Retrospective: Synopsis & Tagline

Brief Synopsis: A man wakes up in the middle of a vacated borough of London, not knowing where he is and how he got there. What he does know is that he is going to have to do everything in his power to stay alive.

Tag line: If not knowing was the answer, then what is the question?

Retrospecive Casting Script (Written By Mohamad Hamdan)

Retrospective

(Casting Script)

Anonymous: Uhh, (dizzy and confused), what the hell? Where am I? What happened? (Walking up to strangers) What day is it? Did you see it?

VO: This is the first of several instructions. You must complete the following while the mobile flashes with a green LED, if the color turns red, then game over. To start off with, pick up the wallet at the North-East entrance beside the bin. Take out the card in the hidden compartment and then trash the wallet. Insert the card into an ATM, enter the numbers 2, 5, 2 and the number you recieve. Take the envelope. Do not under any circumstances open the envelope. Give it to the person .... (impossible riddle)


Anonymous: It's impossible, he doesn't exist (he looks at his phone flashing with a red LED) Oh no, it's not my fault, I'm almost there, Please! No! No! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! (Or a silent reaction, no expression.)

VO: A Mans life boils down to two things, reality and imagination. If someone were able to link the two, opportunities would be endless. A completely sane person could be transformed into a schizophrenic without even knowing it. Or one would care to venture through a retrospective approach; where a man would be given a second chance to look back upon something and have the power to change it. If you were gifted with this unique ability (during the fade out to the end and as he opens his eye) what would you do?

Retrospective: Movie Plan (Written By Mohamad Hamdan)

Retrospective
(Movie Plan)

A man wakes up in the middle of a busy high street (credits run in multiple fades or on screen as the scene is introduced with him lying on the floor). As he opens his eye, he doesn't move for a few seconds and then as he closes it a fade to black comes with it, and then as we emerge from the black he is getting up, and then once again as he is asking around. He has no clue of where he is and what he is doing there. The audience does not know his name and it is not clear if even he knows it. He begins scampering around asking strangers where he is, what's going on and how he got there.

As he walks down the street he begins to find clues in his pocket: A burnt piece of tissue of a cafe and a note which is also burnt. A significant amount of concentration on these two props as they relate to the ending and understood on second viewing if not first. At this point, there are flashes going off in his head of a cafe and him picking up the tissue and receiving the receipt. (Actual filming of the scene can be used as this is what it is referring to).

He begins running around the high street trying to locate the cafe knowing he woke up on this street for a reason. He locates it and double checks that it is correct, he enters and is very aware of what he is doing, he takes a seat and then corrects himself trying to recreate the events as he saw them.

As the main character looks around awaiting something to happen, he realises a note being left at the table in front of him beneath a tissue advertised by the cafe.

The camera is then watching the character looking at a list and his watch as the man left. He exits the cafe looking up and around as he keeps referring back to the note. As he looks once again at the note intensely, a voice over is used to explain the first task, and for the rest they will be explained in the same manner but as he is doing it to save time and to cause rapid editing. Every time he takes a look at the instructions a 360 degree type camera work will be used. The Instructions:

1. You will have until 'X' o'clock to complete the following tasks. (To be decided whilst filming in order to be as realistic as possible)
2. Pick up the wallet to the north of the entrance (Name Of Shop Opposite May Be Included)
3. Take out the 'X' Card and trash the wallet.
4. Place the card in the ATM, enter the numbers 252 and then the number you see in front of you(5, this should be visible to the viewer before this point in order for them to have noticed it before and therefore understand why it was written on the back of his hand) Take the receipt and the envelope.

The following two tasks are imprinted on the receipt taken from the ATM. 

1. Do not under any circumstances open the envelope.  
2. Give it to (words that have been smudged and are illegible) before the clock hits 'X' o'clock or everything ends! 

As the main character is trying to follow the instructions as best as he can, he has ended up on the edge of the road and extremely lost and doesn't know what to do. He starts to worry and his frustration builds and then there's a moment where his concentration shifts toward his opposite direction, (at this point he would be looking just above the camera ahead) it seems like disbelief and something unspeakable.


He begins talking to himself denying the inevitable. He then begins screaming in denial. (If hands are visible to camera he is holding the tissue and the note for continuity later) A very bright white light emerges and covers his face very slowly (This will be attempted to be done by the lighting equipment). He then raises both his hands with the tissue and note in each hand, and then a sudden jolt backwards emerges first through the camera (pull in the viewer) and then the character instantly afterwards. As the jolt happens the camera turns away and catches the note and tissue falling to the ground on fire (relates to the beginning of him finding the tissue and note burnt in his pocket) in slow motion (as that happens a voice over is going on at the same time) from above in order to show minimal reveal of what happened. White fade

The camera then fades in from white to him opening his eye in the same way (same shot used to show minimum or no alteration) and to show how he's going to do that all over again hence the title.

People Who Have Inspired Me To Take Up Making A film Like This

I have always had a strong passion for films and media. The fact that I have an opportunity to make a film that could actually be viewed by people who will enjoy it gives me a lot of motivation.

Director's such as Michael Bay, Doug Liman, Christopher Nolan; who brought us films such as 'Bad Boys I & II, Batman Begins & The Dark Knight, The Bourne Trilogy & Inception'. If I ever had the opportunity to be apart of the making of these films i would have been speechless, because as I watch these films I admire the camera shots, the edits, special effects and most of all appreciate what the director has achieved due to them being under rated after the creation of these films. Most credit goes to and deservedly the stars of the films. Actors such as 'Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Christian Bale & Martin Lawrence. All of these actors are extremely talented in their course of acting and great films such as these would not be nearly as successful as they did if without them.

I've seen films that have grossed over 1 Billion pounds and think how is that possible. The amount of credibility people who made that film received is just breath taking for me and to be able o some day get within 100 miles of that and I would be satisfied. 

The Road 'ScifiNow' Magazine Article

The Road received some very good ratings in the 'ScifiNow' magazine.  It appears for good reason. It seems that the images used were very precise and catch the viewers eye in a good way. In the middle of the article the words 'The film inspires you to feel that at the end there is a glimmer of hope' which to attract the viewer toward the article is very influential.

The pictures inserted appear to be very grim, but for an apparent reason, due to the nature of the film. The largest photo is of the man and what appears to be his son and very close to each other to show a mutual connection. Another, but on a much smaller scale, is of a truck and what seems to be a small army, makes the viewer feel quite intimidated, and feel fear for the father and son as in another photo they are lying down, the father is armed and makes you feel that there is going to be conflict. This is a good use of variety to show different aspects of the film without actually revealing too much.

The  font used is  very bold and out there, it is in black but catches the viewers eye none the less. The language used is not for the 'Metro' readers but more of 'The Guardian'. For instance, 'The relationship between the two forms the heart of the story, with occasional flashbacks to happier times providing occasional respite from the grim realities they now face, but the film is far from just a character piece.

All in all this film article is money well spent on every word printed. The terminology used was very intuitive and the fact that it was related with the pictures, proved clear talent acquired by the writers of the magazine.

Bad Boys II Poster Analysis

­_­­­­­­Bad Boys II

I thought that this was a very interesting poster. It doesn’t match the action comedy type conventions we normally see, such as a comical action, the title in a humorous font and a lot of detail in the poster. Instead what we get here is a seriously bold title in brick capitals and the two main characters full stop. There appears to be a lot of destruction and mayhem behind the two men, this could imply that there are going to be some serious action scenes, stunts and explosions by what is shown.

It is an extremely unusual poster seeing as it has no director (Michael Bay) written any brands or any real information. I guess it is a good tactical ploy though, because the poster itself does attract ones’ eye, and because of the minimal amount of information it causes those who are interested to research it; they then feel that they are more involved with advertisement and the release of this film because of all the trouble they went through to find out about it. Plus the two actors who are included make it worth finding out about. These two characters look very anxious about something and seem like they’re going to do something serious in order to get it done.

The Departed Poster Analysis

The Departed

The departed was an outstanding film directed by Martin Scorsese. It stars Leonardo Decaprio, Matt Damon & Jack Nicholson; three tremendous actors that played their parts brilliantly. This poster is immediately showing the viewers the three main characters but with an added feature being their distorted faces. This is a very nice touch to express what the film may be about. These three characters are extremely flawed at one point or another during the film. The title is in clear bold and at the lower third of the poster. The two details that catch the eye of the viewer are the tagline and the date. It is a very well thought tagline and the fact that it actually applies to the film in so many ways amazes which is why it’s so great. The way their faces are revealed in the openings letters which actually spell out the title.

There is no clear background behind the characters but the overall one is black which is odd as it seems that there may be death (clearly) and a lot of confusion and unclear plots.

All of them are expressing a different emotion which is a nice touch. Leonardo Decaprio seems scared, angry and aware all at the same time; Matt Damon seems like he is in control maybe concentrating while looking down at something and Jack Nicholson has a serious face and looking to the side as if his attention is implicit.

I think the poster had a lot to do with promotion of the film due to it revealing these three great actors in such an interesting way and the design was extremely well contemplated. The positioning of the title and everyone involved in the making of the film including the director is neatly placed in the corner where space had been made intentionally.



Shutter Island Poster Analysis

Shutter Island

This poster gives a rather peculiar vibe than most other posters. This is mainly due to the fact that the focus is not central and there are multiple focal points. Such as Leonardo Decaprios’ face being faded to black around the edges with a lit match near his face which gives us the feeling that there are going to be a lot of dark scenes where light will be scarce. Where the smoke from the match stick rises a tag line is revealed ‘Someone is missing’ which is very affective as it causes curiosity upon the audience; for instance ‘who is missing?, what is he going to do about it? Why is he looking for this person?’ and when all these questions rush into your head from simply taking three seconds to glance at a poster and read three words, this means that it was composed extremely well.

If you pay close attention to the somewhat island you will notice that it is not one clear picture, it is a photo montage, which is where several pictures of a location are taken and are then placed next to each other as micro’s in order to make a macro image.

What stands out most is the title itself, the main character also gets a big print and is clear, they are sat right in the centre of the poster to prevent any confusion. The title and the date are both in dark red as these are the two most important factors that the viewer’s eye must be caught on.

The fact that his face is pointing one direction and his eyes in another shows us that there are unidentified occurrences going on around him that we do not yet know of and neither may he.

The fact that there appears to be storm brewing at the same time doesn’t exactly scream pleasant thoughts and events which is why this clearly visible. This leaves an everlasting thought surrounding the viewer and that is ‘This looks good’.



The Dark Knight Poster Analysis

The Dark Knight

The dark knight had an extremely successful campaign pre-release. It had a major triumph through their viral marketing campaign and attracted thousands and thousands of potential viewers before the film trailer had been released. However this poster on the other hand played a part in that. This poster was composed brilliantly. It doesn’t necessarily attract the viewer’s eye to one thing but at least 7. The centre of attention would start centrally at ‘Batman’ (Christian bale) and then widen to the ‘Joker’ (Heath Ledger) and then ‘Harvey Dent’ (Aaron Eckhart). They were positioned excellently in order to make this process of awareness spot on.

It seems to be photographic which gives it an amazing effect that the viewer will appreciate and the cast would be proud of. The part of it that seems to be computer enhanced would be the Batman logo which is almost being obliterated by a source of light behind that we are not aware of at this point. They are not in any setting, just a dark background; this gives off a more mysterious effect and once again pulls the viewer in further. What is special about this poster is that it has no setting, the three main characters with one prop each and it still manages to question the viewer intensely. The viewer is almost obliged to look at what feature each character is bring to the table and with that it will either succeed or fail, we now know that it succeeded with flying colours.

The level of mystery included in this poster is abnormal to most posters. On the other hand when it works it works brilliantly. The reason for this is that each characters prop covers the other side of their face which may mean that they all have secrets if not weaknesses. These factors intrigue the viewer and make no mistake in saying that it did.

The rule of thirds is used superbly as everything matches each third of the poster exactly. The font is very bold and direct, the title is evenly spread across the bottom third of the poster and across the imaginary horizontal line. Each character takes up the middle row boxes and the casting names at the top third. This allows everything to be organized and makes it as easy possible to comprehend by the viewer which I think is what making this poster and all posters is about.

PLEASE! (Gerard Butler Stars In This Award Winning Short Film)

The short film opened with multiple shots of a man unknown to the audience in a distorted apartment with many dark areas. This causes the audience to pay attention to what's going on and really want to understand what is happening. I thought that the expressed emotion by Gerard Butler was absolutely amazing and whilst pulling the trigger was breath taking. He clearly appeared to be a depressed person who is dealing with big issues.

The soundtrack used was a very good option as it was peaceful in a sense and still related to the introducing scene. It was non-diegetic which made sense and is used brilliantly. The title becomes apparent now as it seems that everything in this mans life is going to be a struggle and he will be using that word a lot; as he does. This seems like a predictable story where he is going to live a life long struggle but it is merely the opposite.

When he pulls the gun on himself on the street in front of the man, the audience thinks to themselves 'What on earth is he doing?'. We realise at this point that there is something definitely wrong with this man as he needs mental help.

Then again when he turns the gun on himself in front of what seems to be his ex- girlfriend or wife, she encourages him to do it which causes us to think she is in just as much need as he is. What is impressive here is what we have managed to comprehend in such a small amount of time which is what the director wants to achieve, and has done.

Finally this man sees a light at the end of his god forsaken tunnel and a manuscript of his has been accepted. Life now is looking good for him, his wife will take him back in, and then he needs to make a call, forgetting that he has left the gun in the car.

This was an absolutely heart stopping scene for me as the little girl kept twisting and turning the gun and pulls the trigger on 2/3 occasions with one in the direction of her face. I could simply not bare to watch this and had one of my eyes covered, and then out of no where the girl turns the gun sideways, Peter sees her with it and she pulls the trigger. I thought that the white flash was genius, at this point I didn't know whether the film had ended, it didn't and we see Peter with a bloody mouth and a wound in his stomach. I liked the way it ended with all of those experiences going through his head as a voiceover, it was a very neat finish.

Spin - Short FIlm

The film starts off with a man dropping to the ground from a higher level than what the camera is concentrated on. This builds up a lot of drama without anything clear happening yet. All you can see is that he looks back up and it looks as if from above due to the bright light shining in his position. The Non - Diegetic sound matches the video very well. For every movement the music matches it in a very synchronised way while being dramatic.

As he sets up the DJ equipment and he flicks the final switch, there is a very effective edit which almost goes unnoticed; it is almost as if it switches into a real live video feed and as if you are actually there. As he rewinds the track (also rewinding reality) there is a very specific piece of (non - diegetic as it appears) music that is related to this action.

This character is expressed very well, and as he reattempts to change the fate of the cyclist and the old lady, you can see the frustration on his face but the urge to try again and do it right. The diegetic sounds for every time he sets up the DJ equipment is pulled off very well.

On his second attempt he thinks he has done it and then witnesses the domino effect and saw what he had done and what the consequences were and it ended with him causing an explosion; the expression on his face was almost saying 'seriously, all of that' but this was done without words and was executed perfectly.

On his third attempt he has reached the edge of his frustration and he analyses everybody at the scene and this is edited very well through a 360 degree rotation per person at the scene. While this is happening there is a large close up on his eyes as they map the area in front of him.

As he is fixing the incident on the third time all of the pieces fit together and very well; all with one basket ball that managed to change the potential disaster. The ball reaches the old man and as he bounces it, there is a very good piece non - diegetic music used to combine all the things stringing along with each other, I thought that this was extremely effective and was used excellently to tell this story without any dialogue.

I thought the ending was very nice and somewhat comical. I thought the fact that the little girl even looked at him was even funnier as if to show that she knew he was there the whole time and what he could do, I in general thought that this is my favourite short film.

Short Film Analysis of 'Strangers'

The film starts with a wide shot of an underground train station with a far light approaching which can only mean one thing and that is a train is arriving. The background has a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound; such as the drumming every 3 to 4 seconds and the train track screeching while the train is in sight. As the train passes the scene fades and introduces the title of the short film 'Strangers'. This attracts the audience very well as it leaves a sign of mystery as to what is going to happen, it's like the train is there one second and then it's gone the next to show that there may be some sudden action involved.

There is a man awaiting the trains' arrival and gets on board the train. He is looked at through mid to close up shot as he enters. He walks through the train looking to sit down and as he finds a seat he notices the person sitting across from him. At first there seems to be a bit of hostility from the man who just sat down and for a reason we are not yet aware of, we then see a close up of the newspaper and how it is written in Arabic. This tells us that the man may be uncomfortable by the presence. The man who was previously seated takes a look up as he turns the page and notices how the man opposite him is dangling the icon of his religion (Judaism) and the star of David around his neck in front of the mans face. This is a never ending problem all over the world between the Middle East and Israel. The staring all of a sudden makes sense and it makes the audience feel like they're right in the middle of it. There is absolutely no dialogue used in the sequence and this helps build up tension through out.

The camera tends to cut very much between them and the train track from the outside and the diegetic sound increases as well. This helps shift the audiences attention from the central focus in order to make it more dramatic later on. Then all of a sudden the man looks up and a very loud drum sound repeatedly (Non-Diegetic) which causes the audience to feel some sort of distress. Mixed in with the drums, whispers are thrown in and are very unclear as they add tension to the scene. The man sheepishly puts away his necklace for a reason unknown at that point in time but revealed when we see them advertising the Nazi emblem. After this takes place and one of the men spray paints the newspaper, the camera work is executed very well and introduces each new face individually, and after each facial expression is revealed it returns once to each of the men previously sitting down to have us feel fear for them as it seems like they are going to experience something unpleasant.

It then comes down to 6/7 strangers literally sitting there in silence with only looks upon each other and not a word of dialogue. Even without dialogue it is clear what is going on. The two men that were already seated don't seem like they're going to speak a word in the event it is out of line and with terrible consequences, so it seemed like they were going to wait it out and hope for some sort of window of opportunity.

The train stops and out of no where as the second who arrived is leaving a traditional Jewish ring tone plays in front of who of all people, it was extremely humorous and at the same time feelings of sorrow, because now his identity is known. Suddenly both men make a break for the final exit, non diegetic music is at a full blast and very rapid cuts between them and the gang, this was very well built and is released through the audience not knowing whether they were going to caught.

The ending was pulled off very well and the fact that they had a smile on their faces was pleasing. It was just to show that they weren't each others enemy but each a friend, and together fought and won against the true villains. So all in all it was an excellent short film without dialogue and yet understood so very well and even a moral of the story.

The film starts with a wide shot of an underground train station with a far light approaching which can only mean one thing and that is a train is arriving. The background has a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound; such as the drumming every 3 to 4 seconds and the train track screeching while the train is in sight. As the train passes the scene fades and introduces the title of the short film 'Strangers'. This attracts the audience very well as it leaves a sign of mystery as to what is going to happen, it's like the train is there one second and then it's gone the next to show that there may be some sudden action involved.

There is a man awaiting the trains' arrival and gets on board the train. He is looked at through mid to close up shot as he enters. He walks through the train looking to sit down and as he finds a seat he notices the person sitting across from him. At first there seems to be a bit of hostility from the man who just sat down and for a reason we are not yet aware of, we then see a close up of the newspaper and how it is written in Arabic. This tells us that the man may be uncomfortable by the presence. The man who was previously seated takes a look up as he turns the page and notices how the man opposite him is dangling the icon of his religion (Judaism) and the star of David around his neck in front of the mans face. This is a never ending problem all over the world between the Middle East and Israel. The staring all of a sudden makes sense and it makes the audience feel like they're right in the middle of it. There is absolutely no dialogue used in the sequence and this helps build up tension through out.

The camera tends to cut very much between them and the train track from the outside and the diegetic sound increases as well. This helps shift the audiences attention from the central focus in order to make it more dramatic later on. Then all of a sudden the man looks up and a very loud drum sound repeatedly (Non-Diegetic) which causes the audience to feel some sort of distress. Mixed in with the drums, whispers are thrown in and are very unclear as they add tension to the scene. The man sheepishly puts away his necklace for a reason unknown at that point in time but revealed when we see them advertising the Nazi emblem. After this takes place and one of the men spray paints the newspaper, the camera work is executed very well and introduces each new face individually, and after each facial expression is revealed it returns once to each of the men previously sitting down to have us feel fear for them as it seems like they are going to experience something unpleasant.

It then comes down to 6/7 strangers literally sitting there in silence with only looks upon each other and not a word of dialogue. Even without dialogue it is clear what is going on. The two men that were already seated don't seem like they're going to speak a word in the event it is out of line and with terrible consequences, so it seemed like they were going to wait it out and hope for some sort of window of opportunity.

The train stops and out of no where as the second who arrived is leaving a traditional Jewish ring tone plays in front of who of all people, it was extremely humorous and at the same time feelings of sorrow, because now his identity is known. Suddenly both men make a break for the final exit, non diegetic music is at a full blast and very rapid cuts between them and the gang, this was very well built and is released through the audience not knowing whether they were going to caught.

The ending was pulled off very well and the fact that they had a smile on their faces was pleasing. It was just to show that they weren't each others enemy but each a friend, and together fought and won against the true villains. So all in all it was an excellent short film without dialogue and yet understood so very well and even a moral of the story.