Toilet Terror over view

Brief

Our task this time is to tell a story in a confined space using only close shots. With have also been told that the location for our shoot it a toilet cubicle.

Outline of film

The basic idea for our film is a paranoid man is in a toilet cubicle doing ‘his business’. A series of events then take place which terrify the occupant. Another man enters the other cubicle and then lights break followed by a series of intense screams. moans and bangs. The paranoid man is then convinced that his neighbor is murdered, only when the lights come back on and he leaves the cubicle does he realize that in fact he was just having a hard time doing a number 2…

Initial thoughts

I think we’ve got a nice simple and solid idea with which to work with. There are a few things we need to keep in mind though, for example there is a mirror in our location so we need to make sure the camera man isn’t in any of the shots. The mirror could be used however to get some nice shots, such as looking over the mans shoulder into the mirror to see the paranoid man open the cubicle door behind him. Also because we are using a lot of close shots in this film we need to be aware of where our characters focal points are, as I learnt from our last film about the pizza shootout.

I think a similar technique of fast close shots in our previous film will work well here to create the image of panic as our paranoid character begins to worry about what is happening in the bathroom. But also some longer drawn out shots would be good in building suspense as he slowly opens the door.

Research 

In this scene from kill bill they are filming in a very enclosed space so has a few similarities with the style that we are going to shoot in. It starts with a number of close shots panning round the coffin to show us each side and how compact it is. These shots feature her pressing her knee against the sides of the coffin and some POV shots of her shinning her torch around showing us how small the space is while helping to keep the narrative of  the fact she doesn’t really know where she is. We then see her trying to get her feet untied using two close shots of her feet and then her reaction as she struggles to free herself, this works well as it helps to build tension by continuously by switching back and forth as her escape progresses. Then we see a nice panning shot of the length of the coffin following her shuffling her boot up to her hands, this allows us to see the whole length of the coffin and how enclosed she is.

When filming this sequence they would of removed the 4th wall in the coffin in order to easily film inside.

This is a fantastic short film about a man running out of toilet paper while trying to catch his flight. The point at which he realises the lack of toilet paper and hears the call for his flight there is a slow high angle zoom shot to represent the realisation of his predicament. At the end of this shot he places his hands on each wall, I think this works really well in showing how trapped and alone he is. Characters feeling around the walls of their space seems to be a reacquiring theme in short films set in a restricting space, this is a great way to represent how panicked the character is. Using a number of shots like this could be a nice alternate to a wide shot when establishing where the film is set.

There is a POV shot of him opening the cubicle door to see the janitor outside, this helps to show how cautiously he opens the door and how nervous the character is. This kind of shot would work well in our film as the paranoid man slowly opens the door to see who is outside and what is going on.

Ignorance by Paramore has a number of scenes in the video in which they are in what appears to be quite a small space with all their instruments. The set has been designed in such a way with sloping walls and celling to make it look smaller than it actually is, this combined with lots of close handheld shots create a very claustrophobic feel to the image.

Another part of making it seem small is the lighting that they used, having a dull light that doesn’t properly illuminate the room creates this feeling of containment and isolation. Also they use the light bulb as a common theme when cutting to different filming locations to help provide some continuity. The speed of the cuts here are being used to create energy matching the song rather than the effect of panic i’ve seen in other videos.

The close handheld shots filmed with a lot of movement help to create energy as well but they can also show how uncomfortable and unsettled they are in that small room.

In The Cure’s music video ‘Close to me’ they are playing their instruments inside a wardrobe. They use a large amount of close shots in this which chop and change very quickly, this creates a sense of disorientation. However because we see lots of different shots of hanging clothes and polls the audience can start to bring two and two together in order to deduce where they are before we get a wide shot of the entire wardrobe from the outside.

The camera also pans across the bands faces and parts of the wardrobe, I quite like this shot as it resembles looking around inside the wardrobe and not being able to fit your head in a place because of the restricted place.

Shot list

Shot 1: Establishing shot/close up – Although this is going to be a close-up shot, it will still set the scene and the audience will be able to tell where the character is.

Shot 2: Close up of paranoid character’s face reacting to sound of heavy boot steps entering the bathroom.

Shot 2: Mid shot showing the whole cubicle – of paranoid character, then lights begin to flicker/turn off.

Shot 3: Close up of characters face with the phone light illuminating it. Also showing his reaction.

Shot 4: Close up shot of paranoid character panicking and maybe speaking to see if there is anyone there.

Shot 5: Close up shot – of the paranoid character whilst the man in the next cubicle starts to make noises.

Shot 6: Over the shoulder shot – of the paranoid characters head turn when the noises continue.

Shot 7: High angle shot – of the paranoid character cowering to the back of the cubicle in fear.

Shot 8: Mid shot – of the builder in the cubicle struggling on the toilet.

Shot 9: Close up of paranoid character hearing the footsteps of the builder leaving the cubicle, still unaware that he is only a builder.

Ending Shot: Over the shoulder shot with a mirror in shot. In the reflection of the mirror you can see the paranoid character emerging slowly out of the cubicle

This is our rough shot list with plenty of different shots with which we can chop and change to make them fit the narrative. We will also have a safety shot of the paranoid character in the cubicle for the whole sequence just in case some of our close ups don’t fit neatly next to each other, we can then use clips from this shot to piece together everything so it runs smoothly from shot to shot.

Story board 

I’ve put together a quick story board following our shot list, we found that last time it was very useful in keeping everyone on the same page and visualizing the shots we want. It also allows us to get a fairly good idea of how the whole film will flow together.

Location

This is the location that we are going to use. We’ve arranged with the college and other groups to make sure that the room is free for us to use when we need it. This will give us about an hour and a half to do our shooting, so will we have to move as swiftly as possible to get as much footage as we can so we have enough to play with in editing.

We had originally planned to have some lighting changes but unfortunately because we are unable to control the lights in the bathroom due to the sensor we will have to make do without, or possibly relook at the issue in editing.

Also because the way the doors open and the shots we want to use, the paranoid man will have to be in the end cubicle. If he wasn’t then the open door would be in shot and it would be very difficult to get some of the angles we want. By having the paranoid man in the end cubicle we can film with the door open but have it out of shot using the forth wall principle.

Screen Test

This is a quick and very rough screen test that we’ve done. This has helped us get a feel for our shot angles and how we are going to film in the location. The shots that we’ve done are mostly the ones that we thought we might have trouble with for example the mirror shot and how we are going to film in the cubicle with the inwards opening door.