Formalism vs. Realism

So in making my trailer I have to decide whether or not I want to present it in a more formalist or realist fashion. According to Tom Eiland, formalism "is the tendency for the filmmaker to make the moviegoer aware that she is watching a movie." Film such as Titanic or Sense and Sensibility would be examples, because they have more of a staged feel. Realism on the other hand, would be exampled by making scenes feel as though they are observed as they happen, and settings are typically real rather than staged. 

The trailer I'll be making will utilize cinematography that is more based in realism, although the trailer itself may seem a bit more staged, since it's about a hitman. Often, movies have a mix of both, and lean more towards either formalism or realism, but seldom are one or the other completely. Mine I'm working towards would lean more into realism, as everything is being shown to the audience as the character experiences them, such as in Night Crawler or American Psycho. This will be interesting to see where things go, but I'm using natural settings and natural lighting as well, with very little being staged. 

Hang ups and new planning

So we were supposed to start filming this week, however, we had to get a couple things for our camera and wait for them, as well as wait for a couple of our props to be finished and well, the weather to clear up a bit more for some of our shooting goals. We should pick up this week, and as we don't have too much to film, it shouldn't damage our shooting schedule too much. I decided on a different costume as well, for the main character. Other than that, there's not much else going on aside from getting ready to shoot this week.

Script Writing and Ideas

So now that I'm almost to filming, and that the preparations for this are almost complete, I've been continuing to work on my screenplay; I've still been working on my narration for the trailer, though have the outline done, and will be filming out of order and then editing after filming. I'll be filming Thursday sometime in the morning, likely at the Hagerstown Park.

Aside from that, there's not much going on save for preparation and hoping that the weather doesn't make filming impossible.

Costuming and getting things together

So this week I focused on costuming; I got the main outfit for the main character for the trailer, as well as his Walther PPK (it's an airsoft gun), and various accessories, such as black latex gloves. Some of the clothing will need a bit of fitting, but that shouldn't be a problem.

We spent a considerable amount of time on the main outfit; it's a light grey suit with a somewhat blue hue; the tie he'll be wearing is also grey, but has various shades, even marble and beige/cream. We went so far as to discriminate with the kind of cuff links the character would wear. The only thing now is to find a decent pair of shoes; something elegant rather than most of the clunky ones being made these days.

I also wrote a little more with scenes for my script, and although I'm not even halfway done, we haven't even started writing it for class, so I'm ahead in that respect. I do have more of an idea of what I'd like to do for the character narration in the trailer though, and will be writing that out soon.

This coming week, I'll probably be getting some of the clothes fitted for the main actor. Only one article hasn't come in, which is the white turtleneck, but I'm not worried about the fit for that.