Researching One Location Films and The Importance of Setting
Where you decide to set a scene is of great importance. A location can act not only be a nice backdrop to a crucial scene in your film, It can also tell more about the story without directly telling the audience. For example, in the film 'Six Shooter' (2004), it is almost completely set on a train. At face value, the audience can tell that the characters are travelling from one location to another, If you start to dig a bit deeper, however, you can start to reveal more about the characters. A train heads in one direction with no deviation (unless you use a train in England where you can get deviated onto a replacement bus service). All these characters are just coming from their own critical point in their lives after suffering losses in their respective families and are all heading to the one metaphorical destination of getting over their loss and living the rest of their lives. In this story, only Donnelly (played by Brendan Gleeson) gets off this train at the right stop, he is also the only character that at the end of the film who was prepared to move onto the rest of his life (minus the holding the gun to his head). Each of the other characters had something that was holding them back from moving on. This is just one film that uses the location to further tell the story.
Another way in which a location can be utilized is to act as an extension of the character. In the third Star Wars (George Lucas, 2005), the final fight scene had to take place with lava due to the connotations of anger. Anakin, played by Hayden Christensen, had literally reached boiling point and hence this resulting fight scene. If you were to take out the characters, you can infer just from whats going in the setting that something is 'going down'. This point and the one mentioned in the previous paragraph shows that if you were to give attention to picking the best location for your film you can add a new dimension to your film.
Sometimes, the location can be a character in itself. Take Howl's Moving Castle (2004) where the location in which a lot of the film takes place is it's own character. It acts as a broad projection of how Howl is feeling, when Howl is weak, the interior of the castle starts to turn decrepit. This changes when Sophie is introduced to Howl and starts turning his life around. She is physically cleaning the place but is cleaning Howl, the character, up as well by offering company and teaching him things about life he wouldn't have known without her.
Fantastic Locations and Where To Find Them (How I Got From The Initial Brief To Deciding Where I Wanted To Film)
With a brief that is asking you to make a film entirely based in one location you want to find a poignant location that has the ability to aid in the telling of the story you want to tell. The first idea that I had that stuck with me was to have the film about a friendship between two people that is coming close to it's end (I'll go through this a bit later as I'm focusing on the location in this section). For a story like this I wanted to highlight the isolation a person might feel when going through a situation, when your having to deal with something like this you try and turn to a friend for help or support. But if that person is the one who is causing you the issue then it will be hard to find that support hence why I described it as an isolating feeling. However, I felt like it is relateable as everyone, at some point, will go through a similar situation so I was trying to find a location that was recognisable but gave off a lonely feeling. The setting I thought would suit how I wanted the location to feel is the bathroom. Everyone (hopefully) has a bathroom in their house which fulfils the feeling of a recognisable location but also you isolate yourself in there by the process of locking the door once you have entered. Further expanding on the point of being able to lock the bathroom door, I can use this as a visual metaphor to represent as the film plays and the friendship starts to be on the mend, Max (the character in the bathroom) can slowly unlock the door to show this improvement.
One of my favourite uses of a relatable setting to convey certain emotions is in the music video for Slowthai's song 'Toaster' (slowthai, 2019). In it Slowthai visits the house he was brought up in. As he walks around to each room he recounts poignant memories that he remembers from his youth occasionally dipping in and out of the song. This is particular effective as the song that accompanies the video features lyrics where Slowthai looks back at the environment he grew up in and how that influenced who he is today (Society says Slowthai is a danger, Head top rearranger, No love for authorities, They took my bro and that's robbery). The general aesthetic of the film makes it seem like it was recorded on an old camcorder further reinforcing the feeling of nostalgia. Even though I'm not necessarily going for that exact emotion, the subtle factors they add to the video really paints the picture of the environment Slowthai was brought up in. I also want to include these types of little notes that can convey the emotions that I want to be felt during the film.
Another metaphorical comparison you can draw from the lock is that Max had locked the door themselves. This could mean that the breakdown in friendship could be partly down to Max. He is blocking himself off from his friend and that's putting strain onto their relationship. This means that not only does Max have to get over the issues with his friend, he has to get over his own problems. These problems, like previously mentioned, is manifested in the door between Max and his friend and the lock that stops contact from his friend. He has put a physical and mental barrier between the two. This is something I want get across to the audience, this self imposed barrier. It might be able to offer an opportunity for some self reflection for the viewer if they are going through something similar.
To continue on from the idea that I want the audience to have the opportunity to self reflect, I'm also of thinking of having the characters faces not be fully revealed. A short film called Patision Avenue (2018) used the same technique. The premise of the film is that you are following this woman as she walks from one audition to another when on the way there she accidentally gets in between a violent protest and the police. A possible reason to why the choice of never showing the character's face was picked was to show that a person's life can quickly go from a joyful time (doing well in an audition) to spiralling out of control (getting caught up in the violence of the protest) and because you are unable to see the face, you can then project yourself onto the character, making the story more person (you might necessarily not be caught up in protests but the violence can be exchanged for another obstacle in your life). Furthermore, the fact the protest is literally stopping her get to her next audition means this obstacle in her life is halting her progress in her own life. Comparisons can be made with real life obstacles where a person gets 'stuck in the mud' when they have to go through a particular rough part of their life.
Practical Points About Filming In A Bathroom
The main advantage of using the bathroom in this film is the ease of access I will have to it. A big issue a person might face when trying to pick a location is how easy it is to film there. Filming in the city centre is a nice idea but the logistics of actually getting the equipment there and set up can be a tiresome experience. This is especially the case for a student film, where finding classmates to help film with you is difficult (because they are also filming their one location) but then finding said classmates who are willing to haul equipment around town with you is a rarer find than a capable Tory prime minister. So keeping the location close to home will greatly help the process. This can also aid in getting such shots as insert shots and B-roll if I need to do some re shooting on another day if I notice something extra is needed that I might have either missed or shot poorly during the original filming schedule.
Another advantage that comes with filming in your own house is that you can have complete control of the props you place in it. Sometimes the audience can draw meaning from a location if the background is 'empty' for example, it could mean the person who is situated in the room could feel empty themselves. This is going back to the previous point that a location can act as an extension of the character and can reveal details/characteristics without directly telling the audience. But I feel that is not something I want for my film. I want to have the ability to pick and choose what I have in my scene. A bathroom that's sparingly decorated with toiletries for a single person indicates a person living by themselves but further questions can be raised by the audience such as 'why is he living on his own?'. This background building is something I also want to focus on as I want the character to feel like he has lived a life up till this point and that the viewer is just looking into the segment of his life and once the film has stopped his life will continue after. I don't want it feeling like a mannequin has been brought out of storage, chucked into a scene, moved around a bit then back into storage.
Something I can try out throughout the film is to slowly add the toiletries of the other character back into the bathroom to make it feel like Max is slowly letting his friend back into his life. These additions won't be made clear (through such uses of close ups or timelapse) but will take a back seat in it. If people start questioning the continuity then I feel like I will have achieved what I wanted with this specific area. This is just another visual metaphor I can add to my film to create more depth to it in the hope of making it more of an interesting watch.
NakeyJakey
Something that inspired me massively is NakeyJakey's video where he talks about his childhood (NakeyJakey, 2018). The quietness in a lot of the shots. I also really liked the aesthetic of the editing techniques
I feel like this works extraordinarily well as he talks about having to play games on a particular small screen. This times in really nicely with having a small screen in the centre of his shots displaying home footage of his childhood. It's almost as if he is looking through this little screen of nostalgia
Shoutout To My Toilet For Dealing With My Shit
Even though I came to the conclusion that I wanted to use a bathroom for my film right at the beginning of the thought process. I also looked at other mediums that have used one location and seen if they use anything interesting during their process.
The music video for Death Grips song 'Double Helix' (Death Grips, 2012) takes place entirely in the rear view monitor of a car with MC Ride, a member of Death Grips performing the song. Even though it is a very simple idea, it is something that I haven't seen before. They take the very mundane setting of a car park and found a way to make it interesting by experimenting with how you set up a shot. The experimental nature of this music video reflects the sort of music Death Grips. If you were to mute the video, you would still get an accurate reading on what type of music they create. It's not a standard music video because they do not make standard music.
Bibliography
-Death Grips (2012) Death Grips – Double Helix. Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWzJhkrZm5Y -Howls Moving Castle. 2004. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki [Film]. Toho Co., Ltd. -NakeyJakey (2018) When Bioshock Was My Only Friend. Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr0UYNKmrUs&t=4s -Patision Avenue. 2018. Directed by Thanasis Neofotistos [Film]. Argonauts Production -Six Shooter. 2005. Directed by Martin McDonagh [Film]. Magnolia Home Entertainment -slowthai (2019) slowthai – Toaster. Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbMqeYdVPo4 -Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. 2005. Directed by George Lucas [Film]. 20th Century Fox.