageable schedule for the next 6 weeks  that will leave plenty of room to amend any complications that will arise along the way. I have taken on the role of sound, which I have done on virtually every film I've made so far which I'm fine with as I enjoy it a great deal and feel more comfortable than I would in any other position. I would also like to have a hand in the art-direction to an extent as this is another area of interest that I would like to explore further in practice. I look forward to commencing this module and working on the films.