Post by chris on Jan 1, 2006 20:31:40 GMT -5
Here's the idea I spoke to Justin about...four short pieces, each focusing on a different season in the city of Boston. Note the need for music:
Winter: A quiet piece, taking place on a day of heavy snowfall, in a Boston that’s blanketed with snow. A young woman, well-bundled, simply walks through various sites of the city. She may pause here and there to look at particular things, but in general, she’s walking. The important stipulation is that there is no one else visible, ever, nor any moving cars or any indication of life; that will require a careful selection of locations on a day when Boston is somewhat hobbled by snow, but it should be doable. There may be one exception to the absence of human presence: a snow-plow might pass by the young woman. In that case, I’d rather not see the driver. That would be a matter of luck and timing, though. The sounds we hear will be quite circumscribed: no traffic sounds, no engines, etc. (except for that snowplow). The only sounds would be those made by the woman and the weather. As for music, it should not be very loud or orchestral, it should be unobtrusive. In fact, I’m considering not having any music at all, just the sound of wind and feet crunching through snow. We’ll see what anyone comes up with. The end of the piece would just kind of fade out. She’s not really going anywhere; she’s just walking though the beautiful city.
Spring: A young woman is standing on the Green Line T trolley (I’m told by Bridget that filming on the T is verboten [and getting permission is expensive: www.mbta.com/business_t/filming.asp], but that’s what I’m imagining right now). She’s listening to an iPod and just lost in a “riding-the-T-to-work” daze. On the soundtrack, we start hear a song; it’s quiet at first, but it steadily rises. It’s a beat-heavy number that is easy to shake a rump to, but is at the same time bright and cool. As the music rises, the young woman’s response to the song increases, going from foot-tapping to head-bobbing to out-right dancing, all in the space of about 20-30 seconds. She starts singing to the song, right there on the T. The T stops as the song reaches full volume and rhythm; the door opens, and out she leaps, dancing to the song, which has just hit its stride. She’s non-self-consciously moving to the song, with gestures large and small, moving along and singing as she does so. Her dancing takes her to several different places around the nicer parts of the city (I’m thinking like Boston Common [good luck getting a permit…] and some of the cooler public places in the city). When I imagine what this looks like, I realize that it calls to mind the music video “Weapon of Choice” (even the rising action at the start). However, the focus of this is not meant to be the dancing alone; it’s meant to draw attention to the city – I can imagine some of these shots would be wide-angle, where her dancing is small in the frame. At the same time (also unlike “WoC”), I can see really close-up shots of her dancing – her face, her mouth singing, her hands, her feet, etc. The end of the piece would be the song abruptly ending and her dancing and singing stopping, leaving her standing there somewhat embarrassedly. However, she takes her iPod out of her pocket, pushes the reverse button, and the song starts all over again, and her dancing resumes. Fade out from that.
Summer: A young woman running (exercising) through the city. She's quite sweaty: her brow is wet and sweat is soaking through her clothes in places. She's running hard and non-stop and listening to some good jogging music we hear on the soundtrack. As she runs through very urban parts of downtown and central Boston, we basically see the city through the eyes of her imagination. Fantasies of jumping over cars, running faster than humanly possible, shouting at the top of her lungs, making out with random strangers she passes, giving $100 to a homeless man, ripping a cell phone out of someone's hand and tossing it in the trash (I imagine a lot of impossible to shoot things, like running through Fenway Park). Some quick editing shows the speed with which she experiences these thoughts and sights (if Spring reminds me of "Weapon of Choice," then Summer reminds me of "Run Lola Run"). The piece stops when she does, on some random street corner, panting, hands on her knees; close-up on her, looking up quickly into the camera. Or maybe she just runs out of the frame of the close-up. Cut to black.
Fall: A young woman with a violin, playing a solo piece in various parts of a autumnal city. Places with only handfuls of people -- no crowds or large populace. We’d see some of the more visually beautiful parts of the city; parks, pedestrian areas, etc. She doesn't have to appear in all the shots, indeed, she might appear in only about half of the thing. I have a particular couple-of-seconds shot that runs in my head: atop the Prudential Center, or some other tall building, dollying around her as she continues to play. That might be a perfect place to end it, with the violin music continuing as it fades to black and credits roll.
Winter: A quiet piece, taking place on a day of heavy snowfall, in a Boston that’s blanketed with snow. A young woman, well-bundled, simply walks through various sites of the city. She may pause here and there to look at particular things, but in general, she’s walking. The important stipulation is that there is no one else visible, ever, nor any moving cars or any indication of life; that will require a careful selection of locations on a day when Boston is somewhat hobbled by snow, but it should be doable. There may be one exception to the absence of human presence: a snow-plow might pass by the young woman. In that case, I’d rather not see the driver. That would be a matter of luck and timing, though. The sounds we hear will be quite circumscribed: no traffic sounds, no engines, etc. (except for that snowplow). The only sounds would be those made by the woman and the weather. As for music, it should not be very loud or orchestral, it should be unobtrusive. In fact, I’m considering not having any music at all, just the sound of wind and feet crunching through snow. We’ll see what anyone comes up with. The end of the piece would just kind of fade out. She’s not really going anywhere; she’s just walking though the beautiful city.
Spring: A young woman is standing on the Green Line T trolley (I’m told by Bridget that filming on the T is verboten [and getting permission is expensive: www.mbta.com/business_t/filming.asp], but that’s what I’m imagining right now). She’s listening to an iPod and just lost in a “riding-the-T-to-work” daze. On the soundtrack, we start hear a song; it’s quiet at first, but it steadily rises. It’s a beat-heavy number that is easy to shake a rump to, but is at the same time bright and cool. As the music rises, the young woman’s response to the song increases, going from foot-tapping to head-bobbing to out-right dancing, all in the space of about 20-30 seconds. She starts singing to the song, right there on the T. The T stops as the song reaches full volume and rhythm; the door opens, and out she leaps, dancing to the song, which has just hit its stride. She’s non-self-consciously moving to the song, with gestures large and small, moving along and singing as she does so. Her dancing takes her to several different places around the nicer parts of the city (I’m thinking like Boston Common [good luck getting a permit…] and some of the cooler public places in the city). When I imagine what this looks like, I realize that it calls to mind the music video “Weapon of Choice” (even the rising action at the start). However, the focus of this is not meant to be the dancing alone; it’s meant to draw attention to the city – I can imagine some of these shots would be wide-angle, where her dancing is small in the frame. At the same time (also unlike “WoC”), I can see really close-up shots of her dancing – her face, her mouth singing, her hands, her feet, etc. The end of the piece would be the song abruptly ending and her dancing and singing stopping, leaving her standing there somewhat embarrassedly. However, she takes her iPod out of her pocket, pushes the reverse button, and the song starts all over again, and her dancing resumes. Fade out from that.
Summer: A young woman running (exercising) through the city. She's quite sweaty: her brow is wet and sweat is soaking through her clothes in places. She's running hard and non-stop and listening to some good jogging music we hear on the soundtrack. As she runs through very urban parts of downtown and central Boston, we basically see the city through the eyes of her imagination. Fantasies of jumping over cars, running faster than humanly possible, shouting at the top of her lungs, making out with random strangers she passes, giving $100 to a homeless man, ripping a cell phone out of someone's hand and tossing it in the trash (I imagine a lot of impossible to shoot things, like running through Fenway Park). Some quick editing shows the speed with which she experiences these thoughts and sights (if Spring reminds me of "Weapon of Choice," then Summer reminds me of "Run Lola Run"). The piece stops when she does, on some random street corner, panting, hands on her knees; close-up on her, looking up quickly into the camera. Or maybe she just runs out of the frame of the close-up. Cut to black.
Fall: A young woman with a violin, playing a solo piece in various parts of a autumnal city. Places with only handfuls of people -- no crowds or large populace. We’d see some of the more visually beautiful parts of the city; parks, pedestrian areas, etc. She doesn't have to appear in all the shots, indeed, she might appear in only about half of the thing. I have a particular couple-of-seconds shot that runs in my head: atop the Prudential Center, or some other tall building, dollying around her as she continues to play. That might be a perfect place to end it, with the violin music continuing as it fades to black and credits roll.