SHOT LIST

NUMBER	SHOT TYPE	FRAME	NOTES	DURATION
1	Zoom into Mid shot	Photoshopped ext. of theatre	–	00.03
2	Extreme close up	Henry playing the piano	–	00.06
3	Tracking shot/extr. Close up	Will’s feet as he walks in garden	Dolly	00.05
4	Mid shot	Bench in left third of frame	–	00.06
5	Mid shot	Will sat on bench lip syncing	–	00.03
6	Long shot	Will walking from bench	–	00.05
7	Extreme close up	Henry’s fingers as he plays the piano	–	00.02
8	Long shot	Will walking from bench	Reversed in Final Cut	00.05
9	Extreme Close up	Will on bench	Newspaper headline (Photoshop)	00.02
10	Extreme close up	Will’s lips	–	00.04
11	–	Montage of newspaper headlines	Created in Photoshop	00.03
12	Close up	Will’s head as he lip syncs	Replicated thrice in Final Cut	00.06
13	Extreme close up	Will gurns	Low angle lighting	00.02
14	Mid shot	Will touches Henry’s shoulder	–	00.06
15	Extreme close up	Will’s face	–	00.05
16	Extreme close up	Henry playing piano	–	00.06
17	–	Montage of newspaper headlines	Created in Photoshop	00.04
18	Low angle mid shot	Will cleaning glasses	–	00.02
19	Mid shot	Will stood over Henry at Piano	–	00.01
20	Close up	Will’s head as he lip sync’s	–	00.07
21	Mid shot	Will touches Henry’s shoulder	–	00.02
22	–	Montage of newspaper headlines	–	00.05
23	Pan out from mid shot	Will lip syncing	dolly	00.06
24	–	Montage of newspaper headlines	Created in Photoshop	00.03
25	Fixed mid shot	Will runs into bush	Reversed in Final Cut	00.05
26	Extreme close up	Will gurns	Low angle lighting	00.02
27	Pan out from extreme close up	Will’s face concealed by darkness	Ariel lighting from the right	00.04
28	Extreme close up	Henry playing the piano	–	00.03
29	Extreme close up	Will’s head	Replicated thrice in Final Cut	00.01
30	–	Photoshopped headline	Created in Photoshop	00.04
31	Extreme close up	Henry playing the piano	–	00.03
32	Extreme close up	Will’s eyes	–	00.05
33	Mid shot	Will lip syncs	Photoshopped headlines fade in and out	00.05
34	Extreme close up	Will’s smiles	–	00.05
35	–	Photoshopped newspaper headline	Created in Photoshop	00.02
36	Extreme close up	Side of will’s head	–	00.03
37	Long shot	Montage of Will dancing	–	00.05
38	Extreme close up	Henry playing piano	–	00.04
39	–	Close up of photoshopped headlines	Created in Photoshop	00.08
40	Close up	Will is partially out of frame	Depth of field	00.02
41	Close up	Will touches Henry’s shoulder	Reversed in Final Cut	00.03
42	Extreme close up	Will’s eyes as he puts glasses on	–	00.04
43	Close up	Henry lip syncing at piano	–	00.03
44	Extreme close up	Will’s mouth as he lip syncs	–	00.02
45	Long shot	Will peeing in bush	Sped up in Final cut	00.07
46	Close up	Henry playing piano	Sped up in Final Cut	00.07
47	–	Photoshopped headline	Created in Photoshop	00.04
48	Zoom out	Photoshopped ext. of theatre	Created in Photoshop	00.07
49	Tracking shot/mid shot	Fixed mid shot of Will in ‘Psycho’	Desaturated in Final Cut/slowed down/dolly	00.15
50	Extreme close up	Fly on will’s hand	Slowed down in Photoshop	00.08
51	Mid shot	Will’s face as he smiles	Superimpose with Photoshopped skull	00.10

The Second Wave Of Genius (NEW STORYBOARDS)

A modest post title there, I feel. Anyway, here is my new idea briefly documented for your discerning eyes. The characters of Tommy Shuttle and Harry Cock remain as I know I will revel in word play and puerile punning over time.

We open with a zoom in on a 1950s theatre marquee heralding that ‘For One Night Only: Shuttle & Cock’ will be performing. This is married with applause as we fade into an extreme close up of Tommy Shuttle (Henry Saker Clark) playing the piano. We see Harry Cock (Will Hunter) appear spontaneously on a park bench as he sings the opening lines to the song.

As the video progresses, the truth behind their relationship begins to unfold. Newspaper headlines subtly creep in revealing that ‘Harry Cock Ate My Hamster’, ‘Cock Caught With His… Manhood Out In Local Park’ and ‘Comic Caught With Prostitutes’ until we see that infamous yet inevitable front page: ‘Shuttle and Cock Split After 72 Years As Kings Of Comedy’. It becomes clear that Cock is now a D List celebrity, hanging around in parks. He is full of indignation as he watches his once comedy partner rocket to super stardom as a solo pianist; his first album ‘Pointless Nostalgic’ goes Platinum.

And then, Tommy Shuttle is accidentally murdered by his once loyal comedy partner. The papers mourn the passing of a ‘hero’ and ‘musical legend’ as Shuttle flies over the net and up to heaven; Harry Cock is sectioned in Broadmoor.

We close with an affection headline, a tribute to Tommy Shuttle: ‘he played all the right notes, but nor necessarily in the right order’. We cut to the theare marquee that opened this tragedy and we fade out on the words ‘In Memory Of Tommy Shuttle’. Ah.

Even though the narrative is bizarre and superficially stupid, I believe it is packed with social and cultural statements; I address celebrity culture and all its idiosyncrasies and foibles; the now-common axiom that everyone has fifteen minutes of fame is tackled head on. In the twenty first century, Strinati and art collector Saatchi stress that there is an emphasis on ‘style over substance’; celebrities can be created instantaneously and fame can open over night when really, the said ‘star’ has no talent whatsoever. Look at Susan Boyle!

I realise that I have filmed several shots of my leading men already as they gurn, grimace and lip sync in the hall. Similarly, Will has been shot in the sixth form garden playing around with the camera; like Gervais, I feel improvisation can often lead to marvellous magic on the screen. I don’t want to let these shots go to waste and I will incorporate them in the storyboards of my new idea. The black and white music hall shots that were filmed in the hall give the narrative a melancholy nostalgia and suggest that this lust for fame and worship of ‘celebrity’ is a timeless axiom; Only today is it more overt because of the wave of reality TV.

Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? is subtly referenced through the relationship between the characters, the plot and indeed, the repeated low angle mid shot of Will looming over Henry as he plays the piano is synonymous with the movie.

So, below are the new storyboards for the new idea. The shooting script stays the same as the locations, dates and times are all still valid and indeed, identical. Really, I feel much more confident and enthusiastic about this idea, it is marked with personality, satire and wit. I’m sure, over time the idea will evolve again and as I begin to mock up the newspaper front pages in Photo Shop depicting the punning headlines, I will inevitably get carried away! So, in the words of The Tenth Doctor: ‘Allon-sy!’ (‘Let’s go’ in French to the non-Whovian or French speaking citizen)

SHOOTING SCRIPT & LOCATION PLAN

 

 

DATE	FRAME(S)	CAST AND LOCATION	START TIME	END TIME	PROPS
Wednesday 2nd November	2/7/14/16/19/21/28/31/38/41/43/46	WILL AND HENRY/School Hall/Lights and keys collected from Grounds man at 1.30	1.55	3.45	Mac Carrier Bag Extension lead
Wednesday 9th November	3/4/5/6/8/18/25/45	WILL/Sixth Form Garden	1.00	4.00	Mac Carrier bag Water bottle Playing cards
Wednesday 15th November	1/9/10/11/12/13/15/17/20/22/23/24/26/27/29/30/32/33/34/35/36/37/39/40/42/44/47/48/49/50/51	WILL/Green screen in Room 18	1.00	4.00	Mac

 

Location, Location, Location

Don’t despair, this isn’t a post waxing lyrical about the tediously boringly dull property programme; instead I’m listing suggested locations for the shoot!

SET: I will use the school hall to create the recording studio; the vast space and lighting is akin to this setting; the grand piano in the hall will feature in the video. Extreme close ups of Henry playing the piano will be desaturated to nod at the old jazz footage of yesteryear.

SIXTH FORM GARDEN: As Will waits for Henry, he makes his way to a bench in a park with a carrier bag full of tat; he is the archetypal nutter! Extreme close ups of him in bushes, playing with cards and lying on the bench show he is unhinged. Extreme long shots as he roams the park will show how lonely he is; is life is void of company. It also reflects how fickle and fleeting fame is. As Warhol said, ‘everyone will have fifteen minuted of fame’. After that, you’re somebody or a nobody. Will is a nobody. A nobody roaming an empty park in a mac!

WED 3RD NOV – Main Hall – Henry On Piano/Extreme Close Ups Of Will’s Face

WED 10TH NOV – 6TH FORM GARDEN – Will Roaming Park – Improvisational Work

Story boards

Here are the story boards for my music video telling the story of comedy double act Harry Shuttle & Jimmy Cock! These are just initial ideas but I’m sure they will evolve and develop over time.

As a director, I want to encourage Will to improvise and play around with the camera; Ricky Gervais works like this.

Pitch: Pointless Nostalgic

The past is a labyrinth of memory, images and forgotten faces; Jamie Cullum’s jazzy soul song Pointless Nostalgic is all about the past. Imagine Josh Brown playing a grand piano littered with oversized picture frames, giant mounts and mirrors of varying shapes and sizes representing the maze of time and memory. The mirrors would throw light in all directions and capture different facets of Josh’s face; showing how we change threw time. The endless picture frames and mounts create a visual and literal maze for the camera to meander through; recollection is a journey. The video would open with a close up of Josh’s hands playing the moody opening bars. We cut to a close up of a picture frame framing a picture of a picture frame framing a picture frame and so on suggesting the infinity of time. A pan out reveals the cluttered piano; larger cracked mirrors stand tall showing how time distorts. This concept would form the bulk of the video. Fills of Josh lip sinking, looking in smashed mirrors distorting his appearance and snap shot photography will pepper the video. I believe this video visually depicts the process of memory, journey and time with great effect.

The second idea is as follows. Time is vast, open and infinite. Time and memory form our legacy in history. When we think of the legacy of the human race, we think of people; Winston Churchill, Margaret thatcher and Madonna. Frank Sinatra, Nelson Mandela and Bruce Forsyth. If we could use found footage, I would have Josh sing at the coronation of the Queen or duet with The Rat Pack. However, to acheive a similar effect on a comical scale, my close friend, comedy collaboratar and husband, Will Hunter, will play all these characters. He will be dressed as Monroe and his dress will blow in the wind, he will dance like Madonna and in a toga and flip flops, Ghandi will free India. As all this is going on, Josh will be completely oblivious. he will singing away as the crew try and pull Will off the set. I want to expose the fact that this is a production; media in the making. I want to expose the industry secrets at the same time creating a fresh, innovative music video. This different approach to the genre not only peels away the layers of media production but hopefully it will be very funny and is a little different to what has gone before.

Thank you.