I'd like a movie to be made that has several characters in it and various elements such as drama, action, romance etc but that is staged and takes place in a very small room.
Now, this is different from "Phone Booth" since all actors and film crew must be within the room and all stuff happens in the room. It is also different from "The Cube", since the room should be smaller and no one should enter or leave. Also, it should NOT be some sort of "psychological drama" relating to the room as such (like "being caught in an elevator").
The challenge is to create a realistic and believable setting within the small limits of the room. And to have things happen (such as chase scenes), and to have people interact, in a credible fashion.
There should not be any reflection on "being trapped" in the room/small space. It should just be the natural environment for the people to be in.-- Brummo, Aug 31 2003 Tape http://www.lariat.o...ovies/new/tape.htmlSeems close to description. [Cedar Park, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Rope http://www.geocitie...cle/6494/rope1.htmlAnother one close to the description by Hitchcock in 1948. Marked his debut as a producer. [jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Steambath http://www.5minutes...om/STEAMBATHVHS.htmStarring God as a Puerto Rican steam room attendant. [jurist, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Come back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean http://www.blockbus...-V++++10404,00.htmlPossibly the worst film I have ever seen. I stuck it out to the bitter end in the faint hope something might happen to make it all worthwhile. But nothing did. It's all set inside a small town diner, which was entirely claustrophobic enough. [DrCurry, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] classical unity of place http://en.wikipedia...i/Classical_unities [pertinax, Nov 24 2008] Five Characters in Search of an Exit http://en.wikipedia...n_Search_of_an_Exit"There should not be any reflection on "being trapped" in the room/small space. It should just be the natural environment for the people to be in." No and yes. [phoenix, Nov 24 2008] School bus surveivellence http://www.google.c...mera%20school%20busA high school bus - there is drama, action, romance, all in a small confinement [kamathln, Nov 24 2008] Land of the Giants http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062578/If you accept the conceit of the series, some clever and 'believeable' chase scenes set within a single room. [DrBob, Nov 25 2008] Being John Malkovich? Das Boot?-- bristolz, Aug 31 2003 Twelve Angry Men?
I can see the chase scenes being quite short.
By the by; although I quite liked "Phone Booth", the same conceit was used earlier (and arguably better) in a movie called "Liberty Stands Still" with Wesley Snipes and Linda Fiorentino. The sniper character is a bit more fleshed out, and it's a bit more understandable why the victim becomes the victim.-- lostdog, Aug 31 2003 Although [bristolz] does have a good point. I can't really think of any situation where the scenario that Brummo describes would come about naturally - but maybe, if you make the room the cramped insides of some individual's head, and the characters the embodiments of the various voices in that person's head (their mentors, their heroes, the imagined voices of the people who have the most impact on their life), then you might be onto something. In a Beano-style Numbskulls kind of way.-- lostdog, Aug 31 2003 The Breakfast Club?
They're not really trapped, they're in detention, and they get to go out once or twice.-- Cedar Park, Aug 31 2003 Marion and Geoff? (absolutely brilliant)
I imagine it as being some kind of small party/friends hanging out kind of thing, which seems so obvious that I'm sure its been baked. Other settings could include: office/meeting, plane, train, boat.-- chud, Aug 31 2003 All I really care is:1. Will it star Uma Thurman?2. Does she take her shirt off, or get romantic in any way?-- DeathNinja, Aug 31 2003 And are complementary barf bags provided if she does?-- Cedar Park, Aug 31 2003 You might also check out "Steambath"...which was a made for TV movie predictably set in a (you guessed it) steam bath.-- jurist, Aug 31 2003 Garden-variety porn films.-- thumbwax, Sep 01 2003 Dorm cam. - 196,000 hits on Google.-- Shz, Sep 01 2003 Meet Snuffy, the main character of our film. He's a homeless man with agoraphobia and he lives in an empty refrigerator box with a family of Puerto Rican immigrants who are secretly undercover EPA agents tracking a gang of serial masturbators who are fouling the waters of Washigton, D.C.-- Canuck, Sep 01 2003 "Damn! We're in a tight spot!" - Ulysses Everett McGill, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (repeatedly)
You could create this movie within the stated bounds by having three-inch-tall characters.-- waugsqueke, Sep 01 2003 Dr Who + tardis.-- po, Sep 01 2003 So this would be a small film?-- FarmerJohn, Sep 01 2003 It's quite possible to see live versions of this concept in most centres of population.-- egbert, Sep 01 2003 Well, thanks for all the interesting reflections, but I think I boringly need to recapitulate the point of my "idea":
* It should be a small, small place (say 2x2 or 3x3 metres = 6 x 6 or 9 x 9 feet).
* There should not be any need to explain why the people are there, it's just their natural "universe".
* The room is nothing specific in itself, so it is not a room used for a specific purpose (for instance, it is not a hotel room to relate to as such a room, or an elevator etc)
* The people should be "normal" characters.
* It should be a "moving" plot that is restricted to the area. That is, not a simple "talk" movie.
For simplicity of explanation, imagine any existing Hollywood film, but forced into a small room (and with few or no props)-- Brummo, Sep 01 2003 So, Star Wars or Gladiator but in the bathroom.-- bristolz, Sep 01 2003 Von Trier's "Dogville"?-- FarmerJohn, Sep 01 2003 Wallace and Gromit.-- egbert, Sep 02 2003 elevators are the answer to all your problems-- k_sra, Sep 02 2003 Cube?-- codger, Sep 03 2003 I think they named this one 'Big Brother'.-- vendetta, Sep 03 2003 "Dr. Seuss' Bottle Battle: the Movie"-- RayfordSteele, Sep 03 2003 I have to vote against this. The worst film I have ever had the misfortune to sit all the way through was set entirely inside one room of a small town diner (see link). Then again, as ravenswood points out, Twelve Angry Men was set entirely in one room, and the first version was excellent.
Either way, you'd need an excellent script writer, and they are few and far between these days. (Though maybe you could pique thumbwax's interest.)-- DrCurry, Sep 06 2003 Glengarry Glen Ross?
"Horton Hears a Who!" narrated by Dustin Hoffman, takes place on a single dust mote. How much tighter can you get?-- bristolz, Sep 06 2003 2 things: 1. how do you do a chase scene in a 9x9 room? maybe jackie chan could do it but then when he's done thats the end of the film. 2. Dr who did this with the episode where they are in an ATV crossing a planet and everything is done within a room 15x20 feet.-- Arcanus, Nov 24 2008 The Cure's video for "Close to you"?-- coprocephalous, Nov 24 2008 [Brummo]. You should join a high school bus surveivellence team. You will love it. It has drama, action, romance, etc. all in the small confinement of a schoolbus.-- kamathln, Nov 24 2008 Irwin Allen's "Land of the Giants" TV series featured normal-sized people in dramatic, romantic and action episodes often set in a single, albeit rather large, room. Does that count?-- DrBob, Nov 25 2008 I think this would be a more interesting idea if it was a stage play set and preformed in a small space like a garden shed. Everyone would enjoy the love scenes, the food fight, it boggles the mind.-- theGem, Nov 25 2008 random, halfbakery