Thoughts on film-making - 3rd Exercise

  Working on a thriller concept for an experimental short film is not an easy job, but it was pleasing and quite interesting, especially because I tried to integrate a game concept as well. I knew from the beginning that in experimental films there is no need for a filmmaker to put a lot of details visually, but mingle the meaning with the audio part more.

   In my opinion, a short film needs a really strong connection between image and sound whatever the subject matter would be, because this approach can make the short film more appealing in the eyes of the viewers. That’s why for this 3 minutes short film I created foley, consisting of plenty of different sounds like underground noises, domestic sounds, loud and strong vibrations, in order to build the suspense and tension a thriller film needs.

   Knowing that this type of experimental short film should work with some signs or symbols (placed in close-ups), since it’s based on the shadowed mastermind’s game pattern, I included a few of them portrayed by the Christmas decorations and by a few main city signatures as traffic lights, signs, driveways and so forth. 

   However, when speaking of the lead male character, who is trapped into this suspicious game for his wrong-doings, I tried to make him as peculiar and mysterious as possible, even for myself. The challenges received via cell phone are unknown, as well as the results of his trials, not being aware of his win or loss. Therefore, no one knows why is he trapped in this world from the first place and what does he need to accomplish in order to get closer to his escape.

   When the other slightly similar characters appear on screen, pursuing the seemingly identical design, I aimed for an erroneous and glitchy aspect of the film, trying to indicate that the game is near crashing and that the creator lost control over his own creation. At the moment you start to work on a game and you devise it for one character only, doing a specific set of actions, it’s obvious that if something new appears it can tend to crash multiple times or to simply shut down. In addition to this I want to point out that this is just a testing game, a sample, therefore the non-professional appearance.

  In the process of making the short film ‘Outsider’ I didn’t encounter difficulties or hardship, but stress and sleepless nights. Attempting to make a good short, I presume that it's not that easy for anyone, but because of the fact that I want to make everything beyond perfect, most of the times I overwork myself in order to have the outcome I desire. About this film I can say that I’m quite pleased about its final product, although I think that it could’ve been better a million times..

  I chose the title ‘Outsider’ because I wanted to define the main character’s condition, since he was suddenly thrown into an unknown place for him and transformed into a puppet. Moreover, in the ending cut, when a completely new character shows up and disappears along with the train, it can be understood that maybe at least one of them succeeded in exiting the tremendous game, becoming an actual outsider in the real world.

Link to the short film: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kF1cxKlkv3X8KEPmfrwusrFK5mBkt3Vy

3rd Exercise - Scheme

   The short film will be devised on a game-like-movie pattern, in which there is a mastermind (not shown) and the only one character that will be trapped into a limited space, accomplishing the challenges given by anonymous users (via phone). If the challenge will turn into a success, nothing will be change visually, but the player will unconsciously get closer to the ‘exit’. If he’ll fail, a new similar character will be born, but will have a distinctive coloured item which will symbolize one of the main colours of Christmas (green, red, gold, white, blue, purple – colour motif).

·        Inspiring movie: Nerve (challenging strangers within a dangerous game, via phone or other gadgets)

·        Inspiring movie: Coherence (the characters are multiplied after a comet lands on Earth, creating confusion and terror within the circle of friends and relatives when the same people in appearance show up, but with different attitudes and different light sticks’ colours)

   The main concept consists of juggling with the two totally opposed vibes and emotions, defined by the Christmas atmosphere (bliss, charm, chills, joy, ethereal beauty, delight) and by the tremendous game (confusion, tension, suspense, terror, uncertainty, stress)

·        Inspiring folkloric character/urban legend: Krampus/Evil Santa (during the Christmas season, he punishes the children who  have misbehaved, but in the short film instead he will take the form of a shadowed mastermind who devises his own game in order to punish the main protagonist, portrayed as bad human-being) – Inspiring mastermind: Jigsaw (Saw horror franchise)

   The action will take place around the City Center, Sheffield, because there needs to be a lot of people, attractions, buildings, shops etc. The main protagonist doesn’t have to be alone and isolated in the game, since the creator wanted the game’s layer to look exactly the same as a busy city in the middle of the Christmas hustle.

·        Inspiring movie: Hunger games (a game design similar to the real world, where the players are actually trapped into a laboratory manufactured realm)

   The limits of the game will be portrayed by a few spots in the City Center, altogether creating an invisible and strong barrier which cannot be crossed by the main lead.

   The short film will need to be shot at a crepuscular light, but also in a pitch dark one, since it’s necessary to create the connection between the scary game vibe and the Christmas’ glow.

   The final cut will show the protagonist (in one of the various forms) getting on the train, leaving the audience with no certain ending. The mastermind behind could be thought as acknowledging the victory of the character or as leaving the viewers to believe that he escaped the game completely, enjoying the new life as an outsider.

   Here, the character won’t be aware where he would be thrown, it can be another layer of the game or the real world, becoming an actual outsider. (implicit meaning)

·        Inspiring movie: Cube (even though it may appear like the characters would be able to escape after surviving one room/layer, it turns out that the exit leads to another layer, thing that happens all over again)

   Speaking of techniques, there would be a lot of handy camera, in order to look like someone is following the main character, long and close-up shots, maybe extreme close-up shots as well (making a certain detail to be more visible for the viewers), camera tilts, using foley more than the original sounds, in order to create the specific type of audio background for the thriller/mystery genre.

   As symbols or signs, there would mostly be Christmas inspired things and the spots/objects that will be found at the boundary.

Possible titles: Outsider, Christmas bucket list,

Chiller, Merry Dare, Sweet Dares

Peculiar and pleasing - 2nd Exercise

   Having almost the same task as previous, where me and my teammate had to record various types of sounds and images, then to mingle them perfectly yet strangely in order to create an experimental video of one minute long, this time we decided everything to occur in an abandon field. 

  

   Being in the position of the sound-recordist, I tried to create sounds that could have been suitable for the kind of short film we wanted to make – an abstract one, based on the story of a girl who wakes up in her own fantasy world, still unknown for her, full of bright and vivid colours. 

   Therefore, we had a lot of various shots and also a diverse range of noises, as bird singing, strong and mild wind, rocks thrown onto the ground, loud tapping sounds, pieces of metals scratching the ground or other metallic objects, footsteps, airplane and train sounds.  Although that the rough files are always important, here however, the editing part played the lead role and helped the short film to take the form desired initially.

  

   

    Because of the colourful pattern we followed, the chosen title was ‘Pigment’, describing the strong shades that wrapped the girl’s singular world, brought by her imaginary friend’s presence. 

   I can reference this work to the feature film ‘IT’ (Andres Muschietti, 2017), speaking of its overall form, along with the ‘yellow’ hues, colour that transforms into a motif in both films: the yellow-coloured jacket bring the unusual vibrant shades in the short film, while in the Muschietti’s movie, this colour is a sorrow bringer, a bait used by the merciless clown to enhance the hollow in Ben’s chest and a link to the bloody red tint, connection that helps the story to develop in the horrific manner.

  Source - Google images

Link to short film: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O42-DchZlgiZtQk6ZRr43vIjCQFk78Ab
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IT - a feature film by Andres Muschetti (Director). 

First experimental film - 1st Exercise

This week I had to complete the first task for the Creative project development and realization course, which consisted in a team (of two people) filming and recording sound in a desired area in Sheffield. After the first step, we would need to transform the rough files into one minute long film, mixing the two different types of footage smoothly, concurrently reflecting something special, peculiar or a bit challenging I could say. 

The location we chose to do the shooting was City Center, since I preferred to combine people and buildings together in the short film, making it more interesting and lively. 

   There, I decided to stop, install the camera and begin to record a few distinct cadres, using straight angles, the reflection of the cafe's windows, moving shots, close-ups, wide and medium shots.

All of them included people passing by, crossing the way, strolling, laughing, taking care of their children, trying to capture the diversity in actions and expression each person has.

In the post-production session, I helped my team mate to edit, suggesting to use the slow motion and backward effects, trying to push the video more into the experimental side.

   Mood swings could have a similar approach with the unusual Junktopia of Chris Marker (1981), because it was created by adding ordinary sounds to short clips full of people doing various things and having different moods, in a way not quite similar or proper for some of us. The challenging part was that it had to be a certain type of sound with its perfect visual pair, in this way, trying to make them look like they were from the same scenery, no matter how strange or funny it will be. However, the short film of the great director is much different, not only in length, but also in the subject matter and structure, preferring a secluded area, the personification of different objects though usage of strange sounds, still shots, low and high angles.

Link to short film: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WsFL06MT6O-UEI3nepFmjBihn2MN_psm/view                                   

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Junktopia – A short film by Chris Marker. Marker,C. (Director). (). [Video/DVD] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ymKAhoXyPA 

'Tango' by Zbigniew Rybczyński - Analysis

'Tango', the short film made by the Polish filmmaker and director Zbigniew Rybczyński (who also did the screenplay for this artwork), was created in 1980, but the initial release was in 1981 and has eight minutes in length.

  Either it's a short film or a feature one, ­both of them must have a theme, which can be quick to understand in most of the cases, but this doesn’t mean that it should be like that every time.

  In ‘Tango’, the theme is represented by the life’s various shapes and conditions encountered by almost every human, which are sketched perfectly on the actual dance type’s beats and tempo (tango), intriguing the whole film.

  The content of this artwork is expressed in a proper way relating to the film form. There are conventions of patterned relationships, each one depicting a lifestyle, a condition or a coincidence, correlating with one another in a small or huge percent. The theme is spotlighted very well with the addition of the background music, but also with the help of the repeated actions that occur in the same physical space (a room designed to incorporate small details from types of places in a house – bedroom, baby’s room, dining room/living room and maybe an entrance hall too).

   Speaking of these facts, I can wholeheartedly say that I did like this short film, from its every point of view. Also, I believe that it’s successful in dealing with the subject matter pretty well, as it depicts not only one stage, but multiple stages of the general abstract term, guided on the passionate, intense and impulsive type of dance. In addition, when more and more people start to join the scene, coming with a different action every time, the music tempo begins to aggravate as well, supporting the screenplay properly.

   The tango music was developed simultaneously with the dance and as the main characteristics are the two different beats (2/4 or 4/4) and the special focus on an ensemble formed of violins, piano, flute, concertina accordion and double bass.¹ All of the things listed previously taking part in ‘Tango’ too.

   As this film doesn’t have an easy theme, the director have undertaken some researches about the international tango dance and music, but also about the development and stages of life, seen in certain people and/or moments.

   Together with the ‘behind the scenes’ work are also the special techniques that Rybczyński used in his film. The first one would be Sound-Image², because this approach lead to the fact that a film should be as interesting for the ear as it’s for the eye, making the sound an integral part of it, whereas another significant technique for this short film is generated by Economy-Wholeness³. In the end, Rybczyński returned the film to the origin, presenting the Epiphany symbolized by the lonely old woman, who wakes up after the young boy leaves the scene completely. She sees the ball and deliberately takes it in her hands, then she scrutinize the room for a few seconds smiling, probably reminiscing the good memories she had there as a child/teenager, before she decides to leave as well, the short film ending with a meaningful moment not only for her, but for all of us to think at.

Source - Wikipedia

                  Zbigniew Rybczyński

Link to the short film: https://vimeo.com/90339479

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Tango dance - Types, Techniques and Influence <http://www.dancefacts.net/tango/tango-dance/>

7 Parameters of Richard Raskin (fourth and seventh)