Location brief & Art Dep. references
The house and it's 'look':
The house is going to be a villa, with high ceilings and wooden floors. The colour of the walls may be harder to find because many villas are now modernised on the interior, so this will have to be taken into consideration when set dressing and lighting.
Ideally we would like to have a beige, brown and cream colour palette in the house, however this can be worked around should we find the perfect location but with the wrong coloured walls. Furniture will be dated, with one particular comfortable chair he sits in for reading in his lounge. There will hopefully be a large old mirror on his lounge wall, a wooden bookcase and small coffee tables about the place with books and papers stacked. He is a modern guy intellectually and technologically, but his home reflects his upbringing. There are random things that signify religious influence in his life but they are not of much importance (figurehead ornaments, an old bible etc.)
Stephen's socioeconomic background is middle class, and growing up he never went 'without'. Although money may have been a bit tight at times, he never suffered too much. The space in his living room will very much depend on which location we end up with, but ideally I'm going for an 'organised chaos' look, with things that fill the space rather than illustrate an immaculate home that has lots of open space.
Overall I want the audience to get a sense that Stephen seems older than he is through his habits, the look of his living environment, and his introverted personality.
Ideas about the tone:
Words that come to mind when I think of the tone:
- sinister
- invasive
- fearful
- threatening
- mysterious
- subjective
How my choice of locations relate to character/story/theme:
The thinking behind having a villa is really to give the film a quirky, somewhat mysterious visual look, but also to tie Stephen's modern day life, in with past and to reflect his traditionalist upbringing.
Having a two storey home incorporates the staircase in the script- which is an extremely important visual aspect as well as thematic aspect because Stephen will go up and down them hoping to escape and find answers, when in the end he cannot achieve either of these things. The staircase and the idea of going up and down them so many times, also metaphorically reflects the fact that Stephen is in between two minds about what is happening to him, but neither is more comfortable than the other... he has no choice but to go and explore and go out of his comfort zone to see what is happening.
The thinking behind having a villa is really to give the film a quirky, somewhat mysterious visual look, but also to tie Stephen's modern day life, in with past and to reflect his traditionalist upbringing.
Having a two storey home incorporates the staircase in the script- which is an extremely important visual aspect as well as thematic aspect because Stephen will go up and down them hoping to escape and find answers, when in the end he cannot achieve either of these things. The staircase and the idea of going up and down them so many times, also metaphorically reflects the fact that Stephen is in between two minds about what is happening to him, but neither is more comfortable than the other... he has no choice but to go and explore and go out of his comfort zone to see what is happening.