In order to understand the production design of each of my scenes, I made mood boards for each possible filming location so it would be clear how each space could best be used in order to achieve the look and feel I aimed for in my film.
Scene 1:
For the first scene, set outside a cafe in a forest near a lake, I made this mood board showing the atmosphere I want to achieve, and some early ideas of how I could film it. Like how Sofia Coppola uses natural light through trees in her films, I also wanted to try and use this during this scene to show how trapped Emma is as a character in her repetitive, ongoing search for her parents.
Therefore, I also thought about framing her from the back in a wide shot, framed by the trees lining the path, much like the opening shot of The Beguiled (2017). I think that this would highlight Emma's isolation, which is evident in the scene from the show when she is seen sitting alone at the table in a wide shot.
I picked these colours directly from the pictures because of their muted, washed out tones, as I feel these types of colours make the world seem unreal, and therefore dreamlike, mimicking the fantasy elements of Once Upon A Time, even though in this scene Emma is in the real world with no knowledge yet of her ties to the fairy tale world she comes from. This also mirrors Emma's cynicism of the fantasy world, which becomes more evident later in the series as she reunites with her parents, as makes the world seem fake and unbelievable as she believes fairy tales to be.
For this location, I used these pictures because I think they best show the vastness of the space, which could be used to show Emma's loneliness and therefore desperation to find her parents.
I picked these colours because they are warm, but still muted, so feel rustic and almost homey. This again reflects what Emma is looking for, a home, which is why she goes to the cafe in the first place.
This mood board turned out the brightest as the location is quite summery and smaller than the other locations. I liked the pictures for this location because I could still use the tree to convey the impression of Emma being trapped using the tree towering over her, as well as the fact the canal makes the land the cafe is on its own island. However, I felt this was too bright for the atmosphere I wanted to create which is more washed out and muted to reflect Emma's cynicism and confusion.
Therefore, I found that this mood board is my favourite because the colours are the most washed out and muted, but still give the location a rustic feel. Although it seems quite open, the fenced off terrace could still show that Emma is trapped in her search for her parents as she is unable to stop. The terrace is also accessed by a pathway which could box Emma in if I was to use a shot similar to that from Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled. I think I could also create quite a dreamlike, unrealistic feel if the sun shines and reflects off the water, which would look better than if it shined through trees as it would be less filtered.
I really like the blue of the water and its reflectiveness as blue symbolises stability because of its depth in colour theory, and the reflective nature of the water being reminiscent of a mirror, a symbol of the Evil Queen, whose fault it is that Emma was separated from her parents and ended up at the cafe in the first place. This symbolisation of stability fits with the green and brown, as green symbolises growth, reflecting Emma taking steps to find her parents and also herself, as she changes her lifestyle after meeting Cleo here, whilst brown as the colour of earth reflects home and security. However, I added the grey white colour, as grey is a depressing, neutral colour symbolic of loss, which is reflected off of the blue of the water as it moves. I thought this would reflect that even when Emma does find a home, there is still the sense of loss hidden as she has been separated from her parents for so long by the time she finds them she is already an adult.
Scene 2:
As the second scene is set in a hotel room, I picked this location and these pictures to represent it as they fit the boxed-in nature I wanted to achieve as from the close angles showing just the two corners, and even because the wide shot shows all four walls, the room looks quite confined. This fits with Emma and her search as she cannot stop, so it keeps her trapped in an ongoing sequence of dead ends, similar to what I aim for in the first scene.
There are also two mirrors in the room which I would like to use for reflection shots, similar to those of Steven Spielberg and Harry Winer. Not only does this mean I can cover several angles at once, but also keeps the audience immersed in the scene as there is able to be less cuts in the edit to different angles, and the characters can face the audience keeping them included as if they are also in the fictional world.
I picked these colours as brown and cream are similar in that brown represents home and security whilst cream symbolises quiet and therefore is calming because it is so neutral. This is shown through this scene as this is when Cleo begins to take some control over Emma, and tries to stop her from searching for her parents as she sees it hurts her so much. However, Emma escapes from the room, represented by the red as the energy, and therefore determination, Emma has to find them.
Scene 3:
For the last scene I tried to capture that I wanted to achieve somewhat of a bohemian feel with this mood-board, because of Emma's associations with dreamcatchers and flowers through her tattoo. Emma is also now free from her search as this scene is set a year later after Cleo's death which prompts Emma to stop. Therefore, I picked quite bright, but still muted colours for this, as things now look brighter for Emma's future, as she has a steady job and her own apartment, seeming to have left her troubled past behind.
This is specifically why I chose the colour purple as the main colour to go with the dreamcatcher as purple symbolises ambition, an element of dreaming, being a combination of blue's stability and red's energy, which I why I also included blue and pink. The green shows Emma's growth in the past year as she changes dramatically as a character in this scene when she gets her signature leather jacket, marking the transition between how she was in the past and is in the present.
However, I also included the dull grey colours as the character of Tasha finds out where she comes from in this scene, but there is a sense of loss in this for her as she discovers her birth mother, Cleo, has died before she could find her.
This is specifically why I chose the colour purple as the main colour to go with the dreamcatcher as purple symbolises ambition, an element of dreaming, being a combination of blue's stability and red's energy, which I why I also included blue and pink. The green shows Emma's growth in the past year as she changes dramatically as a character in this scene when she gets her signature leather jacket, marking the transition between how she was in the past and is in the present.
However, I also included the dull grey colours as the character of Tasha finds out where she comes from in this scene, but there is a sense of loss in this for her as she discovers her birth mother, Cleo, has died before she could find her.
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