I thought I’d reflect upon all of the footage and investigations I’ve undertaken this semester in relation to my Week 7 prompt/presentation. I’ve really enjoyed doing it; it’s opened my eyes to a completely different way of making which I guess is the point of the studio. That being said, now reading back over my Week 7 presentation I have definitely strayed quite a bit from my initial intentions. 

Originally I spoke about wanting to use the camera in ways other than directing attention, eg: creating a meditative effect or simply presenting subjects in such a way that they can expose themselves naturally. This was something that I think I followed through with. Each piece of footage I took focuses on certain aspects of the environment / subject that it depicts without being incorporated into any sort of overarching structure or narrative. These pieces are ambient and contain natural action – that is, action that is not at all motivated by me or the fact that it is being filmed. This was an interesting experience for me as it cultivated skills that I hadn’t really isolated that much before: the ability to react to and capture moments as they unfold before me, and noticing more broadly. In other words, I feel as though I have exercised the ability to adapt to my surroundings as a filmmaker, rather than just adapting my surroundings.

Now for the stuff that didn’t quite go according to plan. For a start, I had considered experimenting with both choreographed and impromptu footage, where I would have coordinated some scenes or actions to film to then contrast with unplanned versions of the same scenes. This would have allowed me to focus on what stands out in both instances and how they can each be effective approaches in capturing activity. I didn’t end up choreographing anything at all, mainly because I became bored of that idea. I had already begun filming things to see what would happen and was hooked on that, so it felt like a step backwards to try to integrate that original idea.

I had planned to work with all sorts of uni equipment – cameras, booms and the like – in order to hone my skills as a filmmaker and director. This was another thing that did not come to fruition. The ‘Tram’ footage that I took on my iPhone and initiated my investigations was at first just a draft piece of footage, a quick way to record an idea, but admittedly I became semi-obsessed with the aesthetic of the iPhone portrait frame. I grew attached to the idea that the iPhone is the most relevant medium to use as it is the device that possibly defines this generation. Unfortunately this meant that I was not able to improve a great deal behind the camera, but it did give me total freedom to respond to my surroundings whenever inspiration struck and the chance to think about different ways of approaching composition.

Although I did depart from a decent amount of what I had originally intended to include, I don’t think I could have gone about these investigations in a better way. I stated that I wanted to explore the ‘multitude of ways to communicate an idea, person or a place … with the possibilities of cinema as a medium of movement in mind’ and that I was ‘concerned with what there is, rather than why it is there’. These were the core prompts I challenged myself with, and I think that the material I ended up producing and the growth of the investigations addressed these prompts well. I captured the idiosyncrasies of everyday environments, using motivated frames to communicate what can be engaging about the environments depicted and the potential of the portrait frame.

Most of my footage focused on how each of these environments contain a series of spaces that each involve distinct and independent activity which we intuitively connect when we see them come together as a whole, ie: within a piece of footage. For instance, the ‘Train Station’ and ‘Tram’ shots (included below) show how many spaces interact with each other to create an experience (perceiving things moving away through the window of a train/tram creates the experience of movement), although the activity in one space more often than not will not interact with the activity within another space (people scrolling through Facebook are not observing the outside of the tram and therefore are not engaging with that space). Generally, the simple act of filming moments without planning beforehand allowed me to focus on what there is, rather than why it is there – to look at what is happening in as many ways as I could.

Which leads me to possibly the main epiphany I reached in the conduction of these experiments – that I was not just capturing ideas, people and places, I was capturing moments. This is exactly what happened to Cuaron when blood spattered on the lens in Children of Men, which is where I drew inspiration from for these investigations. So in short, I’d call that a success.

Trains (Multiple Platforms) from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

Tram from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

 

Rearview Mirror from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

Heading into this investigation, I had an idea that I would be working with friends and family in that I would be seeking ways to represent them and/or their unique qualities through sustained long takes. I also considered working with others in the class or in the course and assembling little crews to get better at coordinating and directing a group of people.

I eventually decided that the latter didn’t really fit into what I wanted to do, especially considering that a lot of the material was dependent on it not being preconceived. This was a shame as I enjoyed working with others in class however I think working independently gave me the chance to solidify what I was actually investigating and gaining out of this semester.

My initial idea for working with friends and family is something I might yet pursue, admittedly I was just so interesting in focusing on moments and environments that I just kept going along with that. That being said, I did experiment with making abstract portraits a few times but none of them were quite as captivating as the other takes I had done. See below for a quick example of a way I might go about representing people in the future – in this instance, Lara didn’t know that I was filming her which was the point, I just wanted to capture the moment of her talking and doing what she was doing at the time in a way that wasn’t obviously constructed.

So generally I was a lone wolf for this one. I’m glad that I went about it in the way that I did, it has made me a lot more confident in being experimental with film and following my gut in determining what to film. It has also established a new way of making for me which is to use my iPhone to capture a moment when the thought strikes me, a process I intend to use to build up an archive of like material to hopefully create bigger and better works in the future.

Lara portrait from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

 

Just a quick investigation that explores the idea of capturing reality in quite a different way to the rest of my footage. I was at Boney (bar/venue on Little Collins St) and thought that the red lighting would make for an interesting mood in a shot. As I took my phone out to begin shooting, I noticed that a girl through the window was taking a photo of the inside of Boney on her iPhone. I thought it would be funny to include her in the shot so I started filming, making sure she was vaguely visible in the lower left of the frame.

Once we got home, my girlfriend jumped onto Instagram and began looking through Boney hashtags. Fairly quickly she found the photo that the girl had taken, with me clearly filming in the background. What interests me about this footage is that it doesn’t only capture a single fragment of reality, it captures a different perspective of the same moment and becomes a multi-faceted piece of documentation.

Here’s the link to the photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/BGJtvcQsJj8/

Boney from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.

Having done a substantial amount of these long takes, I think I’m properly adjusting to filming in portrait and beginning to really see its potential. In line with my investigation, I think this shot represents the strange relationship between spaces and their inner activity pretty clearly.

When I watch this footage, I notice three main planes of activity: what happens through the front windscreen, the back windscreen via the rearview mirror and the reflection directly above this. Each of these areas show different points in time and space, however unlike most of the areas focused on in my previous footage, they are linked. They are only linked because of the duration of the long take – it allows enough time for the activity in these areas to connect with each other. For instance, the family that can be seen through the back windscreen at the beginning of the footage eventually reappear in the front windscreen.

I was lucky enough to capture a diverse range of subjects in this shot: there are children, adults, vehicles, advertising, all appearing at different points in the shot. In this sense, I think I captured the essence and reality of the location pretty well. It is also interesting to note that the space that I am in, i.e: my car, is static whereas everything of interest in the shot is in motion, giving the activity a muted and tranquil sort of feel. I am a removed observer, whereas most of the subjects in the shot are actively interacting with other subjects – eg: the children interacting with the mannequins, or people looking out for traffic as they cross the road. I am also particularly drawn to the two planes of activity in the rear-view mirror as they are slightly out of sync, disconnecting them from each other.

I think that this footage exemplifies the potential of the portrait shot in its composition. The focal points are vertically layered and influence the others, creating one fluid structure of activity that passes up and down the frame. If I were to do it again I would emphasise this aspect of the shot and possibly concentrate more on composing the frame in such a way that a very clear, distinct motion occurs across the frame.

Rearview Mirror from Timothy Palstra on Vimeo.