Wish You Were Here - Film Research

To kick off my research, I decided to watch a few of the films suggested on the project brief. I felt that this would get my ideas moving the fastest and provide the most inspiration quickly so that I could direct my subsequent research to into more specific areas once I had decided on a vague idea.

The Road
I first watched The Road (2009) directed by John Hillcoat and based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. It tells the tale of a father and son trying to survive in a very barren and sparsely populated middle America 10 years after the apocalypse occurs. They're doing everything they can to find food, shelter and simply stay alive. As well as avoiding gangs of robbers and cannibals blocking their southward path. This is a very visually bleak film and really got me into the head space of truly desperate post-apocalyptic living.

One particular scene in the film which really caught my attention was one where the father and son are looking around an abandoned building and we see them tread on a pile of money and jewellery amongst dirt, dust and skeletons. They completely ignore the riches. It is obvious that the film makers did this on purpose to make a point that their priorities have changed and what they dreamed for before has been thrown away. Now they only care about survival. This idea interests me and I will might look into this more to inspire a piece of work.

In the film they also use shopping trolleys and carts to push around their sparse supplies of food, water and equipment. They also have an oil lamp made from a tin can and a water filter device made from plastic bottles.This gave me the idea of perhaps pursuing the idea of making one-off examples of make shift equipment that a person living post-apocalypse would need.

  



The boy was born into this bleak world therefore many modern luxuries are foreign to him. For example when his father comes across a can of Coca-Cola and gives it to the boy it is a completely new experience for him. I like this idea of things becoming foreign that were once so well known. Also the thought of it being the last can of Coca-Cola in the world, like it has become the last of it's kind and should be treasured like a museum piece. As if it were a species gone extinct. 

There is also a point in the film where they find an underground shelter filled with food and supplies. It is a welcome relief from the starvation they have been experiencing and they can relax for now as if everything were normal. Underground shelters and large supplies of food are almost always the ultimate goal in this genre of film. Each film tackles it slightly differently. I think this would be an interesting theme to explore especially occurrences of it in real life. For example in war zones and at times of civil unrest. As well as areas of the world that have high rates of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.

Overall I am very glad I watched this film as it has given me lots of starting points to base ideas on. I will definately be coming back to this film for further inspiration depending on what I ultimatly decide to make.

The Book Of Eli

The second film I watched was The Book of Eli (2010) directed by the Hughes Brothers. This was of a similar nature to The Road, but didn't compare at all. It was trying too hard to be a flashy hollywood action film which really put me off. It was set 30 years after the apocalypse took place and was about a man carrying a bible westward on a journey God had supposedly sent him on. I watched all of it but didn't take any screenshots because it didn't feel especially realistic and nothing struck me as as interesting or inspiring. I was very disappointed, but it wasn't on the recommended watch list so I should have known really.

 

Children Of Men

The third film I watched was Children Of Men (2007) directed by Alfonso Cuaron and based on the book by P.D. James. Set in 2027 mainly in London, the entire world has become infertile and the last baby was born over 18 years ago. War rages around the globe. Britain is shipping all refugees and illegal immigrants out of the country and the future looks bleak for the human race.  However, when a refugee girl is found to be pregnant the activists must get her to the coast and on to a boat associated with 'The Human Project' to save her and her baby from the danger and corruption all around her.

 

This film outlines a much more gradual apocalypse than your typical 'end of days' storyline. Here everyone is now infertile, meaning the human race will cease to be after this generation of people. This ultimately means development of new technology is slowed down because of lack of motivation and also so people can concentrate on trying to solve the infertility problem. Therefore computer and everyday technology is outdated and failing. It also appears that production of cars and electric equipment has stopped, meaning people must make do with what they have, or fix it using parts from multiple devices. This links with the idea I had gotten from The Road about making one-off examples of devices and equipment used in post-apocalyptic living. However, if I went with the theme of this film, I could make the devices a little more advanced seeing as they have electricity and running water.

There wasn't as much that caught my eye enough to screenshot in this film as it was more the ideas and storyline that was the focus rather than the visuals.

The scenes at the very end of the film in the tiny boat got me thinking about designing water transport if the entire world became flooded. Which is not what was actually happening in the film but it was an idea I felt worth considering.

I Am Legend

The fourth film I watched was I Am Legend (2007) directed by Francis Lawrence. Years after an incurable manmade plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.

I had seen this film before and knew the style and the storyline. I decided to just take some screenshots of the cityscapes where nature was taking back the land. Where trees were growing out of buildings and flowers were growing in the cracks of the pavement. I really like the contrast of the concrete versus the green foliage. It could be an interesting idea to re-design furniture, equipment and other man-made objects to fit in more with nature. Looking to make them more aesthetically natural but also considering their impact on the environment with the aim to conserve resources and the planet in general after the apocalyptical event. Perhaps even something as ambituous as architecture bearing in mind the same aims.

I also plan to look in depth at two more films I have seen recently in the cinema that I feel have a link with this project. The first is Take Shelter (2011).

I thought the theme of obsession with an underground shelter would link nicely with apocalyptic circumstances. Like I said with The Road I could look into real situations of shelters and food stockpiles.

The second is Perfect Sense (2011).

This film deals with a more gradual disaster much like Childrem Of Men. Although it is not directly apocalypse related, I thought the idea of a virus causing everyone to gradually lose their senses was quite interesting. In the film when people lose their sense of smell and taste, restaurants start going out of business until one group of chefs decide to make the food have interesting textures rather than tastes. This could be an idea for me to develop upon and make my own.

EDIT: I was not able to get access to these two films on dvd because they have not been released on DVD yet. Which is a shame as watching them again may have given me some really good ideas. However, I have found a direction for my project which does not relate to these two films so it doesn't really matter.