Interactive Cinema

Tuesday 8th September 2020

On our first day back after college everyone had loads of new and exciting idea. Kelly told us about the idea of an interactive theater. The inspiration for her idea was a Disney land attraction called Cinemagic where the acting being on the screen and on the stage. By having both aspects this will be a very challenging but a great teamwork project with the actors. Furthermore we looked at different events which are similar to the Cinemagic such as the Secret Cinema. The best way to understand the concept of the interactive cinema was to watch examples different types of interactive cinema.

After watching different examples, we were split up into groups and began brainstorming multiple different ideas. I really like the concept of the Cinemagic where the actors went inside the screen as going through different movies throughout time. 

We really liked this idea but we wanted it to be different in some way, we began brainstorming ideas and our group came up with the idea of a time travel and the portal is the screen so the actors move from stage to the screen and it flows well like the onscreen is live. This was a nice idea as we had plans to have a WW2 scene and the costumes and locations would be very interesting and challenging to do. However we didn't really have a good idea for a plot we just really like the idea of using the screen and stage acting to make the show run smoothly as if the actors on stage were going inside the screen.

We then went around and looked at other peoples ideas, I went to Harriet and Amilyah's group and their idea was that a device like Netflix goes wrong and the person gets pulled into the screen. The main protagonist goes through different genres in film. I loved this idea as it was clever and unique. I then added in ideas about the different genres that they could have, such as a war scene and a western. 

Tuesday 15th September 2020

We first began to create a schedule for all of our projects as we wrote down our dates that each project is due in for. This allowed us to priorities our projects to make sure we hit the deadline of the assignment. Scheduling is very important in the in industry as it allows both cast and crew what is happening on each day. It is essential as it is apart of planning meaning that everyone working on the project can prepare and work on the scenes set on the schedule. The schedules in the industry have allocated timings so that the cast and crew know what area they are filming in and when they will be gathering. It also allows them to manage expectations on the amount of content they can capture on the day.

We began briefly outline the main plot, as a group we all sat down and discussed the story line and what we want each scene to be. As a group we decided that it would be interesting and unique if each scene went through a decade in film. We thought that each scene could be based of the genre of movies around that decade. Other movies in that decade we would have references and style to that genre as a homage to that decade. We wrote down notes and we set ourselves the task of creating a mood board of the decade that you chose to research. 

The Notes from our discussion

History through time 

Opening : 

Advert of the device , in different styles ; a 1950’s housewife selling the product , we go through the decades with the presenter , until we get to a ‘flex tape’ inspired advert with quick cuts and intense music, the main character is sucked into the film 

1920’s:

Charlie Chaplin style silent film, with black and white slapstick to open the film. Pies and cream in face. 

1930’s 

During the 30's we had King Kong so we could homage this with a stop motion style sequence. This was also the decade full of the universal monsters like the original; Dracula, mummy and Frankenstein’s monster. At the end of this era everything bursts into colour like in the wizard of Oz.

1940’s 

This decade was the start of classic animation like; Pinocchio, Dumbo and Bambi also with classic romance live action films like; Casablanca and it’s a wonderful life.

1950’s : Nathan 

Classics like Singing in the rain and 12 angry men came out during the 1950's as was arguably Alfred Hitchcock’s best decade with vertigo, rear window, north by north west, strangers on the train and ending the decade with the classic Psycho.

1960’s : Kai

James bond films were the 1960's staple as was westerns in this decade we can focus on action films and strong leading men like the dirty dozen. 

1970’s : James 

The 1970 had some of the best films of all time with films that include star wars, rocky, jaws and the godfather. This decade was the birth of the blockbuster and epic story telling. But it was also a great year for horror with Halloween, Texas chain saw massacre,  

1980’s : Harriet 

The 1980’s is probably best known as the decade of classic family comedies with gremlins, back to the future , the Goonies as well as more cheesy outlandish action films; raiders of the lost arc , the terminator , the karate kid , ghostbusters. 

1990’s : Tom 

The 1990's had more gritty dark dramas like the usual suspects, titanic, the Shawshank redemption, the Schindlers list, seven, fight club, matrix, pulp fiction, Hannibal lector, Goodfellas. These movies are filled with leather and muted colour schemes and started to begin the decade of more diverse story telling.

2000’s : Sam

The 2000's was the decade that film became more experimental with directors and writers asking more difficult questions like what if batman was dark (the dark knight) and what if an entire film involved CGI (avatar). This decade was a great decade for romantic comedies and chick flicks focusing more on the female demographic in response to the highly male focused 90's with mean girls and ‘Mamma Mia’. The 2000's also had more magic and adventure and began to have more colour than the bleaker 90's with harry potter and pirates of the Caribbean.

2010’s : Amiliyah 

The 2010's was the biggest leap forward for inclusiveness and diversity in film with the Oscars starting to recognise black actors and POC, the biggest thing this year is the MCU with billion dollar flicks with explosions. It also was the decade of nostalgia with sequels, remakes and reboots every year. It also very experimental stuff like doing an entire film in what looks like one shot like ‘1917’ or ‘Birdman’

Ending ; 

The person gets back to his original timeline in which they also brings back all of the characters from across the decades to be his friends , they sit in the friends central perk sofa and then the actual friends come in and kick them out.

Wednesday 16th September 2020

We all went away and did research and a mood board on the decade of our choice. I wanted to research the 1990's as it was a very interesting decade with many indie films becoming popular such as Pulp Fiction. Also gritty dark dramas such as Titanic and the Shawshank Redemption. The 1990's had a massive diversity in the different genre of movies. However, a big topic in the decade was crime, with movies like Seven, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club and Goodfellas being the most popular in the 1990's. Furthermore with directors such as Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher. I went away and created a mood board with all my ideas for the 1990's to inspire myself and others in my class on this decade. Furthermore, the tone of these movies were very dark and gritty with subtle hints at comedy.

1990's Mood board

Thursday 17th September 2020

We all met up with the mood boards and research we did on our decade and we began sharing ideas and trying to get inspiration each other. After we went through everyone research we began to think of the characters and who they are and what is their purpose. We wanted the character to have some sort of arc to go on. After brainstorming a few ideas we decided that we wanted the main character to be alone because she just watches movies and doesn't go out with friends. This is an interesting story arc for the character as its not too complicated and its a topic that many can relate on. After much discussion, as a group we decided to have a character who was a bit lonely and an introvert. This allowed a god character arc as the protagonist realises in her adventure through the movies that they aren't experiencing the real world .

As the advert for the interactive cinema is only around the corner we decided to hold auditions. So we wrote a casting notice and spoke to the actors that in their audition they can perform any monologue they want. A casting notice is a very important piece of information in the industry as when casting the actors who are auditioning will know if they fit the role, physical description, emotional description (of character). A bit of information about the character allows the actors to know who the character is and how they can portray that in the casting audition.

Monday 21st September 2020

Over the weekend Nathan wrote the first draft of the script for the interactive cinema that should be performed on the 16th October 2020. We all read through the script and began to wright notes and suggestions that we could make. After this Nathan continued to help develop the script with the help of Kelly.

Tuesday 22nd September 2020

We began assigning job roles to everyone who would be working on the project. From previous projects i have been given the role of director as I enjoy and are good with directing both the cast and crew. As a class I was voted by Kelly and my class mates to be the overall director of the big project. I am very happy with this role as it is the role i would want to do in the future and I was really flattered that I have made an impression on my class that I am the correct person for the job.

We began to hold all auditions on this date, we spoke to the actors and we had them come in one at a time whist me, Harriet and Sam were the auditioning them for both the advert and the full piece. In the industry casting directors, directors, producers often look for what the actors can do independently , without encouragement, or help from them. The director will sometimes give the actors notes and have them perform it again, whilst taking the notes into consideration. So when holding auditions this is what i was looking for who can perform with the littlest notes and instructions and i always tried to give notes as I am the main director of the piece. Furthermore we recorded the auditions so we could show the rest of the team the auditions and they could say who they think would be best to fit the role.

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