secondary intention film
DESCRIPTION
film booklet for independent film 'secondary intention' by bala brothersTRANSCRIPT
SYNOPSIS
PROJECT OVERVIEW
PROJECT STATUS
THE FILMMAKERS
FILMMAKING PHILOSOPHY
TECHNICAL SPECS
DIRECTOR’S NOTEBOOK
CONTACT
After her daughter’s death is ruled an accidental overdose, Julie journeys to New York City to seek
revenge. But when Richmond, the businessman she holds responsible, escapes by seconds, the
only way to get to him is through Alex, an illegal immigrant hired to paint his apartment. As the
evening progresses, Julie becomes entangled in Alex’s life. Illegal deals, guns, jealous girlfriends and
a celebration of life all collide, testing Julie’s resolve. Yet when Alex uncovers Julie’s real intention, he
decides to do whatever it takes to stop her, even if it means risking his own life. As Richmond is on
his way back, will Julie go through with her plan?
SYNOPSIS
-suspense drama-shooting this Fall in NYC-budget: 1M-Oscar nominated cast
PROJECT OVERVIEW
-looking for funding-Michael Shannon (Oscar nominee for ‘Revolutionary Road, Boardwalk Empire’) has signed on as ‘Richmond’, and Zoran Radanovich (ER, Criminal Minds) as ‘Alex’.-currently casting for the female lead
PROJECT STATUS
Zoran Radanovich during a ‘script workshop’. Michael Shannon, Oscar nominee ‘Revolutionary Road’ as Richmond
THE FILMMAKERS
Branislav ‘Brane’ Bala (writer/director)
came to the US from his native Serbia at the age of seventeen as a high
school exchange student. That is when he picked up a camera and started
making music videos for local bands in Rochester, NY. His interest in film
and photography led him to study filmmaking at the University of Rochester,
where he shot guerrilla style action films and learned cinematography.
His true formative years were while studying directing at Columbia Univer-
sity’s Film School. His short films screened on international film festival
circuit, most notably a comedy “Shades of Gray” which was picked up for
distribution by Hypnotic, and was a winner of “James Bridges Award for ex-
cellence in acting”. His commercial spot “Magic” was a Coca-Cola Refresh-
ing Filmmaker’s Award selection. Brane has also directed commercials for
cable and web, and music videos that screened at MTV Latin America and
Eastern Europe. He has produced two New York independent feature films.
With his brother Nemanja Bala he co-wrote four feature length screenplays.
Brane also teaches filmmaking in New York.
Nemanja Bala (writer/director)
came to the US at the age of nineteen, when he received a tennis
scholarship to study at the University of Hartford. There he majored in
film studies and began making short narrative and documentary films.
“On The Bridge”, inspired by the 1999 NATO bombings of Serbia,
screened on Serbian National Television.
He continued to direct and produce short films while at Columbia
University’s Graduate School of Film, but his interest mostly shifted to
screenwriting. His thesis script “Broken String” was an award winning
screenplay and “Exile” reached finalist stages at Sundance Writer’s
Lab and Tribeca’s All-Access Program. Since receiving his MFA in
Screenwriting in 2006, Nemanja’s been working as a freelance writer
and filmmaker in New York City. Most recently he founded Beam5, a
creative studio of filmmakers, animators and designers, which focuses
on commercial work.
FILMMAKING PHILOSOPHY
Our inspiration usually comes from the world that surrounds us:
the neighborhood we live in and people and their problems.
In that sense we are committed to first using what is available to us, whether
it is a location, available light, props or music. It is a way to create authenticity
and keep the production and the budget small and manageable.
Although we feel that the visuals and camera work are critical in making a
memorable film, we decide on these beforehand. We believe that actors are
the key element as the source of audience’s identification. That is why our
main focus during the production is on acting and creating the emotional truth.
In essence, we hope to create films that follow a simple pattern:
provocative stories, small budgets, strong emotional impact.
People in our neighborhood: Eastern Europeans supply bread from Astoria to restaurants in Midtown in early morning hours. They use the same van to transport old computers, fix them and sell them.
A Latin woman, with no status, taking a break from waiting tables. Long Island City.
Using what is available: Gypsy musicians at ‘Euzkadi’ in East Village on 4th street, who generously offered to perform their original music in ‘the bar scene’.
NYU student working as a call girl.
Outskirts of the City: random violence caught on camera. 44th Road in Long Island City
‘Secondary Intention’ will be shot on location in Manhattan, Long Island City and Astoria.
LOCATIONS
TECHNICAL SPECS
‘Secondary Intention’ will be shot
on ‘Epic’ camera with film lenses.
Its new sensor will make shooting
of night exteriors fast and
manageable on a low budget.
DIRECTOR’S NOTEBOOK
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
In Secondary Intention, our protagonist Julie is in a haunting predicament: by her late
30s, she has already given birth and buried her daughter. Having focused everything
in her adult life on her child, she is now left with nothing. Aside from dealing with
grief, the big question confronting her is what is she supposed to do next? Go on
living? Why? How? Who should she be now? Can she still care about life?
Like many people dealing with grief, pain and anger, she channels all her energy into
blame –fuelling hatred towards the man she holds responsible. She is determined
to avenge her daughter at all costs, subconsciously
hoping that a single act of violence will fill the void inside her.
On her quest, Julie encounters Alex, an illegal immigrant chased by his own demons
from the past. So when he figures out Julie’s real intention, he makes it his mission
to save her from destroying herself - perhaps
giving him a chance at his own redemption.
As they journey together, Alex leads Julie into frightening, embarrassing, dramatic
and funny situations, inadvertently giving her one more chance to experience the
tapestry of human connections she abandoned a long time ago and to rediscover the
excitement and mystery of life. Whether or not these experiences have impacted her
is revealed in the climax as the three characters collide and struggle with their own
sense of guilt and responsibility.
This story has elements of suspense, drama and comedy, but we hope it transcends
the genres and digs deep into the psyche of its characters,
offering some insight into human nature.
We aim to explore how people survive traumatic events, how they help each other
heal, find the strength to forgive, and rediscover a purpose and meaning to their
existence. Hopefully it makes you cry, laugh and cheer, but above all, it should fill
you with hope.
Nemanja & Brane Bala
CAMERAWe need to establish a visual language that will do two critical things:1. create a subjective POV of our protagonist Julie so we can experience her emotional state throughout her journey.2. Let the actors perform, since the film is dependent on the performances.
These two seem contradictory since the latter implies the camera is going to be unobtrusive, often in long takes and on a wider lens, covering the action in loose medium shots, giving actors enough room to interact; the camera is hand held, so it is mobile enough to quickly adjust to all the blocking, but should be as steady as possible, not calling attention to itself.However, just covering the action will not give the audience the necessary emotional insight into Julie. For this we need to be able to visually interpret her various emotional states, from despair, to anger, fear. A good actress will create this in her performance but, for the larger context, we need specific visuals to give us certain clues. We need to carefully establish and
APPROACH TO VISUAL STYLE
Julie puts on a disguise: a wig, an outfit that’s like an ‘ar-mor’, and gets a gun. Sarah’s necklace will remain uncon-sciously in our minds as something she is searching for.
weave familiar images that will trigger associations and, in different contexts, create different reactions in Julie. That’s why these visuals need to be seen from her subjective POVs.
For example, a photograph of Julie and Sarah in the beginning of the film should resemble the photograph of Alex and his mother and that prompts Julie to ask him if he tells his mother how things really are. She is thinking about Sarah and her not telling Julie what her life was really like in NYC. When Julie sees Vicky in a dress that reminds her of the one Sarah wore on her prom night, and then sees Boris fooling around with her, the audience should anticipate an attack on this man who, in Julie’s eyes, is taking advantage of Vicky.
Many critical moments in the film come from Julie seeing things and then reacting to them. We need to establish a pattern that the audience is able to understand: that certain POVs will be followed by certain emotional reactions.A lot of her emotional state should be established through the envi-ronment, both literal and cinematic. We will accomplish this through production design, lighting and music.
As Julie approaches Richmond’s apartment, suspense builds through the use of POV and hand-held tracking shots.
LOCATIONS AND PRODUCTION DESIGNThere is a lot of contrast in the locations: the story starts in upstate NY in a small working class town. It is deserted, empty, depressing: shopping malls, empty streets. This is the world that surrounds Julie. Her house is neat, everything seems to be in place. But it is cold, almost sterile – it is missing a spirit, a soul - something that Julie needs to find.
Richmond’s building is new – a place where a businessman came to temporarily live with his family; glass, metal and silver colors give it a very cold, emotionless feeling.Streets of Midtown Manhattan are, of course, noisy, messy. It is all too much for Julie to handle, and she’s not able to navigate through it.As she goes with Alex across the Queensboro Bridge and make a stop along 21st street in Astoria, an area filled with mechanic shops, taxi stations, graffiti, we have an obvious sense of the out-skirts of the city and the working class. There is a sense of danger but also a sense of certain simplicity and spirituality.Alex’s place is in contrast to Julie’s and Richmond’s. He lives in an ‘old world’ typical Queens building made for the working class in the 1920s. Its architecture gives it a sense of history (and there-fore spirituality), and his apartment is filled with paintings, photos
Julie is surprised to find Alex, a friendly immigrant painter in Richmond’s apartment, who she misses by seconds. We begin to suspect that ‘revenge story’ will become second-ary as Julie’s initial plan quickly fails.
of his family. Alex, although perhaps lost in his life, is in touch with his spirituality and his family (although only his mother is alive). His paintings will give the audience an insight into Alex’s inner life. Most of his furniture is made out of wood, in contrast to Richmond’s, but similar to Julie’s, connecting them on that very primal level.His place is in contrast to Julie’s: it is packed with objects, each representing a memory, an event, and different periods of his life - something Julie repressed and we don’t see in her place.Colombian restaurant, Maria’s workplace, is another location where we continue to feel certain spirituality through the production design, but also some antagonism – Maria is imprisoned by this place (perhaps by making colors cold). In Midtown Manhattan we see neon lights, ads with young women everywhere. We need to capture this artificial, fake glamour, in which the City can over-whelm human spirit.In contrast to it, we go to an ethnic bar. It is colorful, souful, music plays, people celebrate life. It has a warm, candle-lit feeling; ideally the bar’s interior will have all this already, with its character, colors. Its warmth is essential, since this is where Julie and Alex share a moment – and Julie has the last chance to feel human connection, and perhaps abort her plan.
Julie decides to go with Alex; from now on they are stuck together. Camera often frames them in a two shot, ap-propriate for the ’real time’ unfolding of the story.Cut-aways, which Julie sees, become insight into her emotional state.
Since Sarah overdosed in a bathroom, an effective way to isolate the space of the bathroom is with color and lighting. We will gel the lights green, giving it a sense of something poisonous; it will be present in frames from time to time, subconsciously luring us to go there…and Julie does. Exterior of the bar takes us to the streets of East Village - a mix of history, projects, college students, young hipsters. Lighting here is red, from the street lights, with some green (which we just experi-enced) as things come very close to death.Julie wakes up in Alex’s bedroom, which we haven’t seen up to this point. The bedroom is cold in colors (perhaps blue like Sarah’s neck-lace) with red light coming through the window. It should be simple, almost surprising compared to his living room. But the essence is that Alex is alone, there is ‘death present in his bedroom’ (which hints at his backstory and his demons). And most importantly, at this point Julie and Alex bond over death and loss. The design, colors and lighting should reinforce this.The bedroom also gets very dark as Boris keeps an eye on Julie, when she is tied up. Through these visuals, we are putting Julie literally in the ‘darkest moments’ on her journey.In the climax, as Julie attempts to kill Richmond and Alex tries to stop her, we are back in the modern, ‘antagonistic’ midtown building. The apartment is high up – there is a haunting feeling of possible death (or forgiveness) further from the ground and closer to the sky. The apart-
Alex calls Richmond to find out when he’s coming back. As they wait for the answer, the atmosphere through lighting and production design becomes crucial in an eight minute scene.
ment is mostly empty. Alex painted it white. As the backstory becomes clear (Sarah’s overdose, and Richmond’s involvement), its white setting and empty interior give it an ‘existential’ feeling – either someone will die, or forgiveness will take place, and like the empty apartment, there will be a clean slate for Julie.The biggest challenge in this empty apartment is to create a sense of space and perspective. This needs to be accomplished through lighting. Camera will be hand-held, tight, dramatizing the immediacy and nerv-ousness of the situation.When Julie and Alex come down from the high-rise, back to the ground, there is a visual and emoptional release as Julie and Alex go to the river. They sit on a wooden bench. It is the first time we see water. Julie, standing next to water and away from the city, has regained certain spirituality, found her soul again. The wind blows. Nature, life, pushing/helping a change in Julie.
Julie finds herself in an embarassing situation as jealous Maria confronts Alex. The design of the restaurant, its cold atmosphere, should reinforce Maria’s entrampment. We sympathize with her, and so does Julie. Although dramatically it is Alex’s scene, the focus needs to be on Julie’s reaction to the situation.
COSTUMESThe costumes are very important since the story takes place over just two days and, for the most of the time, the main characters are in one costume. We meet Julie at work in her work clothes. At home, she wears a t-shirt and sweatpants - tattoos on her body surprise us and pose a question about her character, her past. As she goes to see Randy, we get a glimpse at what she usually wears – jeans, sneakers, and a fleece - very bland, as if she’s lost a need to have style and feel attractive; she doesn’t want to call attention to herself.She puts on her “NYC”look, a disguise that she will have for the rest of the film: a wig, sunglasses, a business-like pants and
Vicky, a college student who resembles Sarah, offers Julie coke in the bathroom of a bar. Julie feels like being next to her daughter and unable to stop her or help her. It is a rare instance where the camera should push in on a dolly from a two shot into a single on Julie, dramatizing Julie’s emotional response.
We come very close to death as Alex is attacked by Victor and his gang. Julie’s maternal instinct kicks in and she saves him. A complex night exterior scene which should be hand-held yet carefully choreo-graphed.
Alex sings a song, gets something off his chest, and celebrates life. For the first time Julie smiles, feels alive. It is a chance to connect with another human being, and perhaps abort her mission. It is a big step for Julie, so lighting and production design have to set the right atmosphere.
Alex ties Julie up in his apartment to stop her from killng Richmond. Their costumes come off in this scene; Julie’s shirt underneath can tell us a lot about her desire, and the choice of its color will be crucial as Alex tries to take charge of her.
shirt, a coat that will give her style but won’t attract attention, stylish shoes and a leather purse.It should be a look that is like an armor to her – protecting her, hiding her, but should also give us a sense of her underlying sensuality, spirituality, need for life. Richmond is in a business suit: he wears a tie, but loose…as a man who is trying to get rid off/free himself of guilt, he is trying to get out of ‘who he is’, his suit. It gives us a sense that he doesn’t feel comfortable in his surroundings, and perhaps there may be much more to him than just a typical business like appearance. Julie meets Alex in his painter’s overalls. He looks very harmless, we have seen this struggling guy before. But beneath the overalls there is perhaps an old rock’n’roll t-shirt of bands he likes (Ramones, etc). The hat he wears gives him a lot of character, so it is very important.When he changes to go out, he suprises Julie (and the audience). He wears a shirt and jeans, nice shoes and a leather jacket. It is a casual but stylish look . It is how Julie used to dress before she had Sarah. They should look like a couple, complementing each other. They stay in this wardrobe until she passes out and wakes up in Alex’s bedroom. Julie’s coat, ‘armor’, is off, and we see her in a ‘sensual shirt’. Alex has taken off his jacket and is only in his shirt. This is an important
Julie will try anything to free herself: negotiation, seduction, whatever it takes to fulfill her plan. The razor is set up earlier when Alex shaves before they go out.
moment, since their (lack of) clothes should allude at the possibility of romance and connection in otherwise painful, heavy scene.After that, Julie will put her ‘armor’ back on, and Alex will get into his work clothes (a different shirt underneath – closer in color to Julie’s shirt).They will confront Richmond, in his business attire…his shirt will soon be bloody… As the film ends, Julie’s ‘armor’ will come off: her wig, her coat will be unbuttoned…and the missing piece, Sarah’s necklace will hang around her neck.
Julie tied up in the bedroom, Alex and Boris discuss how to get rid off the gun and the coke; a sense of danger, potential rape. Tension builds, she needs to free herself to get to Richmond. A wide screen composition achieves all of these things in a single frame.
Julie is ready to kill Richmond and Alex tries to persuade her not to do it. Camera becomes hand-held, putting us in the middle of the situation.
Julie wants Richmond to die the way Sarah did, so she forces him to snort coke. With the climax taking place in an empty apartment, the challenge is creat-ing perspective through composition and lighting.
A ‘climactic’ moment involving a gun; the question is how to stage it or shoot it so it feels fresh. Shooting a lengthy emotional scene like this may require two cameras to capture actors’ performances.
PROPSAlex’s beat-up SUV. It is an SUV because it is large enough to store paint buckets, brushes, yet it is mobile enough to get Alex quickly around the city and still has that bachelor feeling. Its exterior is beat up, bright colors, like white, would be best. Its interior is equally beat up, with Alex’s objects hanging around: stickers of soccer teams, etc.Julie’s gun should be small enough to fit into the coat. It’s important to decide on the ’feel’ of it in the in the climactic scene and work backwards from there.Sarah’s necklace. We write: a ’blue necklace’. For sure its color needs to have some unconscious impact. Maybe Alex’s color of eyes should match the color of the necklace? Or Julie’s?It is a necklace that Julie got from her mother and gave it to Sarah, so it is older in design...
Julie is shocked that Richmond saved Sarah’s necklace. The use of a prop sends us back to the beginning in which it was unconsciously set up as something that Julie needs to find. The color and design of the necklace are crucial.
MUSICOur starting point is the diagetic music. First time we hear it is when Alex paints Richmond’s apartment; he has a stereo he carries with him. He listens to rock’n’roll.The background music in Colombian restaurant should not attract attention, but should create an ethnic feel and reflect the mood of the scene.We hear rock’n’roll again as Alex and Julie get in the car after the Co-lombian restaurant. This piece of music is important since it will be used for the montage of traveling shots from working class Queens to flashy Midtown Manhattan. Since Alex is pissed off here, the music is more aggressive as well. This scene will also have a score that tells us more about Julie’s state - something reflective as she watches the Midtown images and thinks about Sarah.At the bar, gypsies play guitars (songs in public domain) and Alex sings a song from his country (something we can get rights to), giving this scene a very warm, sensual feel.Throughout the rest of the bar scene, diagetic music from the sound sys-tem is upbeat, giving it a sense of youthfulness, but also alluring. Since Vicky reminds Julie of Sarah, this type of music adda to Julie’s nervous-ness about the whole situation.
Julie’s moment alone as she takes in the whole experi-ence. She’s found some closure. The necklace will hang around her neck, connecting her forever with her daughter. Alex is in the background as a possible companion in the days to come. Location and weather are key in this scene: we are next to water for the first time, which gives us a sense of peace. The wind blows, helping the change in Julie.
FILMS OF INFLUENCESome films that we’ve looked at as points of discussions are: Mean Streets for its camera and authenticity created through production design.Beat That My Heart Skipped for its realistic approach, camera work and creation of impressionistic moments, and use of diagetic and score music.Collateral for its use of locations and textures of a city created through high definition. Two Lovers for its performances and the contrast of modern and old New York through loca-tions and production design.21 Grams for its raw energy and capturing the performances.
