CREW
Director – Daniel Bingham
Writers – Aaron Ross and Daniel Bingham
Producer – Ruth Aitken
Director of Photography – Aaron Ross
Production Designers – Hollie Raeburn and Karina Widomska
Editor – Harris Redpath
Sound Designer – Juliet Brown
LOGLINE
A world-weary hitman must decide whether to continue down the self-destructive path he is on and help his sadistic, young partner kill their target, or to reach for one last chance at redemption by letting the target go.
SYNOPSIS
We first meet Ellis as he goes about his job as a hitman. He, and his partner Kane, drive away from the city to the seclusion of the Scottish countryside. The plan; to find and kill an assigned target. However, Ellis and Kane clash due to their conflicting personalities, and they decide to split up. Ellis manages to track down the target to a makeshift camp in a forest, but when he gets injured, he finds himself at his target’s mercy. He fears for his life, but he is forced to recognise his target, Sonny, as a real person. Sonny is drowning in guilt due to an accident that changed his young life forever. He struggles to see a future with himself in it. Ellis comes to sympathise with Sonny and questions his own morality. He considers his own soul to be black beyond repair. He decides not to kill Sonny, but, perhaps as a final act of redemption, he helps him instead, for better or worse.
CHARACTERS: THE PROTAGONIST
Ellis
Ellis is a middle-aged, weary hitman. He is full of regrets from throughout his life, especially as a result of what he does for a living. He is a killer, who feels he has been worn away to nothing over the years, but he doesn’t want to fade away. He hangs on in quiet desperation. Ellis has repressed his emotions and has just become numb to the world. Ellis is tortured by guilt, regret and depression. For the taster film, we have cast a Glasgow based actor named Alasdair Ferguson.
CHARACTERS: THE SADIST
Kane
Kane is sadistic young man in his twenties. He is new to the hitman gig, but he relishes in causing other people pain. He is a very shallow, artificial and self-obsessed person. He doesn’t have any regard for human life. He is like a wolf. He has cold, dead eyes. He is difficult to read. He might even seem playful at times, but he will turn on you without warning. For the taster film we have cast Ryan Stoddart, an actor from Napier’s acting course.
CHARACTERS: THE TARGET
Sonny
Sonny is Ellis and Kane’s target. He is an average young man who, under dire circumstances, did something he regrets. He killed someone. Now he is a shell of his former self. He is riddled with guilt to the point where he doesn’t feel he can go on. He has hit a point where he literally cannot see a way forward for himself. So he hides himself away, confining himself to nothing but his own thoughts. We have not yet found an actor we’d like to play Sonny,
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Among many other things, this is a film about duality. Ellis is a man who is torn between the safety of a job he has had for a long time, and the desire to be free of it. The characters of Sonny and Kane are very much representative of two sides of Ellis: Ellis is similar to Kane, because killing is an instinctive part of who he is. Ellis is a killer. He knows exactly what it takes to claim another person’s life and he does so smoothly and effectively. It’s easier to be Kane, because Kane doesn’t shy away from death. In fact, he takes great pleasure in causing death. Ellis is also similar to Sonny, because he does feel the guilt of the many lives he has taken weighing on his soul. Sonny represents a more innocent side to Ellis; a side that is disturbed by other people’s deaths while almost accepting the inevitability of his own death. Fittingly, there are actually two entirely valid ways of interpreting the film. On one hand, Ellis must literally choose his side; Kane or Sonny. However, the other interpretation sees Ellis as a dead man trapped in purgatory. If you choose to accept this interpretation, Sonny and Kane no longer simply reflect two sides to Ellis; they are Ellis. They literally are the two sides of Ellis’ character made flesh to torment him. He is a trapped in a limbo, destined to repeat this one moment forever, never quite able to escape from the decision; Sonny or Kane? Heaven or Hell? The film takes a lot of inspiration, tonal and stylistic, from the post-western genre and film noir. Particular films we’ve used as references have been The Sister’s Brothers, The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford and Road to Perdition. The Hollow Men uses the framework of these genres as a tool to tell the psychologically bleak story of a damaged soul. We want to take a genre generally associated with escapism and distort it into a nightmare. Ellis has been worn down over the years and the world around him feels nothing but numb. He goes through life in a bit of a daze. He’s aware of everything that’s happening, but it’s almost like it’s not quite happening to him. The film is very subjectively from Ellis’ perspective, so everything reflects this feeling. Everything feels soft. Flat. Dead. As Aaron and I wrote the film, I think we were drawing from some very personal fears; not that we’re afraid of becoming Hitmen, but Ellis is a man who slipped into a routine. While he may have once had dreams, they are long forgotten. Ellis is an empty shell. To me, if you strip away the style, symbolism and blood, that’s what the film is about. That fear that you’re never going to do anything with your life; that you’re just going to fade away into nothing. I think we all feel like that sometimes.
D.O.P. STATEMENT
The visuals of a film have always been used to bolster and demonstrate key character attributes and important story beats. This aspect of cinematography intrigues me the most for ‘Hollow Men’. I’m in the unique and fortunate position to be the Co-writer and DoP for this film. Being involved in both roles has a flurry of advantages, as I’ll have a clear idea of what are the most important elements in each scene and key themes of the film and how to apply that to the cinematography of the film. In this statement I’ll go over some of the more important aspects of the cinematography. Isolation is one of the key themes/character struggles that are present in the film. I intend to use the landscape to our advantage. Using extreme wides, with Ellis seen as a pinprick in the distance, will go a long way to show the characters cut off from any form of civilisation. Further, I think that framing characters so that there’s plenty of empty space in frame could accentuate the loneliness of Ellis and Sonny. Westerns and Film Noir have directly inspired various elements of this film. In relation to the colour palette and colour grade. Frequently, Westerns have locations that are beautiful, but the environment enhances a sense of danger and tension. Dan and I have discussed possible ways to grade the film and by extension, the colour palette. We’ve discussed desaturating the image, making the landscape feel dead and barren. This would give it more of that ‘Western’ landscape vibe. Further, we want the characters to feel out of place; that they don’t belong in this environment. ‘Hollow Men’ is very much from the character perspective of Ellis. Unless there is creative reason not to, almost all of the film will be shot from Ellis’ perspective. I’ll use OTS and POV shots to achieve this. I think even simply having the camera follow Ellis through this barren landscape will make the audience empathise more with Ellis’ character and root for him. Further, there is a possible and valid interpretation that Ellis is trapped in Purgatory, repeatedly reliving the same moment before his death. In relation to cinematography, the elements of purgatory allow for some experimentation of surrealist imagery in certain scenes. I would achieve this by using wide angle lenses and unnatural camera angles to give a sense of unease for the audience. Further, I think there’s scope to use religious imagery, found in paintings or even in stained glass. This project has a lot of potential to be a great film. The film has a simple character drama filled with Western inspired standoffs, but it also can be a film with multiple layers; one where the audience can try and work out whether it’s real or are the characters trapped in purgatory. I think that the cinematography can definitely play around with genres, explore key themes and tell an effective story through visuals.
PRODUCTION DESIGNER’S STATEMENT
We’re excited to work with third year Napier film students Hollie Raeburn and Karina Widomska who have come on board the project as production designers. The film isn’t set in any specific time period. In fact, in keeping with the idea of purgatory, the film somewhat takes place outside of time. Therefore, we’d like to show this in the production design by littering the film with intentional anachronisms. Further, our noir and western influences should come through in the production design in order to develop a surreal and stylised environment. We’d like a very western inspired campsite and weapons etc. And then the noir influences will likely come through strongly in the costume design, with Ellis dressed in a long, black trenchcoat. The film will require some extensive bloodwork, which will prove to be a challenge, but in the end it’ll be worth it in order to give the film the crashing climax it deserves. The production design will be an integral part of the storytelling and worldbuilding.
SOUND DESIGNER’S STATEMENT
In my sound design I would love to keep the audience consistently aware of Ellis’ subjective view of the world, and his feelings about it, to allow for an understanding of his emotional state throughout the narrative. I would want what the audience hears to be somewhat hollow and lifeless as this is how the world appears to Ellis. Quite intimate sound design (eg. breathing/ clothes rustling/ etc) from Ellis and the other characters, Kane and Sonny, will be implemented to create the impression that they are the only people around and to highlight the isolation of the woods they’re in. This intimacy with the characters will also be used to support and communicate the film’s extra-diegetic implication that Ellis is in fact already dead, replaying the moment of his death over and over. This extra-diegetic implication will be further supported in the sound design through the bookending of stylised sound design at the opening and ending of the film. There will be an intense and visceral sound of pumping liquid interpreted as blood gushing in Ellis’ ears. The opening will also have extra sounds embedded throughout of the rustling of trees where he finally dies by the end. The opening will have extra impact towards the purgatory reading because it will only be contextualised by the ending implying this impression of the repetitive cycle he is in and adding to a sense of hopelessness and feeling of being trapped and haunted by these sounds. I am excited about the way I will construct the heavy and visceral sounds of the gunshots. I want this violent sound to hold immense weight and be shocking as it rips through the woods. I will add emphasis to the shock that these create by allowing the atmosphere sounds to drop away bit by bit as Ellis and Sonny are walking so that the atmospheres are essentially silent just before the gunshot breaks through. I am excited and interested in the challenge that I will face in order to create these gunshots as well as the visceral and disgusting noises of the blood and bone in the final moments of the film. I want these moments to feel uncomfortable to watch through the detailed sound to picture relations and I think the sound design will help support and bring the images from the production design and cinematography to life, while also aiding the atmosphere and themes of the film. I will use sound motifs to highlight specific beats and moments in the film in order to add tension and suspense in moments just before key incidents. An example of this would be the sound of Kane’s cigarettes. I want to take inspiration from films such as The Assassination of Jesse James and other westerns to help with my understanding of how to build atmosphere to realise the world that Dan envisions.
EDITOR’S STATEMENT
This film offers a lot of unique opportunities for the edit due to its surreal and dreamlike atmosphere. The main character of Ellis begins and ends the film very similarly, somewhat jarring and disorienting in the beginning and ending like a fading memory, which will be reflected in the cut. The goal is to lull the audience into a similar feeling, especially while the characters are travelling from location to location, creating a slow rhythm with the sprawling landscapes that the characters seem to glide through. The script creates a heavy emphasis on the space between the lines of dialogue and it’s important to honour this through the edit. The scenes where these tense conversations occur will be given plenty of room to breathe and pause in order to give the characters’ silence as much weight and power as their words. As always, I will work closely with our Director Dan and cinematographer Aaron to ensure that enough coverage is recorded, and will likely be present during filming acting as a script supervisor. This will give me better insight as to what occurs on set and possibly express my concerns regarding coverage during filming if I feel that an issue would arise in the edit. I will also collaborate with Dan and Aaron during the storyboarding and shot list stages to allow transparency across departments and possibly build unique editing choices into the film before we shoot. I will also discuss my editing with Juliet, our sound designer, so the I can allow room for her own ideas in the edit and ensure that the sound design has enough time to be established, as sound is a very important element in this film too. Overall I’m extremely excited for this project; the story is powerful and the way the three characters reflect each other is very unique and interesting, while the script offers a lot of freedom for me to showcase my talents while letting other departments prosper too.
BASIC KIT LIST
Sound
URSA radio mic transmitter belt x3
Sennheiser G3 Radio Mic Kit x3
MKH50 Shotgun Mic
MixPre 3
Boom pole
Camera
Arri Alexa
Arri Zeiss Ultra prime lenses
Hawk-woods VLock batteries
Arri LMB Matte box
Arri Follow focus
MK5 SmallHD monitor
The media box that has all the cards in it
24 x 36 Blag flag
Clapper board
Lastolite Reflector
4x4 Nd filter
0.6 Sachtler FSB 8
Flow tech Tripod
PRODUCER’S STATEMENT
I am very excited to work on this film. There are many challenges which will be really fun to overcome with this project, such as it being a fully outdoors shoot. I think it will also be fun to see the process of hiring guns and the licences we need for that. I really like the character dynamic between the characters in the script and the shift in power between Kane and Ellis that happens throughout it. The deeper themes of isolation, purgatory and religion also drew me to the script as it was not something that I had realised from first time reading. It was only after thinking back that the dots connected and I realised, which is something I like about films that I watch. The enjoyment and satisfaction that can be gained even after the movie has ended. We have a really strong crew and I’m confident that we will all be able to work well together to make this film as great as it can be.
LOCATION: IDEA 1 – THE PENTLANDS
Our first idea is to film in the Pentlands. I was surprised how remote certain areas in the Pentlands feel, considering how close they are to the city. These could be perfect for the film, as they give the right feeling we want, while being easily accessible. This particular part of the Pentlands is around the Harlow Reservoir and I think most of the film could be shot here, possibly supplemented with some establishing shots deep in the highlands, however, this might not be necessary.
LOCATION: IDEA 2 – SCOTTISH BORDER
Our second location idea is down at the Scottish border. There are a lot of great spots to film in, and fortunately Ruth, our producer, is already very familiar with the area. The border could be great location idea, but the main issue is that it is a bit further away from Edinburgh than the Pentlands would be, so either more time would have to be spent traveling, which would eat into our filming time, or we would have to get accommodation for everyone, which would rack up our budget. This problem can have solutions, so the borders are definitely worth considering.
PROPOSED SCHEDULE
This depends on how trimester 2 is scheduled.
14th Nov 2020 - Taster Shoot
23rd Nov 2020 - Finish edit, Sound edit starts
30th Nov 2020 - Sound edit finish, put taster together
1st Dec 2020 - 7th Mar 2021 - Pre Production
15th Feb 2021 - Crowdfunding Starts
8th - 14th Mar 2021 - Shoot film - 5 day shoot in this week
15th Mar - 4th Apr 2021 - Picture Edit
5th Apr - 25th Apr 2021 - Sound Edit
26th Apr 2021 - Put film together
27th Apr 2021 - Submit Film
PROPOSED BUDGET
Location - £50
Travel - £300 (Bus return (£252) for 14 people for 5 days shoot plus extra for any fuel)
Catering - £320 (£4 per person per meal, one meal per day. Extra for person staying with kit)
Props - £300 (£144 for the prop weapons, rest for any other)
Costume - £100
Accommodation - £444 (airbnb for one person to stay with the kit next to the Pentlands x5 nights)
Covid Expenses - £50
Miscellaneous - £100
Contingency 10% - £166.40
Total Agency - £1830.40
ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
Travelling to the Pentland Hills
Either booking accommodation/camping there
Depending on which side of the hills, booking one hotel room and one person (producer or D.O.P) staying in the room with the kit while crew and cast travel daily
Try to stay as close to Edinburgh side of the hills as possible to reduce costs
Crowdfunding
Make sure to spread the word as much as we can
Make the crowdfunding goal as reasonable as possible
Weather
Hope for sun! Shoot as late as possible for warmer weather
Have tarps and a green room close by for any kit and people to be in
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