Cinema in Memoriam

By Eloise Durrant

Cinema in Memoriam is my short film documentary where I aim to begin documenting people’s memories of the cinema and film-going. The documentary sees my three family members being asked what some of their cinema memories are, those memories then edited together, some with montages of the movies they talked about. It reflects the Phantom Cinema studio prompt by highlighting the idea of Cinema’s potential death, as a gateway to exploring and documenting the changing practices and memories of film-going. I thought these two ideas worked well together to create a broad reflection of what I took away and learnt from this studio. 

I really wanted to make this film as a way to remember not only my families memories of cinema but in hopes that others endeavour to do the same as I believe the memories that cinema gives is one thing that makes cinema so important historically and culturally. Furthermore, I learnt this early on when listening to my classmates memories and some of their families memories of cinema, as it reflected how cinema is a unique experience to remember, from the food, to the people, and even sometimes how bad it was, rather than what movies people watch. This is what I aimed to show in this film.

After a turn of events, I ended up with only a week to produce this project and with everything I was going through I am so proud of the final outcome. I used my initial planning and ideas shared early on and key ideas from the studio to create an effective yet simplistic documentary that reflects what interested me most about this studio. 

A key lesson I learnt from this whole process is to not stay quiet when things feel like they are going wrong, something I have known but never really put into action until now. Overall, I am so proud of myself, the work I produced and lessons I learnt that allowed me to make this film!

 

Thank you to my Mum, Dad, and Sister for supporting me and letting me interview them!

 

‘The Framework’ is a short film by Nathan Bradshaw, Yibo Li and Amy De Rango. The film responds to the studio prompt by reflecting on our learning about unfinished films. We endeavoured to answer the question, ‘what causes a film to go unfinished?’. The film follows The Protagonist, a student who finds out about an unfinished film and follows its director’s journey through the filmmaking process. The film serves both as a cautionary tale and a celebration of filmmaking.

The film incorporates many elements that we learned about in class and through our own research that can cause a film to never be completed. We learned about and drew inspiration from films such as Jodorowsky’s Dune, von Sternberg’s I, Claudius and Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind. Some things that we found were common reasons for films being unfinished included budget restraints, fighting between actors and crew members, and auteur directors biting off more than they can chew.

Our filmmaking journey mirrored the journey of our character The Director as we learned about the difficulties of making a film (especially in such a short time). For example, we had to re-film some scenes as we had chosen locations that were not ideal, we were nearly unable to find actors, and we had to change the content of some scenes while filming. However, unlike The Director, we were able to successfully complete our project. We also learned to have fun and enjoy the process like The Director did.

The main thing we learned during the filmmaking process is the same as the Protagonist’s main point of learning over the course of the film: the importance of planning. We scheduled all of our filming, editing and planning ahead of time, allowing us to complete our film with time to spare. We also planned out our film in pre-production very clearly. This meant that we could adjust our plans as we learned how to film more effectively, and as we clarified our ideas. It also meant that we were able to complete our film successfully by the due date.

Beyond My iPhone Screen is a satirical take on the modern-day podcast. It includes two hosts, Abdulaziz and Bui My. The former is somewhat loud-mouthed and obnoxious, while the latter is shown as much more reserved and considerate. In this podcast episode, Bui My and Abdulaziz tackle the issue of “cinema” and its role in the present day. Raising questions such as “Do you think cinemas play a pivotal role?”  “Why do you think cinema may be fading away?” “What changes would make you want to visit more often?” as well as more questions to both our esteemed guests.

Featured in the podcast are Hamad Mahmoud and Fatih Oguzhan, both guests with juxtaposing views on the topic of cinema. Oguzhan is a self-proclaimed cinephile, often finding himself at Cinema Nova weekly, where he indulges in the freshly salted popcorn while enjoying a wide array of diverse films. Meanwhile, Hamad is dismissive of movie theaters, claiming them to be a relic of a bygone era; he instead prefers to watch films at home, citing that his laptop screen is a good enough substitute for cinemas. Both Oguzhan and Mahmoud are considered to be the beating heart of this podcast episode, since their presence in front of the camera adds some engaging insight, thus helping the audience stay hooked.

Coming out of the podcast, both hosts learned that there is no single definitive answer to the question of “is cinema dying?” Both guests presented extremely insightful views on the subject matter hand. As well as modern-day examples of a dynamic box office are seen with last year’s “Barbenheimer” trend, as well as Deadpool & Wolverine breaking the record as the highest-grossing film with an R rating (as based on The Motion Picture Association of America US-based rating). Sticking to a more lighthearted tone, we ensured that there would be some comedic imagery scattered throughout the media piece as well as ad-libbing the majority of our lines.

 

Written by Bui Muy

Edited by Bui Muy & Abdulaziz Alessa

Starring Bui Muy & Abdulaziz Alessa

Guests: Hamad Mahmoud and Fatih Oguzhan

Link to podcast: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19QbJvkXz_9dHDMNNwlcfywUHlN6bW1Us/view?usp=drive_link

 

 

 

 

Our piece is a creation of works, constructed for an unmade film of Alfred Hitchcock.

Mary Rose is a play by J.M. Barrie which was staged at the Haymarket Theatre in London on Monday 19th April 1920. It is believed that Hitchcock had seen this play, and around the 1960’s had many talks about adapting it into a film. However, he was continuously denied due to his contract with Universal Studios.

This play of Mary Rose is about a young girl who vanishes twice, never showing any effects of having been gone, or even knowing herself. The first time, at 11 years old, Mary Rose disappears into the Scottish islands for a couple of weeks. The second time she vanishes, it is for a over a decade.

We decided on Mary Rose as Hitchcock is a director with such a distinct style and wanted to replicate it. There wasn’t much to work with as he never got far into the production process, however, it gave us creative freedom which we preferred. 

We created a movie trailer for Alfred Hitchcock’s unmade film (Mary Rose), accompanied by film stills, and posters. 

The trailer we made, is meant to replicate Hitchcock’s style, in various ways. Firstly in style, we decided to make it visually black and white, a characteristic of many Hitchcock’s works. Alfred Hitchcock also does this unique concept where he essentially walks through the set of his film, an example of this is the Psycho trailer, which we incorporated in a short version to introduce and conclude our trailer. This was to add a comedic effect, as the trailer itself is not meant to be taken too seriously. However, for the trailer itself, we wanted it to be quite ominous and mysterious, leaving the audience with many questions and wanting to see the film in full to properly understand.

As for our posters we created two with distinct styles. One mimicking a similar style to Hitchcock’s and another a style of our own.

 

Creators:

Annabel Billing

Charlotte Wong

 

Mary Rose – Trailer

CINEMA, AUDIENCE & REALITY EXHIBIT

I hope that our final work will allow our audience to gain insight on what this studio represents. What I’ve gathered about Phantom Studio is how important it is to preserve cinema, and I don’t mean the films itself, I mean the place and environment in which we view these films. Through our exhibition, we hope that this message is clear. After our experience at the studio exhibition, I was happy to see that our work did get a lot of attraction. I think that is because they felt moved by watching Karl, Liam and Matt’s video. I think it was excellent and better than I anticipated. I noticed that a lot of the older audience were much more engaged with our work and I have a feeling it’s because they can relate more since they have more experience compared to the younger people that were at the studio exhibit. When I was explaining our work, I was looking at the audience and I noticed that most people that stuck around longer once I finished my speech were definitely all the older folks. All in all, we hope that they can see and understand what we were trying to portray. It is a very relatable subject and personal to those who love cinema and have been influenced by it their whole lives.

 

What I could improve on our final work is the props. I think I did a very choppy job, especially in the adulthood set. That was because my Temu order failed to come on time and so, on the very last night before the exhibition I had to make everything from scratch, using hot glue, cardboard and paint. It doesn’t look like how I intended it to, disappointingly. What I would do differently is order things ahead of time. Even though my package got delayed and that is something I cannot control, it’s best to be more organised and ahead of everything, in case such delays occur.

 

In this studio, I learnt how important it is to keep track of all your documents when working on a big project. These documents include reflections, rough plans, time schedule, research, and anything that really showcases how much detail went into planning a project. I used to think how displeasing it was to write reflections and keep note of every tab after doing research because of how messy everything looks. But in the end, after gathering every piece of document and putting it all in a portfolio on Canva, I’m honestly proud of how it turned out. Now, I have something to look back on and do better for future projects like this. Phantom Cinema also taught me how important cinema is, the place and environment you view films. Before coming into this studio, the last time I went to the cinemas was maybe five years ago and since this semester, I have gone almost every week! Honestly, I have forgotten how enjoyable the experience is and I really love it. This studio has made me appreciate something I always overlooked, even as a movie lover.

 

I always say this but communication is key when working collaboratively. I was fortunate enough to be paired with Nani in this exhibition and although we were faced with a few setbacks and challenges, we were always messaging each other and making sure that we’re both kept in the loop. In the end, despite those challenges, we achieved what we intended and for that, I am grateful.

 

I found a few articles online that supports our final work and the content in my reflection writings.

Enrique Dans ‘Imagine a World Without Movie Theatres’ (2020). Forbes. Imagine A World Without Movie Theaters…

This first article ‘Imagine a World without Movie Theatres’ I found online which was written during the COVID pandemic. It raises the question “is this the end of movie theatre?” (Dans, 2020). And it argues that streaming services could be harmful to cinemas and although content is more viewed than ever before, “we won’t be going to the movies” to watch them. This theory that cinema is dead or dying is showcased in the form of an old, abandoned movie theatre as a miniature set in our exhibition. That’s the message we hope wanted to convey in our work.

Tomas U. Santos ‘On Films and Adulthood’ (2009). Varsitarian. On films and adulthood | The Varsitarian

The next article I found goes on to talk about why adults watch movies for entertainment. It is an interesting article and I included it in my folio because it perfectly captures our work and our intention with the adulthood section. It mentions how people, as they grow older, tend to rely on movies as a way to wash “away problems through entertainment” (Santos, 2009). The reading is very relatable and serves also as the author’s self-reflection.

Miah Soto ‘The Effects of Comin-Of-Age Movies on Teens’ (2020). Untold Uptown. The Effects of Coming-Of-Age Movies on Teens – Untold Uptown

The final reference I found to support all my work is about coming-of-age films and the effects it has on youths. It mainly focuses on the youths of New York but it delivers our message well in the sense that young people are the most susceptible in being influenced by cinema. Of course, there are many other aspects in everyone’s lives that will shape them but nonetheless, movies play an essential role in it and the author of this article explains his experience with film.

 

I think the singular most successful aspect about our finished work is the visual look of our miniature sets. I worked really hard on making the birth set and adulthood one and I believe that both our work combined turned out great. The most problematic aspect, however, is transportation of these miniature sets. Although it is much more convenient than our original idea which was to have life sized version of these sets, it was still a bit of a hassle to bring them in to the city via train. My adulthood set didn’t have everything glued on because some items belonged to Nani and therefore, I had to return them once the exhibition was over. Because of that, everything kept falling over but it was not too bad since I had the help of a friend with me for the travel.

By Harrison Ervin and Sihan Li.

2024 marks the 100-year anniversary of The Capitol. The first great picture palace of Melbourne (and one of the very few still standing), the work put forth by the cinema’s dedicated fans and RMIT University makes it a blessing that we can still use it a full century later. This video is an exploration of the early years of the cinema’s history – and more importantly – a critique of how the art of filmgoing has changed over the past century, if not from the beginning of cinema history until today.

There are many clear ways that people interact with films, in a way that wasn’t remotely possible a century ago. Film criticism existed, but the current form of easily accessible views and discourse from a range of sources has only been something present from the introduction of the internet. Likewise, the introduction of television, DVDs, and streaming have all made films far more accessible than they once were. In this ever-changing landscape, it’s important for us to reflect on what has been. Something which The Capitol is a perfect memorial of.

Despite its modernisation and renovations over the years, some of its most memorable traits remain largely untouched. Most notably is the ceiling of the cinema itself, which has only been updated to make the lights more versatile and beautiful than ever, with the original architecture left broadly untouched. Another example can be seen in its memorable carpet, which mimics the same design that was seen in the cinema’s early days.

Ultimately, The Capitol is a sign of many things. But most importantly is how it has served as a symbol of cinemagoing for an entire century now, and its continued existence is representative of this. That is what this video attempts to capture, highlighting its glamorous nature for the viewer while making them reflect on their own relationship to the cinema and the art of film.

 

 

The Cinema, The Audience and Reality is an exploration into the ways in which people grow up through cinema. A found footage short film that utilises clips from a range of iconic and influential films, that seeks to explore how the cinema affects and changes a person as they grow older, and how in turn, a person’s lived experience affects the emotional responses they have with a film.We utilise this found footage style therefore to explore how these films may elicit a different emotional response when presented in a different context. As we put together these film clips, we learned that when watched separately from the full film, or in conjunction with these other film clips, they incited a different response, both mentally and emotionally. As such we became interested in how our short film would alter or change the emotional responses to some scenes. Through these differing contexts, Up can be a film about the persistence of childlike wonder in old age, or about a child’s first introduction to the reality of death. We want to see if the context of the cinema alters the message of film. Which brings us to the context of how these clips are displayed. Presenting these film clips in a linear story that represents an entire lifespan from birth to death, the progression of the story proposed by these clips intends to touch upon what is considered to be defining traits or themes of that stage in a person’s life. We use films from Studio Ghibli and Pixar to touch upon the joy and wonder of childhood, and the very first experiences and introductions to the world. We gain our firstsense of independence and self identity with The Breakfast Club and Lady Bird, as we embark on a journey of self discovery in our adolescence. We come to terms with responsibility in our adulthood with Marriage Story, but find that it is never too late to enjoy life with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. And we look back at the lifespan of film, and find peace with what may be the death of cinema, having a trip down memory lane to remind us that even if the cinema itself dies, it forever lives on in the impact that it has on our lives.

Created by

• Karl Suarez
• Liam Johnston
• Matt Lewis

 

 

The name of our group project is: Echoes of Time: Forgotten Cinemas in a Rapidly Changing World, and is designed to delve into the history of cinema in Melbourne’s Capitol Cinemas. The capital, Melbourne, used to be the place where Chinese films were screened, and it is a past memory for many Chinese audiences in Melbourne. By collecting archival materials, interviewing relevant managers, and filming our own process of searching for materials, we hope to show how it became part of Chinese film culture in the 1990s and take the audience on a journey through this little-known chapter in the capital’s history.

The beginning of the video briefly introduces the main direction and content of our group’s project. Melbourne and Hong Kong once stood at the pinnacle of the world’s economy and culture, one was the financial capital of the southern hemisphere, and the other was the pearl of the global film industry. Once trendsetters, they represent the pinnacle of wealth and creativity. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the film industry was the most popular entertainment item, and even in certain cases, it contributed to the prosperity of the financial markets. Xinyu Zhan is responsible for introducing the history of capital and reviewing the relationship and connection between capital and Chinese cinema. Shenqian Rao was in charge of the part where the person in charge of the AFI research collection asked about the capitol past and asked her what her thoughts and suggestions were on the subject. Tie Yang is responsible for finding historical materials related to capital in the Melbourne state library, such as newspapers, magazines, and other paper materials. Ziwei Lin is responsible for visiting the Chinese museum and looking for content and connections related to Chinese films in 1990. At the end, after the search and research of the group members, we found that the history of capital has a long history, but with the passage of time, some content has been unable to be searched and verified, and has disappeared into the long river of history, and we hope that history can be recorded through various documentaries, films or document archives to make people remember forever.

Group numbers

Shenqian Rao, Tie Yang, Xinyu Zhan, Ziwei Lin

 

Tears of Time