(Rated R for goRe)

In today’s class Paul reminded us to collect inspiration from astounding directorial work. Horror films (especially those of the 1970’s) are a particular interest of mine, and I think Dario Argento and his team did a fantastic job on Suspiria. Of course, looking back, its easy to dismiss the special effects and acting as hokey and typical of the genre, but I think it’s very craftily made.

In this death scene, the shots begin longer and take their time moving in a slow pan or slow zoom. As the drama culminates, they proceed to quicken the speed of the edit and there’s less tracking motion. For me, the set design is so masterful, so much so that I get slightly distracted from the plot. Also the contrasting colours used by the lighting department, the vivid blue and red, are incredibly surreal and dramatic.

The soundtrack, (by Goblin, an Italian prog act), is so incredibly creepy and experimental and perfectly heightens the tension with all those discordant notes and that wall of noise. On a whole this movie is all about the aesthetics and not really about the content (the acting isn’t great).

The revelation that the second girl (the one that was not shown being murdered in such detail) also died a gruesome death is done expertly. Completely takes the viewer by surprise.

My aim for this course has moved towards deconstructing the traditional processes and roles associated with writing for film, and filming for writing. Through ongoing discussion of the steps taken in film-making, especially how the script arrives “finished” pre-production, I have become very interested in subverting this formula. I’ve been thinking how a scene’s dialogue could evolve throughout production, and potentially create a more visceral cinematic experience, because the script was not set in stone, but fluid enough to change organically. And I know, of course, that these sound like the fanciful ideals of a 1st year media student wanting to change the entire industry. But a more democratised production style, with fluidity of roles and contributions, sounds pretty good to me.
Of course, I’m maybe just being selfish because I really, really want to do more writing for film than filming for writing. I ADORE studying film, but I’m much better at conceptual ideas than at practical film-making. Working with our tech equipment doesn’t come easily to me, and I often second-guess my instincts and knowledge. I often find myself thinking I don’t have the know-how to be behind a camera or to be telling those behind the camera what to do. In general group structures I’m a contributor, a collaborator, someone who works better in a hive mind where communal ideas are central to the final product. Of course, the groupings in which this format work are always very hard to find, and making a good product that everyone is happy with is even harder. A lot of the time it can only be done through finding a good collective of people who have the same general vision to you, but varied experiences and talents.
So even though I am doing the filming for writing side of this course, I’m curious to see how inverting these traditional production methods (where the script is finalised before shooting), opens up for a more collaborative approach to the whole process. By having the script set in wet concrete, rather than stone, perhaps the entire method of creating this work can be more collaborative.

I realise that throughout this entire post I have sounded like a hippy. I am not a hippy. I really hate hippies. Sorry for sounding like one. Damn hippies.

This week’s studio was challenging, but on the whole much more enjoyable for me. For the first time I felt on top of the task at hand, and able to contribute at an equal level to my classmates. The group I was in had good chemistry and similar ideas of where to take the script. This made it easy for us to get our tasks done in good time.
Both groups were mindful of staying to a rough schedule of when we had to change scenes/locations/shots, which meant we all got equal time to use the equipment, experiment with camera angles, and figure out which components worked and which didn’t.
I found it very helpful that I was in Group B, and subsequently acted in Group A’s scene first, shooting our group’s scene after. It aided in my understanding of the process and helped get me in the right mindset for filming. For example, it reminded me of skills we’d learned in previous weeks such as the procedure for calling the shots. I’m now more proficient at this, thanks to the repetition of hearing it during that first shoot this week. It also helped reinforce the role of the first AD which had not really been clear to me previously. I now understand more fully that they are the boss on the set, in charge of the more structural or practical elements of the shoot. Their tasks include but aren’t limited to organising and upholding the shot schedule, organising the shoots, making sure production is running on time, and setting up the next shot. With this more thorough knowledge of the role of the AD, I feel more prepared to take on this role future tasks if it’s called upon me.

AD’s on MDMA’s.

I’m still unsure of how to compress the size of this file down to the size capable of fitting on the blog pages, so instead I uploaded to vimeo and linked, like we’ve done for class tasks last semester.

In yesterday’s studio our task was to complete a basic edit of our group exercises. I was in a group with Wei Yun and Darren who were awesome to work with. Because I was absent on Monday, Wei Yun showed me the basics of the premier pro program which was really generous of her. Together with their help I was able to satisfactorily complete this edit of our task. (Above)

I can still see where I need to develop my skills. The black at the end is just a tech mishap. Without Wei Yun I would have not even gotten this far; she’s amazing. I need to get back in the edit suites this week and practice more editing; I do find it a daunting task.

“Boys Next Door” by Kubism (Sydney, 2015)

What I would incorporate from the influence of digital collage is investigating a non-linear approach to film-making. I’m intrigued by combinations of different filming techniques and the aesthetic product (especially those that are easily identifiable as a particular trope of a genre or time period). I’d like to be able to pinpoint these, and utilise their differences to exhibit contrast between scenes/perspectives/locations/genres. I also admire how a contrast of different cinematic tropes/techniques/aesthetics can contribute to a feeling of incongruity; confusing or unsettling the audience. It would also be interesting to collate found footage or orphaned footage with that which I make myself, and how these could enhance a narrative.
Collage interests me as a media student in this cross-disciplinary class because I’ve always found the process of script-writing, and constructing a narrative in general, very linear. Whereas digital collage traverses time and genre, combining influences and styles with no depreciation of their individual aesthetics. I’m still unsure how I’d like to integrate this pursuit of mine into this course, but hopefully I get to experiment with it. Perhaps with my own footage combined and edited with found footage, which I’d hope would elicit different emotions from the audience than if it were just a regular scene. Or even to demonstrate how the character feels sans verbalisation (e.g., in a scene where the script’s dialogue has a character hearing news they’re unhappy about, but having no outward reaction, very quick edits of rough, vintage footage showing violent imagery etc.)
It would also be fascinating to use in heightening scenes of sexual tension (very fast multiple splices of soft-core porn into scene etc), or to show someone’s decent into madness. I think collage could be used in this course to go where the script can’t, and by adapting aspects of digital collage into the big print, more of the character’s interior thoughts or the future of the plot could be made clear to the viewer.

my room and my collages

example of film collage and some examples of my print collages below.

I’m looking to practice editing and working with film techniques. I’m fascinated by collage and practice it a lot in a physical format. I want to begin collaging different strange snippets of orphaned footage from the past to take on new meanings – especially in my music video class. I think this is where I want to take my work potentially. Anyway, here are some of the types of videos I’d like to integrate into a moving collage.