Blog 2
If this is my production Bible, You can call me Judah.
Here we are again, bout to learn some stuff. This won’t make much sense to anyone who wasn’t in my Production Design Class, because, well, you will have no context. But hey, here’s my Production Design Bible anyway!
The Production Design Class was really useful in my learning process, as I love world-building in my scripts, but sometimes get too wrapped up in the 'big picture' and forget to think about the meaning of my own writing. I tend to envision the look and feel of the movie in my own head but forget to translate that to my writing because, well, I can see it.
Using the knowledge I learnt in class and utilising it more of a wake-up call, I'll be sitting down to rewrite my script and try to include as much Production Design decisions as I can, remembering that everything included should have its reason and place, to further develop the subtext of the story.
The scene I'm Producing a Bible for is my opening scene. We see Tee for the first time, in the process of a panic attack in his own bed. The overall tone at this point in the film is somber and moody, representing Tee's own mental Health. Suffering Depression and Self Depreciating behavior stemming from his Social Anxiety, the color pallet of his room will be gray, with lots of shadows and dark tones. The curtains will be mostly drawn, despite it being morning, stopping most light from coming into Tee's room. A few cracks of light can be seen, however, to represent a small glimmer of hope that hides underneath the thick blanket of sadness.
Tee's room is cluttered with empty fast food wrappers, dirty clothes and an overall clutter of items. This is mostly a practical effect, speaking of the apathetic nature of depression, where even cleaning your room becomes overwhelming. This also speaks to Tee's own life being in disarray and unmanageable.
Tee has various posters on the wall depicting WW2 Fighter Jets, holiday locations and a guitar in its case against the wall. Although these items aren't the focus of the scene they pay homage to two things. 1, the original adventure and grandeur that 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' short story and it's following adaptions include as Themes. And 2, these items speak of Tee's inner workings and the aspirations he has internally. He isn't fully lost in his mental illness but has dreams of exploring the world and pursuing creative endeavors. These are just covered up temporarily, for now.
The only items we can see in Tee's room that is organised is his work uniform folded up on a desk chair by his bed, ironed and ready for tomorrow. This speaks to Tee's underlying self-conscious behavior. He believes that people are judging him constantly and as such, over thinks his appearance and the way he holds himself. Having his work uniform ironed and ready for tomorrow is one way Tee shows how much he overthinks his appearance.
Tee's bed is made up of a naked mattress, with just a single pillow and a sheet covering Tee. This speaks again to the fact that he is lonely, and that simple tasks can become overwhelming and overall seemingly redundant. Even making your bed can be daunting. This, however, can be a small device to show Tee's growth, as later it can be shown that he has put a sheet on his bed. He has cluttered trash on his bedside tables, and a laptop sat. Again showing his disorganised life and the fact he probably binge-watches Netflix long into the night.
Lastly, we see Tee. Contrasted to his ironed and set out work uniform, Tee sleeps in a large t-shirt and boxers, showing that although he overthinks how others see him outside, he again errs on the side of comfort when he is in his own room. His shirt has large sweat patches and he is wet, showing that even in sleep his mental condition troubles him.
Below is a short Visual Mood board of the contrasting tones between Tee’s mental health and daydream worlds.
