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.
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
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.
A Nocturnal Reverie
In such a night, when every louder wind
Is to its distant cavern safe confined;
And only gentle Zephyr fans his wings,
And lonely Philomel, still waking, sings;
Or from some tree, famed for the owl's delight,
She, hollowing clear, directs the wand'rer right:
In such a night, when passing clouds give place,
Or thinly veil the heav'ns' mysterious face;
When in some river, overhung with green,
The waving moon and trembling leaves are seen;
When freshened grass now bears itself upright,
And makes cool banks to pleasing rest invite,
Whence springs the woodbind, and the bramble-rose,
And where the sleepy cowslip sheltered grows;
Whilst now a paler hue the foxglove takes,
Yet checkers still with red the dusky brakes
When scattered glow-worms, but in twilight fine,
Shew trivial beauties watch their hour to shine;
Whilst Salisb'ry stands the test of every light,
In perfect charms, and perfect virtue bright:
When odors, which declined repelling day,
Through temp'rate air uninterrupted stray;
When darkened groves their softest shadows wear,
And falling waters we distinctly hear;
When through the gloom more venerable shows
Some ancient fabric, awful in repose,
While sunburnt hills their swarthy looks conceal,
And swelling haycocks thicken up the vale:
When the loosed horse now, as his pasture leads,
Comes slowly grazing through th' adjoining meads,
Whose stealing pace, and lengthened shade we fear,
Till torn-up forage in his teeth we hear:
When nibbling sheep at large pursue their food,
And unmolested kine rechew the cud;
When curlews cry beneath the village walls,
And to her straggling brood the partridge calls;
Their shortlived jubilee the creatures keep,
Which but endures, whilst tyrant man does sleep;
When a sedate content the spirit feels,
And no fierce light disturbs, whilst it reveals;
But silent musings urge the mind to seek
Something, too high for syllables to speak;
Till the free soul to a composedness charmed,
Finding the elements of rage disarmed,
O'er all below a solemn quiet grown,
Joys in th' inferior world, and thinks it like her own:
In such a night let me abroad remain,
Till morning breaks, and all's confused again;
Our cares, our toils, our clamors are renewed,
Or pleasures, seldom reached, again pursued.
By Anne Finch
Is to its distant cavern safe confined;
And only gentle Zephyr fans his wings,
And lonely Philomel, still waking, sings;
Or from some tree, famed for the owl's delight,
She, hollowing clear, directs the wand'rer right:
In such a night, when passing clouds give place,
Or thinly veil the heav'ns' mysterious face;
When in some river, overhung with green,
The waving moon and trembling leaves are seen;
When freshened grass now bears itself upright,
And makes cool banks to pleasing rest invite,
Whence springs the woodbind, and the bramble-rose,
And where the sleepy cowslip sheltered grows;
Whilst now a paler hue the foxglove takes,
Yet checkers still with red the dusky brakes
When scattered glow-worms, but in twilight fine,
Shew trivial beauties watch their hour to shine;
Whilst Salisb'ry stands the test of every light,
In perfect charms, and perfect virtue bright:
When odors, which declined repelling day,
Through temp'rate air uninterrupted stray;
When darkened groves their softest shadows wear,
And falling waters we distinctly hear;
When through the gloom more venerable shows
Some ancient fabric, awful in repose,
While sunburnt hills their swarthy looks conceal,
And swelling haycocks thicken up the vale:
When the loosed horse now, as his pasture leads,
Comes slowly grazing through th' adjoining meads,
Whose stealing pace, and lengthened shade we fear,
Till torn-up forage in his teeth we hear:
When nibbling sheep at large pursue their food,
And unmolested kine rechew the cud;
When curlews cry beneath the village walls,
And to her straggling brood the partridge calls;
Their shortlived jubilee the creatures keep,
Which but endures, whilst tyrant man does sleep;
When a sedate content the spirit feels,
And no fierce light disturbs, whilst it reveals;
But silent musings urge the mind to seek
Something, too high for syllables to speak;
Till the free soul to a composedness charmed,
Finding the elements of rage disarmed,
O'er all below a solemn quiet grown,
Joys in th' inferior world, and thinks it like her own:
In such a night let me abroad remain,
Till morning breaks, and all's confused again;
Our cares, our toils, our clamors are renewed,
Or pleasures, seldom reached, again pursued.
By Anne Finch
Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times)
I have a DVD with the short films of David Lynch and, as he is insanely strange and surreal, have been watching it for some ideas. Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times) caught my attention because the film is of film projected on to a wall, with some permanent drawings on. What I really like about this is that experimental film is also about playing with the physical medium of film itself and this I think is great way to do that.
Locations
We have decided to have two main locations in our film.
1st. The Forest
To include footage of the lost girl walking through trees and down paths
lots of nice reflections
We also want to try and do some light art here, basically having long exposure times while moving lights. Ideally we will do a stop motion animation with this.. but this is pretty difficult, so we will have to see how well it works on the day as to whether we use it or not.
2nd. Bedroom
The plan is to have a bedroom covered in paper and filled with hanging origami animals. This is going to be a room filled with memories. We plan to film a lot of stuff of the actual origami but also of the girl, as if the individual is actually trying to recall specific memories but its all sort of muddled..
1st. The Forest
To include footage of the lost girl walking through trees and down paths
lots of nice reflections
We also want to try and do some light art here, basically having long exposure times while moving lights. Ideally we will do a stop motion animation with this.. but this is pretty difficult, so we will have to see how well it works on the day as to whether we use it or not.
2nd. Bedroom
The plan is to have a bedroom covered in paper and filled with hanging origami animals. This is going to be a room filled with memories. We plan to film a lot of stuff of the actual origami but also of the girl, as if the individual is actually trying to recall specific memories but its all sort of muddled..
Thoughts and Ideas
We are thinking of basing our film around dreams as this instantly gives us the scope to do pretty much what ever we want. But also dreams have a really surreal element to them that we like the idea of playing with. We are also going to do a lot of stuff around forests and the natural growth and 'energy' that you get from a forest. Being so close to the Peaks I think we could get some really great footage.
Wanting to tie these ideas together to form some kind of narrative, we have decided to have the following loose storyline;
Our film is going to be based on the idea of dreams and loss. And how dreams are a actually a positive way to look at loss because it is a way for you to spend time with the lost person and talk to them. Dreams are also a way for simply remembering past times.
We are going to play around with elements of memory and muddled memories, to add to the surreal feel of the film.
Wanting to tie these ideas together to form some kind of narrative, we have decided to have the following loose storyline;
Our film is going to be based on the idea of dreams and loss. And how dreams are a actually a positive way to look at loss because it is a way for you to spend time with the lost person and talk to them. Dreams are also a way for simply remembering past times.
We are going to play around with elements of memory and muddled memories, to add to the surreal feel of the film.
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