BRIEF 02: MIXED TAPE//DESIGN DEVELOPMENT//OUGD603

design development / initial ideas

log line:  Morgan needs to discover what it’ll take to break away from his life absorbing dependence on chance and prompted emotion and instead take hold of his own fate.

film synopsis:

Set in the early 90’s the film follows the bittersweet story of Morgan Harris, a 16-year-old boy living in the suburbs of northern England. Heavily neglected as a child, Morgan struggles to gage any sense of emotional attachment. This lack of compassion combined with the fear of taking responsibility over his actions, has constructed a barrier, preventing him from making his own decisions. Morgan’s constant feeling of emptiness leads him in search for emotional development; this search takes around the UK. The only invoked sense of emotion other than fear that Morgan experience is through Music. Morgan attaches the emotion prompted by the music to the decision in hand. Building a pattern of logic with shapes and colors that stand as the visual embodiment of the emotion invoked by the music.  However, this music-spurned emotion is more of a hold over him rather than an outlet. As ultimately he needs to obtain the power over his own actions.

A stylistic take on British grit, this will be a moody, thought provoking and artistically shot film, that uses both sound and picture to represent the character’s inner monologue. Morgan’s story will be told from the prospective of an onlooker. Using cinematic techniques to give the viewer a physical presence, therefore providing way for audience to connect with the film whilst maintaining the elusiveness of the main character. The film will only offer suggestions in to Morgan’s life prior to when the film starts, furthering the sense of mystery and intrigue that surrounds him. Through Morgan the film toys with themes of escapism and coming of age that the audience can empathise with, especially those of a similar age. Whilst maintaining a sense of mystery, enough will be depicted about Morgan in order for the audience to gain that the film starts nearing the end of a restricting way of life that Morgan has lived by for a while, using subtleties to paint a bigger picture.          

After talking to the writer/director of the film, reading the plot and getting a better understanding of the film and what potential aesthetics could be used for the poster I brainstormed ideas for the visuals.  The obvious ones would be tapes/cassettes or train tickets as the main character travels throughout the film.  Another idea would be to use a still from the film, one that depicts a certain theme from the film.  One that I had in mind after seeing some of the footage was to have an image of the main character on a train with his reflection through the window.

In terms of initial visual ideas one was to use an old cassette and unravel the inside, then using a blank piece of card as the background, spell out the film title with the insides of the cassette.  Another idea was to collect old cassettes, ones with interesting labels, and scan them in, then using these images as a repeated pattern.  I also had a similar idea with train tickets, to use them as a repeated pattern for the poster.

Another idea depending on the amount of old cassettes I manage to collect would be to spell out the film title or relevant information about the film on each label of the tape.