first day of shooting!

First day of filming went really well. We were pretty lucky with the weather as it didn't rain once, though during the night shoot it did begin to snow...

We found a great pond in amongst many trees surrounded by lots of really nice smooth rocks, which is where we did the majority of filming. The water was so clear and reflected the trees brilliantly. As we had three different type of lenses (100mm, 50mm and 18-55mm) we had a lot of versatility in the type of shots we could get and Sam (camera man) managed to get some really great stuff making good use of the depth of field these lenses provide.

We also came across a few different streams, where Grace (sound lady) managed to get some really clear recordings of the water. Unfortunately we were interrupted by a herd of sheep who edged pretty close, one of which had 4 horns..

Our night shoot wasn't as successful but I am still please with the images we captured. The main difficulty we had was being able to see our little torches clear enough. After messing around with exposure time we did eventually get a clear image. We got images me (playing the remembered girl) moving between the trees, lit by the torches which worked okay...But then the difficult part came when we tried to do an animation...

It was hard to think of something we could repeatedly draw with our torches between each click of the camera. Ideally, we would have had drawing a figure or forest fairy or something but this wasn't going to happen realistically. So we ended up, all of us, trying to do a bird, one that moved towards to the camera. And, actually, it worked! So very chuffed about that. This is perhaps the only thing we will use from this shoot but still, it was fun and I got to be wrapped up in fairy lights, so I can't really can't complain.

Origami

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine is a key inspiration with our experimental film. The ideas behind the film - written by Charlie Kaufman, Pierre Bismuth and Gondry himself - in which the protagonist, Joel, decides that he wishes to remember the women he loves, while he is currently having all memories of her erased, like to our narrative of loss and memory and dreams. The film demonstrates this is a great way, muddling up memories in order to keep Clementine hidden from those trying to erase her. I love how film makers play around with focus and lighting as a way of illustrating the gradual loss of information from Joel's memory.

What I also think is great about the film is its structure; on first viewing, it is particularly confusing until the reveal at the end. I love that it starts at the end of the narrative. I think this enables the audience to connect with Joel in a way they may not have been able to do otherwise; we see him at the start of the film, feeling sorry for himself on Valentine's day, lonely and miserable, until he meets Clementine who quite literally brings colour to his life. The fact that we then move straight to the end of their relationship means that we as an audience still have the same feelings for Joel that we had at the start of the film. We are not allowed to  witness the ups and downs of the relationship and take sides. By then following him through his mind and memories we are closer to him than ever and are completely in the film and believe in it. It makes us, like Joel, wish for the memories of Clementine to remain.

In addition, I really like the use of sound in this film. I like that while Joel is going through and reliving some of him memories, echoey voices from the real world of those erasing him memories, filters through in a dream like way. I also like the distortion of some of the voices when certain memories are being erased. This is all mixed with simple piano chords and electronic tracks. This is something similar to what I think we will try an create for our film.

Checklist for Peaks

origami - cranes and butterflies x 2
string
torches
coloured sweet wrappers to cover torches
DSLRs + lens x 2
tripods x 2
Marantz 660 + shotgun mic
memory cards
charged camera batteries
money
food + drink
v. warm and waterproof clothing
walking shoes/boots

Light Art

for the animation section in our film, we aim to do something like this, in the peaks at night. ideally we will make it into a stop motion with a moving image. the music to this is also really key..

Ballet Mécanique

I really love how this film has a real artistic feel to it. The cubist images that appear throughout reflect the fact that it was co-created byefsf. What is particularly interesting to me though is the films structure. I really like how different elements appear through out and are repeated a varying times. This makes what at first is an incredibly abstract piece a bit more rounded, it gives it more meaning and context. This reinforcement is something that I think could be brought to my own work. 

Another thing I like about this film is that is simply looks like the film makers had a lot fun and this makes it a much more enjoyable experience. 

OM

I thought this was actually just going to be three and half minutes of guy says 'om'. But what it turns into I think is actually brilliant. Something so simple, this cleverly uses our idea of stereotypes to slap you in the face with its conclusion at the end.