All of our original plans have essentially gone out the window. We decided than it was going to become a little cliché and would easily become a series or random shots and ideas and we didn’t want that.
We have now decided on a final plan but this has come through several stages of development. We wrote down loads of words, flicking through book stopping on random pages and picking out words. From doing this we stumbled upon the word suffocation. From this we thought about all the connotations of the word. Through this we came up with the basic idea of society suffocating out human emotions and desires. As it is important for us to have a strong theme, we saw this as a way to be free within an idea but still have a central idea to relate to. From this we came up with several shot ideas that were visual metaphors for being unable to express your emotions or true feelings.
Shot idea 1. The first idea for a shot is t have several people with black tape over their moths to symbolise being unable to speak.
Shot idea 2. To have a circle of people with tights over their heads to show being enclosed. The tight are a physical barrier for the thought that will not be aired to the real world.
Shot idea 3. To have someone with a plastic bag over their head with the camera inside to show literal suffocation that would relate to a figurative suffocation of words.
From this the idea evolved again when we saw a verse of Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘the Raven’ on Stephen’s can of energy drink.
‘Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.’
The line,’ Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared dream before’ really struck a chord with us. The idea that there are thing that we dare not say, dare not even think. Also the idea that in the poem the protagonist is being tormented by this raven was something we were interested in. This then formed into our final idea.
The main outline is to have a main character who has a voice inside his head who is tormenting him to do the things he really desires. Having cast Ben our main character is therefore called Ben. We are going to create a physical manifestation of this voice by filming Ben being that ‘little man’ in his own head. This is where we intend to employ the use of lighting that is not generally considered as a convention. We will film in one of the performance studios so we have a completely black environment and then using colours of light we will create moods of anger and sadness or loneliness in order to show the inner workings of this character. We also intend to be inventive with the use of sound. It is integral and will help to create this atmosphere of tension that is between Ben and his inner self. We hope to break away from normal conventions with this use of lighting and sound and also in the edit by making the cuts in places that will make everything seem unhinged.
Now we have a final plan we can now start filming!
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
'Om'
At first glance ‘Om’ is not a particularly complex piece of work due to its short length. However in my opinion there is an awful lot wrapped up in just under two minutes.
The Most apparent feature in this film is its use f representation and in turn how it plays on our expectations due to cultural connotations. The opening shot paint the picture of a Buddhist monk meditating. The slight wispy curl of smoke indicates a stick of incense burning slightly off camera. The orange robe fits with the universally accepted dress of a Buddhist monk. As does the shaved head. The continuous ‘om’ that plays out in the background help to round off this idea of a meditating Buddhist monk that has been laid out. This image brings to mind then several different elements that would go along with a meditating monk. Ideas of peace and tranquillity that the Buddhist religion is famed for.
The film then moves on to reveal slowly that this is not a tranquil Buddhist monk, but a Skin head, in a barbers shop. These two groups of people are polar opposites, their only connecting feature being a shaved head. In doing this the film makes one question their own judgment. This is what appears to be the filmmaker’s intention. It is also a seemingly brief study of how powerful semiotics can be in a viewers judgment of a character. The ‘skinhead’ does not say a word but already we judge him. When he appears to be a monk we assume he is a peaceful person, full of love for the world and everything init. When he is revealed to be a skin head, signified by his dress-a Fred Perry shirt, braces, shaved head- we see him as a violent racist thug. SO this is in some ways a play on the old ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. However I believe there is a deeper meaning than simply that. I believe it is more about representation of characters within film. Sometimes characters have to be introduced quickly and the best way to do this is through representation. This again reinforces the idea that we assume things about this man from simply seeing him, the film appeared to be saying how powerful visual impressions are on a human’s judgment of character.
This is an incredibly effective film, in only a short space of time it manages to portray an incredibly strong message. More than portraying a message it make one consider their own judgements of people. What’s more it also challenges the idea of basic filmic conventions of representation being an effective method of introducing a character, as here it is clearly shown not to be. In addition to this the film is genuinely comic. Which is something that is not especially common place within the school of experimental film. I would also say that ‘om’ definitely falls under the bracket of experimental film. It, as has been shown, challenges the conventions of ‘normal filmmaking.
Taking this film in an inspirational context, it is definitely something we will draw on. The use of lighting is something we are especially interested in. The way the skinhead is the only thing in the show lit ageist a black background is something we want to use in our film.
The Most apparent feature in this film is its use f representation and in turn how it plays on our expectations due to cultural connotations. The opening shot paint the picture of a Buddhist monk meditating. The slight wispy curl of smoke indicates a stick of incense burning slightly off camera. The orange robe fits with the universally accepted dress of a Buddhist monk. As does the shaved head. The continuous ‘om’ that plays out in the background help to round off this idea of a meditating Buddhist monk that has been laid out. This image brings to mind then several different elements that would go along with a meditating monk. Ideas of peace and tranquillity that the Buddhist religion is famed for.
The film then moves on to reveal slowly that this is not a tranquil Buddhist monk, but a Skin head, in a barbers shop. These two groups of people are polar opposites, their only connecting feature being a shaved head. In doing this the film makes one question their own judgment. This is what appears to be the filmmaker’s intention. It is also a seemingly brief study of how powerful semiotics can be in a viewers judgment of a character. The ‘skinhead’ does not say a word but already we judge him. When he appears to be a monk we assume he is a peaceful person, full of love for the world and everything init. When he is revealed to be a skin head, signified by his dress-a Fred Perry shirt, braces, shaved head- we see him as a violent racist thug. SO this is in some ways a play on the old ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. However I believe there is a deeper meaning than simply that. I believe it is more about representation of characters within film. Sometimes characters have to be introduced quickly and the best way to do this is through representation. This again reinforces the idea that we assume things about this man from simply seeing him, the film appeared to be saying how powerful visual impressions are on a human’s judgment of character.
This is an incredibly effective film, in only a short space of time it manages to portray an incredibly strong message. More than portraying a message it make one consider their own judgements of people. What’s more it also challenges the idea of basic filmic conventions of representation being an effective method of introducing a character, as here it is clearly shown not to be. In addition to this the film is genuinely comic. Which is something that is not especially common place within the school of experimental film. I would also say that ‘om’ definitely falls under the bracket of experimental film. It, as has been shown, challenges the conventions of ‘normal filmmaking.
Taking this film in an inspirational context, it is definitely something we will draw on. The use of lighting is something we are especially interested in. The way the skinhead is the only thing in the show lit ageist a black background is something we want to use in our film.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Priduction meeting no.1 experimental film
Planning session no.1
So, yesterday evening, Charlotte, Stephen and I held our first planning meeting for this project. Beforehand each of us had done our own research and come up with a few different ideas. In addition to this we each brought our own ideas of what experimental film meant to us. As it is such a wide spectrum it was important to us that we made sure we were on ‘the same page’ so to speak.
We each showed a few examples that we had come across in the process if our research. This gave us all an idea of what the others had in mind when it came to experimental film. It also helped to give some context to the ideas. By doing this before we got into the real ‘nitty gritty’ of the planning process we gained a good bedrock for what we were talking about. We all knew what we were dealing with which made life a lot less difficult. One overriding thing e got from this discussion was that in our film we did want a strong idea of a structure. Some films we had seen had seemed to come under the banner of being a lot of random images placed together. In some cases this does work and work well but or us it is important to have not necessarily a narrative but some strong thematic structure.
When we had shared our examples we discussed them. Between the three of us we picked out what we did and did like about them and also began to discuss what we wanted our film to be about. Also how we are going to approach the idea of ‘experimental’. Obviously for us as with most if not all experimental filmmakers it involved working outside generally accepted filmic conventions.
As the brief stated we should base the film on either a word, an object or a poem , having read a short poem ‘how many miles to Babylon’ and always having had a fascination with sleep and the dream world it leads to I was keen to do some thing with this. When Stephen mentioned the idea of Lucid dreaming I was happy to interject my ideas at this point. From this we came up with several different idea that all revolved around the ideas of dreams and gaining control of them. For us this is an exiting route to go down, as within the grounds of experimental film there is a large scope to really explore the dream world without being tied down with such conventions of a narrative structure that makes complete sense. Dreams after all are usually lacking in this department.
So after a good few hours of a Skype call we have a strong idea to start from, we have decided to go off and individually come up with a few different ideas based on this.
So, yesterday evening, Charlotte, Stephen and I held our first planning meeting for this project. Beforehand each of us had done our own research and come up with a few different ideas. In addition to this we each brought our own ideas of what experimental film meant to us. As it is such a wide spectrum it was important to us that we made sure we were on ‘the same page’ so to speak.
We each showed a few examples that we had come across in the process if our research. This gave us all an idea of what the others had in mind when it came to experimental film. It also helped to give some context to the ideas. By doing this before we got into the real ‘nitty gritty’ of the planning process we gained a good bedrock for what we were talking about. We all knew what we were dealing with which made life a lot less difficult. One overriding thing e got from this discussion was that in our film we did want a strong idea of a structure. Some films we had seen had seemed to come under the banner of being a lot of random images placed together. In some cases this does work and work well but or us it is important to have not necessarily a narrative but some strong thematic structure.
When we had shared our examples we discussed them. Between the three of us we picked out what we did and did like about them and also began to discuss what we wanted our film to be about. Also how we are going to approach the idea of ‘experimental’. Obviously for us as with most if not all experimental filmmakers it involved working outside generally accepted filmic conventions.
As the brief stated we should base the film on either a word, an object or a poem , having read a short poem ‘how many miles to Babylon’ and always having had a fascination with sleep and the dream world it leads to I was keen to do some thing with this. When Stephen mentioned the idea of Lucid dreaming I was happy to interject my ideas at this point. From this we came up with several different idea that all revolved around the ideas of dreams and gaining control of them. For us this is an exiting route to go down, as within the grounds of experimental film there is a large scope to really explore the dream world without being tied down with such conventions of a narrative structure that makes complete sense. Dreams after all are usually lacking in this department.
So after a good few hours of a Skype call we have a strong idea to start from, we have decided to go off and individually come up with a few different ideas based on this.
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