Theatrical Poster: Background (Work In Progress)

Below is an incomplete version of the theatrical poster, without the characters and other visual elements that will be at the foreground.

Magazine Cover Drafts

Below are the drafts for the various designs we have for our magazine cover (currently without any text). We wanted to explore all the different magazines associated with cinema and culture in order to 'promote' our film - much like a big blockbuster film would in its marketing campaign leading up to its release. Several other, more conventional, designs are being worked on, ie. a cover for an edition of EMPIRE Magazine.

It would be nice to be able to use all of them but we shall select one of the designs as the main one.

Updated Script

THORNE: "I knew a man...a long time ago... he fought for those worth dying for..."

RICK: "What happened to him?"

THORNE: "that man is dead...he's not coming back...after all this time I haven't got the strength to be part of this fight anymore..."

ENIGMA ENTERTAINMENT

DAVIDSON: "Lucas Thorne...it's time to wake up...we’re not the only ones left with a stake in this world”

ROTHEN: “Find them”

GATES: “He’s unlike anyone we’ve ever encountered”

THORNE: "What would you have me do?"

DAVIDSON: “We need you to reconsider your retirement”

RICK: "Oh my god…I've never seen anything like this...it's all connected!"

GATES: "The weapon has been compromised...OSIRIS is unbound"

THIS YEAR

ROTHEN: "Shall we begin?"

FROM THE ACCLAIMED VISIONARIES BEHIND 'SINS OF THE MARTYR'

ROTHEN: "“In all my years I've never met another so different yet so alike…we’re both destined to the same damnation…just I’m willing to let the world burn along the way”

NICHOLAS ASHURST

THORNE: “Nooooooo”

THORNE: "It was never supposed to end like this"

DAVIDSON: "I gave you my word...I would stand by your side...

THORNE: "...until the end"

JAMES RICHARDSON

RICK: "If we're gonna go, we have to go now!"

THORNE: "You will answer for what you have done!”

DAVIDSON: “Run!”

THORNE: “I must be the one to finish this!"

and LEE DAVIDSON

ROTHEN: "Your ‘honour’...’strength’…’righteousness’... what have they amounted to? ...Nothing. When you and I are ashes…all shall remember this day”

O S I R I S   U N B O U N D 

Initial Dialogue Script

Below is the (very cheesy) planned dialogue and narration that will accompany the trailer. Obviously lines will change or be removed once we enter the recording stages and decide what fits best or sounds more appropriate.

THORNE: "I knew a man...a long time ago... he stood up...he fought for those worth dying for..."

RICK: "What happened to him?"

THORNE: "That man is dead...he's not coming back...after all this time I haven't the strength to be part of this fight anymore..."

ENIGMA ENTERTAINMENT LOGO

DAVIDSON: "Lucas Thorne...it's time to wake up...get yourself back in the game"

THORNE: "What would you have me do?"

ROTHEN: "Find it"

GATES: "I've never seen anything like this...it's all connected!"

DAVIDSON: "The weapon has been compromised...OSIRIS is unbound"

ROTHEN: "Shall we begin?"

FROM THE VISIONARIES BEHIND 'SINS OF THE MARTYR'

ROTHEN: "“In all my years I've never met another so alike…we’re both destined for the same hell…just I’m willing to watch the world crumble along the way”

NICHOLAS ASHURST

THORNE: "It was never supposed to end like this"

DAVIDSON: "I gave you my word...I would stand by your side...

THORNE: "...until the end"

JAMES RICHARDSON

RICK: "If we're gonna go, we have to go now!"

THORNE: "I must be the one to finish this!"

and LEE DAVIDSON

ROTHEN: "Your honour...valour...strength...what have they amounted to? ...nothing.

ROTHEN: "I am a god!" :P

O S I R I S   U N B O U N D

(MISCELLANEOUS DIALOGUE)

"Nooooooooo"

"Oh my god!"

"Run!"

"I trusted you!" 

Poster Prototype

Below is a very early basic conceptual design for the film's poster - using a photograph shot for practice purposes. It is highly unlikely that this design will be used (though elements may be incorporated) as we feel that a more natural and less 'collage' type poster will be better suited to our film but nevertheless we wanted to show you our various stages of design. The proper photo-shoot - and ultimate designs - will be available in the coming weeks. 

Shot List

The rough list of shots to film, as seen in the storyboard animatic:

- Establishing shot of landscape.

- Wide shot of Thorne

- Wide shot of silhouetted figure in forest

- Wide shot of ruined abbey.

- Shot of Thorne in shower.

- Shot of Thorne in corn fields.

- Enigma Entertainment logo appears.

- Shot of balaclava mercenaries capturing Thorne.

- Agent Davidson opens car boot.

- Wide shot of Rothen in forest.

- Two shot of Rothen and Zubasu.

- Anke appears briefly on screen.

- Close up of Zubasu.

- Close up of Davidson loading gun.

- Close up of Ricky on computer.

- Extreme close up of Thorne with gun.

- Mid shot of Thorne with knife.

- Mid shot of Zubasu with gun in Highgate Cemetery.

- Wide shot of Thorne and Rothen on a suspended log with Thorne holding a gun.

- Close up of Thorne with gun pointing at Rothen.

- Close up of Rothen with a gun in his face.

- 'This Year' appears on screen.

- Shot of car driving towards man with gun.

- 'From Nicholas Ashurst and Philip Smith' appears on screen.

- Mid shot of Thorne with hands up.

- 'The Acclaimed Directors of Sins of the Martyr' appears on screen.

- Shot of Thorne holding Davidson's body.

- 'Nicholas Ashurst' appears on screen.

- Close up of Davidson with many gunmen behind him.

- 'James Richardson' appears on screen.

- Fast paced montage of action shots.

- Close up of Thorne lying behind a log.

- Close up of Thorne and Rothen's looking into each others' eyes.

- 'Osiris Unbound'

- 'Coming Soon'

Storyboard Animatic

Preparing the Music for OSIRIS UNBOUND

Early on in the development of our sophomore motion picture we made the conscious choice to reunite with our 'resident' composer James Richardson, notable for his elongated fingers perfect for playing the piano and of course his elongated chin. His work on our film last year was acclaimed and so there was no other option than to request his input once again.

The key difference this time, however, is that the music has been composed prior to shooting of the trailer. This was done for a number of reasons. Firstly, to speed up the post-production process (as last year the opening was already edited and there was somewhat of a rush for our composer to come up with a soundtrack) and to provide inspiration for our shots and editing - as with trailers the use of music is key in establishing and maintaining the pace of the action. We asked James to use the same sort of style he had done so well previously but also to experiment with other ideas.

 

Below is the initial demo for the trailer soundtrack, which we were very pleased with. We have, however, requested the reworking of some parts in order to fit our envisioned structure of the trailer. The last part of the music will also have to be faster paced though this could be easily achieved with added percussion and strings. We also intend to utilise the musical skills of some of our other cast members such as Lee Davidson who is a master of the guitar and Richard Young, who is efficient on the drums.

Initial Soundtrack Demo by composer James Richardson

Mood Board #21: TITLE

The last item on the moodboard is the potential title - Metanoia. We were considering using this as the title, but we have now decided against it and are considering using a different title. The word metanoia is a Greek word literally meaning 'changing one's mind', however it has other different connotations as well. In theology, the word metanoia is interchangeable with the word 'repentance', which means turning away from your sins and starting a new life. This is relevant to the film in no way whatsoever, but I'm sure we could make it work. In psychology metanoia involves reforming one's psyche as a type of healing process and is a proposed explanation for the phenomenon of psychotic breakdown. This again has no relevance whatsoever. In philosophy metanoia is about rejecting consumerism and materialism as the basis of progress. This also has no relevance, so the title as a whole is completely irrelevant apart from the fact that it is a cool word. But in all fairness nowadays audience's don't care about what the title means, as long as it sounds exciting or intelligent. Half of the James Bond film titles take this stance, such as The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is not Enough and Quantum of Solace. Overall we've decided to ditch this title, as we don't want to have a completely irrelevant title that only stands up when in comparison with James Bond films.

Mood Board #20: BALACLAVA DUDES

One of the features that our recent films have started to share is that the antagonists' mercenaries all wear balaclavas. The balaclavas solve a plethora of problems. Firstly they allow us to reuse actors, so that we don't have to have an enormous cast to make it look like we have an army of mercenaries. Another benefit of the balaclavas is to make all the mercenaries look the same, so that if a character doesn't have a balaclava on they would stand out and the audience would know that they are a key character that they should pay attention to. To make them look more similar, we also tend to give them all black coats or hoodies, but there is a bit of variety in this to retain the ragtag mercenary feel of the troops.

We have a number of toy guns at our disposal that we've spray painted black. Many of the guns were bought at budget prices at poundland, but after spray painting them they look just as good as more expensive guns, albeit a bit smaller. Shotguns are something which we struggle with, not because we don't have any of them, but because most of the shotguns are very small and can look a bit stupid. Our guns specialist, Zubin Parekh, owns a number of BB guns that have been sprayed black, and these tend to look a lot better than the poundland guns. The BB guns can also be adjusted to look slightly different; the pistol can have a silencer and the machine gun can be adjusted to look like a sniper rifle. This variety of guns gives us a wide choice of combat troop types with which we can make an interesting selection of battle scenes.

Mood Board #17, #18 & #19: Vehicles - VW POLO, RENAULT CLIO & MOPED

These next three items on the moodboard I have decided to condense into one blog post as I'll be writing the same sort of thing about each one of them. As of last year, a few of our group have learnt to drive, so this is something which we are hoping to be able to incorporate into our film. Three of us have learnt to drive cars, and one of us a moped, which is helpful as we get a good variety of vehicles. Two of us have the same car - the Renault Clio, so this could come in useful when filming, as we could easily trick the audience into thinking that one car is the other. The Clio is a fairly basic car and there isn't much going for it in the film industry. It's a small, five door, silver family car and it's not exactly the sort of car that James Bond would drive around in. In short, it's the sort of car that is seen on the roads on an every day basis.

The VW Polo doesn't have much more going for it, but it is black, which is a far more cinematic colour for a car. The colour black has connotations of a foreboding atmosphere, so this car could be used as the antagonists car in the film. Apart from that the car doesn't look much different from the Renault Clio. It's still a small, five door family car and not the sort of car that James Bond would drive around in. However we're going to have to get over this, as these are the only cars that are available to us and if we want a scene with cars involved then these are our only choices. We are considering having some sort of car chase sequence in our film, and hopefully to try and film it in a way that it gives the illusion it is filmed in one long shot, in a similar way that the car scene in Children of Men was shot. This could work as the exciting ending set piece to the trailer.

To last vehicle that is on the moodboard is the moped, which would be driven by Richard Young. Car chases aren't nearly as exciting without motorbikes (or in this case a moped), as they are more agile and able to dart around traffic. They add a new dynamic to chase sequences and can also be fun to destroy creatively in these chases. Of course we can't really blow up Richard's moped, but I'm sure the magic of camera trickery can overcome that obstacle. The chase sequence will have to take a lot of planning in advance so that it's completely safe - we don't want to destroy each others' vehicles!

Mood Board #15 & #16 - Cinematographers - ROGER DEAKINS & EMMANUEL LUBEZKI

Emmanuel Lubezski is much less well known than Roger Deakins, but has still been nominated for Oscars in five films. We discovered his work through the film Children of Men, in which Lubezski pulls off some incredible long take sequences. This is the main part of his cinematography we like, so I have put a clip below, but he also creates some stunning visuals.

Roger Deakins is one of Hollywood's leading cinematographers and has been nominated for multiple Oscars for Best Cinematography. He is the master of the silhouette shot, as seen in three out of four of the images below, but retains very powerful images throughout his films. Deakins is one of the few cinematographers who makes cinematography a key aspect of the film. Many cinematographers do obvious, simple shots that get the job done, but Deakins takes it a step further and turns every frame into a work of art. From here I will let the visuals speak for themselves.

Mood Board #14: Director - CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

Christopher Nolan is another acclaimed film director who inspires us. He is most famous for the 'The Dark Knight Trilogy' in which he completely redefined the superhero genre - gone are the days of 'holy macaroni' and brightly coloured spandex. Nolan recreated Batman as a much grittier more human character, and in turn fleshed out the other Batman characters to make a more realistic and threatening film. We like this gritty style, as it makes films seem much more serious and realistic. Although we probably won't go all out serious we'll certainly have an element of grittiness to our film. Another of Nolan's films that I personally have been inspired by is his mind twister Memento. This was a highly original, relatively low budget film, that showed the film backwards scene by scene as the main character suffered from chronic memory loss. It was an incredibly clever film, and I'd say (after seeing all Nolan's films) that Memento is his best work. Below are a couple of clips from a variety of his films.

Mood Board #13: Composer - HANS ZIMMER

We already have a very good idea of what the music for our trailer should sound like. As with our AS opening we have been inspired by the great composer Hans Zimmer whose style we would like to replicate with our trailer. Our resident composer, the long chinned James Richardson, has already been set to work to compose another breathtaking piece.

Below are two examples of Hans Zimmer's work, from the films Man of Steel and Angels and Demons, respectively. The former is a good example of the structure and pace that would be at home in our plans for our trailer while the second is representative of how we would like the music to sound aurally, with the same sort of arrangement and orchestration.

Mood Board #12: Director - ALFONSO CUARON

One of my favourite film directors is the Mexican-born Alfonso Cuaron, who has famously directed the third Harry Potter and the upcoming sci-fi film Gravity, which has received almost universal praise. However his seminal work is the dystopia thriller Children of Men, which is a masterpiece both creatively and technically, with the stand-out sequences being those which appear to be shot as a single take (with some computer trickery done to conceal any cuts). This technique gives it a sense of heightened realism and is, especially in the case of the below car scene, something we would definitely want to experiment with in a brief sequence in our trailer, for instance the end-stinger in which we hope to have a car chase shot (or appear to be shot) in a single take.

 

Mood Board #11: Character - CALUS ROTHEN

The next character along, sitting at number 11 is the infamous Benedict Cumberbatch, an English actor who in recent years has speedily risen from a small British TV show to big Hollywood blockbusters by big name directors such as Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. He is a very unique actor with a very unique look, and for these reasons I have chosen him to represent the antagonist of our film - Calus Rothen. Benedict Cumberbatch is quite tall and reasonably skinny looking, which is the sort of look we want to give Calus Rothen. Another aspect of this picture that has inspired Calus Rothen is the suit that he wears - we don't want Rothen to be some sort of thug, but to be an intelligent criminal mastermind with a plan. Benedict Cumberbatch also models this clever look, as he often plays intelligent characters in his films, notably Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock, Smaug in The Hobbit, and Khan in Star Trek. These characters also have a sociopathic side to them, which is another aspect of their character we could adopt. Tall, clever sociopaths in suits work very well as cold calculating killers.

Calus Rothen is, for want of a less cliche phrase, the arch enemy of the film's protagonist - Lucas Thorne. The film will hint at some sort of prior conflict between the two characters, and although it won't go into specifics, it is established that the previous time they clashed Thorne defeated him, but only at great cost. Rothen is a cold, calculating sociopath who sits behind a desk and doesn't do much of the dirty work himself. He hires Zubasu to do all the killing for him, but he isn't afraid to whip out a silenced pistol if need be. Although his strengths don't lie in fist fighting, he is extremely adept in using stealth weapons such as sniper rifles and pistols. Rothen is the head of the Crucifix organisation, and he is organising the resurface of the organisation after years of lying low.

Mood Board #10: Character - ZUBASU

Number 9 on the moodboard is the character Silas, from The Da Vinci Code. The Da Vinci Code shares a lot of features with our film, and we have taken a lot of inspiration from it. We like the idea of going to old churches and historical places, as they tend to make really interesting locations. The difference between what we're doing and The Da Vinci Code is that The Da Vinci Code tends to go to the historical places and have some intelligent investigation, whereas our film goes to the historical places and has shoot outs. In this sense, our film has more in common with the prequel to The Da Vinci Code - Angels and Demons. The particular character shown here - Silas - is a character that is very similar to our character of Zubasu. The character of Zubasu was first created for our AS media film Sins of the Martyr but is making a return for this semi-sequel. Between the two we have decided that he has joined some sort of cult, as he is now a highly religious fanatic. This is very similar to the character of Silas, as he whips himself under the teachings of the radical Catholic cult, Opus Dei. The two characters also share attributes in that they are both creepy assassins.

Zubasu works for the criminal organisation of CRUCIFIX, which is a criminal religious cult dedicated to terrorism. In the film they are just making a comeback, and it is Zubasu's job to protect it in its infancy. He is the most physically threatening of the antagonists, as he is a professional assassin and is trying to hunt down the protagonists. We are currently debating as to whether he should have a twin, to make him double as deadly and badass. This would also be a good opportunity to practise some of the skills we have learnt over the course of our media course. Twins tend to work well in action films, and we would be taking inspiration from the acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. In Season 3 of Breaking Bad there are two Mexican twin assassins and they are very threatening figures.

Mood Board #9: Character - GATES

The next character on the moodboard is Spider from Elysium. We have taken inspiration from this character for the character of the technical expert in our trailer. Although in Elysium the character is also the leader of the resistance, we are not taking inspiration from this aspect of his character as we can't have too many badasses in one film or they would just all mush together. We haven't actually come up with a name for the technical expert, but I'm sure that this will come soon enough. The technical expert from Elysium was chosen because he is different from most technical experts in films, who are usually seen as nerdy and sometimes flamboyant. This technical expert is more of a tough guy, and this makes him a much more interesting character. We want our technical expert to be more like this - he's clever and knows his way around technology, but at the same time he can take care of himself outside of the lab.

The technical expert in our film is probably the least fleshed out of all the characters so far, as at the moment he is weighing heavily on stereotypes. At the moment he is far too similar to Spider from Elysium, so we need to make the character our own, and make him more interesting. As well as being the technical expert, he is also the expert on all the other aspects of the film, such as history, archaeology, ancient cults etc. He basically knows everything the the audience needs to know to understand the film and his purpose is largely expositional. Of course this would make for a rather dull character, so we are going to have to give him some extra roles and make him a more believable character, as well as justifying all the random information that he happens to know.

Mood Board #8: Character - AGENT DAVIDSON

The picture we chose for Agent Davidson is of Jeremy Renner in the film The Bourne Legacy. First and foremost, he shares several physical attributes of Agent Davidson, (whose role will be reprised by the inspiring Lee Davidson) such as the short blonde hair and the way that he moves around. The picture featured in the moodboard shows the character doing a jump in much the same way that Lee would chose to do the stunt. Jeremy Renner in the film plays a relatively young, but still experienced secret agent, which is exactly the same as the character Agent Davidson. The roles are very similar in many respects.

Agent Davidson is very much the standard Jason Bourne/Jack Bauer style secret agent. I don't like the term secret agent, as it makes him seem like a spy - perhaps government agent would be a better term to describe his job. Agent Davidson is very highly trained at combat, and knows how to use his fists in a fight. His fighting technique is very intelligent, easily being able to turn random objects to his advantage. He is a better fighter than Lucas Thorne, mainly because of his age, but he is less intelligent, making the two of them together a most formidable team. Davidson works for the fictional government agency the L.E.E (pronounced 'L double E') and is an expert at infiltrating criminal organisations. 

Mood Board #7: Character - LUCAS THORNE

The following few characters on the moodboard are characters that are similar to/have inspired the characters in our film. We couldn't find an exact match for the character of Lucas Thorne, so instead we chose Indiana Jones from the fourth, and most recent, instalment of the Indiana Jones film series. The fact that we chose him from the latest Indiana Jones film is important, as in this film he is older, and will be facing retirement soon. The younger Indiana Jones wouldn't have worked as well, as he was too young and in the middle of his career. He is also more serious in the latest film, rather than the old swashbuckling nature of the original Indiana Jones. This suits the character of Lucas Thorne as he is a more serious character. The comic relief comes from Aussie Ricky, not from Thorne.

Thorne's character is very similar to the character of Agent Davidson, in that they are both secret agent sort of people. They are both highly trained in combat and espionage and stuff like that, but Thorne is a much older, more experienced agent, who has to come out of retirement in this film in order to battle with the antagonists who he faced earlier in his career. He is slightly less athletic than Agent Davidson, as he is older, but is still a very able fighter. His importance in the film is that he has tackled the antagonist organisation before, and knows how to fight them. Agent Davidson on the other hand has never met them before, so doesn't really know what he's handling. Therefore he enlists the help of someone who does.