BRUISE
​
by Chris Watt directed by mo o'connell

some ideas I'm playing with...

Picture
The 1950's housewife is an idea that I think could help to embolden some of the themes and ideas in BRUISE.

Visually, if we begin with a present day setting but a 1950's motif in production design, costume and the cinematography.

Some helpful links:

Bjork's 'It's oh so quiet' video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htobTBlCvUU

And Mary Poppins, singing about cleaning up... also resonates a little with me for how we want to shoot this all shiny and technicolour at the start. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L4qauTiCY4


I'd also like to play around with some image inserts. The idea/theme of ROT is quite palpable in the piece. So, the idea of a woman trying to be the perfect housewife/cleaner/carer etc...and not being able to.. 

We could have a gorgeous cake but it is rotting. Flies eat it just underneath the surface.

Mould inside the tea-cups. 

Things are not what they seem.

If there are places that we could use reflections- the reflections are not reflecting what is actually happening. So, for instance, the window may reflect the woman screaming or shaking her head traumatically, sped up, perhaps to make the movement more distorted, but in reality she is just dancing/cleaning up... And this does not have to be heavy-handed. It could at times go unnoticed by the audience. It could just happen in pans as we glide by a reflected surface, etc...

So, the 1950's motif works well. And again, to be clear, we are in present day, we are just bringing in a retro 1950's - esque feel to the frame- before we begin to leave the house. After we leave the house this technicolor 1950's aspect will drop away from the visuals to reveal a more drab 'realistic' tone to the cinematography, bringing in greys, whites, blacks and red.


​some dance videos that are helpful...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGyFBOOErLQ


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQoTf-5ug68


this one is not very visceral though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yph1RbprCDM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDK7uF6JCts


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-lWzQd_xeQ


​bruise
​
preliminary shotlist

Bruise


Shotlist


Scene 1




  1. Black frame. Scream.


Scene 2


  1. Start M/W, slow track in to CU of kettle until hand takes off boil. We follow her hand as it pours water into tea-cups & his hand comes into frame on hers.
  2. ECU of her eyes flickering.
  3. CU of his chin slipping into nape of her neck.
  4. Low angle, looking up, MS of his crotch spooning her.
  5. CU of his hand in hers and grabbing her hand.
  6. M/W of him jerking her round to face him.
  7. CU of tea-cups smash on floor.
  8. Profile of her face as she faces him, blinking, catching breath slightly. His profile dirtying edge of frame. Edge of his lips creases into a smile. She tries to smile back, flinching.


Scene 3


  1. W/S of their house. It would be nice to get a high angle on this, looking down. Drone maybe? If not, no worries. A low angle is fine too and we can track slowly backwards.


Scene 4


  1. W/S of bedroom/rooms etc, slowly tracking and out.


Scene 5


  1. M/W track out slowly of MAN in armchair, feet up on coffee-table.
  2. CU of his hand on remote control.
  3. ECU of half his head and eye reflecting TV
  4. ECU slurp of tea.
  5. CU feet on coffee-table.


Scene 6


  1. CU tap dripping.
  2. CU broken tea-cup bits hit bottom of bin.
  3. M/W of Woman on floor picking up pieces.
  4. CU of her legs unfolding and planting her feet into the ground.


Scene 7


  1. Ext. M/S of Woman stretching. In the reflection, we see young men run by with a rugby ball in the reflection of the window.
  2. Int. M/W Behind Woman as she stretches and stands up.


Scene 8


  1. Long tracking shot, following Woman clean/dance round the kitchen. Sometimes, she looks at the camera, trying to smile and act as though all is fine. She sweeps the floor.
  2. M/S – camera is sitting inside press as she opens the door, we see her and she places saucers inside.


Scene 9


  1. We track in front of her as she leaves the kitchen and enters the hallway and picks up the phone.
  2. CU of her fingers hitting 9 -9- and hesitating on the third 9.
  3. ECU of half her face and her eye as she breathes heavily. We, then follow her hand down as she puts the phone down.
  4. CU behind her head, moving into O/S as she moves into the sitting-room doorway, watching him silently.
  5. ECU of her eyes. We see him reflected in them.
  6. M/W Man in foreground sitting, oblivious to Woman in background. We pull her into focus. She stands, looking defiant. Suddenly, she leaves frame.
  7. CU on front door handle. She comes into frame and pulls on it- it is locked.
  8. M/OS behind her. We watch as she pulls backwards on the handle.
  9. M/S on Woman's face as she is frustrated by the handle. We leave a gap over her shoulder- intending the audience to think the Man will take this space- but he doesn't. We do this to increase tension. SFX: We hear him cough loudly and she jumps round. But he isn't there.
  10. MCU of her face, scared. She picks up a fluffy duster and dusts pictures absent-mindedly, keeping her eye on the sitting-room doorway. She moves up the stairs out of frame.
  11. WE follow behind her in a long tracking shot as she 'dusts' the frames of pictures etc...
  12. CU's of those pictures- better times past of both of them together.
  13. M/S tracking shot along bannisters as her feet move up and down the stairs.
  14. W/S – we are at bottom of the stairs, looking upwards, static as she makes her way up to landing and out of frame.


Scene 10


  1. W/S Crane/jib needed. Bird's eye view of the room, looking down from ceiling as she enters.
  2. M/S tracking; We follow behind her as she tidies/dances.
  3. Low angle, camera on the ground as we watch her feet dance back and forth in and out of frame. They suddenly stop moving.
  4. M/S The duster stops moving on the side of a frame of a photo of both of them in wedding gear. We rack her reflection slowly into focus as she looks at pic.
  5. Low angle as before, she falls into frame, slamming floor with hands that are closer to us than her feet.


Scene 11


  1. W/S lights flicker, dust emanates from the ceiling.


Scene 12


  1. Low angle as she pounds the floor.
  2. High angle, bird's eye view as she gets in bed and looks at ceiling- ie: us, the audience.
  3. M/W. We are standing at doorway looking in at woman dance with sheet.
  4. M/W on opposite angle. We can see Woman's face as she dances and throws the sheet over her leg as a man would do with a woman in a tango. At that moment, a shadow appears over her shoulder. And the sheet begins to be slowly whipped from her. Man has entered the room and is pulling the sheet away from her. She turns to face him, her back to us. We rack him into focus.
  5. M/W opposite angle. We see her face as she realises what is going to happen now.
  6. CU of her eyes as his head dirties left of frame.
  7. CU of his eyes as her head dirties right of frame.
  8. MCU Slo-Mo of Man dropping sheet to the ground.
  9. Handheld MCU, we follow behind Man and on Woman's face as he runs for her and dances violently back and forth, eventually pinning her on the bed. We stay on her as she struggles free from him and tries to run out of room before he pulls her back by the hair and slams her against the wall out of frame. We pull back out the doorway as we see her on the floor holding her face and he gets up and comes towards us out the door, then dragging her behind him by the hair.


Scene 13


  1. Handheld MCU: we follow as he lets go of her at top of stairs. He walks to toilet to take a leak, door wide open. Woman looks up slowly and sees the staircase.
  2. M/W at top of stairs, static, we watch as Woman makes her way down the stairs. She begins to crawl/dance/slide down. Eventually though, Man walks into our frame and begins to descend slowly towards her.
  3. M/S profile of Woman trying to get out at the door. Man's hand slowly enters left of frame and grabs her neck and pulls her out of frame.
  4. M/S Tracking with Woman's feet as she struggles being dragged along . Eventually, we find ourselves in the living-room.


Scene 14


  1. M/W low angle. Man's legs dirty the left edge of frame. Woman fills rest of frame as she gets up and runs to the window, looking out.
  2. M/S Profile of Woman as she looks out at window.
  3. M/W Low angle. Man's legs dirty left of frame. She turns from window and looks at Man and runs at him, towards camera. She is trying to fight/escape.
  4. We are handheld behind her, fighting with her. It should be shaky.
  5. W/S of both struggling/fighting.
  6. MCU of Woman's face bleeding.
  7. CU of Woman picking up mug.
  8. MCU of Man being hit with mug and falling out of frame.


Scene 15


  1. M/W Woman flies out of living-room doorway and hits bannisters in her panic. She runs towards us, the kitchen doorway. As she runs by us, out of frame, we lower down to reveal the phone in the foreground, pulling it into focus, if needs be. We hear her turn back and her shadow crosses the phone and her trembling hands come into frame, she dials 999. As it rings, we hear thuds coming from the living-room.
  2. MCU of Man's hand thumping the living-room floor. He crawls past frame towards doorway. MCU of Woman's face as she drops the phone and runs into kitchen.


Scene 16


  1. M/W as Woman flies by us and out the backdoor.


Scene 17


  1. M/W in back garden as she races out into foreground of our shot. Her breathing is hacked. Her face is bruised and bleeding. She is still. No music.
  2. MCU tracking from various angles from behind her, coming towards her head. And the same in front of her. We are swooping into her face until she finally screams. But no sound comes out.
  3. W/S she is standing mid-frame, screaming nothing.
  4. M/S we track behind her as she dances through bed-sheets hanging on the line.
  5. M/S we track in front of her as she dances through the bed-sheets. She suddenly hears the backdoor creak. She turns to it and her back turns to us. She watches it for a moment, with us. Then darts out of frame. Suddenly, the Man is at the door. He walks with determination towards her direction.


Scene 18


  1. M/S tracking; the Woman enters left of frame and continues dancing forward, wildly. She is tasting freedom and is exhilarated by that but also by her defiance and fighting back but she is also terrified and this affects her movements, making them sometimes jagged.
  2. M/S tracking in front of her as she moves forward. She stops in front of us. As we keep going, we reveal the shoulders of rugby players. She looks at them with shock, then playfully and sometimes coquettishly.
  3. M/S track behind Woman, O/S, almost as we register the men's cold faces.
  4. M/S tracking in front of her and behind the men's shoulders, we see her wonder why they don't react to her at all. And she begins to lunge at them individually, sometimes playful sometimes angry.
  5. M/S track behind woman as we see men grab at her and shove her to the ground and we push in to see their hands grab at her and pull off her cardigan. We see her face scream, but no sound. As she is held down, she looks beyond. We pull up to see men walking by and seeing but doing nothing. (Some of these men could be dressed as judges: wigs, cloaks etc...) A priest comes by and bends down to feel her womb.
  6. M/W, we stand behind the men. From where we are, it looks like a rugby scrum. The woman bursts through the centre of them, dancing towards us and we follow her, turning our backs on the men. Suddenly, she stops, tries to catch her jagged breath and she turns round to see the men...he face drops. We turn to follow her gaze. The field is empty, save for a white rugby ball with red blood on it. From this same shot....


Scene 19


  1. We pull back round to her confused face as she sways for a moment and then continues onto a path. We see now that she has a limp. She is still trying to express joy with regard to this 'freedom' but she is weary, and scarred too.
  2. M/S Tracking in front of her. She is joyous and tortured.
  3. M/S tracking behind her. Suddenly a man's hooded shoulders and head enters frame, following her and her movements.
  4. M/S tracking. He is behind her and she finally realises and looks behind her. She snaps back, frightened and continues on faster. He continues on faster too. He begins to take photos of her fearful state. He is wearing a ski-mask and hood. As we track with them, we see the woman pass discarded objects on this path: a handbag, a ripped blouse etc...
  5. M/S tracking behind him and she comes to a stop abruptly facing him – and the camera- and screams but no sound. A female jogger runs by as woman screams. The man runs after that jogger and follows her out of frame. Our woman tries to scream. She can't. She grabs her throat and falls to the ground. She closes her eyes. All is silent, still.
  6. CU on her closed eyes.
  7. M/S on Woman. The back of a little girl, dressed as Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley, enters the frame with an outstretched hand to Woman. The Woman opens her eyes. She is taken aback.
  8. CU of girl's warm face. We pan to the girl's hand; she is holding a candle. And her other hand is outstretched to the Woman.
  9. CU of Woman slowly nod and take the girl's hand, allowing her to lead her away.


Scene 20.


  1. M/S tracking behind Woman and girl as girl leads her along the path. The path gives way to reveal more and more women, all dresses in white. They are all holding candles and are seemingly waiting for Woman to arrive. The all have bruises on their bodies and faces, here and there.
  2. MCU of several women's faces and candles.
  3. M/S tracking in front of Woman. She is slightly bewildered but reassured by all the warm faces. We walk backwards as she moves forward towards us. Someone drapes a white blanket over her shoulders and hands her a candle.
  4. M/S tracking POV of Woman. All the women's faces are looking into the camera, smiling, reassuring, egging on.
  5. M/S tracking behind Woman, we see her part the women like the red sea as she moves forward with the little girl. Suddenly revealed is the Man at the top of the hill.
  6. M/S tracking in front of Woman. We see her shocked face as she beholds him. He is fearful now. He sees her.
  7. CU of his expression as he lays his eyes on her.
  8. CU of her taking him in.
  9. M/W of Woman now surrounded by all these women, supporting her.
  10. O/S of Woman, the little girl takes her hand and smiles.
  11. CU Woman smiles back at girl.
  12. CU little girl screams a defiant scream.
  13. M/W of other women screaming around the girls.
  14. W/S of all women breaking into a scream.
  15. CU's of lots of women screaming.
  16. MCU of Woman looking at the women around her screaming and then looks beyond, to the men.
  17. CU of Man as he looks at her.
  18. CU of Woman. Her eyes on him, she screams a gutteral cry.
  19. MCU of woman screaming with women.
  20. W/S of Woman screaming with women.
  21. M/S tracking left to right and right to left of women screaming.
  22. JIB up and down with screaming women.


Scene 21


111. ECU of kettle spout. We pull back to reveal it on the hob, screaming. We pull back, and someone darts past the frame. We pull back more to reveal the backdoor has just been opened and someone has just walked out it.
112. Black frame. Scream of kettle and women, mingled. END