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Shattering the Glass Ceiling


Mike Cozart

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Hello All!

 

New to this forum so I'm not sure if this is the right section to post this.

 

We will be doing a documentary for a philanthropic women's group. This documentary will be highlighting women who have overcome obstacles and have risen to the top. We are wanting to do a POV scene where someone is looking up at a glass roof from the lobby of an office building and they rise straight up and crash through the glass ceiling.

 

We are thinking a scale model might work as we are not set up to do CGI in the detail they will want. Not sure if this is the right approach.

 

Any ideas how to pull off this shot would be appreciated.

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Are you certain that's the shot? Forgive me for being blunt, but that sounds a bit "on-the-nose."

 

If you're open to suggestions, how about:

 

Fade In

 

Ext.–Dilapidated House—Day

 

*crash

 

A rock sails into one of the very dirty windows, smashing it.

 

*crash

 

Another rock.

 

A child's hands scrabble in the dirt looking for just the right rock. Aha! Found it!

 

The child's arm throws the rock at the house smashing yet another window.

 

SHE blows a strand of hair out of her eyes, grins, picks up her schoolbag, and skips away.

 

Fade Out

 

 

That's what I would do anyway. The glass ceiling thing is just so prosaic.

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That would be a creative and interesting way to demonstrate the panache that might be part of the makeup of someone who would shatter the glass ceiling. I'm kinda stuck though since that metaphor (glass ceiling) is so ingrained in the culture of their intended audience.

 

It might be cool to open with a shot like that and close with what I have in mind.

 

So, in any case I still have to set up the POV shot of ascending through the glass roof.

 

How would any of you go about setting up a shot like this?

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I worked on a couple VFX shots like this on Sin City 2, a character crashing thru a window and falling. But since you're saying it's a POV, I'm imagining that you're barely going to see any actual impact with the "ceiling". The low-budget method would be to shoot with a camera moving toward a model or an actual location (undercranked so you don't actually break the glass on location). There would be a couple of flash frames or black frames, then you cut to slow-motion glass flying thru the air away from camera on the "b" side of the shot.

 

Robt. Rodriguez shot slow-motion glass elements against black and I would suggest using something similar. With this treatment it's more about the symbolism of the images than a super involved effect.

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That would be a creative and interesting way to demonstrate the panache that might be part of the makeup of someone who would shatter the glass ceiling. I'm kinda stuck though since that metaphor (glass ceiling) is so ingrained in the culture of their intended audience.

 

This is why I would avoid using it, but if that's the brief, then that's the brief.

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Actually, thinking about this again - this reminds me of instances where (in previs) we're asked to visualize a script and there's a line that is very difficult to interpret visually.

 

In the "glass ceiling" metaphor the barrier to upward mobility is there but invisible, hence glass. Flying thru the skylight in a lobby is being launched into the atmosphere like in Willy Wonka, not getting a promotion to the upper floor. So the big question is a production design issue: what is the architecture of the "glass ceiling"?

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Probably something along the lines of the attached pictures.

 

I never though about using a real ceiling...that is a great idea. Since you wouldn't actually see the glass at the point of impact, except for maybe one frame, the cut to an outside view, maybe in slow motion, followed by a lobby shot again with shards of glass and pieces of framing coming down, which we could easily model, might be the ticket.

 

This group wants to make a film about empowering women professionally so the crashing through the glass ceiling is going to be a hallmark of the film.

 

Thanks for your input...this is invaluable!

 

post-75449-0-93106700-1536186159_thumb.jpg

post-75449-0-73623600-1536186168_thumb.jpg

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I don't think the visual metaphor is going to work, or there's going to be an odd subtext to anyone who thinks about it... going thru this (the lobby) glass ceiling is like getting ejected out of the company, not getting promoted upwards.

 

I would suggest bringing in an animation artist to try to interpret it in traditional animation.

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Totally get your point!

 

That symbol has become such an icon in women's business and professional circles I think we are married to it. Did you know that Hilary Clinton had the ceiling rebuilt with theatrical glass in the place she and her entourage waited election night? The plan was for the glass ceiling to shatter when she was declared winner. I don't know specifics but I am guessing not above her faithful's heads.

 

So, I have to make it work.

 

What about a POV shot ascending through the ceiling and going into a star filled sky without any cutaway shots?

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What about the classic shot in the 1973 film The Poseidon Adventure. Everything gets flipped upside down, and someone hangs on as long as they can and then steals the show by spectacularly crashing through a huge, glass, complex, skylight/chandelier thing. Another option: a new take on the famous shot of Darth Vader turning momentarily away as he flips a switch, during which Luke Skywalker makes his sudden debut as a gravity-defying Jedi. It could be a woman in Luke's place, flying right through the ceiling. In her vertical ascent she sees Gene Wilder in his magical flying machine from the chocolate factory, and he tips his hat to her with his cane and she smiles.

Edited by Jon O'Brien
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