d3ath1nsuranc3

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

philip lorca dicorcia

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

illustration inspiration

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

before long, markie had reached the source—shards of broken glass and scrap metal. he investigated these shiny trinkets meticulously and placed a couple especially interesting shapes into his pocket for safekeeping. pushing his way through the overgrown grass, markie noticed 3 objects: a bear trap, a deer carcass, and a water damaged elliott smith cassette tape. markie stood at each object, thinking about how they got there, but this concentration was broken by a strong breeze...so he marched on.

ahead of him stood a two car garage with the door raised a foot off the ground. markie gravitated towards this inviting entrance and found himself amongst columns of boxes stacked to the ceiling. dragging his fingers along the dusty cardboard, he made his way through the maze and found himself face to face with a door. 

the door reminded him of the muffled wailing noises he used to hear in the bathroom late at night. he would crouch down and press his ear against the wood until the sobbing was layered with running water. that was his cue to rush back under his covers. one night, his routine stopped. whether he reacted too slowly or the warning went by too quickly, he never quite figured it out, but markie was still on the floor when his father opened the door, stumbling over him. jeffrey made a visceral grunt of shock, but after gaining composure, chastized markie for being so "fucking difficult" before storming back into the bedroom where his wife was fast asleep.

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

the story started seventeen years ago, but no one was paying attention. the man who had originally lived here had succumbed to a strange case of death and withered away in the bathtub, gripping a can of monster energy. jonah was 38 years old, an only child, and his parents were long dead, so it took 2 years for anyone to figure out he was missing. everyone just somehow forgot all about him, but he didn’t seem to mind. he used to be a freelancing podcast transcriber, but one day he shot his pc apart with an ak-47. he never checked to see if he got paid for his last two gigs, but that didn’t matter to him. he had no friends and no one besides his faceless clients had contacted him for years. 

markie lompman was a feral child by choice. he wasn’t neglected by his parents, but loved to play with the dogs in the woods so much that one day he never came back. henrietta and jeffrey lompman were distraught by their son’s sudden disappearance and blamed each other relentlessly. henrietta believed that jeffrey had forgotten to pick up the child from school, thus leading to his kidnapping. jeffrey thought that the child was kidnapped after being dropped off at home because henrietta was often asleep at the television. the two were in the middle of a police investigation and a lawsuit, but 5 year old markie was as happy as ever. 

in the mornings, markie usually woke up before the rest of the dogs, but liked to pretend to be asleep so he could watch them wake up. he sometimes thought about his bedroom back home and the children at daycare. before markie went feral, he was developing slower than the rest of the children his age, much to the lompan’s distress. the doctors said that the child would probably turn out to be non-verbal. day after day, the lompans would bend down and scrunch their faces up, cooing unnaturally, trying to coax markie into saying something for once. markie hated this and once hit his father in the face. after the dogs had finished stretching, the pack moved lethargically towards the landfill. they were old dogs who were always comfortable in the year-round summer. the grey dog always went first. he slipped under the gap in the fence and headed towards the newly added compost layer. the rest of the dogs (and markie) followed suit, eager to see what the landfill had in store that day. markie found a half-full box of mint oreos, his favorite kind, and stuffed his face and pockets. content with his find, markie made his way to the top of the pile and looked around. near the horizon, past the river, but before the second hill, he saw a mysterious glint. curious, he began to wander off on his own, thinking that he’d find his pack later in the day.

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

sacrifice (1986) directed by andrei tarkovksy

what i liked: framing, continuous shots, meandering dialogue, different styles of lighting (noire and muted brights), precise angles in mirrors and glass...perspective shifts

natural misunderstandings in conversation (with the mother near the beginning) remind me of i'm thinking of ending things car scene misunderstandings

imminent danger brings the truth to the surface and in those moments we believe in god. bits are shown before disaster strikes (daughter and mother's attraction to victor), but they no longer try to hide it. viewer catches it but wonders if they are meant to think that.

main character is blind to everything and very lost in his own head and “monologues”

continuous shots were so meticulously planned out and framed the way we understand the progression of the story

screams of the mother under distress were very haunting, the jerks and cries were very visceral and primal. great acting.

when the characters look directly at the camera it feels unsettling, as if their searching for something in you. making you feel like the person who has done this to them.

im writing too much about the form of the movie and not my opinions on it but i dont feel like changing it. eh, next time. i’m out of practice.

#sacrifice #tarkovsky

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

first reformed (2017) directed by paul schrader

3:4 aspect ratio for claustrophobic feeling

beautifully framed

#first reformed

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

fridgeboy test shots

(details under each image)

notes: i’m in these shots but in the real film, someone else is playing fridgeboy. blue is a recurring color for this film. the light from the fridge will be tinted greenish and cool toned in post. i’m thinking of removing the fridge door and filming it straight on and having the background be black (emphasized in post). entire movie is in fish-eye lense.

#fridgeboy

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

sludge life

kat

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

hausu (1977) directed by nobuhiko obayashi

what i liked about it: set design, stylistic choices, transitions, overlaid editing

the still-frames alone could be mistaken for oil paintings with the glowing lighting and balanced framing. the fake, plastic quality of the plants, backdrop, and props transformed the set into a dream world. i wasn’t very drawn into the actual story and it was sometimes difficult to tell if things were supposed to be funny or ironic (ex: the repeated joke of the girl who eats a lot, or the drawn out scenes of gorgeous’ dad’s new girlfriend). neither the plot nor the acting was very notable, but the editing (done by nobuo ogawa) was fueled by uncontrollable child-like creativity that transforms our ingrained understanding of physical space into an angelic hellscape. 

additional notes: this film reminded me a lot of beetlejuice (1988) in terms of visuals, but this was far more lost (in a good way) in its own style. this type of editing wouldn’t work very well (or would come off wrong due to my limited budget) in my own film, but the stylistic choices inspire me to take my own (still not completely thought out yet) style to an extreme.

#hausu #hausu 1977

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

i’m thinking of ending things (2020) directed by charlie kauffman

what i liked about it: color palette, non-linear narrative, symbolism, mixed media

this was a movie that happened to be a sort of roadtrip film, but rather than a trip from one city to another, it was a trip through time and space. since i’m trying to create a roadtrip film, i paid special attention as to how movement and liminality was conveyed. the beginning, still grounded in reality, was how i expected the whole movie to churn out and while we were getting to know the characters (and how they had zero chemistry), i noticed that the discomfort was something i could empathize with even if i didn’t care about either of the characters. the filming technique for the car scenes made it feel like the car wasn’t moving and that they were just driving on a green screen. that really bugged me, but perhaps that was intentional (with so much attention to detail, this has got to be intentional). my theory for the meaning of the story (later confimed) only solidified after jake left the car to go into the school during the blizzard and i liked the utter confusion of being a passive observer in a story that just pulls your in and out of different states, leaving you disoriented and clueless. again, yellow/green/blues in terms of color palette... i am sensing a pattern here. since it grew so removed from reality, i didn’t feel invested in the story as there didn’t seem to be any stakes attached. there was no anxiety, no fear... it was more like observing a series of beautiful scenes than anything else. one thing that stuck to me was the dialogue when the pair are driving to the ice cream shop. that conversation really stuck with me as it was jarring and strangely familiar.

additional notes: what i will want to include in my film is nontraditional media. in this movie, it appeared with the animation through the car window and the 3d rendered maggot infested pig. i like the way it blends into crisp quality of hd, but that’s a big stylistic risk to take, especially since i want my film based in reality. i will be creating a 3d render for some sort of dream sequence though, as that goes beyond what we see with our naked eye.

#i'm thinking of ending things

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

not movie related, but i like this 1997 radiohead ad color palette

#color palette

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

wildlife (2018) directed by paul dano

what i liked about it: color palette, symbolism, tension, acting

again, first off, i need to mention that i really love this color palette. same deal with dogtooth (2006), and I think the same use of contrasting color still stands. for instance, take a look at the two family pictures. joe’s family has a light blue backdrop while the random, “healthy” family has a earthy beige backdrop. as the title of the film (“wildlife”) deals with the physical wildfire that clouds the skies and kills the animals in the forest, the family deals with a metaphorical wildfire that tears apart their lives. joe wants to see his broken family as something perfect (and keeps this physical memento of it). to continue the wildfire metaphor, there are sparks that have formed throughout the marriage (some of which we don’t get to see in the time slot of the film), but the main spark is money. money (and consequentially, power) is the main conflict that we are faced with that causes and reveals a whole onslaught of additional problems within the family. the initial conflict is the loss of a job (and pride, related to power, preventing the father from going back). although the wife attempts to do her best to be supportive, the financial insecurity fuels her primal desire (and survival instinct) to regain power and on the other side, it fuels the father’s desire to “be a man”. not being able to support his family, the father goes off to fight a fire as an impulsive decision that (1) will snap him out of his cyclical depression (2) prove to himself of his masculinity by performing a life-threatening task (3) distance himself from the shame he felt and his family (which are closely associated) (4) regain pride and respect. the wife, on the other hand, has an affair with a wealthy man, not because she loves him, but because she is in love with the idea of power and security. this is also further amplified due to the loneliness of being abandoned by her husband. we see a surprisingly supportive wife at the start of the movie, but as time wears her down, she becomes hated by both the audience and her son. what she does disgusts the viewer, her son, and occasionally, we are able to see that it disgusts her the most. there are moments of clarity where she is able to see what she’s done, and right when the viewer begins to empathize, she snaps right back. this is well portrayed in the scene pictured above with the sliver of the door opening. this is an interesting way to shoot the scene because we physically only see a slice of her. in this slice, she appears sad and remorseful (having just had sex with a disgusting man who is taking advantage of her), but is immediately blocked by his silhouette as he returns from the bathroom. this an overarching theme that also appeared when she appears to have a moment of awakening after a dinner with the man and asks her son to drive her home. as soon as they get in the car, she goes back to have sex with him. we are disturbed by her character since we feel the cognitive dissonance that she’s going through. i think this is a narrative strong film that gently builds a strong visceral reaction in the viewer, more through visuals than words.

additional notes: this movie made me extremely uncomfortable, which i loved. i’m not sure if it was just my general feeling of anxiety at the time which was just heightened, but this movie disturbed me more than any horror or gore i’ve seen in a long time. surprisingly powerful and i think it has to do with the building tension and mental disgust.

(additional analysis on picture captions, can be viewed on main site)

#wildlife

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

dogtooth (2009) directed by yorgos lanthimos

what i liked about it: color palette, lighting, framing, pacing, acting

the greenish hues remind me of david fincher’s blue/green/yellow hues that switch around to depict the contrast between scenes and emotions. the framing (especially scenes with the head cut off) emphasize the loss of identity, emotional (or sexual) immaturity, or cognitive dissonance. the lighting is soft and often stems from a singular source, highlighting the action with a natural shadow “vignette”. the hard cuts and use of sporadic music messes with our orientation and causes the same confusion and sensory deprivation which the characters are dealing with. i did research on the actors and was shocked to find that mary tsoni died a year after the filming of this movie. the details (released by greek media) surrounding her death are very muddy and it’s not my place to speculate, but many people are saying it may be related to her drug addiction combined with her depression. interestingly enough, she was the only member of the cast who was not a professional actor/actress. the raw, repressed, childish characters were undeniably convincing and even throughout the incredibly uncomfortable scenes, they never had a second of hesitation.

additional notes: this might be my favorite movie i think (definitely my favorite i’ve seen this year)

edit: definitely not my favorite movie after the excitement post-viewing has died down, but remains one of my favorites.

(notes for individual screenshots can be found on the site version)

#dogtooth

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

this is now a blog 4 class. lookbook for movie scenes, color palettes, wardrobe, etc.

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

[d3ath1nsuranc3]

IIH P2

MAKE SURE IT’S CLOSED

DEATH TRIPS

REDUNDANCY

——————

3 game jam projects. their length feels like condensed standard games, none of these really take advantage of their constraints. death trip comes closest by using the opportunity to be a joke about its own genre but in no way thats especially impactful