Remade Scene(Recolour-graded)
Vimeo Link
https://vimeo.com/110458369
https://vimeo.com/110458369
Remade Scene
Vimeo Link
https://vimeo.com/110125074
https://vimeo.com/110125074
Original Scene
Exegesis for UNSW Working with Images and Sound Adaptation Assignment
For our adaptation, my group remade the Huey Lewis Axe Murder Scene from Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000). Over the 8-week period, I have learnt a great deal from my experience functioning in various roles on the team.
On the first week after being sorted into our groups, knowing that I did not have much technical knowledge and confidence, I elected to be the producer for our group. I knew that doing so would mean a great deal of work for pre-production on my part so I set about it immediately, establishing everything that had to be considered in order to realize our scene remake. We set 18th and 19th October as the date for Principal Photography.
I took charge of prop acquisition and design, scanning through the scene in order to identify all the props that we would require. During the mid-semester break, I started ordering some of the props for our production that would have otherwise been trickier to acquire. I found the Huey Lewis “FORE” album on Ebay, I was a little worried that I would not be able to find the exact album as in the original scene because that album was really old and it was actually reissued in a different edition. However, I lucked out and managed to get it off some guy for about 6 bucks, including shipping. I managed to get the axe much cheaper than I thought through Ebay as well. I even ordered a silver spray paint in order to match the look of the axe in the film. I also managed to find a very similar looking raincoat as the one in the original scene. Probably the trickiest prop to replicate though was Patrick Bateman’s pill bottle. I recreated the label painstakingly through Microsoft Powerpoint. I had to do this several times until I managed to get it in the right dimensions and font size. However, perhaps what was most troublesome was trying to find a similar looking pill bottle. I went to countless pharmacies and drugstores, I visited several websites but I couldn’t find a pill bottle with a likeness that I was satisfied with (there were some on Ebay but they cost too much for simple empty bottles). Finally, I tried asking my family back home in Singapore to try to see if any of them had any way of acquiring such pill bottles. My mum asked around but with little luck. I began to think that I would either have to go ahead and pay an exorbitant amount for the pill bottles on Ebay (which would have arrived dangerously close to our set date for Principal Photography anyway) or settle for some other pill bottle that looked nothing like the original. Quite fortunately, my mum suddenly sent me pictures of a pill bottle that looked exactly like the one I needed. I immediately told her that that could work and to send it over as soon as she could. Within a week, I had the bottle and after a few more days, had fitted an appropriate label to complete the prop. Turns out the bottle that she sent me, the bottle that I had been chasing after for so long was not even a pill bottle, but was actually a container for dental floss…
I also had a lot of fun experimenting with blood making for this project. I came up with two different mixes. Blood Mix 1(Hair gel, motor oil, red food coloring, green food coloring, chocolate syrup, hand sanitizer) was a thicker, more viscous liquid for the blood that Paul Allen falls on after being hit by the axe. I would have used a slightly thinner version of the same mix except I was afraid that it may be a safety hazard since there is motor oil in the blood mix and the actor had to light up a cigar and smoke it. I therefore came up with Blood Mix 2(Maple syrup, honey, red food coloring, green food coloring, flour, corn flour, chocolate syrup), which was lighter, edible and most importantly, non-flammable.
I had two main concerns for this project right from the start: acting and location. As this scene was an extremely performance-driven scene, we needed to find an actor that could mimic Christian Bale’s amazing performance. Alfred posted a listing on Starnow during the mid-sem break and that is where we found Shaun Philip Cantwell. We held auditions the first week back from the break and after he left the audition I knew we had found our Bateman. We only had one other applicant besides Shaun, and we wanted to cast him in the role of Paul Allen, however he informed us that something else came up and he was no longer available. Fortunately, 2-3 days before Principal Photography, Shaun recommended a friend of his, Alexander Slade, for the role. We were therefore very fortunate in discovering Shaun and casting him as Bateman because the role of Paul Allen was very difficult to cast in a short period of time simply because it was not a very attractive role for any actor.
For location, we cracked our heads throughout the mid-sem break looking for a suitable place to replicate the scene however the places that did share any semblance to the specifications that we required were way too expensive. We therefore resorted to checking amongst ourselves and to everyone’s surprise, Elle graciously offered her place. We went over to scout out her apartment on the 15th of October (Wednesday) and decided unanimously that with some rearrangement of furniture, it could work.
Having only confirmed our location and with Principal Photography just a few days away, Thomas and I decided to head over to the location again on the 17th to do more planning for shots and lighting. Alfred was meant to come as well however due to something that came up, he was not able to join us. There was even a looming possibility that he would not be able to join us for Principal Photography altogether. After much consideration and planning of shots on the 17th therefore, we decided that I was to replace Alfred as Cinematographer during Principal Photography. This was a huge worry for me since I had very little experience with actual filming. However, once that was decided, I resolved to do the best I can. Fortunately, my brother is also majoring in film at UNSW so on the last day before Principal Photography, he taught me all he could. I think given the short amount of time that I had to reach a certain level of competency in order to perform during that day of Principal Photography, I did pretty alright. Sure, some of the shots could have been steadier but overall I am proud of my performance seeing as I only picked it up the day before.
Production went along smooth enough. Filming went on from 4.30pm to around 11pm, with short breaks in between of course, to eat, review footage, perform ADR and charge camera batteries. It was a long day for both cast and crew, with most of us reaching home past midnight, but I think that in the end, we all did a pretty decent job.
With Principal Photography out of the way, it was decided that since I had the footage, it would just be most convenient and efficient if I handled cutting, editing, color correction and grading while Elle settled the sound mix. This was another first for me, having never had prior experience grading before. However, it did give me a great opportunity to become more familiar with my Final Cut Pro. After lots of trial and error, we finally put together a final cut.
Though this adaptation assignment has been long and tedious, I greatly enjoyed it and have honestly learnt a great deal from this experience. Seeing the end product really makes all our efforts worthwhile and ultimately this assignment has helped me gained a greater respect for all the hard work, talent and intricate planning that goes into the filmmaking process.
For our adaptation, my group remade the Huey Lewis Axe Murder Scene from Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000). Over the 8-week period, I have learnt a great deal from my experience functioning in various roles on the team.
On the first week after being sorted into our groups, knowing that I did not have much technical knowledge and confidence, I elected to be the producer for our group. I knew that doing so would mean a great deal of work for pre-production on my part so I set about it immediately, establishing everything that had to be considered in order to realize our scene remake. We set 18th and 19th October as the date for Principal Photography.
I took charge of prop acquisition and design, scanning through the scene in order to identify all the props that we would require. During the mid-semester break, I started ordering some of the props for our production that would have otherwise been trickier to acquire. I found the Huey Lewis “FORE” album on Ebay, I was a little worried that I would not be able to find the exact album as in the original scene because that album was really old and it was actually reissued in a different edition. However, I lucked out and managed to get it off some guy for about 6 bucks, including shipping. I managed to get the axe much cheaper than I thought through Ebay as well. I even ordered a silver spray paint in order to match the look of the axe in the film. I also managed to find a very similar looking raincoat as the one in the original scene. Probably the trickiest prop to replicate though was Patrick Bateman’s pill bottle. I recreated the label painstakingly through Microsoft Powerpoint. I had to do this several times until I managed to get it in the right dimensions and font size. However, perhaps what was most troublesome was trying to find a similar looking pill bottle. I went to countless pharmacies and drugstores, I visited several websites but I couldn’t find a pill bottle with a likeness that I was satisfied with (there were some on Ebay but they cost too much for simple empty bottles). Finally, I tried asking my family back home in Singapore to try to see if any of them had any way of acquiring such pill bottles. My mum asked around but with little luck. I began to think that I would either have to go ahead and pay an exorbitant amount for the pill bottles on Ebay (which would have arrived dangerously close to our set date for Principal Photography anyway) or settle for some other pill bottle that looked nothing like the original. Quite fortunately, my mum suddenly sent me pictures of a pill bottle that looked exactly like the one I needed. I immediately told her that that could work and to send it over as soon as she could. Within a week, I had the bottle and after a few more days, had fitted an appropriate label to complete the prop. Turns out the bottle that she sent me, the bottle that I had been chasing after for so long was not even a pill bottle, but was actually a container for dental floss…
I also had a lot of fun experimenting with blood making for this project. I came up with two different mixes. Blood Mix 1(Hair gel, motor oil, red food coloring, green food coloring, chocolate syrup, hand sanitizer) was a thicker, more viscous liquid for the blood that Paul Allen falls on after being hit by the axe. I would have used a slightly thinner version of the same mix except I was afraid that it may be a safety hazard since there is motor oil in the blood mix and the actor had to light up a cigar and smoke it. I therefore came up with Blood Mix 2(Maple syrup, honey, red food coloring, green food coloring, flour, corn flour, chocolate syrup), which was lighter, edible and most importantly, non-flammable.
I had two main concerns for this project right from the start: acting and location. As this scene was an extremely performance-driven scene, we needed to find an actor that could mimic Christian Bale’s amazing performance. Alfred posted a listing on Starnow during the mid-sem break and that is where we found Shaun Philip Cantwell. We held auditions the first week back from the break and after he left the audition I knew we had found our Bateman. We only had one other applicant besides Shaun, and we wanted to cast him in the role of Paul Allen, however he informed us that something else came up and he was no longer available. Fortunately, 2-3 days before Principal Photography, Shaun recommended a friend of his, Alexander Slade, for the role. We were therefore very fortunate in discovering Shaun and casting him as Bateman because the role of Paul Allen was very difficult to cast in a short period of time simply because it was not a very attractive role for any actor.
For location, we cracked our heads throughout the mid-sem break looking for a suitable place to replicate the scene however the places that did share any semblance to the specifications that we required were way too expensive. We therefore resorted to checking amongst ourselves and to everyone’s surprise, Elle graciously offered her place. We went over to scout out her apartment on the 15th of October (Wednesday) and decided unanimously that with some rearrangement of furniture, it could work.
Having only confirmed our location and with Principal Photography just a few days away, Thomas and I decided to head over to the location again on the 17th to do more planning for shots and lighting. Alfred was meant to come as well however due to something that came up, he was not able to join us. There was even a looming possibility that he would not be able to join us for Principal Photography altogether. After much consideration and planning of shots on the 17th therefore, we decided that I was to replace Alfred as Cinematographer during Principal Photography. This was a huge worry for me since I had very little experience with actual filming. However, once that was decided, I resolved to do the best I can. Fortunately, my brother is also majoring in film at UNSW so on the last day before Principal Photography, he taught me all he could. I think given the short amount of time that I had to reach a certain level of competency in order to perform during that day of Principal Photography, I did pretty alright. Sure, some of the shots could have been steadier but overall I am proud of my performance seeing as I only picked it up the day before.
Production went along smooth enough. Filming went on from 4.30pm to around 11pm, with short breaks in between of course, to eat, review footage, perform ADR and charge camera batteries. It was a long day for both cast and crew, with most of us reaching home past midnight, but I think that in the end, we all did a pretty decent job.
With Principal Photography out of the way, it was decided that since I had the footage, it would just be most convenient and efficient if I handled cutting, editing, color correction and grading while Elle settled the sound mix. This was another first for me, having never had prior experience grading before. However, it did give me a great opportunity to become more familiar with my Final Cut Pro. After lots of trial and error, we finally put together a final cut.
Though this adaptation assignment has been long and tedious, I greatly enjoyed it and have honestly learnt a great deal from this experience. Seeing the end product really makes all our efforts worthwhile and ultimately this assignment has helped me gained a greater respect for all the hard work, talent and intricate planning that goes into the filmmaking process.
Behind-The-Scenes
Casting
audition_preparation_notice.docx |
Props
Blood Tests
Shot List
american_psycho_shot_list.docx |
Sound Map
sound_map.docx |