I have gained a lot of influence from each of the various movies I have watched but the films that impacted on my most for varying reasons were:
-Laura
-Dark City
-Blade Runner
-12 Monkeys
-Drive
-Renaissance
-Taxi Driver
I really liked Laura because of its visual style. It was really one of the first noir movies and I loved the large contrasts between light and shade. What I picked up on was the fact that the female was shot with a light directed at her face. This was strong but not overly intense and conveyed a sense of purity and radiance with made her somebody to lust for. I also noticed that the detective was shot for the most part as being bigger than her to emphasise his dominance.
Low key lighting and chiaroscuro is something definitely I want to incorporate in my short because I want my city to seem very dark and dingy and a generally bad place to live.
What I liked about renaissance is that It did basically what Laura did but in animated form. However there was such a stark contrast between black and white that I did find myself a lot at times unsure what I was looking at. It did however really emphasise characters and their facial expressions. Regardless It is certainly something I will be looking in to in terms of creating my animation as it all 3D made but rendered with high contrasts to look solely black and white.
Blade runner also features low key lighting but unlike Laura it is a full colour film. I think this appeals more to me as I was thinking more of a black and white theme with small accents of colour previously. I really liked the way that it was lit mainly by neon signs and brightly coloured lights. This communicates a society that has become dominated by advertising and pop culture. I think this creates more of a futuristic society as black and grey is often used to demonstrate something in the past. My world is not.
Drive also features a similar similar colour scheme with the majority of colour being either orange and teal. The driver stands out by wearing white most of the time.
Both films also feature varying soundtracks which I both find very appealing.Originally I was looking at something more classical but having watched these I want something more modern and up tempo. This is more influenced by Drive although I do like the more dreamscape-y ambient sounds and music than runs throughout Blade Runner.
BLADE RUNNER:
DRIVE:
.mp4_snapshot_00.08_%5B2011.10.03_17.03.42%5D.jpg)
Dark city also does well in using colour to create a dystopian atmosphere. It is mostly filmed with a dark green tinge to it which makes the city feel very dark and grungy. What I also noticed was that there is very little shots that involve the skyline. This emphasises what is happening and the atmosphere on the lower city levels. I think doing something like this would also save me a lot of effort in building or designing a whole city.
Taxi driver has probably been the most influential film for me as I really like the way it is filmed, the colours used and the fact that it is a similar subject matter to my short.
What all these have in common is that they have influenced my story. Before I started to look at these films I really had a light hearted and almost boring story. Now I have been inspired to incorporate something a bit more gritty and dramatic in to it.
Soylent Green, 1984, Metropolis and all of these above films are set in future dystopian societies so I am using each of them as influences in creating my city. I have begun to look at architecture of new age cities like tokyo and hong kong as a starting point. I also need to take more photos of the city as references.
