FILM PRODUCTION 437: ADVANCED CINEMATOGRAPHY

PRODUCTION BOOK

SEBASTIAN MERCADO – 80783061

Script

Double Fault

by

David Jol

FADE IN:

An old black and white interview with Bruce Lee that endswith his famous line on living like water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S31X69JscgU

(Interview carries through the next scene.)

INT. MALLORY’S ROOM - DAY

MALLORY, a 10 year old girl, is sitting on the floorstretching watching the interview on the television in herroom.

Her room and fashion sense is characterized by thecharismatic, fun flamboyancy of someone who is still muchmore a child than a teenager.

The interview is just ending when her MOM gives an impatientKNOCK on the door.

MOM (O.S.)Come on, Mallory! You’re gonna belate.

Mallory opens up a drawer in her dresser and pulls out abright coloured, matching athletic outfit and changes intoit. She is wearing her bathing suit top and bottom under herclothes.

She digs through her accessory drawers and pulls out twowristbands with a matching headband and knee-high socks.

Finally, she straps on a banging pair of velcro runningshoes and the get-up is complete.

She stands in front of her full length mirror and flexes.Unsatisfied, she takes off her glasses and tries again,giving the mirror an intimidating look that would make evenBruce Lee tremble.

She puts her glasses back on and hurries out of the room,leaving the television on.

INT. KITCHEN - DAY

Mallory walks into the kitchen and grabs a glass from thecupboard and fills it up with water.

She then starts to chug the water back.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 2.

Her Mom - loud 80’s style make-up, a weight problem, and aforced, tattooed smile - walks into the kitchen ready toleave the house.

MOMOh, Bugaboo, you look adorable.

MALLORY(between gulps)

Thanks, Mom.

Mallory finishes the water and puts the glass on thecounter.

MOMAre you ready?

Mallory opens a different cupboard and starts digginginside.

MALLORYYup.

She pulls out a massive Power Bar that looks like it’s forHulk Hogan.

INT. MOM’S VEHICLE - DAY

Mallory sits in the passenger seat taking bites out of thepower bar, she is very still and her eyes are closed in deepfocus.

Mom, driving, looks over at Mallory and then back at theroad and then back again at Mallory, sitting there in sometype of reverie eating a power bar the size of her forearm.

MOMWhat are you doing, sweat pea?

Mallory does not open her eyes when she answers.

MALLORYMental preparation, I’m visualizingthe race.

She takes another bite of her bar.

MOMOh, how fun! Does it help?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 3.

MALLORYThe difference between winning andlosing is in what happens beforethe race begins.

MOMI did not know that. (beat) Youknow, sweetheart, it’s okay if youdon’t win the race. You know that,right?

Mallory opens her eyes and looks at her Mom.

MALLORYI know, Mom, but I think I can win.

She sits back in her seat and closes her eyes again, takingthe last bite of her power bar.

EXT. RACE TRACK - DAY

Mallory stands at the start of a 100 m sprint next to abunch of other GIRLS that look more developed and fasterthan she does.

MR. GEORGE - a middle-aged, sweaty, insecure, and neuroticman - is the man holding the gun to start the race.

His focus is not on the race, however, as he is staring intothe bleachers at a MAN and WOMAN intimately talking to oneanother.

Two of the girls next to Mallory are talking about thingsthat would obviously not include her.

GIRL 1My mom bought me a new brayesterday. I’m a 32A.

GIRL 2A real bra? Cool.

GIRL 1Yeah, the lady at the store said Iwas an early developer.

Mallory is focusing herself as the girls start to move intotheir lanes. She takes her glasses off and makes sure shefeels loose and limber.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: 4.

GIRL 2Did you see Jeff P today? He is socute!

GIRL 1Oh my god, I know. He told Jordanthat he has a crush on me.

Mr. George feels the wedding band on his ring finger, stilllooking into the bleachers.

Man and Woman are laughing and looking in love. NeitherWoman nor Man have wedding rings on.

Mr. George is looking even more forlorn.

GIRL 2Are you serious?

GIRL 1Yeah, I bet he might kiss me soon.

Mallory is ready for the race to start.

Mr. George is ready to get this fucking race over with.

MR. GEORGEOkay girls, take your marks.

A hush falls over the track as each girl gets in position.

Mallory is tense in a deep transcendent focus.

MR. GEORGEReady.

He raises the gun into the air and takes one more look atMan and Woman sitting together.

MR. GEORGESet.

Mallory raises into position, ready to bolt like a startleddeer.

A long second passes, Mallory is about to burst.

Mr. George looks even sweatier. His finger is shaking on thetrigger.

He puts the gun against the side of his head and FIRES,sending his brain spraying out the other side of his head ina bloody fireworks display.

(CONTINUED)

List of Limitations

-­‐ UBC failed to supply us with any of the readily available sound equipment that was there, and I was forced to go to ProVision and pay for and rent gear that should have been available to me free.

-­‐ After scouting the final location I realized that there were no spectator areas, stands or the such. The script called for a set of bleachers or something like this where two people flirted separate of the rest of the spectators, but there was no such thing available at such a short notice.

List of Assets

-Help from UBC Students and friends

-Gear from the program and from friends

-Good script from UBC Creative Writing Student

CONTINUED: 5.

Everyone is shocked and horrified by what just happened.

Everyone, except Mallory, who takes off sprinting down thetrack at the fastest speed of her life.

Her vision is blurred without her glasses and she ain’tlooking back, she has the lead and she’s going to keep itright until the finish line.

Location Scout

Preferred Original Location – Swanguard Stadium in Burnaby

Shooting Location – Balaclava Park

Scout Notes

The new location, Balaclava park is surrounded by houses, so cheating a background is easy as the only real marker is the track itself.

The location is quiet as it’s in the middle of a residential area. So sound shouldn’t be an issue. The forecast for the weekend says it’s going to rain, so I need to rent tents in order to keep the camera out of the rain.

Equipment

For the indoor scenes I obtained from UBC:

-Manfrotto Tripod

-2 x Diva Keno Flos

-1 x Rifa Light

-1 x 1K Micky Mole

-1 x Digital Light Meter

As well as many small miscellaneous items (sandbags, flags, silk, gels, etc.)

Not from UBC I obtained:

-Canon 5D mark II

-Briefcase Dolly with 3 x 8ft tracks

-RED Mysterium-X Camera package

-Filter Set

-R-44 Sound Recorder

-2x Sennheiser Lavalier Microphones

Reference Material

Slow motion running on track

Characters and costumes

Car Driving Scene

Running Shots

Mallory in room

Shooting Schedule

March 26th – 8am-5pm Scenes 1,2,3

March 27th – 8am-4pm Scene 4

Conclusions

How the filming process differed from what was anticipated?

I originally had a pretty ambitious shot-list, so knowing what shots are essential, and which are just more coverage was important to have prepped before hand. Also I had a lot of dolly shots planned, but managed to skip a lot of them by deciding to do them in post thanks to the RED 4k resolution.

What difficulties did you encounter when moving your preparations into action?

Well, the main difficulty for us was locking down a location for the park. We called several schools a couple weeks in advance, and it was difficult to get into contact with anyone with the authority to grant us permission.

Finally, we got the beautiful Swanguard stadium for our own use. The permit was expensive, unless we applied for it under a student production (which it was), all I needed was a signature from a film faculty member to assure them this was true. Since I couldn’t get one I had to find a new location the day before production began.

After making several unsuccessful calls, I resorted to going to the Vancouver parks office in person to talk to them about obtaining a permit to any park. Once I arrived there, they told me that they required two weeks advance notice for permits. After pleading with them and explaining my scenario, I managed to get a permit for Balaclava park for the day. As I didn’t have any time I had to just accept the location without having seen it in person.

What could have been done to prepare for the difficulties?

Doing things way in advance would have helped most problems.

I definitely need to learn the menus of the RED a lot better, I was relying on my awesome 1st AC, (Nicolas A. Barona) to switch settings for me. I’m happy how everything turned out. Weather was luckily awesome. We forgot the filter box for the RED at the rental house, so that slowed us down a little bit. I wish I did a better job checking all the equipment before hand.

What unexpected “gifts” did you receive?

The weather was great, I was afraid that it might rain, thus destroying continuity. It did get sunnier near the end of the shoot, but color correction hides that pretty well.

Great crew, everyone was very knowledgeable and worked together well. I guess that wasn’t too unexpected though, since I have worked with everyone before…

What did you learn?

The first most important thing I learnt about this whole project was to start on the logistical part of it way in advance. Book your gear, locations and crew as soon as possible. That way if something doesn’t work out, it’ll be easier to deal with.