My film pitch focuses more on human behaviour rather than nature or the structural side of my observations. After consulting with Robin over my observations, he told me that he noticed my observations were mainly focused on human behaviour and people being in the moment and noticing the world around them – rather than being engrossed in their own little world. We discussed how I could make some of my observations into films, the drawback being that they are mainly short excerpts and wouldn’t make a 3-minute long film. Then Robin had the ingenious idea of using the little observations that I had and joining them all together, with the common thread being the theme of life and living that would tye them all together.
The three observations I would focus on are these:
1. A man in light blue jeans, black and white Nike sneakers and a black shirt gets on an old school tram. He’a wearing oval shaped bronze wire-rimmed glasses. He has red hair with a cast of brown in it. He has a small tattoo on his inner arm. He has a patch on his maroon coloured backpack of a white skull against a blue backdrop saying “RAV”. He is of average height. Everyone else is looking down at their phones or looking blankly into space without purpose. This man waltzes up to the standing area of the tram, rests his arms long against the window sill and gazes out, a simple smile on his face. He has black headphones in, maybe Metallica is playing, maybe Beethoven, maybe the stones. It could be any of them. Rarely do people look so simply happy, rarely can the true appreciation of simplicity be seen on a person’s face, rarely do we look up to even see the appreciation. This man, with his bronze wire-rimmed glasses, his silver band around his wrist, his bright red duffle jacket, and his simple smile is just gazing. Other people are looking too, but none of them are gazing like this man. It’s the first proper warm sunny day in a while, it’s like a breath of fresh air. It’s something simple we as humans must appreciate, but we don’t. But he did, and maybe now so can you.
2. I was at my grandparent’s house on a warm, sunny Tuesday morning. Their house almost identical to those in Peloponnese, Laconia, like a comforting pocket of Greece in Melbourne. The sun was shining through the white crocheted drapes, casting patterns on my body and the surfaces around me. The sun broke the chain of what seemed like an endless stream of cold, dreary, cloudy winter days. In the background, the sound of the greek news anchors loudly talking plays, at what I know to be volume 100 due to years of denied deafness. My grandmother slides the sliding doors to go outside, a wicker basket at her hip, letting me know she intends to pick some vegetables from what we call the gypo. My grandfather is hunched over a table, wearing a grey jumper, he avidly reads a novel I know he has read many times. I thought about how I rarely stop to take moments in, whether they be big moments or small, so I closed my eyes and made a mental note to remember this moment in time.
3. Scrolling scrolling scrolling through her phone. The girl with the black hair and bangs looks out the tram window with her blue eyes. She does not look sad or melancholy, she is just looking. She wears black jeans, an army jacket and boots. The only thing breaking the pattern of darkness is her pale skin. A smile pops up on her face as she looks at her phone again. One might wonder who she is messaging, what she saw or why she said. She passes so many people in the street and them won’t know why she is smiling and will never know. It’s her little secret, hidden from everyone else on a small rectangular piece of plastic, holding small gems for each and every one of us.
If I were to make my film I would have to hire actors in order to portray the reality of it, if I attempted to merely capture the moment and film it as I saw it I don’t think I would get the same message across. The main message being taking in the world around you, being happy and living in the moment.
I would film in my grandparents home and the other two are on a tram, which I believe I would have to get a permit to film on or to make it easier for myself possibly change the location of the other two, but keep the story and the sentiment.
I would not classify the film as a story but more of a documentary-like observation of human behaviour.
