Expanded Cinema & Film Art Practice: My Journal, Michael Gee.

Week One Notes (from slides) 

About expanded cinema
Expanded cinema emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, coinciding with the rise of experimental film and counterculture movements.
USA, UK and Europe.
International expanded cinema movements.
Expanded cinema was a response to the perceived limitations of traditional cinema and an attempt to explore new forms of artistic expression. 

The term expanded cinema was coined in the mid-1960s by the filmmaker Stan Vanderbeek. 

Week Two: key terms 

Expanded Cinema: 

• Challenges the codes and conventions of traditional cinema. 

• Expands the language and creative possibilities of the ‘cinema’ as a mode of cultural expression. 

• Includes multiple screens, non-conventional sound, unconventional exhibition spaces, live performance, installation, as well as film practice. 

Media Archaeology: 

• Media archaeology is recognised as a school, field, and/or methodology that attempts to understand new and emerging media through a close examination of past media cultures, technologies, and practices. 

• It explores the connections between media past and media present to better understand different contemporary media cultures. 

Week Two: Notes & Personal Reflection 

Tuesday reflection: This week (Week 2) of expanded cinema & film art practice initially began with an introduction to the foundations of video art and its relationship with and to expanded cinema. Video art emerged in the 1960s-70s through famous artists/figures such as Nam June Paik, Andy Warhol and Bill Viola. It is defined via its time-based, experimental and multimedia nature, challenging conventional and cinematic form, and often merges performance, installation and conceptual approaches. We also watched Carolee Schneemann’s Viet Flakes (1965), and examined how magnification, distortion and sound collage have the potential to produce emotional and political meaning. This class to me was specifically useful, as honestly I was quite confused around exactly what ‘film art’ and ‘expanded cinema’ were, so having both definitions and examples to reinforce it was quite a relief. 

Friday reflection: This class had a major focus on the first assignment we are going to do! The assignment itself is an expanded cinema sketch in which we will have to work collaboratively with a partner to create an ‘audiovisual work’ utilising found footage in response to a specific chosen music track. Furthermore, a 750-word reflection that connects our creative processes to the theories of expanded cinema will also have to be submitted. How to do it and what was expected was all explained by our tutor Guy. We then listened to a range of audio tracks Guy had on his gramophone in order to choose one to utilise on our project. One that specifically stuck out to me and my partner Ben was one named ‘Masquerade,’ due to the nostalgic vibe/feel of it. Furthermore, the track had a rhythmic quality and I am interested in attempting to use Eisenstein’s montage theory (specifically rhythmic montage) to create a powerful piece. 

Week Three Notes: The origins of expanded cinema 

The origins of expanded cinema can be traced back all the way to the ‘silent film era’ of the 20th century. A lot of different European filmmakers were thinking about/considering the possibilities of cinema going beyond just the single screen in France & Germany in the 1920s. Its ideas, however, can be traced back further. The idea of multiscreen (or in the case of the triptych) multi-panelled art/media pieces had already been considered. In the Middle Ages, triptychs were a popular form of panel painting. Interestingly, I have personally been involved already in this form of multi-panel art as my final piece for Studio Arts class in VCE years was a triptych. Expanded cinema continued to expand, with another notable origin being traced back to the UK and Europe. The London Filmmakers’ Co-Operative (LFMC) championed the acceptance of moving image production as a film art practice from cinema and developed early forms of gallery-based practice (known today as video installations). 

Week Three: Notes & Personal Reflection 

Tuesday Reflection: This week’s Tuesday class focused on the historical development of expanded cinema in Europe and the United Kingdom. It was great to learn this as I was able to understand where the movement initially came from and its overall significance. Furthermore, we looked back into the silent cinema era (one I am well versed in due to my previous cinema studies classes), and how those films weren’t typically silent but actually accompanied by live music/phonographs. One of the most interesting examples (I personally thought) was Abel Gance’s Napoleon (1927) which utilised Polyvision; a three-screen projection setup inspired by triptychs. Furthermore, we also explored the London Filmmakers’ Co-operative (LFMC) and the Lodz Film Workshop both groups that pushed a more artistic and material practice rather than a traditional storytelling one. 

Friday Reflection: This week’s Friday class was all about preparing for Assignment 1! I found it really helpful to clarify what was expected of us as Guy went through all the submission details, presentation tips and marking criteria. Something I will try to replicate in my assignment that Guy kept mentioning is ‘visual dialogue,’ a composition and rhythm between two screens that is achieved via editing. Other than this, this class was especially useful in communicating with my partner Ben as we were able to get fully on the same page surrounding how we were going to ensure ‘visual dialogue’ between our two pieces – especially considering we were editing them separately away from each other. 

Week Four: Notes & Personal Reflection 

Tuesday Class: I did not attend Tuesday’s class, however I did go over the online slides and found that the class was purely once again preparation for Assignment 1. I utilised it to contact my partner Ben and ask if he had any issues etc. in the creation of his part of the assignment, and to work out final touches for the creation of our multiscreen product. Furthermore, I looked at examples of contemporary expanded cinema like The Tree of Life by Maotik (2025), which uses software such as TouchDesigner and Module8 in order to create multi-screen presentations. 

Friday Class: This class was utilised solely for the presentation of our work. It was an easy process to upload our project to the drive to be presented, and then it was solely just watching ours and everyone else’s play out with the gramophone playing beside it. Personally, this was my first time actually seeing a physical gramophone and in my opinion the nostalgic noise really added to the overall vibe of the presentation. Furthermore, this was also the first time I had experienced live music alongside video/cinema so honestly the experience felt really special and ethereal. When it came to the personal presentation of our work, it all ran smoothly which was a massive relief; however 

Week Five: Notes & Personal Reflection 

Tuesday Reflection: This week’s Tuesday class focused on expanded cinema in the USA and its development, ultimately building on what we learned in previous classes about the UK and Europe. The class discussed how the movement began in 1960s New York (a time of social unrest and different cultural experimentation). I found that interesting to consider, and how the art could have been potentially used as distraction/hope in times of uncertainty. Furthermore, we looked at artists like Stan VanDerBeek who actually coined the term expanded cinema via his dome installation Movie Drome (1996). We also learned about Jonas Mekas, whose influence helped shape avant-garde film via the Film-Makers’ Cooperative. 

Friday Reflection: I really liked the idea for this Friday’s creative workshop as it was very practical, though unfortunately I was unable to attend. The class participated in abstraction techniques (similar to ones from a previous workshop) where we utilised prisms, lenses and projectors to create a film short (20 seconds). Furthermore, I also watched early abstract films like Ballet Mécanique (1924) which were included on the slides, allowing me to see how abstraction is a key part of cinema’s language, something I had never previously considered. I think ultimately this lesson for me reinforced that different fine art techniques can actually be utilised in film. Furthermore, it gave me potential ideas of what I could create in the future. 

Week Six: Notes & Personal Reflection 

Tuesday Reflection:
For this week’s Tuesday class we explored contemporary expanded cinema and how the concept ultimately evolved into what Professor Jonathan Walley describes as the “third wave” of expanded cinema! We discussed how expanded cinema today is really less about a specific style and more about testing the boundaries between modes and mediums (film, art, performance and digital media). I find it really interesting that Walley connects expanded cinema’s historical roots to contemporary culture (particularly via the shift from analogue to digital). We also looked at artists such as Karl Lemieux, Mark Leckey and Marco Fusinato who all utilise live performance, projection and sound in different ways to push the cinematic experience “beyond the screen.” What personally stood out to me was the way in which different digital technologies have influenced this “third wave” of expanded cinema and that it isn’t stuck in the past but is rather transforming via new mediums. 

Friday Reflection:
This Friday’s class was preparation for Assignment 2; an artist research presentation along with a supercut! I had personally never heard of a supercut prior to this, but Guy provided examples allowing me to understand what was necessary and how to structure it overall. He explained that it is essentially a montage of short clips built around a specific idea or recurring theme; a bit like a visual essay. Something I did not mention in my previous lessons journal is that I was provided artist Karl Lemieux – a Canadian film director! Before doing any research on him I actually decided to scout some clips that I could use in my supercut which was really interesting as I got much more of an understanding of the kind of artist/filmmaker he was, as I had only seen a few works previously. I think this process ultimately also made me more invested in research as I became far more passionate about my research. The rest of the lesson was utilised to ask Guy questions if we had any concerns surrounding our assignment! 

Week Seven: Notes & Personal Reflection 

The whole of this week was used for everyone to present their personal presentations and supercuts! It was really interesting to see the large variety of artists and the way in which everyone personally edited their supercut. In reflection to my personal presentation, I felt as though it went very well. However, reading my notes off a small phone screen was perhaps not the best way to go about things as I found myself losing the correct text often. Beyond this though there were no major issues and from the comments I got from classmates I feel as though my supercut was specifically impactful. Something I was proud of, and I feel as though some other classmates succeeded in too, was a good choice of music. To me personally, music was what made or broke the supercuts, and so many people had such impactful music that really matched the overall vibe of their piece. Overall though everyone’s presentations and unique artists were a really good insight into the world of film art. 

Week Eight: Notes & Personal Reflection 

Tuesday Lesson: In this week’s lesson Guy introduced us to the concept of materiality in film art, explaining to us how the physical filmstrip itself can actually become a medium of artistic expression. Given the nature of the artist I previously studied (Karl Lemieux), I felt as though I was already slightly versed in how different film artists may potentially use it (e.g. bending, ripping, burning the film itself). However, we also discussed direct animation; a process made famous by artists like Stan Brakhage and Len Lye in which images are scratched, painted and/or manipulated directly onto the film itself (which is typically 16mm). I really enjoyed this lesson as I have always found the idea of animation very intriguing so seeing a different method in which to do it was exciting, especially considering it’s what we are doing next lesson. 

Friday Lesson: This lesson was used entirely to animate onto film. We experimented by scratching and layering shapes onto black film stock with different tools (which for me personally was a nail) and then colouring on the clear stock. The process itself was very meditative, but overall just a lot of fun despite how tedious it may seem. I personally attempted to scratch my name into the black film stock and coloured it with markers and spray paint! I was a bit concerned about the spray paint seeing that it was black (the same colour as the film so it would not show), however I managed to lightly layer it; giving it the spray paint effect but not fully blacking out my work. Furthermore, as a class we also voted for the style of final product we would make; groups making individual products or doing a massive one collectively (a bit like Stan VanDerBeek’s Movie Drome). In the end though, the individual assignments won. Honestly, I was slightly disappointed by this as I felt as though a collective assignment could have been really impactful but I’m sure both will be great. Overall though I really enjoyed the practical elements of this lesson and it honestly may have been my favourite so far! 

Week Nine: Notes & Personal Reflection 

Tuesday class: This week’s class was intriguing as we had guest film artist Melody Woodnut come in and share her work and experience in the field. The lesson began with a screening of our animations from the previous week which was so cool to see and honestly came out better than I expected! The piece was so abstract and visually interesting, and combining that with the sound of Melody’s projector the display was a very different, calm, intriguing experience. Following this, Melody then screened some of her own works; one I found particularly interesting was one in which she had spray painted (seemingly gold/silver) dots onto film to create a visual effect that it was galaxies/stars/planets. It’s such an intuitive idea and honestly as an aspiring filmmaker something I will never forget and something I really want to attempt to execute myself. She also ran through how projectors worked which was definitely an interesting process to be able to understand! This was the first time (other than Guy) we had met an accomplished expanded cinema artist so it was really interesting to hear about the processes and experience from a different perspective! 

MELODY’s PROJECTOR

(No Friday Class for public holiday)

Week Ten: Notes & Personal Reflection + Production Notes (intertwined.)

Tuesday Class: This week’s Tuesday class was on something I had been looking forward to beginning the entirety of the semester: our major projects. Guy also introduced Assignment 3 which was the major project pitch that we would have to present in Week 11. I really enjoyed brainstorming ideas with my team, as being given full creative control in the vast world of film art really gave us so much choice. I really enjoyed that the session encouraged us to both think conceptually but also practically at the same time as we developed an artistic vision in accordance with how we would produce and exhibit the piece within the three-week time span we were given. My group members and I ended up landing on the idea of a multi-screen (three-screen) short film/production showing the passage of time via three birthdays at different points in an unnamed character’s life. However, we were not fully certain in the way in which we would produce this and gave ourselves the three days between classes to think/brainstorm ideas. The connection to the studio’s overall idea of “expanded cinema” is via the multiple screens all telling one story!

Friday Class: The Friday class was utilised to remind us of what was due in Assignment 4, as well as consultations with Guy surrounding our product. Our group’s consultation with Guy was very valuable, as he provided us with some varying ideas on how we could execute the story/idea we were attempting to. By effectively splitting our shoots into three different parts (past, present and future) for the following week we were able to get a better vision of how we were going to spend our time. Furthermore, it allowed us to plan ahead to editing.

Product: At the end This week we attempted to plan when and where we were going to shoot. Unfortunately, no storyboard / mood board etc was physically created but via discussion we all knew what we were making. We have decided to split shooting into three parts; one for ‘the present’ (a current day birthday vibe,) one for ‘the past’ (a little kids 2000’s birthday vibe) and one for ‘the future’ , an old over sanitary hospital birthday.

Early personal inspiration image for: “The Candle Burns Slower Now.”

 Inspiration for our work:

The work we are making will take creative inspiration from American artists Igor and Svetlana Kopystiansky, more  specifically their 2009 work titled ‘Crossroad’ which is a piece that involves the filming of real time footage across six different crossroads in lower Manhattan, then made into three separate video programs for three separate screens. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMreHx7jn0Y

Week Eleven: Notes & Personal Reflection + Production Notes 

Tuesday class: This week’s Tuesday class once again focused really heavily on the group work and major project consultations as we’re now only two weeks away from our final exhibition! As a class we all visited the Megaflex spaces (1, 2 and 3) which was honestly really helpful for visualising and organising how our projects were going to look in this exhibition’s setting. To me this is the experience that honestly really set it in for me, actually being in the space seeing where what we were making was going to be presented. It really made our group also consider the aspects of practical setup, with group member Henry highlighting some potential issues with placement due to other groups also having to display within the space. Thus, when it came to choosing the part of Megaflex we were going to utilise to present we made sure to let Guy know ASAP. Furthermore, the lesson was also utilised for Guy to go over the final assignment, our reflections! 

Friday class: This Friday class was used for all groups to do their project pitches! It was really intriguing to see the different ideas other groups came up with and this class honestly made me really excited for the exhibition in seeing how they were going to produce it. On another topic, I felt as though our presentation was a massive success and look forward to hearing the feedback from Guy and Melody! 

Product: As a group we got a lot of filming done this week. Unfortunately due to busy schedules and low times, we could not all be there for each of the shoots so this involved a lot of personal shooting from each group member, and perhaps less professional video as it was not being shot on RMIT’s cameras. However, as a group early in the week we did manage to all shoot the hospital scene together.

The Final Week + Production Notes

Tuesday class: I honestly can’t believe we are in the final week already! This week’s Tuesday class was utilised pretty much entirely to once again go over submission and assignment details for Assignment #4 and #5. Once that part of the lesson was over, we utilised it for group discussion surrounding our edit which was currently in progress. 

Friday class: This class was utilised to discuss and organise details for our exhibition, and also to say one final thing: Good luck and Godspeed!

Product: In terms of notes for editing, it was all now just final touches. We had to ensure all the time stamps were aligned so the pieces ‘visual dialogue’ worked correctly. Furthermore, minor tweaks to audio and video were necessary to ensure the piece looked polished. Other than this, it’s all about setting up for the final exhibition!

• a test run of the piece during edit.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————

Our artist statement:

Artists: Michael, Henry, Samuel, Avi, Aimee

Title: The Candle Burns Slower NOW

The Candle Burns Slower NOW is a multi-screen film that rejuvenates the traditional narrative structure of film by its depiction of three different birthday celebrations from three vastly different age groups across three separate screens. This work delves into the concept of nostalgia and the passing of time through the three screens’ relationship and common ground of a birthday celebration.

This artwork can be understood through the lens of expanded cinema, as it breaks away from the traditional single-screen narrative and transforms film into a multi-perspective experience. The use of three screens chronologically, each depicting a different age group celebrating a birthday, invites the audience to engage with time as a visual and emotional landscape.

Contrasting youth, young adulthood and old age, the work distinctively explores nostalgia and the cyclical nature of life, encouraging reflection on memory and identity.

I believed our final product was crafted in a way which directly aligns itself with the studio prompt; “limitations [can] serve as stimulus for inspiration and innovation.” ‘Lillies On The Waterfront” audience engagement didn’t come through an overly engaging story / plot (which was limited by our constraint of non- chronological scenes) but via the moody and emotional shots.  

As we sat in the make-shift cinema, I think this became very clear as it felt as it deeply contrasted the rest of the pieces being displayed within the exhibition (that’s not to say all the pieces weren’t great and unique, just something that I personally noticed.) I believe this to be our greatest success within the piece; and was achievable due to our group members. As Rabiger (2003) highlights “Working effectively as a group can be the most exhilarating and energizing experience imaginable, especially during times of crisis.” While not quite a time of crisis, the ever closing deadline (and difficult constraints) was something that pushed our group to work effectively together and create an emotional and thought-provoking product, all while enjoying the experience. I think despite some hiccups that may have occurred, this studio taught me the importance of communication within a group – something that ended up impacting us negatively and positively. On one hand, sometimes a lack of communicating ideas between all group members meant we struggled to all be on the same page. However, I personally believe that as time went on this improved considerably – so when it came to the final stages of editing, we were operating at a very professional level. Nevertheless, this issue is something that will arise in our future as media practitioners and is presumably inherent in groups that have not worked together before. On a positive note, as I mentioned toward the end we were working extremely well together. All members were contributing their own valuable insight into things we could improve upon within final stages of editing and this created a very polished, moody piece – but more importantly, something we all agreed was the best possible cut we could have created, even when held back by constraints. 

However, success always comes with failure. As stated by Philipsen (2009), “I love constraints [..]. I think that’s a great relief, because it offers an exercise to your imagination” – This is something I believe we could have done more of. One of our constraints (cutting when blinking,) isn’t particularly apparent within the piece that played in the theatre. I believe (like some of the other films that were playing,) we could have leaned much further into this and used it to a more creative extent. This is most likely the thing I would change if provided more time – as a group I don’t believe any of us really considered this and the insight of watching others work on the big screen is really what highlighted it to me. The reason I am so heavy on altering this aspect is due to the way it succeeded within the other products we watched. For example, the film “A Day Off” felt particularly impactful to me with it’s utilisation of limited colour palette due to the impact the bright red of the cancer diagnosis. With little red being seen previously, it truly highlighted the importance of the prop being presented on screen to the audience. This is also perhaps the aspect of our work I find most problematic.  

I would also like to dig deeper into the part of our product I (and certainly others) found most successful. Upon an initial screening in class, a fellow student stated that the piece made them “quite emotional – ” despite it being a very rough cut, with little to no narrative showing. This highlighted to me (and the rest of our group) the power our piece had in it’s b-roll. It’s something we then made sure to lean in within the editing stage. It’s effectiveness was then exacerbated by the inclusion of the original poem from the script that fit it perfectly. Overall though, I believe our finished product to be an engaging, well crafted piece of cinema. 

This leads me to the conclusion of the studio – and the main takeaway I drew from it. I really enjoyed each class and the differing exercises we would participate in . These lessons reminded me of a portion from (Taylor 2009’s) reading that mentions “There is no way I would try and run a marathon without training” (in relation to creativity within screen production,) and this is what these lessons highlighted to me. Whether it was simply writing our scripts, or participating in a ‘five hour film project’ trained me to utilise my imagination in unforeseen ways – thinking outside the box even while being trapped within it. For our group project, this allowed me to provide interesting, imaginative ideas to create an exciting piece. Furthermore, some of the creative decisions made during the process of our project highlighted the value of using my imagination. As a future media practitioner / professional, I believe “Constraints as Creative Fuel” provided me with an invaluable skill – especially in such a difficult, unpredictable industry.  

 References 

Rabiger, M. (2003). Developing a crew. In Directing: Film techniques and aesthetics (3rd ed., pp. 385-400). Focal Press. 

Philipsen, H. (2009). Constraints in film making processes offer an exercise to the imagination: A pleading based on experiences from Denmark. Seminar.net – International Journal of Media, Technology and Lifelong Learning 

Taylor, A. (2019). There is no ‘E’ in ‘constraints’: Teaching creativity in higher education screen production. In C. Batty et al. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of screen production. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21744-0_31 

Post production was the area I expected to be least involved area as production manager and assistant director. While that probably remains true, it ultimately surprised me how the roles remained important. Firstly, as a production manager I had to ensure that post prod was running smoothly according to the deadline we were provided. In one instance, this meant organising a group call due to some uncertainty within our group behind how the edit was progressing. Furthermore, I tried to update and remind my team constantly of deadlines, not necessarily to put pressure but sometimes in an attempt to relieve, reminding them that we had plenty of time for reshoots, changes in edits, etc. With a production manager being a key communicator in the role of making a film, I felt that it was also important that I was consistently turning up to class so I was able to properly communicate any information across, which was successful due to the advice being received from peers within class. As AD, while I didn’t physically contribute to editing, I was constantly providing advice on any changes I deemed necessary or surrounding anything I thought worked well. That being said, everyone in the group contributed to this! I think the experience of post production was a reminder to me of the importance of communication in group projects in order to meet a deadline.

Production balanced the two roles out a bit more in comparison to pre- production. In terms of being production manager, arriving 2 hours early to the set allowed me to scout out the area for both any necessary amenities but also any potential dangers. The area we shot which had previously been scouted by our director met all requirements both for the visuals of our film but also for a safe working environment for cast & crew. When the crew call began we instantly got to setting up our equipment, and began shooting pretty promptly after. One major issue that arose during shooting, that ultimately involves both my roles, is time management on the shoot. As an Assistant Director, I should have interrogated and referenced the script a lot more as I felt like most the shooting decisions were left to our director, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but as she was acting this perhaps made our process a bit slower. Furthermore, as a production manager I should have kept track of the time to a better extent as we went well over. While this was attempting to replicate one, this would have had a large impact on a professional shoot in which cast and crew will have been a lot less lenient with extended hours. Other than this, the shoot ran fairly smoothly and gave me an insight into what would be involved on a professional level.

While I was both the assistant director and production manager of our film, I found that the pre production process was quite involved in the area of production manager. I’d never been a production manager within my time as a media practitioner so some of the work I had to complete / work through I had never done before. To combat this, once I was initially provided the role, I utilised research as well as some advice received from Sebastian in class to gain an understanding of not only what is involved in the role, but also its importance. I think one of the more difficult things of my role in pre-production was time management – specifically planning a day to shoot due to the busy schedules of our group members. As students, we all have busy lives and also all live in different areas so that is something I had to consider.  Furthermore, once we had organised as a group to decide when to shoot we had to ensure we organised a filming permit from the council of Williamstown which took days to process – something that I was unaware of and actually affected the day we were planning to film. While it wasn’t a huge setback, it meant we had less time for post production / any reshoots (if necessary.) I felt as though if I had perhaps had more experience in this role this may have not happened but was certainly a great learning experience. Other than this, the role of production manager in pre production was rather straightforward (callsheets, safety reports / checklists, ) were simple administrative tasks. I think reflecting back on the experience of pre-production, I should definitely have spent a bit more time in my role as AD learning the script and understanding the director’s vision to a greater extent. 

Research

For this assignment, we were requested to write a script utilising either one or both genres assigned to us. I personally was given the genres of comedy and inspirational film. While they both seemed like simple genres to understand on a surface level, there was certainly a requirement to dig deeper to write a quality script. 

Before I began to research my given genres, I first had to understand what ‘genre’ means. The word itself is originally French and, put simply, means ‘kind’ or ‘type.’ So, as put by Bordwell in Film Art (2023), “When we speak of film genres, we’re indicating certain types of movies.” Therefore, a comedy is one that is based on humour and making the audience laugh, while an inspirational film is one that aims to uplift, motivate, and inspire audiences by telling stories of triumph over adversity, personal growth, and the power of the human spirit. (These definitions were sourced from Workshop 3.2 Slides on Canvas.) 

Further on in Film Art, Bordwell also gets us to plan a hypothetical film and reminds us that each “genre has specific conventions.” (Bordwell, 2023.)  Thus, I brainstormed, researched, and watched a variety of both comedy and inspirational films for the assignment. Firstly, comedies: from slapsticks such as Dumb and Dumber (1994) to darker comedies like Netflix’s show Afterlife (2019). The variety the genre has throughout the pieces I consumed truly allowed me to understand how flexible comedy can be and how its conventions vary accordingly. On the other hand, inspirational films such as The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and Eddie the Eagle (2016) typically shared commonalities in their emotional depth and the triumph over adversity. So, as I planned my script, I took these ideas into account. I think the main thing I discovered via watching all of these films, more than anything, was the importance of  characters. Unlike sci-fi, westerns, film noir, etc, which can be characterised by their aesthetics or narrative structure, comedy and inspirational film rely heavily on characters. The conventions of both genres are rooted in them one way or another – whether that’s via their dialogue or the action they perform on the screen. When it came to writing the script, I kept this in mind, attempting to provide personality to their dialogue and actions rather than the world that surrounded them. 

Reflection

I think when it came to writing the script, a lack of confidence really solidified my overall script idea. I understood as a first-time comedy writer that it might be difficult to write a comedy, let alone combining it with an inspirational film. This was not due just to the technical aspects of writing a film, but also the fact that I understood (from my own experience watching the films) that we all share different humour. Imagine creating a comedy film that no one laughed at. This was a big fear of mine, and I decided to try and weaponize it. I was going to make an inspirational comedy, about a group of boys trying to make a comedy film. Thus, my initial idea was born. As I began to plan and write my script, I included typical genre conventions. My characters were to be loveable misfits trying to make it big, doing something absurd. They’re chaotic, unrealistic, and underprepared – traits often seen in characters in slapstick comedies. Additionally, their conventions also fall under those of typical inspirational films – underdogs that triumph adversity. Beyond their character conventions, the story would include elements of absurdity – stupid stunts, outrageous ideas, etc. Once the initial piece was drafted, I realised there was an issue within my script – it didn’t fully capture that ‘inspirational’ genre. The problem arose from one of my main characters who lacked depth. While he was that comedically sceptical and sarcastic character, he was too sceptical and it didn’t feel like he had any emotional involvement. Thus, I tweaked some dialogue and scenes within the script to align with the genre that changed his character conventions. In the end, while it is not ‘Oscar-worthy’, the film the boys make is genuine. I believe that mirrored my personal approach – the script I wrote might not be perfect, but told an honest story about creative failure that provides inspiration. While the external genre constraints were expected to drive innovation, it was ultimately the self-imposed constraint of confidence that sparked my creative direction. 

References 

Bordwell, D., Thompson, K., & Smith, J. (2023). Film Art: An Introduction ISE (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education (International). https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781266507762 

Script: Michael Gee – Pure Cinema Draft 2.pdf

Introduction

When I selected ‘Constraints as Creative Fuel’ as a preference, I knew exactly what I wanted from it. A chance to improve my technical skills in the many different aspects of media video production; directing, shooting and editing, writing – with an emphasis on the last two. While varying in skill, I have some experience in all these aspects except writing – (a reason why I want to focus on it.) I really like the idea of the class itself – having constraints is something that us as media practitioners are going to have to learn to deal with. Whether that’s an ‘external constraint’ such as time, weather, money etc, or a ‘self imposed constraint’ used for creative reasons. Yet, I think the course still goes beyond this. The course prompt questions “How can limitations serve as a stimulus for inspiration and innovation?” This course isn’t going to be about just dealing with these constraints – its about producing something innovative and creative. As stated in the courses description its about “push[ing] beyond traditional boundaries.” As I mentioned before, editing and writing is something I as a media practitioner am currently drawn to and looking to improve. Editing as it was something I thoroughly enjoyed last year – I did quite a lot of it both in media 1 and my studio ‘Zephyr’ in which we produced a short documentary interviewing ‘creative types.’ Writing on the other hand, is something I have never really done. I really like the idea of writing the narrative of a film and being given the creative freedom to create something you deem as special. Furthermore, while I am not quite as interested I believe becoming more fluent with cameras and video shooting will greatly benefit my career as a media practitioner – especially with cameras such as the FX-3 which are utilised in a professional scene.

Workshop Activity 1 – Camera Exercise

The first exercise I am looking to explore occurred in Workshop 2.2. (Workshop 2, Week 2.) In this workshop, our tutour Sebastian ran us through how to shoot quality video on the Sony FX-3. He delved into the technicalities of setting up a camera, as well as some recommended settings for focus, frame rate, video quality, etc. He also instructed us on how to properly set up a tripod. The exercise then began, in which we were split into groups of 3-4 and instructed to go and shoot specific shots of things /actions. I was partnered with Ronin and Lachlan. The exercise to me personally revealed that shooting with a camera is more than just going out and shooting a shot – for instance, we were instructed to find a given shape (e.g square) and record it, which forced us to try and create a visually / aesthetically appealing shot with things as simple as an exit sign. Due to the varying shots we were given to shoot, we often had to begin to experiment with focus. To start with it was a pretty simple task, ensuring that the still image of a given shape was in focus and sharp. We could ensure this by both simply replaying the video after we recorded, but also with a utilisation of the peaking display which highlighted to us the areas which were in focus. Once we moved past these shots, we planned to do a tracking / moving shots of a subject walking. We began to consider how it would be possible to continually focus a tracking / moving shot, as the subject was constantly moving and going out of focus. Lachlan suggested utilising the auto focus, which we did end up using. On reflection, while the auto focus did provide high quality footage, I think further learning and understanding how to utilise manual will give me far more creative control perhaps allowing for better products. As a whole, this activity was a great introduction to the FX-3 and provided basic skills as well as some challenges to improve our technical abilities.

Workshop Activity 2 – Homework Editing Exercise

The second exercise I am going to explore is one in which we were instructed to edit together footage and audio captured by the varying groups in workshop 2.2. I considered this an easy enough task but some constraints put in place (the edit having to have a narrative, and the audio having to align with the rhythm of the audio imposed me with a difficult task.) The first difficulty arose in finding and creating a narrative out of the clips and audio. They were all pretty random, but after putting the clips together in Premier Pro I began to see a story. Listening through the audios then cemented it as I found one of someone coughing. I decided to have this play throughout the entirety of my piece. The clip opening with someone smoking, and then the quest of someone thinking and going to drink some water was conveyed by my utilisation of cuts and transitions. When watching everyone through in class, some of my suspicions came to light. My edit in comparison to the majority lacked a variety in audio with a constant repetition, (a deliberate choice,) yet definitely could be slightly altered. After asking some people, it was also clear that not everyone understood the narrative within my piece. Next time I would use titles or slightly longer transitions to make some ideas clearer. The exercise also served as a great refresher to my (rusty) premier pro skills. I think this exercise was also a great example of the course prompt,  “how limitations can serve as a stimulus for inspiration and innovation” as it really forced me to create a product with an interesting array of clips and audio – something I would probably typically avoid. Furthermore, seeing everyone else products in the following classes really inspired me for the next time I have to do something like this.

Primer and its constraints

Shane Carruth’s Primer (2004) is an inspiring example of the success that can be achieved even with the external constraint of an extremely low budget ($7000 USD.) The film had a skeleton crew of five people, so Carruth took on multiple roles including acting, directing, cinematography and editing. The film itself is a sci-fi concerned around the concept of time-travel, and is now considered as a cult classic by many. I’d personally assume that seeing such success within this genre would require an much larger budget, although this film demonstrates the opposite. The film is set in a suburban tract and utilises many public spaces rather than expensive film sets, yet Roger Ebert still declared that “The movie never looks cheap, because each shot looks as it must look.” This is reinforced by Carruth’s claim in an interview that  “There isn’t a shot (…) that wasn’t storyboarded” and that “the shooting ratio was so tight – it was 2:1.” I personally find this really inspiring, as it really is a demonstration that you can have great shots with really low budgets and that they won’t necessarily have to look cheap – they just have to be precise. Furthermore, Jason Silverman of Wired states that “Primer’ is a reminder that the best sci-fi action requires you to think,” truly showing that you don’t need a big budget, CGI and special effects if you can produce something innovative and thought provoking. This also leads onto the idea of a creative constraint that Carruth set in place himself; the film follows a confusing non linear time-line. While many would consider this constraint another reason for audience to struggle in understanding the already confusing concept of time travel, Carruth does it in a way that it almost forces audiences to engage with its structure like a complex puzzle (requiring them to think).  As posted by reddit user r/Necronomiconomics “Some people can’t imagine or understand Primer (…) because of its enigmatic, innovative narrative.” This specific post surrounding the film really caught my eye due to its use of the word ‘innovative,’ a key term within our courses prompt. Furthermore, I think the comment indirectly critiques many of the high budget Sci-Fi’s releasing today, which rather rely on the spectacle elements of CGI and special effects than the story itself. The film truly is innovative, and inspires me to perhaps deliberately also put these creative constraints in my work to create a piece that is imaginative and ingenious. Combining this with the other constraint of a low budget, the film truly demonstrates that a mix of constraints do not limit a film but sometimes cause it to thrive. For me this film is one of great inspiration – the praise it received despite the constraints in place really demonstrates that anyone can create a film worthy of becoming a ‘cult classic,’ it just requires precision, thought, and innovation.

References

Anders, C. J. (2016, March 15). The making of Primer: ‘Every inch of film we shot was in that movie’. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/the-making-of-primer-every-inch-of-film-we-shot-was-i-1765041544

Clawz114. (2013, March 15). Detailed explanation/timeline of Shane Carruth’s Primer. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1wxpfc/detailed_explanationtimeline_of_shane_carruths/

Ebert, R. (2004, October 28). Primer puzzles, fascinates with paradox. RogerEbert.com. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/primer-2004

Murray, R. (2004, October 21). Interview with Shane Carruth from Primer. About.com. https://web.archive.org/web/20110824135851/http://movies.about.com/od/primer/a/primer102104_4.htm

Silverman, J. (n.d.). The year’s most effective science fiction film: ‘Primer’ is a reminder that the best sci-fi action requires you to think. Wired. https://web.archive.org/web/20131014192528/http://www.eddistribution.com/en/film.php?id_film=67#p1

Word Count (1090)

Reflecting on my overall experience within the Zephyr studio, it is important to note the skills and attributes the course has provided me with for my personal journey as a media practitioner. This is to be explored as I analyze the final piece I submitted as well as the studio as a whole. 

How your work engages the audience and communicates a key studio concern. 

The production process for this short documentary began at the very beginning of the semester in which we were split into groups of four and required to deconstruct the studio pitch deck. My group consisted of Maria, Adia and Kenza, all of whom I had never met before. The main concern of the studio (according to the Pitch Deck) is to create “a raw, gritty docuseries that pulls back the curtain on Melbourne’s Gen Z and Millennials’ underground creative scene.” I believe that our work successfully meets this studio concern, as we explore a small aspiring Gen Z rapper attempting to establish a voice within Melbourne’s rap scene. Our documentary achieves this via an engaging mix of edited A-roll and B-roll shots exploring Pei’s creative journey as a rapper. We managed to visualize our story through our B-roll, which contained a ‘camcorder aesthetic’ to match Pei’s music videos and brand. Furthermore, an inclusion of snippets from Pei’s music videos and samples provided audiences with an insight into his work and added authenticity to our own. All these elements contribute to an engaging piece of work. 

Key Takeaways. 

I believe the best part of this studio is the fact that it not only taught us the technical aspects required to produce a documentary, but also investigated other considerations that would go into creating one in a professional setting. Looking from a technical standpoint, across the semester we began to experiment with technical aspects such as lighting and cinematography. The camera we utilized (Sony FX-3) took some getting used to, as we made many mistakes surrounding the camera’s settings (ISO, white balance, aperture) that allowed us to refine our skills and knowledge. We also made mistakes in regard to sound and lighting but managed to tackle it rather quickly and ensured our skills were proficient for our final. This knowledge and skills are extremely valuable when producing screen-based media. 

From an industry perspective, the studio essentially imitated the production process of making a documentary and provided me with an understanding of what goes into pitching and producing one. For instance, pitching our creative idea to the panel not only provided us with creative considerations, especially in regard to addressing the pitch deck, but also allowed me to understand what pitches of products would look like as I move into a more professional scene as a media practitioner. Each assignment similarly provided a more professional insight into the production process of a professional documentary. I believe as aspiring media professionals this insight is extremely valuable and is certainly an valuable takeaway. 

Positives and negatives of the documentary. 

Looking to our documentary, there were certainly a mix of problematic and successful aspects within our final work. I believe the few main problems we had ultimately stemmed from our filming of A-roll and B-roll. Firstly, it felt as though we were rather limited in terms of the amount of B-roll we had and perhaps should have produced more on our day of filming. I feel as though this is evident in our final as there is sections where A-roll shots last slightly too long. Secondly, there is an obvious flicker in our A-roll shots. While I believe to an extent this adds to the ‘camcorder aesthetic,’  it would have been better without it. This issue arises when the refresh rate of the camera is higher than that of the lighting, and since we had not before filmed within their studio, we were unaware of this issue until following filming. Perhaps doing a test trial of filming in the future could improve this aspect of our product. Beyond these problems, our video also had many successes. Following feedback from the panel in assignment three, it was clear our video felt very authentic. This is due to utilizing a lot of footage from Pei’s music videos as well as samples from his music to provide this authenticity. Mixing this with the ‘camcorder’ B-roll really drove home the aesthetic we were chasing. Furthermore, I believe the final A-roll cut we had successfully communicated the main studio concerns and authentically captured Pei’s creative process. 

If given more time… 

If given more time, I believe refining our editing skills could have made the biggest impact. Perhaps given more time and lessons within the studio, I believe they would have certainly improved beyond what we were taught. For instance, an initial edit of mine attempted to color grade the A roll to match the aesthetic of Pei Wesley’s music videos. After receiving feedback from my group and personally reflecting, I decided it was wise to remove it as it had an almost ‘tacky’ and insincere feeling to it. While it was hard to note exactly what was wrong with the color grade, having more proficient technical skills would have allowed me to achieve the outcome I desired. These technical skills could have pushed our product beyond what was expected of it. 

Main takeaways from group work. 

I think the main takeaway from collaborative work in this studio is ensuring good communication. As students with busy lives, we had to ensure constant and thorough communication so each of us understood what was required of us – especially as people who did not know each other very well. We achieved this via apples iMessage system. This allowed us to to  clarify expectations and understand the teams’ goals. Additionally, having an open communication platform outside of class time allowed us to both keep each other accountable to the work we had to produce, but also ensured we could communicate on any challenges we may be facing therefore reducing the risk of any misunderstandings. Having this system for communication also meant we could respond to any issues other members would have very fast. An example of this is when Kenza was struggling in exporting our final product due to iCloud issues, and we could all provide support and information to fix it in which we eventually did. 

Overall, my experience in the Zephyr studio has equipped me with the abilities to propose and produce a documentary to a professional standard, ensuring that I have the skills and knowledge to do so. 

This week was utilised primarily to finish our final product. Following the feedback from the panel, our group caught up with one another to decide on our final story / storyboard we were going to utilise. Adia also shared music of Pei Wesley (our creative) so we could add more authenticity to our product (as instructed by the panel.) Other than that the week was essentially utilised for finishing A4.

This week was utilised for a3, in which we had to present to a panel and our products were to be critiqued. The ILO for this assignment was to “Make a case for editing decisions as a group in response to the studio brief, and critically demonstrate its validity at a professional level through a multimodal presentation that effectively integrates verbal explanations and visual evidence.” We rehearsed on the Tuesday to Seth and our peers to recieve feedback. Our group was a little behind so we utilised both feedback to our own short presentation, but also considered what others were told. We then presented to the panel on the Thursday which was reasonably successful. They provided valuable feedback which we are to now utilise in producing our final product.