Category Archives: Readings

When Marnie Was There

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During this week I watched Studio Ghibli’s new film: “When Marnie Was There.” Overall I enjoyed the visuals and the sentimental story, but felt as if something was missing. Reflecting on Roberts McKee’s ‘The substance of story” I was able to conclude that I personally did not find the protagonist Anna empathic. She did not strike a chord within me as I found a lot of her problems petty and childish. As an audience I found Anna to act hypocritically, treating others without maturity and then expecting it in return. I also struggled to find her friend with Marnie believable as she earlier in the film showed no interest in making friends or interacting with others. Overall when I was feeling sad by the end of the movie, it was not sparked by anything the main protagonist did.
Furthermore the supernatural elements in “When Marnie Was There” acted as a source of confusion, rather than highlighting the protagonists skills and ability to cope in a new and frightening situation. These encounters with Marnie often left Anna in the middle of no where passed out and vulnerable.

Allow I enjoyed the movie, but it missed the mark when it came to forming a connection between the audience and the characters.

McKee, Robert. (1997). ‘The substance of story.’ In Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting. New York, USA: HarperCollins, pp. 135-154.

I’m Scared.

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Machines are becoming too intuitive or intelligent.

In 2001, A Space Odyssey this fear exists, the fear of something we depend on betraying us due to it’s intelligence. Hal is unclouded by emotions and human reasoning to get the job done. So dedicated that he is able to make the decision that results in the killing off a crew member and to fake the human emotions.

“Stop Dave, I’m Afraid.”

When we watch a video game demo in class concerning androids similar words are uttered. It seems this phrase has been pinnacle for discussing if this is an act of unfeeling intelligence where they are aware that reminding us humans of morality is a chance to enact sympathy from them.


Can also be viewed  here 

“Kara” from the demo watched in class, is an android who experiences thoughts and emotions. This mimics an important theme grappled with in neo-noir film Blade Runner what does it mean to be human? Where androids are programmed  in a way were even they are convinced they are humans, how do they’re synthetic emotions differ from ours? This idea is further played out in movies like ‘Her’ that rather than relying on a sci-fi world to express this message. It is grounded in the now through the use of smart phones. It raises the question if  Hal had been presented as an android coded as sweet innocent girl in “2001” could we have witnessed a different turn of events.

It’s obvious that this idea will continue to exist in popular culture as the idea of what it means to be human is in no way close to being solved. The question we have to ask ourselves however is how this representation will be changed as years go on. Will we come to fear machines again or continue to rely on them, questioning if we can form long lasting bonds with them?


Can also be viewed here 

Storytelling

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“Everything is story, story is everything.”

This weeks reading: The Substance of Story focuses heavily on how writers/storytellers use protagonists cause an audience reaction. Although I found the reading to be extremely interesting and helpful it began to make me wonder about if you could tell a story without using a protagonist.

Audience want to recognise a shared humanity in their movie characters, as long as your paper clip character, has some eyes and a strong desire to fix his problems a bond is formed with him.  So what happens if you take away character and focus on subjects? Is the story about the tree falling in the forest a story without a person there to duck and weave a branch? Can we as creatives tell stories using subjects rather than characters?

An example that sprung to my mind was Stan Brakhage experimental film: The Dante Quartet, a short silent film which was created by painting images directly onto the film. There are no characters only text and movement of colour divided into four parts: Hell Itself, Hell Spit Flexion, Purgation and existence is song. 

For me the spilt into four different parts tell a story of a journey through hell, and the way the paint moves faster or colours are repeated show what each of these stages are like. This feels like a narrative without a protagonist however it’s easy to say that the film maker is the protagonist or that it’s simply not a narrative at all.

This question is something I might want to look into exploring through the continuation of my course.

You can watch The Dante Quartet here

Group Genius

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When reading Keith Sawyers, “Group Genius” it never occurred to me that within work and play there is a state of or feeling called the “flow.” I have certainly experienced this feeling but I never knew it was a state that could be achieved as suggested by Sawyers in his work. To achieve this flow there are four simple principles you and your environment must uphold such as; your skill must be equal to your environment or that you are free to fully concentrate on the task. However when it comes to group flow it’s suggested that there are 10 conditions that groups must follow to achieve this flow. One that practically stood out to me was the “Close Listening or Deep Listening” condition. For myself I find that listening is something I really need to work on, when working with my interviewee I often found myself to eager to ask the next question rather than listen to what she had to say, it wasn’t till I stopped myself from being so ready to talk and actually sat and listened to what she had to say I found that it was very easy to get lost in the task and what she had to say.
I feel like the ten conditions are good qualities to uphold when entering group work, however some of them seem hard to obtain through current university collaboration.
I am also curious to find out through further reading, how to deal with situations where the “creative genius” might not fit into constraints and how to work around that.

The Illustrated Auschwitz

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Last week in cinema studies I was able to experience an Australian student film called ‘The Illustrated Auschwitz.” The film itself is a documentary, how ever it differs from other holocaust documentaries as rather using facts and figures, it shows obscure images (such as short clips from the ‘Wizard of Oz’) to the story of a holocaust survivor Zsuzsi Weinstock.

At first the images, may present themselves as odd, or lead you to believe they might subtract from the seriousness of the story. However it’s the combination of Weinstocks emotional story and images that hint at whats going on that forces the viewer to imagine whats happening. Like mentioned in this weeks reading, “to kill a man between panels is to condemn him to a thousands deaths” you can’t help but imagine the worst.

For example a scene that really affected me was the use of found footage (‘Wizard of Oz’) in combination with the story being told. The film marker uses the line; “There’s no place like home” and trims it to say “There’s no place,” as Weinstock speaks about knowing that she would return the ruins. She then goes on to say about seeing the Wizard of Oz and thinking to herself, that maybe she to would be able to return home and everyone would be there waiting for her and that it was a hope she kept with her for her entire journey home. The last spoken words of the film is again from the Wizard of Oz and it’s Dorothy saying “I don’t ever want to go home”. For me this only made me think of a young girl afraid that when she finally arrives the hope she carried with her would finally die out.

Like the reading suggests the imagination is a powerful thing, and is taken advantage of by many creative mediums. Through this course I think it’s important to recognise when to add less so that the audience can experience more.

View The Illustrated Auschwitz here

 

Blood in the Gutter

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Some thoughts on the reading this week:

In an English class a teacher talks about ambiguity it’s the first time I’ve ever heard the word. He explains the ending of ‘Blade Runner’ as ambiguous, and praises it. He dismisses the ending of the Lord of The Rings, telling us, it leaves nothing up to the imagination. At first I shrugged the comment off, like maybe he really didn’t like ‘Lord of The Rings’ but after a while it started to make sense. Ambiguity when used properly is a great story telling technique. I learnt that in year ten english, however it never occurred to me until this weeks reading that comics implore a similar ambiguity between the panels.

During the week, while reading comics I’ve become painfully aware of ‘closure’ and just how much my imagination comes into play between the panels. For example when reading, one panel showed a boy climbing over a fence, while the next showed him standing on the ground. Without even realising it, I had imagined the whole fence climbing scene in my head.

Audiences’ Imaginations are important in any medium. When it comes to our second project brief, allowing the viewer to work to connect the ideas we are trying to convey about our self will help with presenting an abstract piece.