Directors Statement
To begin with I went through several ideas of the scene I would like to do, I chose a sequence of scenes from Memento following the story of Sammy Jankis, I felt this would be a good choice as it was essentially a mini-story told in flashbacks, my idea was to make them one entire concise scene.
This would allow me to work at telling a story rather than several small parts of one, however, I was dissuaded from doing so as the scene contained a lot of dialogue. I then went through several other ideas before deciding.
I would film a scene in which the main character Leonard faces Dodd a man who has just been chasing him. Leonard having been given a note telling him where Dodd lives breaks into his apartment and lies in wait in the bathroom, however, he soon forgets why he is there and concludes he must be there to take a shower.
Dodd then returns and find Leonard in the shower, they fight Leonard coming out on top by knocking Dodd out with a bottle.
Actors –
Leonard
Natalie
Dodd
I have already started my search for Actors as I know this could be a difficult task, the following is my ad on Casting Call Pro
- Production Type
Film (Student) - Location
Maidstone - Salary
Copy of Finished Version, Expenses - Production Dates
13 + 14/02 - Closing Date
13/02/17 - Project Summary
In this project, we are recreating two scenes from the film Memento Directed by Christopher Nolan. The aim is to take the scene and recreate in my own way rather
"A man juggles searching for his wife's murderer and keeping his short-term memory loss from being an obstacle."
Leonard Shelby is a man who, as a result of a past trauma, suffers from anterograde amnesia, the inability to form new memories and suffers short-term memory loss approximately every five minutes. He is searching for the persons who attacked him and killed his wife, using an intricate system of Polaroid photographs and tattoos to track information he cannot remember.
The first scene I wish to recreate is where Shelby with the intent of ambushing the man who was previously attacking him, hides in his apartment bathroom, however, he soon forgets why he was there and figures he was there for a shower.
He hears someone enter the apartment and turns off the shower, the man pulls back the curtain and they fight, with Leonard Shelby winning, tying the man up and looking through his notes to see what had just happened.
He then calls Teddy on his notes before sitting down and drifting off and forgetting the ordeal.
The second scene I wish to recreate is with Leonard and Natalie, a woman who is portrayed to us as a friend but later we find out it manipulating Leonard. In this scene, Natalie comes in and tells Leonard that a man called Dodd had just threatened her thinking that she had killed his boss and taken the money.
Natalie asks Leonard to kill Dodd and he refuses, she gets angry and begins to insult Leonard, and then his wife, Leonard gets angry and when she carries on insulting his late wife lashes out and hits her. She laughs in his face and tells him that she is going to use him, to manipulate him and she's going to enjoy it because he will forget in a few minutes.
She leaves and he frantically looks for a pen to write down what happens but can't find one in time, she comes back in with blood coming from her nose and tells him that Dodd beat her.
This is a student project and unfortunately will not be a paid position, all actors will receive a copy of the final product and footage for their showreel if wanted. - Character Breakdown
Leonard Shelby
Leonard Shelby is a middle-aged man who is searching for his wife killer, however, he suffers from short-term memory loss and has to use a system of notes, photographs and tattoos to remind him of his task.
Ethnicity - Caucasian
Gender - Male
Physical Characteristics - Since the character uses tattoos to remind him of his task, it would be best if there were no other tattoos on the chest area. Reasonably good fitness.
Dodd
A drug dealer Dodd initially attacks Leonard after noticing him driving his associate's car, Leonard flees and looking at his notes finds out where Dodd is staying. Leonard then gets the jump on Dodd at his own apartment and ties him up, putting him in a closet.
Age - 30's
Gender - Male
Ethnicity - Any
Physical Characteristics - Strong build, average height. Rough shave and clothing.
Natalie
A bar waitress who works with Jimmy and Dodd to sell drugs, using drink coasters to send messages to customers. She manipulates Leonard by insulting his dead wife until he lashes out in anger and cuts her lip, she taunts him, telling him that she will use him and leaves waiting for his memory to fade. Coming back into the house she tells Leonard that Dodd beat her up and was going to kill her unless she found the money, she asks Leonard to kill Dodd for her and gives him Dodds address.
Age - 25 -35
Gender - Female
Ethnicity - Any
Physical Characteristics - Young middle ages woman, good health. Preferably brunette or similar colour but not necessary for the role.
Props – The props I will need for the shoot – Polaroid Camera which I can borrow from my girlfriend, Polaroid Images again from my girlfriend, Suit I have a silver suit but It depends on how big or small my actor for Leonard will be, Handbag I can borrow one from my mother.
Pens I have a collection of pens, Books I have many books both fiction and non-fiction I will think on what subjects they span, Sofa hopefully this will be at the location (however Shpock which is a boot sale app usually has giveaways which include furniture people are trying to get rid of), Table, Desk, Shelf, Paper I can just get scraps of paper for this. I will also need an empty bottle of Vodka, these I can get from my work and fill half full with water.
Filming style – It is hard to say how I want this to look, I would like to focus on Leonards' eyes as he forgets the last few minutes, I would do this by using a sequence of Close Up shots, Extreme Close Up shots and cutaway shots, I want there to be some kind of trigger that distracts Leonard and causes him to get confused and breaks his focus.
I am looking forward to filming a fight scene, even though it will be more along the lines of a scuffle, it will be difficult as I do enjoy more stylised fighting rather than realistic fighting. I am contemplating doing the fight scene in one shot, similar to Daredevil scenes, with the camera watching from the bathroom and the characters moving in and out of the doorway until Leonard hits Dodd with the bottle.
Location – I need two locations for this project, A hotel room and an apartment/house, I have already begun calling hotels to enquire whether I can film in one of their rooms, I will also look at Kent Film Office for locations, but I do not have the budget to play location fees.
For the Hotel Room I want it to look slightly low end, maybe a 2-3 star place, I think that this would fit the “Low Life Thug” type of character Dodd is.
Since I am setting this in the UK even though it doesn’t explicitly say in the script It is in America, I wanted to set Natalie’s house as a slightly run down place, I think this would show the moral degradation of the character, in essence, the home reflects the owner.
In terms of colour I want to make the scene look quite dim and gritty, I will try desaturating the scene to add to that effect, I was considering having the colour slowly seeping away as the scene progresses to show Leonard losing hold of his memory but that is quite an advanced idea and I'm not sure it would work.
The main things I would like to add to the scene would be some indicator of Leonard losing his memory, I would also like Natalie to be seen as more evil than she appeared in the film, perhaps showing an evil smirk as Leonard is looking away, showing how manipulative and cruel she can be.
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