Script.
Daydreaming
draft
ART
DIRECTION NOTES IN PURPLE.
3
BLACK
SCREEN
We
hear the sound of children screaming and laughing echoing
louder
until it cuts out and we see the main character.
INT.
CANTEEN. LATE AFTERNOON
A
male cleaner, STUART (39), stocky and gruff, looks at the
camera
bemused and yet unsurprised as he leans
lackadaisically
on the mop in his hand. A wide shot shows
Stuart
standing in the middle of an extremely messy school
cafeteria,
in the aftermath of what looks like a food fight.
The
camera tracks along the tables and floors showing the
extent
of the mess. A string of spaghetti dangles from the
ceiling,
juice cartons, orange peel, yogurt pots are
everywhere.
Art
direction.
Stuart
is dressed in a boiler suit, it has various stains and rips all over
it. The mop is old and dirty made of wood, the bucket is a blemished
tin one. The trolley he is dragging behind him is clinical looking
with various spray bottles and cloths on it, there is a black bin bag
hanging from the back of it.
Actor
is clean shaven throughout all of our filming to ensure continuity.
The
tables are strewn with spaghetti, yoghurt pots, oranges, one apple
and paper plates. The chairs are strewn around, the tables are
arranged in two symmetrical lines facing each other with a two metre
gap in between.
The
lighting for this scene is bright but during the edit it will be
colour corrected to make it seem colourless and grey.
Curtains
will be drawn at location to ensure full control of lighting.
All
the scenes including the food mess will have to be filmed same day,
to ensure continuity. Stage scenes will be filmed over a period of
two days.
Stuart
wheels his squeaky trolley in front of him and parks
it
between two tables. Taking out a large bin bag from one
of
the side draws, he begins scooping up the debris and and
throwing it inside.
The rubbish is all over the table and floor, an apple stands out amongst the rubbish, particularly red on its own.
He
picks up an apple that is on the floor and throws it in
the
bag. He misses and tries again. Upon missing for a
second
time, we see a close up of him placing his fingers on
his
temples, squinting and concentrating with visible
effort.
The apple twitches.
The
apple twitches because on the rear side of it there is invisible
string, this will be hidden with the lighting, plan b is to use the
leaf blower from a distance.
He
gasps looking astounded and after pausing briefly with
disbelief,
he tries again with the same result. He looks
around
as if looking for conformation of what just happened.
After
realising it was him, he tries it again, this time
resulting
in the apple shooting across the floor to the
other
side of the room.
Wide
eyed and panting, he drops his drops his mop in
surprise
and then stares at his hands turning them over as
if
he was looking for an explanation.
He
backs away slightly, his expression turning from
disbelief
to excitement, and then looks at the table next to
him
with a sly grin. He thrusts his arm rapidly away from
him
and all the rubbish on the table is launched off onto
the
floor.
The
use of a leaf blower will fascilitate this, I will practice this
beforehand with a smaller object at the same distance off set to get
the cue right when he waves his hand.
After
admiring his work, he picks up his mop
and turns
around
to see the apple hovering in mid air. It
then cuts
back
to a slow motion mid shot of him pulling his arm up out
of
frame, with the mop now transformed to a bat,
and he
lunges
forward and starts to swing at the apple. We then cut
to
a 180 degree line as he swings at the apple and hits it,
(CONTINUED)
Mop
needs to be put back in shot, Bat nearby off shot.
2.
smashing
it to pieces, still in slow motion. Upon connecting
with
the apple, the music syncs with a crashing of symbols
and
it cuts to a close up of Stuart’s grinning face with
bits
of apple flying past as the music starts fading out.
He
pauses momentarily and wipes the apple pieces from his
face.
Smashed
apple pieces for use in close up slow motion.
The
camera then circles him as he looks around the
room
as if surveying an audience. After a moment he strides
to
the centr of the room, placing his feet together and
standing
up straight, he raises his arms, mop still in hand,
and
begins to wave them around mimicking a music conductor.
We
cut to a close up of his face, lit up with childlike
wonder,
back to a mid shot of him conducting to see that the
mop
has transformed into a conductors baton.
Baton
closeby.
Orchestral
music begins to play. He starts walking down the
isle
waving the rubbish off each table as he goes in sync
with
the music and the motion of his hands.
As
he reaches the end of the tables, Stuart stops and
silences
the orchestra as a spotlight shines down on him and
the
background turns black. A front angled shot of him shows
him
bringing his arms up to cue the next part of the
performance.
This then cuts to a reverse shot behind him
which
shows him in a small theatre in front of an actual
band.
Spotlight
is provided at the location, use of which will be aided by lights
below the stage and a backlight, Use of the second costume is
implemented here, Stuart now has his hair waxed into a neat comb
over, he is wearing a neat tux holding a baton.
The
band begins to play and there is a short sequence that
inter-cuts
between a front angle shot of Stuart conducting
in
the cafeteria and a reverse shot of the band playing on
stage.
The
band are all wearing standard uniform playing their own instruments.
Band idea is being revised and may be cut from final film in favour
of more simplistic stage scene.
He
wraps up the song and turns around to face the audience.
This
then cuts back to him in the cafeteria as roses are
thrown
at him as he bows with the sound of an audience
clapping
in the background.
Roses
and petals fresh.
As
this carries on, the sound of children yelling cross
fades
with the clapping and pieces of rubbish start getting
thrown
at him along side the roses. The sound of children
gradually
overpowers the clapping and the roses stop being
thrown
and are replaced entirely by rubbish until the stream
of
it overpowers Stuart and he falls down into a heap.
He
slowly sits up, brushing banana peels and crisp packets
off
his overalls as he does so, and gradually looks around.
We
then cut to a wide shot of him sitting in a pile of
rubbish
in the middle of the cafeteria, with it looking as
messy
as it did at the very start. We hear Stuart sigh
heavily
as he starts to get up and then the screen cuts to
black.
3.
This
final scene will be filmed before the stage scene to allow for
continuity in the set and hair.
BLACK
SCREEN
As
the credits are shown on the screen we can hear the
sounds
a sweeping and mopping alongside Stuart whistling to
the
tune of the classic music played earlier.
Art
Directors note: the script was written by all of us as a group with
art direction notes already in mind, so our script already contained
my art direction notes.
Location Photos and annotations.
 |
| In this shot you can see I am looking at the school dinner trolleys, we are able to use all of these for the film, this will massively help the aesthetic of the film, I will be using the tables and a cleaning trolley from the school also. This has had a really positive effect on our budget. The only things I need now t dress the set are food items and the mop and bucket. |
 |
| This is the back wall of the set where I will set up the food trolleys, above you can see the spotlight and the lighting station to the right of the picture, we will be using this for our final sequence. |
 |
| I will be closing these curtains for control of lighting. The room is around 25m by 20 meteres. |
 |
| This is the front wall with the stage, we were originally going to use a studio space for this scene but the location provided a brilliant opportunity so we decided to use this instead. I will be removing all of the debris on stage and closing the back curtains. |
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| For the stage scene 'Bronson' is my inspiration, the lighting is perfect this is exactly the style that I want to achieve while our character is on stage performing to his audience. |
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| This is my original sketch for the costume, Its a boiler suit with a similarly coloured cap, stains and rips on the suit, scuffed work boots. |
 |
| This is my inspiration for the first costume, its the standard janitor look, I wanted it to be fairly stereotypical. |
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| This is the scetch for the 'Bronson inpsired stage scene. Here you can see the Tux, His hair is combed over and neater and he is holding conductors batons. The stage is black but he is lit from behind and only he is visible. |
 |
| This is an overview of all the details of the art direction, I have gone through the opening scene like this so I can imagine which props need to be where in relation to the character and the camera. Here you can see the main set up of the two tables opposite each other, and the relation of the door to the tables. |
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| The apple is a key to the storys narrative so it needs to stand out, I will make it especially red, which will aid nathan when he is doing the colour correction in editing as he will be isolating the apples colour. |
 |
| This is highlighting the entire set as a whole and the lighting set up within . Special effects write up. During our film we will be using one visual effect and one special effect, the special effect is to create the illusion that the character has the power to make things move, For this I I will be using a combination of techniques, first to make the apple twitch I will be using invisible string attached to the apple, for the second effect I will use a leaf blower to physically blow things off the table. I will be practising and refining this technique off set with the actor to make sure this looks realistic. The visual effect is to make the apple appear like it is floating in the air, Nathan and Chris are in charge of this effect, but to make their effect look more realistic afterwards in the close up I will be using smashed up pieces of apple in the shot like it is flying from the characters bat after he hits the apple, this shot will be in slow motion so will make this look extremely effective. |
