N.9 | "Split" (juxtaposition through production design), Tarantino's hero-less film plus more

JOURNAL ENTRY

The micro film

Oct 13, 2024: I’m editing the micro film we shot on Sep 22. I’d like to get it done in a couple of weeks max (including the score and sound effects). When I started editing a few days ago, I discovered that .mxf files are not supported by the free version of DaVinci Resolve.

I had to transcode the files to make them usable for me. At first, I downloaded a “free” software to do the encoding, which turned out to be $95.95 or something to spend. So …. not really free.

I did some more research and found Shutter Encoder. This is a free software for real, with a donation button. I went ahead and donated a small amount to the developer. It’s definitely a very good product. Lesson learned: take a little extra time to do some more research before you pay for anything.

The film school

Film school is starting in a couple of weeks. The first day is on Sep 26.

I’m excited. Not only I’ll learn the foundations of filmmaking, but I’ll also add another film under my belt. The making of a short film is part of the 5-month program. I won’t be able to direct though. Each student will act in a role in some capacity but none of us will actually direct.

I’m also very curious to learn how to do sound properly, and how to go about getting permits to shoot on the street in a city like Brisbane.

FILM STORYTELLING

Split (juxtaposition through production design)

I’ve got an immense admiration for M. Night Shyamalan. This is a guy who wrote, directed and produced some incredible films in the past 20 years. And Split is a very sick piece.

Shyamalan always gives a lot of thought to sets and locations of his films. In Split, the director uses juxtaposition through the production design to create a chaotic environment, just like Kevin Wendell Crumb’s split mind.

Notice how chaotic the living quarters in this scene look. One wall is made of wood, another is made of stone, and a third one is plaster. And the bathroom is pristine white porcelain. Shyamalan built a room with multiple personalities, just like Crumb.

TIDBIT I’M PONDERING

Going down the solo rabbit hole with nano films

I was reading Rebel Without a Crew again the other day. Rodriguez thinks that at the start of your career (like me now) you don’t want too many partners or a big crew behind you.

If the film comes out to be good, you’ll wonder if it’s them that made it good. Same thing if the movie is bad. He says at some point:

I agree with him to a certain extent.

In fact, I’m thinking of starting doing nano films — just myself. By “nano”, I mean 60-second films. The film may be a little shorter or longer, but I need to tackle it just by myself. I must learn filmmaking just like the musician learns the instrument.

I’ll do both nano and micro films though. I’ll keep working on my micro films (2-3 minutes) with my friends as well. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

Source: From Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez (paraphrased and/or quoted).

3 INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

The Hateful Eight Q&A with Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan

Collecting three highlights from this video with Tarantino and Nolan on The Hateful Eight. These are timeless principles that I want to keep in mind.

The hint of something bad coming up

The hint of violence and danger coming later in the movie has to work well, because the audience is waiting for it to come at some point.

For most of the movie, the audience should be expecting for the violent climax to arrive and ask questions like: “when is this going to happen?” or “what will this mean when it happens … and when it does happen, what will happen next?”

Tarantino says that he doesn’t want the audience to have an answer to those questions right away. He wants them to be waiting and waiting, even though they don’t exactly know what they’re waiting for.

Using a new tool for zooming

Tarantino always loved the zoom lens. Up until the The Hateful Eight, the director always used a slow zoom towards the subject or adopted the fast crash zoom used in Django Unchained, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Inglorious Basterds.

But in The Hateful Eight, Tarantino changed approach for the first time. He started using a crane operated by cinematographer Robert Richardson. He used the crane to zoom, to dolly, and to steady cam.

The hero-less movie with 8 bad “guest stars”

The biggest influence Tarantino had during writing was the American western tv shows from the 60s. The episodes that Tarantino enjoys the most are the ones with guest stars.

The guest star of the episode is usually also the star of the episode. And the story of that episode is about the guest star. The other characters who are normally the main protagonists in the tv show are now supporting characters.

There’s always an unknown, mysterious quality about the guest star. They are from outside the town, and at some point in the first act we learn something about their past — usually a shady detail. Following that, the audience starts questioning if this character is going to be the hero of the story or the villain.

Inspired by this, Tarantino developed The Hateful Eight with eight of such characters. They all have a shady past. And they’re all trapped together in a room they cannot escape. We cannot trust a thing they say and what they say they are.

And the audience is a little confused about these characters, because no one seems to be the hero of the story. A seemingly hero-less film where the audience has to figure out who these characters are by following the story.

Tarantino adds that the film The Thing had a big influence on the making of The Hateful Eight.

Source: From The Hateful Eight DGA Q&A with Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan (paraphrased and/or quoted).

FILM STORYTELLING

The extreme closeup

The extreme close up frames the subject to isolate a specific area. This could be the mouth, eyes, ears, nose or something else. The eyes are typically the focus. When the function of a specific prop or an intimate detail is necessary, filmmakers often rely on the insert shot.

Both the extreme close up and insert shot are great tools for emphasis. This can be the most intimate, dramatic and startling of all shot sizes.