Mostrando postagens com marcador screenplay. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador screenplay. Mostrar todas as postagens

sexta-feira, 17 de fevereiro de 2012

The movie inside the movie

A simple detail on Kassandra’s script ended up creating a whole new monster, with the biggest proportions possible. It was right there, in Roger Monteiro’s script, in the scene 7: the neighbor, played by Leandro Lefa, is in front of the TC watching a “porn movie of questionable taste”.

We could have simply hided the TV or used any erotic vídeo. But director Ulisses da Motta Costa decided to shoot some erotic scenes – but no hardcore, changing a bit the original concept, without sex.

“I took as reference the ‘Pornochanchada’, a popular Brazilian genre from late 70’s, early 80’s, that used to mix comedy, some action and plenty of nudity and, sometimes, even real sex”, explains Ulisses. “And anyways, we couldn’t make someone go through any
embarrassment, but we could make it all funny. That’s why I invited a longtime friend, Elena Meneghetti, who, when we were in college, made a class work dressed as a dominatrix. She’s really humorous, perfect for what we needed.”

A frame from the original material
The scenes that will be used on Kassandra were shooted in a couple hours on Elena’s house. Maico Silveira made a small part as the man who is seduced by Elena. The crew and cast had such fun in the shooting that when the producer Ramona Barcellos called to know if everything was ok, all she heard was laughter.

The crew was improvised: besides Ulisses directing, the producer Roberto Coutinho made the cinematographt, the publicist Daniel Coutinho was the set producer, the composer Chico Pereira edited the video. The only one on her function was the costume designer Giulia De Cesero, who also made art direction.

In no time, what was to be a small scene turned into a “bigger project”: a fake trailer of a Pornochanchada set in Porto Alegre (usually, those genre was made in Rio de Janeiro or in São Paulo). Not just that: even artistic
pseudonyms are being thought to make the 70s vibe even more alive. Not counting, obviously, more characters and scenes.

“I got why people used to make Pornochanchadas at that time: it’s so much fun, even thou the movies were awful”, says Roberto Coutinho. “It´s a challenge to make something purposely poorly made”, Ulisses states. “That’s why the improvised crew was essential for the bad visual results.” Chico Pereira, responsible for editing the little “treasure” got the difficulty. “I was editing right the scenes when I thought: no, I have to unlearn everything I know”, tells him.

New scenes will be made on the breaks of Kassandra’s shooting. Wait for it!

sexta-feira, 13 de janeiro de 2012

Nosferatu and Snow White



Hello, Ulisses da Motta Costa here again.

References are essential elements when you are making a film. The references help to create narrative, visual, acting and sound conceptions. Cast and crew debate references all the time.

But sometimes, a reference comes in a subjective manner, because it’s already within the project. That’s what happened to Kassandra.

When we were going for the second draft of the screenplay, writter Roger Monteiro and me discussed the need for a good character presentation for Kassandra. Roger came up with a good Idea, involving her and a bird. 

As soon as I read the new scene, I remebered Nosferatu (1922), a horror expressionist classic. Not because of the movie itself, but because of the presentation of the female character, played by Greta Schröder. Our scene was kind of a distant echo of Nosferatu.

“Such a great reference”, I thoght. I called Roger on Facebook chat:

Me: Dude, I really liked Kassandra’s introduction. Reproduces the heroin's trajetory in Nosferatu. It is coincidence or inspiration?
Roger: No. It came from Snow White.
Me: The scene just became even BETTER.

Unbelievable how things live in our cultural unconsciousness. I was exulting with the unexpected relation between two cinema classics. So pretentious from our part. I love  both movies and I’d always though that Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1938) was kind of a horror movie. It’s dark and sinister -- the evil queen metamorphosis is just horrible.

Anyway, we become sure that we’re in the right track when the references come up naturally.