I am eager to be apart of this class looking into how we can use a variety of ‘constraints as creative fuel’. This class draws my attention through how we can use limitations not as roadblocks but rather opportunities to develop something strong. I feel that not only can i apply this into the film-making industry but, that i could also apply this to a range of different fields i have interest in both in a professional and a personal sense. overall, i took this class with the expectation that i can learn a thing or two about film-making but also how i as a person can work around problems or possible limitations in general. Another reason i took this class was to get back into the film-making groove, i had a long period of time where i set aside my aspirations within film to focus on other aspects and priorities in my life. Im wanting to gain my love and passion for film-making back with this class and use this a means to showcase and develop my skills. I’m currently drawn to the role of the director. I have a lot of experience with editing and would confidently say thats my strong suit. But i want to be able to get the chance to show what i can do as a director and helm some projects. i have directed before but its been a while since i have done so within a proper team and with proper equipment. With this class, i want to learn and grow as a director as well as get the chance to showcase and tune what i do know and can do already. Other than that, i do have interest in cinematographer roles, i have a lot of passion for capturing film and setting up shots to portray a scene in the most effective, unique and best looking way.
Workshop Activities:
The first workshop activity i want to talk about was our shooting exercise, within our group of 3 we had a list of certain things that we had to capture. in a way we were already playing with the constraint of what we are meant to film. This meant that we had to think outside the box to try and capture a certain amount of what was required and to add to that we wanted to see how creative we could get. Observing our area allowed us to take in what we could use that would stand out to us when filming, we mostly captured generic shapes that we could find just to get a hang of filming and lining up our shots on the camera. We then got to the exercise of filming someone walking into a space, sitting down and leaving and this is where we wanted to try something a little different. We came to the realisation of instead of having a still camera, we would experiment with tracking shots that could almost evoke the tracking shots used in the tv show, ‘severance’ this allowed for us to take some creative control and see what we could come up with. We were stoked by how good the shot came up was. If we were given a little more time however, we would’ve allowed for proper coordination in where the camera was from the actor but aside from that we were really happy with how it turned out, and we were happy that we got to try something a little different.
One of our first homework exercises was to think of 5 different creative constraints that we would have personally implemented in our own previous projects. i thought that this was a fantastic exercise that made me come to the realisation of thinking how i have already implemented constraints as a creative fuel in the past. Below i have a list of some examples where this is the case. some creative self-imposed constraints i have made for myself in the past were to create a minute documentary that was under two minutes, have a one shot take film and only shoot on one location. This exercise allowed me to really think and analyse times where i have had to work through these constraints, the challenges that had occurred and the creative ways in which i could work around certain issues or limitations that had risen. Ultimately this gave me a rough idea on how theclass would run and what sortof things i can expect from this class.
(The initiative post)
https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/filmmakers-joe-denardo-and-paul-felten-on-how-limitations-can-be-inspiring
I recently discovered an article on directors/film-makers Joe Denardo and Paul Felton who directed a low budget thriller called ‘Slow Machine’ they discussed in the article above how working with smaller budgets fosters intimacy and creative problem solving. i love this article because they talk about ways in which financial constraints can inspire or move film-makers to focus on creative ways to work around a budget catering for resourcefulness and heavy collaboration. To me when i read this article i can almost relate the entire conversation to the university experience and therefore this isn’t just relative to the course but to the entire chunk of uni life. University is all about resourcefulness and collaboration, we are not given huge budget to work with, we are only given the resources to creatively pursue avenues that can result in compelling and distinctive cinematic works. The article and conversation on creative constraints also made me think back to writer and director Sam Rami, when he started on his first film ‘Evil dead’ as a university project. He was given a budget of 300,000 but that wasn’t nearly anything to work with, considering the film he managed to produce. With financial constraints, film-makers have the opportunity to think outside of the box in order to maximise the level of budget they have for the film. This was the perfect article to read because it allowed for a sense of relatability. With our future projects there will be little to no money that is put or given towards the budget of our film. we are completely relying on our creative prospect to action out our film similarly to film-makers Sam Rami, Joe Denardo and Paul Felton. In this course i can imagine its about resourcefulness, how we can use what we have around ourselves to create something special. Im looking forward to how i can use constraints to power my film-making process even further to create something special without a matter of financial constraints or other constraints that may come my way. Im excited to apply these notions forward and get down into the creative process with these possible limitations in mind.