Concepting & Storyboarding

sanctuary

An original dance-film to be created at a historic church (circa 1875) located on Hermitage St. near Diamond Ave., in Grand Rapids, MI (USA).

Schedule

Pre-production: Fall (2024) to early Spring (2025)
Production: Spring and early Summer (2025)
Post-production: Summer (2025)

Treatment

EXT. CHURCH – AFTERNOON

Vintage Toyota LandCruiser approaches old church, parking in hectic manner, stopping vehicle on curb. Figures inside vehicle turn the crank on a small box then adjust its dials, finally setting the box on the dash. The figures emerge from vehicle wearing protective clothing and rag-tag gas masks; they remove a board on the door that is covered with spray painted numbers.

INT. CHURCH – AFTERNOON

The visitors make their way into foyer of church and snake around to the stairs and go up to the second floor pews, where they settle in and get some sleep.

TRANSITION

Time-lapse of sun traveling from outside the large stained-glass window.

INT. CHURCH – LATE NIGHT

in the evening with the light of the moon coming into the space, the visitor(s) notice a half dozen “people” seated but motionless in the pews. The visitors drop to the ground, shocked to realize that they had dropped their guard upon arriving to the space. They make their way downstairs to investigate and secure the area.

The rest of this sequence needs to be worked out with filmmakers because it involves a visual transformation from some sort of mannequin… to living, moving, sentient creatures that dance. Therefore it also has to be worked out with the choreographer(s) because it involves transitions to movement, and movement.

Lots of dramatic moments with music. Leading to the visitors attempting to take refuge in the ‘basement’ area, which is represented in black-and-white noir because it’s a null area, representing nothingness.

Story Element:

A Warning

At the beginning of the piece, the visitors pull up to the church and see a boarded up door with cryptic lines/dashes spray-painted on it. It’s a radio frequency. The visitors wind up their radio and tune in, hearing a break in static but no message. They exit the vehicle, and the message starts playing.

Full text of warning message, in several modern popular languages:

Visual Element:

Set Design

Industrial fans used to blow leaves and debris

Bodies on lawn across street been there a while for entrance shot. Could be mannequins? Could also be actual people with guns, who don’t move too much/fast so it’s open to interpretation.

Look up how to format screenplay for no dialogue all action movement

Any opportunity for a Legion like smokey ceramic doll drug metaphor?

Visual Elements:

Filming

EXT ideas

• Bodies on lawn across street
• Tilt shift on opening
• Compositing for ext?
• Or just WB and smoke bombs?

INT ideas

• Same model cameras sideXside during pivotal moment for instantaneous fps transition mid take (a la Blackhawk Down)

Audio Elements:

Music

Can expunk incorporate a version of You Are My Sunshine that is true to the song? Bc that shit is dark and heavy and it could be fucking awesome, done right.

Whoever creates the music, and however it is made, we should be cognizant of the moments during filming when big audio changes are needed, big moments.

Visual Elements:

Light/Color

• Radical lighting changes after a while of setting expectations, out of nowhere.
• Lighting changes can include quick bright/dark over several seconds, or strobe.
• Right to left when first going inside, left to right when shit gets real
• Model int/ext lighting in 3D software and/or AI of photos, intentionality
• Rules: pick some and stick with them throughout the entire thing

Overarching lighting themes

Architecture of the mind – cruel world exterior, inward for sanctuary, but going too far inside can be its own hell.

Visual Elements:

Basement

Basement: Night of the Hunter

It might be compelling to consider the looks that are created in The Night of the Hunter. Honestly DGAF about the movie, I don’t think I ever watched it with the sound on. But this thing they do, with the b&w parts, it’s really special. Random thought maybe it can lead somewhere.

Visual Elements:

Photo/Film

If face/head stays ‘still’ while dancer is standing, moving arms (see photos) could VIDEO capture this effect by removing blocks of frames in consistent increments for a few seconds? Assuming the rest of the room and the rest of the dancer’s body wasn’t also transitioning or moving through space.

Visual Elements:

Strobe

And here’s another video about strobing, which is something we did with Amy at Hyatt’s using John’s big strobes at the old warehouse office off Bridge. But we just took stills, this is about finding something new to say with strobes and movement. Requiring innovation in the design of both lighting and dance.

Now watch the same effect over cranked (second clip, right). It’s not about copying, but as a jump-off point to see if we can come up with something new and even more interesting, based on these raw ingredients in the strobing examples.