In this unit, we were tasked with choosing a scene from a director then shooting and editing it in our own directorial style. The director I decided to focus on was Frank Darabont, famous for The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and for adapting The Walking Dead into a television format. I picked a scene from The Walking Dead that I felt played an integral role in building the tone and atmosphere for the rest of the series, and one that also explores the reactions of the central character, Rick Grimes, as he awakens into a changed world.
I chose this scene in particular as I felt I would be able to depict a good balance of the relationship between Rick and Shane through their dialogue, and also the transition between civilisation and apocalypse through Rick's eyes. The scene itself relies heavily on the visual aspects of the story rather than through dialogue, which is something I appreciate greatly in film and television. I was particularly intrigued by how Darabont depicted the passing of time when Rick sees Shane in the hallucination to when he wakes up to find he has not been there for a long time.
This scene only required two actors (as well as some extras to play a corpse and some hands), and so I felt as though I should choose wisely as a lot of the drama would circulate from their performances. My choice for Rick needed to look at least 25 year old and I needed someone who could deliver a good physical performance, as the majority of his time onscreen focuses on his journey through the hospital. I feel that Aidan delivered a good performance as Rick; we saw the fear and confusion in his face when he sees the corpse and the undead hands clawing on the door. My choice for Shane needed to show more subtlety in his physical performance as we only see him in the first scene. I feel that Darrell was an almost perfect casting for Shane, not only due to his appearance, but also through his knowledge of the character and ability to depict him and his relationship to Rick. Whilst there was very little 'performing' involved, I felt the corpse needed to be someone young and innocent-looking, and so I chose Sophie to fulfil this role to highlight that the innocent will not survive long in this new apocalyptic world.
It was vital that my locations seemed real so that I could create a fully immersive environment to add to the realism of the scene. I was very fortunate to be able to film at the nursing agency as their training room looked very much like a hospital room: the size, lighting and geographical location was almost perfect. This allowed me to portray an authentic looking hospital room so we are well aware that Rick is in a private hospital room and thus he is seriously injured before waking up. This also meant that I had to consider other props that would properly enforce the hospital setting and the transition from pre to post-apocalypse. I chose to include as many medical props as possible - a wheelchair, crutches, tissues, a nasal cannula, and the hospital bed each contributed to the hospital aesthetic, and adding the writing to the door, various debris and abandoned possessions (the handbag and phone) brought forth the idea of abandonment and the loss of hope after the apocalypse.
The Walking Dead is based in the United States but I wanted to adapt my scene into a British setting - this was largely because I wanted the dialogue to feel more natural, and so I chose not to force my actors to speak in a way that would be unnatural to them. The costumes were also very important here and I took careful consideration to ensure that they contributed to the atmosphere of the scenes. I was very specific with my costume choices: I dressed Shane in a white short sleeved shirt with a black tie and trousers, as British police officers wear under their jackets so it appeared as though he was off-duty; I also dressed Rick in an NHS hospital gown with a bandage around his torso, plain blue shorts and no shoes or socks. Several people have pointed out that the hospital gown i in fact the wrong way around, but I chose to do this intentionally for two reasons; firstly, the original scene depicts Rick with his hospital gown this way around and I wanted to stay faithful to this aspect of the original; secondly, with the gown on this way, we see the bandage underneath so that the audience is more aware of why Rick is in hospital in the first place.
I felt that in order to do this scene justice, I had to ensure that I put a lot of effort towards the practical effects I used for the shoot. I was inspired by Greg Nicotero put so much focus into this aspect of the film, as his special makeup effects add an entirely new dimension to the visuals of The Walking Dead. Realistic-looking fake blood was vital, so I ended up using about half a litre all together and if we could, I would have chosen to use another half a litre. I had to create the illusion that something had been eating this corpse and so I wanted to go all out with the gore elements to make the audience feel uneasy, as Rick would. Makeup was also used to make Rick look more dishevelled, the hands clawing at the door to seem more animalistic and threatening and the corpse look realistic. I also ensured I bought two of the same bunch of flowers several weeks apart, so it appeared as the same bunch of flowers - though the older bunch did not die as quickly as I had hoped, so I had to put them in the oven which worked just fine.
For a sequence such as this, the sound design had to immerse the viewer into the world so they can properly empathise with Rick in his difficult situation. The first scene involves Rick in a sort of dream/hallucination before he wakes up to find that civilisation has ended, and I wanted to highlight this seemingly sudden transformation (from Rick's perspective). I chose to open the scene with hints of what happened to Rick to land him in hospital by using short voice snippets from Shane such as "officer down" and "we need an ambulance". I applied a FFT filter to this to make it sound muffled, as Rick would have been dazed and confused after he was shot - I added a high-pitched tone to add to this. The hospital wild track was added with the ticking clock sound effect so that it could build up, getting louder and louder until the clock strikes for the last time and we move to the future where the clocks have stopped and people are dying. Once the clock has struck, we are left with silence so I amplified the typically quiet sounds, such as the flowers crackling between Rick's fingers, his footsteps, and the constant hum of the fluorescent lighting. I had not planned on using music to force any emotion in the scene, but the score I have used is subtle enough that it works alongside the visuals and other audio elements to build tension and fear.
I also wanted to emphasise the contrast between the dream sequence and the future reality through the camera. My first choice here was to use a DSLR camera for the first sequence due to its superior depth of field abilities; I also increased the contrast and saturation on the camera itself to create the dreamlike look. I was inspired by Marc Munden's surrealist use of contrast and saturation to create a divide between reality and sub-reality, but I wanted to avoid going overboard with the contrast and saturation as I feel Danny Boyle did in 28 Days Later. After the time skip, I then switched to the Sony EX camera and tried to match the colours as closely as I could to the lighting on location so that it looked as lifelike as possible. I opted for a POV shot from Rick's perspective looking at Shane and an extreme close up of his face to enforce the fact that this is in his head. Once Rick wakes up, we transition to medium and wide shots, and as he begins to realise things are not as they seem, we switch to handheld to add to the sense of uneasiness. I wanted to draw specific attention to particular details, such as the dead flowers by focusing on them in the initial POV shot and then cutting between medium and extreme close up shots so that we knew they became the most reliable indicator that a lot of time has passed since Rick was admitted into hospital. As the sequence progresses, I relied more on handheld shots to mirror Rick being on the move, and as his fear begins to grow, the camera movements become more erratic and uncomfortable to parallel with his own mindset.
The overall mood I aimed for was initially that of Rick's fond memories of his friends and work, which later develops into confusion and then fear. The sequence as a whole can therefore be split into three segments for the tone I wanted to convey:
- The dream sequene - the mood here was one of serenity and fondness, hence my choices to use bright and vibrant colouring, a busy soundscape, and calm camera movements.
- Rick wakes up - the mood then changes to reflect Rick's confusion as the colour scheme enters reality, the noises stop, and the camera movements begin to be more unsteady.
- Rick discovers the corpse - the final mood of the sequence now reflects the fear and panic Rick is feeling as the colours are darker, the lighting dimmer; then the music builds up and the camera movements become almost frantic.
I made these choices so that the audience could better empathise with Rick through the audiovisual content on screen, so they can immerse themselves into his journey from serenity to confused panic. In the edit, I accentuated these through ensuring I paced the scenes to form a slow build up from each revelation Rick makes about what has happened. I started by using crossfade transitions with the opening titles until the clock stops, then each movement and change in the narrative becomes a hard cut. I changed the grading, so that the lighting in each scene matched for both continuity and to keep with the dark tones I wanted to convey.
To conclude, the choices I have made as a director have been enforced to allow for authenticity and empathy to emerge. By building up the tension and fear of the scene using colour grading, sound design, pacing, lighting, and editing in general, I feel I have effectively conveyed the tone and mood I wanted to, combined with the practical effects and logistical planning which have created a realistic-feeling atmosphere for the scene.
Once we had been given a tour of the dockyard, each group was assigned a different part of the attraction to film. We were given the ropery, and so we went there and carried out a risk assessment so we could ensure our filming was as safe as possible.
