This video is a good demonstration how we want to stylistically shoot the opening sequence for Homophobia. We want to portray the nightmare chase scene from the perspective of the protagonist running over an open and wide snow covered area towards the edge of the forest.
A loud sirene signals immediate danger. Every we look back, we see black silhouette of a couple of figures in the background chasing us with flashlights. Barking dogs can be heard.
Running through the snow is exhausting. We constantly sink in an fall. We breathe heavily before we reach the forest and the scene becomes quite. No siren. No barking anymore. Only our heavy breathing, that we try to suppress, can be heard before one of our chasers pulls a black bag over our head.
Through jump cuts, repetition and discontinuity we want to recreate the experience of a dream.
Ulrich Seidl is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers from Austria and especially his movie Import/Export will be an inspiration for Homophobia. His movies are very real. They feel sober and raw. He does’t inflict symbolic meaning upon his movies. He mainly uses static or handheld camera and barely uses music. He also makes use of natural lighting (especially cold and harsh neon light) and uses repetitive on location sounds to create atmosphere e.g. a monotonous ventilation system.
Since I want to apply a double perspective on Homophobia, a raw and objective perspective as well as an emotional introspective, I use Seidl’s movies as inspiration for the objective layer.
Sigur Rós is a huge artistic inspiration and influence for me in general and especially for Project Homophobia. Their innocent, introspective and multi-layered music instantly creates mental images in my mind.
Their style will influence especially the end of the movie after Michael accepted his own homosexual feelings. Everything is destructed. He now can rise from the ashes like the mythological figure phoenix. He transformed himself, grew, became stronger but is still fragile and innocent. He now has the chance to start all over again. Start to become himself.
Francis Bacon, the figurative painter from Britain, is a huge visual inspiration for Homophobia. I love how he expresses the flesh of male bodies that are sexual on the one hand but violent on the other. Visually contrasting lust with violence (the inner conflict of Michael) is my intention in the more introspect and especially the dream sequences. Also love the color palette Francis Bacon uses.
While I met with some actors at the weekend, I had some ideas for a movie poster for Homophobia already. The poster shows Michael. He wears his military uniform and has a rigid facial expression. Maybe he even salutes. Standing in front of a plain wall. Cold and harsh neon light illuminates him from above hiding his eyes in dark shadows. Although, if we look closer, we notice that his eyes are red and watery - suppressing his tears.
According to Lajos Egri, I expressed the premise of Homophobia in its simplest form. This is the dramatic epicenter and every creative decision will root in this very statement.
