Tessa Alioto: Assignment 2
Film Research
Movie Poster.
Phil Wenneck [Bradley Cooper] calls Tracy Garner [Sasha Barrese], telling her that they lost her fiancee Doug Billings [Justin Bartha] during his bachelor party. They are supposed to be getting married five hours from when this call is placed.
The Wolfpack [as dubbed by Alan Garner, who is played by Zach Galifianakis] having a toast on the roof of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. [Which was a flashback before the opening scene with the phone call].
Photo of the guys on the roof during the day.
Stu Price [Ed Helms] waking up after the crazy night on the floor in the guys' suite.
Alan's fright upon seeing Mike Tyson's pet tiger in their bathroom.
The groomsmen trio in an elevator as they start their quest to find Doug. [Along with a six month old baby, who is later known as Tyler and is be discovered the child of Jade, who is played by Heather Gram].
A wedding photo, depicting Stu having apparently gotten married to Jade during the drunken stupor.
The crew having to be a part of a taser demonstration to get their impounded car back [after having stolen a police car].
Mr. Chow [Ken Jeong] attacking the trio after having been kept in the trunk of the car in an accidental kidnapping.
Mike Tyson about to punch Alan before they are tasked to return his tiger.
Alan having to count cards to get money back for Mr. Chow [after mistaking his satchel for Chow's and losing $80,000].
Mr. Chow and his crew in the trade of the $80,000 for Doug.
The Wolfpack made it to the wedding, and only a few minutes late!
Essay
The Hangover is a film in 2009 directed by Todd Phillips, starring Bradley Cooper [Phil], Ed Helms [Stu], Zach Galifianakis [Alan], and Justin Bartha [Doug].
The basic premise consists of four men proving that, "Some guys just can't handle Vegas" in relation to the movie's tagline. Doug was to be getting married, so the gang of friends [dubbed the Wolfpack by Alan] decide to venture out to Sin City itself [Las Vegas] for a night out and for a fun bachelor party. However, things go awry as they wake up in their sweet completely hungover and beat up. Well... three of them wake up in the suite. Doug seems to have gone missing, so now the groomsmen need to find him and get themselves back before the wedding begins!
In [a rough summary of] retracing their steps, it is discovered that the Wolfpack had a truly crazy night [as situational exaggeration is seen throughout the film as events unfold]. A police car had been stolen, a tiger [which later is shown to belong to Mike Tyson] is in their room, the Mercedes that they drove in became impounded, Stu had married an escort named Jade a guy named Mr. Chow is in the trunk of the Mercedes [only to lead to later conflict], and they have to make $80,000 that was allegedly stolen from him in order to get "Doug" back. Alan makes the money through counting cards, only for them to find out that it is the wrong Doug!
They actually find the real Doug on the roof on their hotel, the whole adventure of chaotic events in reality going in one big, hungover circle. However, they make it to the wedding in the end, even in their roughed up state.
[One thing I noticed is the color palette being mostly subdued, warm, and desaturated throughout the film, punches of vibrant 'Vegas' colors only shown in occasional spurts. This could represent the hazy state of the Wolfpack during their own hangovers, and in their daze to find Doug against slim odds in this comedic piece. It is also a good way to contrast the dramatic exaggerations in the film as to not overwhelm the audience.]
Words to Idea + Thesis Statement
Title: The Hangover
Words: Chaotic, Comedy, Backtracking, Hedonism, Time Limits
Thesis Statement: "The Hangover" is a comedy depicting the consequences of having too much hedonistic fun, a group of friends having to backtrack to find their friend through a chaotic night they can barely remember; time is of the essence, and it leads to an adventure they will never forget.
Visual Research (Inspiration Board/Collection)
Exploration/Formulation (Style Board/Examples/Studies)
Exploration/Formulation (Motion Tests)
Story Board
[Warner Bros Presents slide] Starts off black, then illuminates the Warner Bros logo in "neon lights" [aka circles].
[Written By slide] Zoom in on the bottom yellow box as it shrinks, the text quickly fading into view [possibly with an outer glow effect? Haven't decided yet].
"Lights" switch from yellow to white from the box, and the rest appear accordingly.
Lights zoom back out to depict a slot machine on screen.
[Directed By slide] The lights depict the lever being pulled, the slot machine showing the images in result of a quick "spin" [aka the boxes go white and then show the images].
Slot machine changes in imagery to a bar shelf, the slots switching to bottles as the top flickers out.
[Association slide] Bar fades to the center bottle, which flickers into being poured. Type moves in as the alcohol lights cascade to the bottom of the screen.
[Starring slide] Panning downward, the alcohol is shown to be being poured into a martini glass.
[Actor slide 1] Zoom in on glass as type becomes visible.
Type flickers out as lights depicting "roofies" drop into the glass.
[Actor slide 2] White circles fade out as magenta lights change to red, the text fading in as the circles go out.
All lights illuminate to red, then sections flicker back out to black.
[Actor slide 3] Light board zooms back out to reveal the tiger scratch, Tyson's name lighting up shortly after.
All lights go out except for the bottom of the red box, then the other lines flicker in.
Lines expand to form into boxes.
[Actor slide 4] Boxes become cards, and another box illuminates with the actors' names.
[Title!] Complete blackout, then a flashing box as the main title flashes in. [End of sequence!]
A simple grid of circles is used to create images like they are made of the "neon lights" of Las Vegas. To avoid it being too static, there is also a mix of blinking, fading, "zoom", and some movement in transitions.
Music: "Skank" by Michael Alioto and Tom Carlisle.