Christopher Nolan's short film 'Doodlebug' follows quite a bizarre plot; a young man is pestered by a small (initially unidentifiable), creature. The bug manages to avoid him at first, but he relentlessly pursues it, eventually discovering it is in fact a smaller version of himself acting out the same situation. He squashes it, and a larger version of himself then squashes him- in something of an infinite loop.
Although the concept of plot is quite extravagant, in true Nolan style, the actual film and plot are quite simplistic. There is one character, 'The Man' (or 'The Men'), one location, his apartment and no jump in time. It is a very simple sequence that leads up to a tight plot twist that adds much more depth to the film. There is also no dialogue what so ever; there is more drive in the events that take place. Our film, similarly, has very little dialogue as there are just two characters in our film, one of which does not appear very often.
The titles in Doodlebug are also very simple. The title of the film 'Doodlebug' appears on a black background. Eyes are used instead of the 'Os' in 'Doodle' which are revealed to be the protagonist's when the titles transition into the first shot. The eyes add a slightly bizarre element to set the tone of the film. Also, the titles are very short, around 9 seconds long. I would like us to employ a similar style of titles to our film as we are somewhat limited with time, this would allow for more content in our actual film. Similarly to the use of the eyes in the title of Doodlebug, we may also consider adding something to the title of our film to set the tone and convey any themes that may be included without giving too much away.
Doodlebug is filmed in black and white, this is likely due to its very low budget. However, this has been used to the film's advantage. In the opening shot, the use of black and white instantly creates a film noir visual style; solid cut, clear shadows and high key lighting is used, this creates an initial ambiguity about the film. A medium close up in the first shot instantly establishes the character. His facial expression suggests he is on edge and 'on guard' in a sense. Also, his jittery body movements support this and signify that he is ready for something and waiting. A slow dolly out reveals more of 'The Man's' apartment; it is quite dingy and run down. Initially, the cinematography editing is very fluent, with consistent moving shots. Towards the end of the initial dolly out shot, The Man dives across the room to kill the 'Bug'; at 0:28, the movement of The Man is matched into a following dolly in shot. The pace of the dolly in is similar to that of the dolly out in the previous shot. The match on action and well paced camera movement makes for very fluent editing and cinematography. Similar elements follow consisting of pans, tracks, arc shots and minimal crane shots. I feel that this editing technique keeps a nice steady pace through the film and keeps with the somewhat hectic plot.
Although the concept of plot is quite extravagant, in true Nolan style, the actual film and plot are quite simplistic. There is one character, 'The Man' (or 'The Men'), one location, his apartment and no jump in time. It is a very simple sequence that leads up to a tight plot twist that adds much more depth to the film. There is also no dialogue what so ever; there is more drive in the events that take place. Our film, similarly, has very little dialogue as there are just two characters in our film, one of which does not appear very often.
The titles in Doodlebug are also very simple. The title of the film 'Doodlebug' appears on a black background. Eyes are used instead of the 'Os' in 'Doodle' which are revealed to be the protagonist's when the titles transition into the first shot. The eyes add a slightly bizarre element to set the tone of the film. Also, the titles are very short, around 9 seconds long. I would like us to employ a similar style of titles to our film as we are somewhat limited with time, this would allow for more content in our actual film. Similarly to the use of the eyes in the title of Doodlebug, we may also consider adding something to the title of our film to set the tone and convey any themes that may be included without giving too much away.
Doodlebug is filmed in black and white, this is likely due to its very low budget. However, this has been used to the film's advantage. In the opening shot, the use of black and white instantly creates a film noir visual style; solid cut, clear shadows and high key lighting is used, this creates an initial ambiguity about the film. A medium close up in the first shot instantly establishes the character. His facial expression suggests he is on edge and 'on guard' in a sense. Also, his jittery body movements support this and signify that he is ready for something and waiting. A slow dolly out reveals more of 'The Man's' apartment; it is quite dingy and run down. Initially, the cinematography editing is very fluent, with consistent moving shots. Towards the end of the initial dolly out shot, The Man dives across the room to kill the 'Bug'; at 0:28, the movement of The Man is matched into a following dolly in shot. The pace of the dolly in is similar to that of the dolly out in the previous shot. The match on action and well paced camera movement makes for very fluent editing and cinematography. Similar elements follow consisting of pans, tracks, arc shots and minimal crane shots. I feel that this editing technique keeps a nice steady pace through the film and keeps with the somewhat hectic plot.
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