A Re-Telling of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Caroline Peterson Design for Film and TV- MCG520OB+ Asbury University
Weekly Assignments
• Chapter 1- The Narrative Triangle –page
• Chapter 2- Mise-En-Scene and the Power Setup
• Chapter 3- Connectivity and Continuity
• Chapter 4- Imagineering through Modeling
• Chapter 5- Principles of Design Harmony
• Chapter 6- Illusioneering and Special Effects
Art Forum Roundtable
• Flight of the Phoenix
• Shakespeare in Love
• Cleopatra
• The King and I
• Ghostbusters
• Hugo
• Lord of the Rings
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SUMMARY
The assignment was to find a movie with a strong sense of place and time, then move it to another place and time, planning the color palette, themes, visual metaphors, and mechanical and optical special effects. Another requirement was to select an onlocation site for filming and find a nearby sound stage to use for filming on set. By using the program Sketchup, the set was to be built virtually, and power views and camera angles planned, using the windows and doors as important apertures connecting both the sound stage and the on-location site.
Both assignments were effective ways to practice the process that a production manager uses to plan the visual narrative of a film.
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Week 1:
In this assignment, we were asked to choose three films based on how well they illustrate an element of the storytelling triangle: PROTAGONIST, MISSION, and NARRATIVE ENVIRONMENT.
Being sure that the story has a strong narrative triangle means the film will have a hero or villain of merit who is fulfilling their mission in an exciting and immersive narrative environment. 4
Protagonist
Driven: A Man Called Otto
Grumpy Lonely
WANT: To die and join his wife
NEED: To find a reason to live
Otto: (Protagonist)
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MISSION DRIVEN: Hidden Figures
WANT: To get a man in space.
NEED: To battle racial and gender discrimination
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NARRATIVE DRIVEN: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Narrative Environment is the Guernsey Islands during the German Occupation in World War II.
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WEEK 2: Mise-En-Scene
Select one of the three movies from week one and change the time and place.
• The location shift: From the Guernsey Islands to Crimea, Ukraine
• The Time Shift: From 1945 to 2015
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Mariana
An author researching how people survive the Russian occupation in Crimea
Ludmilla
Born in 1940, she has lived in the same house for her whole life but has been multiple nationalities due to different governments claiming ownership of the island.
Dmitri
A fisherman living on Tuzla Island. Raising Eva’s daughter, Tatiana
Isola
Herbalist and gardener. Brews her own vodka and sells it on the black market. Friend of Marina, lets Marina stay at her house.
Eva
Not currently on the island. Member of the resistance. Has a daughter named Tatiana. Captured by the Russian army and is in a prisoner of war camp.
Aleksei
Lighthouse Tender. Knows all the happenings in the town. Raising his grandson
Meet the Cast of Characters
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STORY SUMMARY:
• Mariana, an author, has been corresponding with a member of the Tuzla Literary and Potato Peel Pierogi Society, a book club that meets monthly under the noses of the Russian Federation. She joins them for a meeting, stays to solve a mystery, and in doing so finds that family is not always those you are born to, but those you choose, and who choose you.
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THE BOOK CLUB SCENE
Mariana joins the book club for the first time. They all sit in the living room in a circle and allow her to be the host for the evening . She has ten minutes to talk about her book. By the end of the ten minutes all the members are arguing goodnaturedly and are welcoming her into the club. They even give her the taste of their war time potato peel pierogi recipe, chased down by some vodka, and are all laughing about her reaction until she mentions she wants to write an article about them. At that point, the members grow silent and decidedly closed and cold, and refuse permission to have anything written about them.
The scene ends with Mariana and Dmitri walking back to town and him thanking her for the chance to meet her after all the times of writing to each other.
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Week 3Connectivity, Continuity and Prime Connectors
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• The assignment was to diagram the set, and plan environments that will be connected to create a suspension of disbelief through camera angles, special effects, and sound design.
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Week 4Imagineering Finding a location and sound stage
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Three Potential
Locations:
Iceland/ Faroe Islands
Poland
Croatia
The Winner?
Iceland and the Faroe Islands!
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Faroe Islands (+ Iceland)
Quick Plane Ride from Iceland –
Reykjavik to Faroe Islands is $255 round trip.
35% Reimbursement
StoryTailors production can help with all permits and logistics in both Iceland and Faroe Islands
Visa free visits for up to 90 days, and no work permits are required for short stay filming.
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Nolsoy, Faroe Islands
Lighthouse.
Cliffs Hills Farms
Small town
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Sound Stage: TrueNorth Studios, Reykyavik.Iceland
• Fossa Studios- Sound Stage 1
• Build Ludmilla’s farm on the stage, Faroe Island panels out the windows.
• Removable wall is the side of the living room with no door that is not toward the barnyard.
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• Sketchup Assignment – Put the scene onto a Sound Stage.
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Week 5Create the Color Palette using the Oil Painting Approach
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Selecting a Ukrainian painting to use as a color
palette
Color Themes: Blue and Yellow, with an accent of pink/red.
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Sunflowers: A Ukrainian Theme of Resistance
• A story is told of a Ukrainian elderly woman who gave the Russian occupation soldiers sunflower seeds so when they were killed by the Ukrainians, sunflowers would bloom where they died.
• Sunflowers will be used throughout the movie as a metaphor to indicate resistance.
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Composition: The Sunflower Golden Spiral
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THE LIGHTHOUSE STEPS: Golden Spiral
Extract a color palette from one of the paintings.
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Yellow Represents:
Warm, Happy Feelings Optimism
Mariana:
• Outsider
• Orphaned from the invasion
• Dressed in blue and white with a little yellow for the hope that is still existing, despite all odds.
• At beginning of the movie lit with blue to accent her isolation. As she moves to being accepted, increase yellow light. By end, by lighting her in yellow it will be indicated she is fully accepted.
Blue Represents cold isolation loneliness
Ludmilla
• Ukrainian ”babushka”- has lived in the same house on the island for all her 75 years. She won’t bow to the Russian invaders.
• She loves fiercely despite losing her granddaughter and her best friend Eva to the war. She is determined to protect the rest of her friends.
• Costume: Warm colors, red and yellow.
• Lit in warm and safe yellow.
Hope
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Week 6ILLUSIONEERING
Add a mechanical and optical effect that enhances the scene.
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Mechanical Effect:
Create a miniature lighthouse with a mechanically turning light.
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Optical Effectthrough CGI in post-production
Add the light from the lighthouse, sweeping over the fields and cutting through the fog.
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Optical Effect:
Use a greenscreen to add the ocean so it is moving and having waves on the shore.
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ART FORUM TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Week 1 - Special Effects Director – p. 34
Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
Stan Parks
Week 2 - Set Construction Co - ordinator – p. 35
Shakespeare in Love
Andy Evans
Week 3 - Director – p. 36
Cleopatra
Joseph Mankiewicz
Week 5 – Production Manager – p. 38
Ghostbusters
John DeCuir, Sr.
Week 7 - Set Decorator – p. 40
Lord of the Rings
Alan Lee (Uncredited)
Week 4 - Cinematographer – p. 37
The King and I
Leon Shamroy
Week 6 - Costume Director – p. 39
Hugo
Sandy Powell
Not enough sand blowing
WEEK 1:
STAN PARKS -
SPECIAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR
Very nice realistic aerial cinema by Guy Clothier.
Moving propeller and engine running looks realistic Pullback off cliff- lighting & glinting off the airplane, and dust is good.
Wind in cockpit: less in air than on ground.(For example, 1:43:25)
Camera and airplane shake outside is more than inside the cockpit
Desert – Horses vs airplane. Lighting is different. Sandstorm is terrible
Steps to easily go up and down during the fight scenes.
Lots of doors and columns to go in and out of for Shakespeare and Juliet to kiss when they go offstage
Great audience area with chairs, levels and steps allowing for the Queen to be watching from on high and take a long time to descend. She also was able to be hidden in the crowd.
WEEK 2: SET CONSTRUCTION ANDY EVANS
Great coordination of paint colors for stage and colors of the costumes, allow for both coordinating and contrasting colors that work well with the theme of the show.
WEEK 3: DIRECTORJOSEPH MANKIEWICZ
Things Done Well
Camera Angles/ Blocking
Color Palette
THINGS THAT COULD BE BETTER:
Make the feeling more immersive, and less like a bystander watching what is happening on the screen.
Week 4: Cinematographer
LEON SHAMROY THE CAMERAMAN’S CAMERAMAN
Really nice use of lighting. There is light from behind her on camera right. This casts her face in a gentle shadow and gives her a nice rim light. Since the King is facing the opposite direction, with his back to the camera and his face turned toward the light, the light is strongly illuminating his face, accenting his expression and strength. The camera does a nice job of moving in when they are talking , for closer shots, while moving back to take in the whole scene during the dancing shots. It also pans and gives a wonderful circular feeling of movement which matches the circular motion of the dance.
Stay Puffed Monster is shown, not told. Brilliantly just peeked at through the buildings.. Ghost Central is well- done. Even after knowing it was three different things (practical, painting and model) I still cannot tell where the splits were.
Burning Marshmallow and very sticky Ghostbusters.
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5: GHOSTBUSTERS
Production Manager
John DeCuir- 1918-1991
Week 6: Costume Designer: Sandy Powell
• Most of the time the theme was mainly brown, with pops of red and blue leading the eyes to were the director and cinematographer wanted to aim them.
• Light and composition was also used to help lead the eye.
• IN THE DREAM SEQUENCE:
• Instead of the bold reds and blues in a sea of browns, the color scheme turns to orange with it’s complimentary teal.
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Week 7: Set Decorator:
Alan Lee (Uncredited)
• Bilbo Baggins’ House:
• Very few straight lines, mimicking the round body of Bilbo Baggins, himself.
• Everything small, except for Gandolf, who bumps into things and is very large in the space.
• Things are quite messy, which matches the frenetic energy given off by Bilbo Baggins.
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RESEARCH PAGES
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