VSFX406 Conceptual Development Blog

This blog will span over the course of Fall 2022 to document my progress in the VSFX406 Conceptual Development course.

Concept Variations

My 'something interesting' I brought to the first class was a figurine of a Moria Orc from Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson. I decided for my story board to put him in two interesting situations...

In class, we brainstormed various concepts and played off one another's ideas until we came up with two notable stories.

Originally, the Moria Orc's debut was located in a half second clip in The Fellowship of the Ring, growling and leering at the fellowship in the mines of Moria just before the Balrog makes its presence known.

I expanded on the two more notable concepts.

1. Moria Orc as a cashier at Publix, probably in Florida

2. Moria Oratory Orc, belting "Ave Maria" in a colosseum

Observation Analysis

The professor provided a Watchlist for us to review and revisit. There has to be over 100 different movies on the list, I can hardly imagine the time and thought it took. I've gotten to take my pick at it the last couple of days, and so far, I've gotten through two and a half.

Oasis by Lee Chang-dong (2002)

Overall thoughts?

Certainly not your average love story, I'll tell you that. The film follows a young woman with cerebral palsy and her relationship with a mentally disabled man who just got out of jail for killing someone while drunk driving.

Between her wanting to have a chance at a normal relationship and him wanting the same, the lines start to blur, and you can sometimes see them as they imagine themselves to be when together. Despite what they're going through, the hardships they face as outcasts, and of course the whole part about him going to jail for A DRUNK DRIVING MANSLAUGHTER INCIDENT INVOLVING THE WOMAN'S FATHER, they still manage a bit of normalcy until they're finally separated.

What would I change?

It would be interesting to see how this would play out if this were some sort of online relationship, present-day. Online relationships have grown in popularity over the last several years with the worldwide social outreach the internet has provided us since its creation. It's only getting easier and easier to get into contact with someone all the way across the world, nonetheless, create and nurture relationships of some kind with them over things like similar interests, shared trauma, and even private fantasies.

I don't think it would be too far off to conceptualize two social outcasts forming a bond in a way no one else but them can understand over the internet... I'm just saying.

L'eclisse by Michelangelo Antonioni (1962)

Overall thoughts?

This movie hardly felt romantic, and I think that is precisely the point? Or perhaps I'm missing the mark entirely. It's been known to happen.

The cover is intriguing. A stunning black and white reclining of two lovers intwined and the heroine gazing off with wonder somewhere above the camera and to the right... What a load of crap! They really tricked me. This was hardly an affair at all, this was meaningless, this was trivial, this was empty. The affair doesn't even start until halfway through the movie, and even then, all it does is confuse you and leave you wondering why they got together in the first place.

I mean, they just disappear at the end. Literally, they're there and then they're gone, just like an eclipse, except ten times more dissatisfying.

The shots and framing, themselves, were insanely satisfying, though. Also, Monica Vitti is the new love of my life.

What would I change?

Honestly, I wish there were more music in the film. I'm not sure why. All this emptiness needing to be filled by something provocative. Something meaningful. But that would realistically take away from the very point of the film, unless done RIGHT.

Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky (1979)

Overall thoughts?

One of the most peaceful and thoughtful films I've ever seen. I'm thinking of all the classic, feel-good 80's movies about to drop on the market over in the United States and then looking back at this. Talk about a tonal shift. Oh, and you know, the Soviet Union.

I want to take a nap on some moss, though.

What would I change?

In all blatant honesty, I have not a single clue. I ended up liking this much more than I anticipated, and this is something I would revisit as a comfort film. the Lord of the Rings trilogy sits pretty on the top of my mantle on the wall, as well as at the top of a very popular list of comfort movies. As someone who enjoys a fantastic score, moments of utter silence, long travel procession, shots that last a damn long time, sleeping on mossy floors, and thought-provoking discourse, I am SO pleased with what's happening in Stalker. Too pleased.

And the story.. my god, how interesting. I made fun of the emphasis on normal yet extremely vague locations and titles used in this--the "Room", the "Zone", "Writer", "Professor", "Stalker"-- but my do they play a role.

This reminds me all too well of another favorite of mine: "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. You should read that (or watch it) if this struck your fancy. I seem to have a thing for hopeless, doomed journeys with vague endings.

Going off of that hopeless, doomed journey idea, I started to brainstorm the similarities and differences between the stories in which I like the most, like "The Road" and The Lord of The Rings. The latter has a lot more of an overarching, moral standpoint with a few key themes: the effects of war, good vs evil, and unity, whereas "The Road" and Stalker can be very easily compared, both sporting themes surrounding faith and the journey itself, not the destination. Stalker introduces itself with the goal in mind (the goal being to get both Writer and Professor to the Room), yet bestows the gift of the journey on the viewer, placing them beside each character on the tense, vague, heavily discussed trip through the Zone. They slowly get closer and closer to the goal, yet the closer they get, the less each really cares about it. They lose faith somewhere along the way, even the Stalker himself, who acted as the driving force of blind faith, leading both men with the promise of fulfilled desires at the end of the road. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy is all about the journey itself, with similarly named characters in search of supplies to keep on surviving. There is no light at the end of the tunnel either- there is only the goal, and the goal is to survive, not to go anywhere nor to be anything other than alive.

It makes me wonder, then. In both stories, a protagonist of sorts leads others through a barren wasteland. Both the Stalker and the Man ("The Road") have had similarly troubled pasts and horrible things happen to them. They've come from a place where all they have is their goal, their reason for survival. The Stalker has nothing, yet he claims he can provide everything to those who are brave and deserving enough. He believes good will come from this, both for them and for him. He believes there is still purpose to the Zone, and therefore his life. The Man has lost everything aside from his son and even states that his son is the only thing keeping him alive. Clearly, both protagonist struggle with worth and their own self-inflicted demons, while leading the blind, innocent, and faithful.

What kind of story would this be if the protagonists had no faith at all? A hopeless journey that begins as such.

Stalker is the type of story that starts backwards, in a sense, from most we hear today. The hero finds his faith after a toiling, hopeless pursuit for happiness and dares to dream, right? Whereas this time, both the Man and the Stalker are trying to hold onto their waning faith and help fan the fire in a world losing its breath. In "The Road", the world is vague and bad. In Stalker, the world is painted much the same. It's loud, colorless, industrial- infiltrated by the faithless and picked dry of and real hopes or dreams. Death is always both two steps ahead and three behind. You can find yourself lost in the Zone and die there without ever even knowing you were stuck in the first place. The Unknown is what these protagonists face, and their blind faith keeps them on the road, on both feet, yet on edge wherever they go. Restless.

It seems silly now to turn the whole thing around, though. Searching for faith and finding that you have none is a lot more detrimental to the psyche, don't you think?

There is beauty in the Zone, it lies untouched and demands respect from those trekking through its wilds. One wrong step, and you're off the wagon for good. Even with all the invisible dangers of the zone, though, the Stalker feels that he belongs there, and there is an obvious sense of peace.

Concept 1

The Stalker looks to the Zone as a sense of home, even though it's a place where no one dares go and is just as dangerous as it is beautiful. But.. it's nearly devoid of wildlife, as well as it is stripped of humanity due to its unpredictable nature. The Zone is also heavily guarded, preventing many from getting there. But I can imagine it full of people. Those who'd attempted to escape the government's rule, perhaps, or ignorant children with rebellion in their veins. I can imagine the zone populated with all different types of people that have no clue either other is even there with them.

The Zone is said to be ever changing, and all these invisible traps the Stalker kept bringing up got me thinking about the fact that you really could get trapped there for life. It's such a vast area and seems to play tricks on one's mind. There was a small clip below that shows the scene in which the Writer gets caught in a trap, the Zone clearly starting to affect him. We see a bird fly past, cut back, and re-fly in like some kind of a real-life glitch. What if there were hundreds of people inside the Zone, all trapped, unable to see one another, each subjected to the invisible game the alien-like location plays on one's mind.

Perhaps there are people that have come to the Zone in search of lost loved ones... what state would they find them in, I wonder. Would they find nothing but old clothes and bones? Would they not find them at all? Or walk right past them without even recognizing one another?

Moulin Rouge by John Huston (1952)

Overall thoughts?

I knew I knew those paintings from somewhere... It took me a moment to realize this dude was real! What an interesting story and life, my god was that entertaining. And all of that story packed into such a short amount of time, bravo... Might I add that the first woman he was with was A TERROR, he really needed her to move back into the streets if you ask me. Also, his drinking problem? I'm surprised he didn't die sooner.

What would I change?

I was realistically only bothered by the quickness of some of the more important background information--flashbacks and all of that. They'd play through drastically fast and could be hard to catch at times.

Concept 1

Ok.. hear me out.. What if everyone was in love with Henri... He's so well loved in the places he frequents, AKA the Moulin Rogue. Everyone knows him, everyone pays their respects and enjoys seeing him at work. They even commission him. But when it comes to personal relationships, man is he a failure. And that isn't to say he isn't a good person. I'd say that because of his disability due to his accident, he's become modest, reserved, and calculated. He knows women don't want him for his looks and.. well, size, but he also knows about halfway through the movie that some of them do want him- but only for his money and attention.

What if he was ungodly handsome? What if women were throwing themselves at him left and right and he still isn't INTERESTED. He'd have to have the most abundant amount of muses to choose from, no doubt. But the concept that interests me the most is the fact that yes, maybe he does get all this attention, but that doesn't mean he'd choose any of the right women. Perhaps nothing changes after all and he still goes after Marie for being the one woman who looks past his exterior. Perhaps he still blows it with Myriamme for thinking she wants him for superficial reasons.

This one's for you, Joe....

8 minute TED Talk on the Stalker...

Studio 1 Idea Pitch

This is going to be a deeply personal project that I'm hoping reaches all sorts of people and purposefully makes them uncomfortable. I want them to be uncomfortable, I want it to stun them into silence. It's even going to be a bit metaphorical, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwdUXS94yNk

Above is a reference video for the type of mood I'm going for. There's also going to be a lot of noise like in the video above, all of which allude to the feeling and progress of the story.

I was also given the wonderful idea to potentially film the scene where the monster-parent is stumbling and growling towards the child with a fish eye lens to accentuate the feeling of fear and anxiety.

https://youtu.be/HhsEKllL9iE

https://youtu.be/NqvbO7XN_DY