Box – TWO Script Reflection
As I naturally overthink every filmic aspect, writing a script that “must be uninteresting” put me in a weird headspace. It was hard to truly embrace that demand; I struggle with letting my biases go and thinking with the expectation of creating something with little or no aesthetic purpose. I thought of the everyday – what is recognisable? Surroundings, questions, interactions. I reflected on my reluctance to talk to strangers, and how I could overcome that fear. From there, I found myself in an imaginary world where I asked a stranger for a cigarette, and let the brief interaction play out in my head. The words then came out on the script with ease, and it was a very honest moment. I tried (and failed) to think about how I would shoot this.
We were thrown into groups, and I was tasked with directing Zayne’s script. I felt ambivalent about shooting someone else’s material. On one hand, I wanted to experiment with my work, and on the other hand, I felt it was a good opportunity to detach myself from what I know. After getting over my ego I thought about how I would shoot the script. The content was strange, but I thought about Truffaut’s “There are no good and bad movies, only good and bad directors” quote, which I wholeheartedly agree with. In the hands of a talented director, anything can be interesting.
I gave the actors a lot of freedom, and we rehearsed how the scene would play out with me giving minor feedback on blocking and timing. I instructed Adrian (the DOP) about the two shots I wanted. The first, a slow zoom out on a tripod, the second, a handheld close-up/mid-shot. Paul didn’t want camera movement, but I felt it changed (for the better) the dynamic of the first shot. I love slow zooms (in & out), and the first shot (to me) is something I’m very happy with. Sure, we caught the boom mic in the shot, it was all very amateur, but it didn’t bother me that much; next time I’ll be sure to not make that mistake again. I was too focussed on the acting and trusted Adrian’s ability. The second shot was perfected in one take, and the cut between the two is, in my opinion, wonderful. It was a smooth shoot; everyone was focussed and it turned out very nice.
I don’t think this was the exercise; trying to make something mundane interesting – but that is how I certainly approached it.
I don’t like shooting at Uni. This is not all a criticism of the Media program, where the hell else are we going to shoot? However, the constant, almost mindless construction is beyond infuriating. So loud, so very very loud. And distracting! We lucked out on our location (the purple and the light made it more lush), but no matter where we went, we were still interrupted by the sounds of the tradesmen. Again, this is not anyone’s fault, but it is incredibly frustrating to work in that environment.
Box – Lenny Shoot 1 Reflection
Kerry, Adrian and I were put together in a group, and after looking through the script, it was clear we all had vastly different approaches to how we would shoot the first half of the page.
I wanted to open with an establishing shot, but not a static one. My two ideas were as follows: one, the camera starts with a low angle shot of the sky and building, and tilts down to a wide shot of Lenny stumbling towards the camera. Two, a birds eye shot (from a few levels above) of Lenny turning a corner and stumbling.
We compromised on a version of my first idea. The change was that when the camera had tilted to Lenny (who we agreed would be played by Adrian), he would be walking away with his back turned, rather than towards the camera. At first I didn’t have a problem with this, my point being that I didn’t want to reveal too much information straight away. If you see someone stumbling away, their back turned on the camera, you as the audience want to find out who they are, why they are doing this, etc. It adds a level of intrigue. But on reflection we probably should have (at least) done a version of him stumbling towards the camera, just to compare the power of each image.
We did the shot twice. The second was clearly better, and is the one I have chosen to write about. The shot is okay; the problem is that the tilt is too slow. It is laborious. However, I think the shot is nicely synchronised and has a nice palette (just by chance Adrian was wearing colours that suited the landscape).
We toyed with shooting other shots. Some believe it doesn’t hurt to, but for me personally, I think it does because I find too many options to be overwhelming. To each their own though. We shot a close-up of Lenny’s feet stumbling. I’m personally against close-ups like this, and I find a lot of Uni students like to use it. Again, this is just my personal aesthetic, but I think it’s not particularly interesting, effective as a wide-shot (for stumbling), and it feels like it’s there just because it has to be, if that makes sense. In other words, we as amateur filmmakers think it’s the right thing to do, for no real reason other than we’ve seen it before.
Box – Films I’ve Watched This Week
Blow Out (1981) – dir. Brian De Palma
Watching Blow Out is watching a master performing at the peak of his powers. De Palma’s films from the early-to-mid 80’s (Dressed To Kill, Scarface, Body Double) are my favourite because I think this is when he has a true understanding of his aesthetic. The violence is thrilling but just watching each scene unfold is purely intoxicating. The filmmaking is flawless on every level.
Baby Driver (2017) – dir. Edgar Wright
I love the ambition. Wright may struggle to move an audience with his words, but his penchant for the spectacle is something to behold. Baby Driver’s action sequences are some of the most exciting moments of cinema I’ve seen for years. But besides that, there was nothing I really responded to. I found Elgort to be too smug for my liking, and Jamie Foxx literally plays Motherfucker Jones from Horrible Bosses. The script is weak, too many of the jokes fall flat, and the whole rhythmic ideas that Wright tries to impress us with come off as nothing more than a gimmick. Still an enjoyable watch.
Blaise Pascal (1972) – dir. Roberto Rossellini
Random borrow from the library, wholly worth it. Stunning. Easily some of the most incredible blocking and framing I have ever seen. The camera moves with such grace; each angle so very precise but played out with such coolness. Each sequence unfolds with some kind of ambient loop in the background that is haunting, subtle and mesmerising. And it was made for television!
Soldier (1998) – dir. Paul W.S. Anderson
Some pretty inventive camera movement, exciting moments of pure cinema, but ultimately a pretty disposable movie. There’s some interesting editing ideas but all its worst aspects are a distraction. Not as bombastic as the Resident Evil franchise, namely the 6th. Next!
Box – Films I’ve Watched This Week
Dunkirk (2017) – dir. Christopher Nolan
There are some truly spectacular moments (the opening sequence for one), but I couldn’t help but find Dunkirk to be largely dull.
I felt Nolan wasn’t able to find the right balance in the way he structured the film. The air sequences didn’t have the same level of urgency as those at land or sea.
Harry Styles can act, but the motivation to cast him felt disingenuous and proved to be more of a distraction than anything else.
The ending was far too Hollywood for my liking (the newspaper article – really?), though I’ll give Nolan the benefit of the doubt as he was probably bound by studio constraints.
– Letterboxd Review
Some additional thoughts:
- More ambition! 70mm, yet there are too many close-ups in the boat and jet.
- Despite its length, it felt long and didn’t have the ‘punch’ I was expecting, and that I’m sure Nolan intended.
A Quiet Passion (2017) – dir. Terence Davies
After watching the lush Sunset Song at MIFF last year, and having the privilege of hearing Davies talk in person, this was something that I’ve been eagerly anticipating. Some of the sequences are magnificent, Davies is still an innovative filmmaker and his formal ideas are executed with grace and precision. It’s hard to not to think about Love & Friendship (which was painful to watch), but this is how you get that right, Whit Stillman. Davies has so much to say about the introspective nature of the artistic process and found Dickinson as his muse. Cynthia Nixon is perfect. Ranks second in my favourites of this year behind Personal Shopper.
Box
Last semester I focussed on observation and approached it in a filmic sense from a D.I.Y perspective. The formula was simple; I shot “what grabbed my attention” on an iPhone. It was about using cinema as a way to capture spontaneity. It was a solo effort and I learned plenty of valuable lessons over the course of the semester. I am satisfied with what I achieved, but I’ve moved on.
I wanted to continue with Paul this semester because I want to refine my filmmaking skills. More than anything, I want to settle on a filmmaking process, an approach, a formula, that I can reliably execute each time I produce work. Paul has certain filmmaking principles to adhere to, and I felt I didn’t take up enough of them last semester. It wasn’t out of neglect, rather it was more that I used the semester to develop the skills by myself, through self-experimentation.
I don’t know how to use an EX3 properly, nor how to best record sound. I want to develop these skills so I can focus more on executing my own formal ideas at a more frequent level.
Basically I want to find out what works, but also what is effective and economical. I feel when you have an understanding of what works, then, and only then, you can develop its possibilities. I want to be innovative and try something that I haven’t done before. What exactly is that? I don’t know – it will be much clearer as the semester goes on.
Is this too much to ask? Am I being unrealistic? Perhaps, but I’m aware, as Paul says, that filmmaking is an endless learning process. But I want to nail down a core, a fundamental idea of technique and a skillset that makes use of it.
Box – Task 1A Reflection
I overthink about everything that I write, shoot, and produce. Sometimes it can be a good thing; clarity is gained and I have a rich understanding of how I want approach something. But lately it has become a problem; my productivity has lowered because I’m too trapped in my own mind wrestling the process, the ideas, the purpose of it all. Therefore it was refreshing to start the semester with a project where Paul encouraged us to not overthink, but simply do.
30 (or so) seconds, an action. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about action, movement, kinetics. When we were assigned this task, I thought back to a quote from Brian De Palma that has always stuck with me:
“Motion pictures are a kinetic art form; you’re dealing with motion and sometimes that can be violent motion. There are very few art forms that let you deal with thing in motion and that’s why Westerns and chases and shoot-outs crop up in film. They require one of the elements intrinsic to film; motion.”
I was home in my room, studied where everything was placed, got out my phone, placed it on a shelf, and hit record.
Every so often I look through my DVD’s and arrange them into categories. Films I want to watch, films I want to watch with my girlfriend, films made by favourite directors, and so on. A lot of time (too much) is spent studying how I’ve ordered them.
I stood there for a bit, looking at the DVD’s. What stands out? What do I want to watch? After 20 or so seconds I took one DVD (48 Hours, Walter Hill) and placed it into my watchlist. I briefly question the decision, but it’s final. Shot over.
I could have done the whole point-of-view, close-up of the DVD’s, close-up of my hands taking a DVD, cut back to my face reacting, etc. But that bores me. I just did what felt right and tried not to think about it.
It wasn’t until we watched our sequences in class that I realised I was happy with what I did. My shot was somewhere in the middle of Paul’s compilation, and the build-up was terrifying. I hate watching my work. But when I watched it, the ego went away. I realised I have developed an aesthetic. It was totally natural, I didn’t have to think about it. I’m at a stage now where I can shoot something on instinct. That’s not to say that it will work every time, but that I can trust myself, and that my first instinct is often my best. I found the one long mid-wide-ish shot worked on a lot of levels, mainly tone and tension. It lacked pretension because it wasn’t trying to be anything.
True To Form – Project Summary
Research Question: Observations of the natural world.
From the very beginning of the semester, I had a very clear idea of what I was interested in investigating, and a very vague idea of how I would ultimately approach it.
I’m very fortunate to have Darebin Parklands within close proximity to me. Its remoteness, diverse features and peaceful nature are all qualities I welcome. It is a place where I can (temporarily) escape from my work life and gain clarity on ideas that need considered thought. It was here that I shot my early experiments; ducks gliding on water, trees gently moving from the wind, the rhythmic motions of a creek; anything that grabbed my attention. There was a time when I was intent on shooting a narrative-based film for no other reason than to have something to show. My early experiments weren’t anything great but provided me with fulfilment and purpose.
Over the course of the first half of the semester, I continued shooting my experiments in natural settings. At the same time, I was making a lot of ambient music that came from the same place of desire and impulse. I would often Voice Record the places I would visit and use the sample in the tracks I was creating. I would use the music in the films I was making as I felt they accompanied it well thematically and stylistically. This overall approach was something I kept coming back to and ultimately informed my thinking as to how I would approach the rest of the semester.
My original plan was to shoot footage in different natural settings; waterfalls, forests, parklands, etc. and create a montage/collage of each place. I would also use my music over each collage. The purpose of the project was to explore my relationship with nature. I did some experiments but something didn’t feel right. It wasn’t until I read Paul’s abstract from The River Project: A poetics of Eco-Critical Film-Making that I came to the realisation that the approach of my project: shooting, editing, using music; manipulation was actually imposing on a natural setting that I ultimately wanted to present in its most primitive form. It was this passage that was responsible for changing my approach:
As we try to make meaning of the connections of our lives and world through film, Rust and Monani (2013) note that, ‘cinema is a form of negotiation, a mediation that is itself ecologically placed as it consumes the entangled world around it, and in turn, is itself consumed.’ This influence is evident in complex, poetic ways, and appears to revolve around the manner in which the films listen to the landscape, rather than seeking to impose themselves upon it – exhibiting a certain kind of humility.
– Passage from The River Project: A poetics of Eco-Critical Film-Making, Paul Ritchard, LAND DIALOGUES: Interdisciplinary research in dialogue with land, FUSION JOURNAL ISSUE 10
How could I use cinema to frame to natural world, without imposing upon it but still work in a way that was honest and personal? I decided that I would shoot the natural world in roughly 30 second shots, collate them and present them as brief episodic observations. No editing or correcting, just the shots taken as they were.
What I would shoot was dependant on one rule: if it captures my attention, it is, at the very least, worth documenting. I decided my way of further personalising this idea, and the broader project, was by shooting on an iPhone 7. Shooting on an iPhone places the observations within a D.I.Y context; our phones are always with us and they are now the most common accessory used to document everyday life. Instead of borrowing an EX3, planning where I was to shoot, where from, what focal length to use, etc, simply taking out my iPhone to shoot something gives the work an element of spontaneity and removes any contrivances that could possibly distract from the project’s purpose.
Camera movement was dependant on the setting. For most of my shots, the camera was static to allow the viewer to fully absorb the content in the frame. I wanted to eliminate any distractions that camera movement usually creates. There were, however, a few shots that used camera movement, though it was in the project’s spirit of acting upon instinct.
I shot about 40 or so observations on my iPhone 7. These included Parklands, clouds, rivers, trees, ducks, creeks, trains, waterfalls, mountains, fire, and the bush. After a while, I felt that I had done my idea of ‘if it captures my attention, it’s worth documenting’ justice. I could keep going with my current approach, though to me the work would become diluted. I wanted to try something new.
Throughout the semester, I toyed with the idea of changing my aesthetic. I respond to lo-fi media, especially the VHS aesthetic; I find it more personal and interesting than getting a clean, crisp shot from an expensive camera (not suggesting that’s bad, nor that it can’t excite me, rather my preference). I also thought about shooting on a Go Pro, but it felt too gimicky and contrived. Instead of focussing on what I would shoot and build around that, I decided that I would shoot on a Camcorder and think deeply about what I could record. I was also still making music and collecting field recordings, and thought about how I could involve this in my work. After much deliberation, I adjusted my approach to work around a planned idea. I would shoot multiple shots of a setting on a Camcorder, impose my vision through camera movement and editing, and use my music to accompany the vision.
I spent a few days at my friend’s shack in Colac. I walked around the bush and filmed it, though it was too similar to my old approach of working on impulse and not planning what to shoot. I knew The Otways had a plethora of waterfalls to choose from, and I decided that would be the subject of my shoot. I went to Hopetoun Falls (Beech Forest) and shot with my editing ideas dictating what choices I made with the camera. Despite the forced nature of the idea, I enjoyed working from this approach as it made me think deeper about assembling footage. I created a song that sampled the sound of the waterfall, and I feel it fits in with the aesthetic I was working with.
I had many voice recordings of all the places I shot. I wanted to use them for something, and felt it was appropriate to incorporate them into my project as they reflected the core theme of observation. I decided to create an audio album of 30 second cuts, each of a natural setting I shot footage at.
The idea of collaboration never entered my mind. This was a deeply personal project; it was about investigating and understanding why I’m drawn to nature. The shots, the music and the ideas were all developed by my own aesthetic choices. I am very pleased that I was able to create a body of work that felt like a true representation of myself, and more importantly, one that provided me with great fulfilment and meaning.
True To Form – Update
The last few weeks I have been trying to figure out my aesthetic and its purpose. I have continued with my usual habit of shooting anything that captures my attention, but I never really thought about how I could assemble the footage it in a cohesive way.
I spent too much time trying to find meaning in the shots, which was time wasted. The project is about being drawn to nature, and the images are observations that deal with that idea. That’s it. It is the form in which I create that is the primary focus.
In the last few weeks I have watched plenty of experimental films from Jean-Luc Godard, James Benning, and Ben Russell. I treated them as ways of influencing my thinking, rather than inspiring it. This was a problem. I got so bogged-down on trying to replicate their aesthetic rather than let it wash over me. It is only in the last few days that I have come up with something the feels more personal.
True To Form – Pitch
Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time shooting nature-related content and making ambient music. My recent experiments have consisted of filming parklands, clouds, and different sources of light, while accompanying these images with mostly ambient music that I have created.
I keep coming back to this approach and am therefore leaning towards creating an audio/visual project that explores my relationship with nature. Audio and Visual because to me they are both of equal importance; I don’t want the audio playing a supporting role to the visual, and vice-versa.
Visually, I would shoot and edit footage of a particular place; forests, parklands, and waterfalls are all under consideration, while the audio would be the ambient/new age music that I have been creating. The result is something I am calling a collage; and at the moment I’m leaning towards creating 3/4 4 minute collages. I feel this is achievable, however, this could easily change if I find the idea itself becomes redundant.
I’m interested in lo-fi media, and would like this to be the aesthetic of the project. For the visual side, I would like to shoot with something that achieves a vintage look. For my experiments I have been using my iPhone, but I have come to the realisation that the picture is too clean for what I want. I am likely going to use a camcorder. For the audio side, I would manipulate the overall sound to try and replicate the quality of a cassette, which is something I naturally do whenever I make music. I am choosing this form as to me, nature-related footage and ambient/new age music go hand in hand.
I’m thinking of this project as my way of investigating why I am drawn to nature. I think about film in terms of possibilities, and want to explore the potential of cinema. I’m still wrestling with how to do this project in a way that could be more formally interesting, without being contrived or a distraction.
The main inspiration for this has been my own experiments with audio and shooting. I tend to visit parks whenever I am within close proximity, and always voice record on my iPhone to capture any sounds that I could end up sampling; the wind, birds chirping, a gentle stream. I also like to shoot natural-related footage, my rule is that if it captures my attention, it is worth documenting, and I will follow this approach for this project.
Other influences have been The Art Of Landscape, a VHS series from Readers Digest during the late 80’s to early 90’s that follows a similar approach I’m taking, though their content isn’t necessarily limited to nature and often uses classical music to accompany the imagery. Sounds Of Nature – a new age cassette series from the early 90’s has also influenced the way I think about mood in this context.
During the experiment stage, I came to realise that I am very drawn to nature; its imagery, sounds, mood and atmosphere. I’m hoping this project will be an honest account of my relationship with it.