Film Research

One of my favourite films of recent times is Ex-Machina. I mentioned this film when I first pitched the cell, it was probably the closest thing to the Cell that I could think of. I alway loved the set design and clean look of this film.

It is beautifully shot, and can be quite unique at time, often the film uses camera angles from real cameras that would be inhabiting the scene. I feel this adds to the film because it automatically gives the audience the idea of being watched, without ever having to say so. This is something I hope to do in The Cell, I think the concept calls for this and makes sense within the narrative, it also gives us some dynamic camera angles and allows us multiple options in the edit. 

Another film which I watched just for this project was Escape from Alcatraz. This film is a Clint Eastwood classic. The does a lovely job of showing the mundane nature of prison and the colour palette is superb, the washed out blue against greys really calming yet cold. 

The Cell is a prison film and I thought it was appropriate to include a prison movie on this list, I didn't want to go with the obvious and talk about Shawshank. After researching some movies I decided to go with Escape from Alcatraz, because whats more iconic than Alcatraz. I really enjoyed the movie and found because the majority of it is set in prison, the film hasn't really dated. One thing I wanted from this prison research was something for our lead character to do while in the cell. A plan of escape maybe? I took a lot of inspiration from the shot shown above, the escape out of the vent. I also saw this as an opportunity for the character to have something to talk to someone threw. 

Finally its a film which at first may seem detached from the cell, Cast Away. I actually hadn't seen this film until a few years ago, so the WILSON crack was lost on me. I am always up for watching Tom Hanks do anything. He is a fantastic actor and I also love the director Robert Zemekis, I love the Back to the Future Trilogy and another Hanks & Zemekis collaboration Forrest Gump. 

First off, this is a wonderful movie, the film never gets boring from the opening and its all on Tom Hanks' shoulders. It was important to me in The Cell for the character to feel alone, they certainly achieve this in Cast Away. One of the ways I feel they do this is with the Wilson Character. He never once speaks or emotes but yet Tom Hanks sells this emotional investment in the character. You do feel terrible for him when Wilson gets left behind. Watching this film it only affirms my aim to get as strong of a lead actor as possible for this. I think the success of our film just like Cast Away hangs on that. 

Below is a moodboard I created, it has a few of the films we have spoke about up top and also a few other influences across Film & TV.

These influences include Westworld, Blade Runner, Moon and 10 Cloverfield Lane. I included Moon because it shares many of the same themes as The Cell. I also love the Kevin Spacey character and wonder if we would benefit from a character like that, for our lead to interact with. 

Blade Runner for obvious reasons, like that I love it and I love the lighting in Blade Runner something I'm very much striving for in The Cell. 

I've shown this MoodBoard to Glenn as a way of giving him an idea of what I'm thinking about the visual identity of the film. I pointed out to him the colours I had chosen. I wanted the cell to have a very Grey, pastel blues feel, a classic prison motif and then for the Manor at the end to have a very warm, full of contrast environment. I thought this would give us the perfect opposites between the Cell and the Manor.