EXPERIMENTAL FILM documents

This is planning from an earlier stage of the idea in which the actress actually decontructs the scene's forms here self by 'attacking' various crew members.

corridor
sound mixer	shouts at him	levels get fucked
composer	threatens to destroy ukulele	music goes
sound recordist	shoves him out of the way	sound gradually goes the further she moves away subs from then on
colourist	shove	colour goes
focus puller	pushes face	focus is out
grip	takes the camera off streadicam	camera is shaky from then on
Set
script supervisor	rips script up in front of them	subs become jumbled
editor	"Stop it!"	one shot from then on
props master	throws props at him	no more props
set designer	rips down backdrop	no backdrop
costume designer	takes off costume	no costume
gaffer	turns light off	poor lighting
director	slap	ends

The 'basic' scene script

This is the script for the 'base' scene of the film, off which all the others will work The scene is written, and will be filmed in way that is quite 'standard' so that it may then contrast with the other experimental versions of itself.

Scenario - woman wants to get out of cramped relationship. She wants to go out and live life, and feels that the man is imprisoning her.

Woman enters with an air of seriousness.  Man is nonchalantly sitting among his mountain of kindles!

Woman:

listen we need to talk

man:

(not really listening) oh yeah-

woman:

bob for now, please listen

man:

(puts down mountain of kindles)

what is it?

woman:

I can't do this anymore

man:

how do you mean?

Woman:

you're suffocating me, I can't-

 man:

I- I don't understand

woman:

I need some space,

Man

(laughs smuglyish)

stop being melodramatic you've got everything you need here-

Woman

no. I want to get out and live life. I can't just stay inside and let life pass me by. you're too reliant on everything. i- i- I can't live like you do.

Man:

(insulted)

what do you mean, "like I do". I live like any normal person.

Woman:

you don’t live like a person at all! it's like your on life support or something. you think you're some sort of genius but the truth is, you can't really do anything for yourself bob for now

man:

(speechless for a second) i don’t…

woman

you have it too… 'cosy' here. it's fake

(man still speechless)

Woman

I don’t want it 'cosy', life isnt like that

Man

(realising gravity of situation)

no, please. I can change

Woman:

(looks out of window)

no. you can't.

(starts towards door)

man:

(desperate)

you wouldn’t be able to go on without me. you need me. you can't leave and expect things to be better. you can't make it on your own. you-

woman:

i'm sorry. it's over.

(leaves)

EXPERIMENTAL FILM

So the word for the film is 'Form'. As in film form. In our film we will be playing with the various of film form, e.g. sound, lighting, gesture, costume, colour, editing etc. The idea is to explore the idea as extensively as possible by repeating a scene again and again, but the 'message' of the clip, while remaining the same from each repetition, will change in the way its told e.g. told through colour in one, then composition in the next. Bela Balazs has been a great influence on the idea, through his essays on the topic of film formalism, as has Sergei Eisenstein for the same reason.

Planning and Script for Sense of Space

EDITING THE SENSE OF SPACE

Editing the sense of space was an extremely efficient task, one which the group did very well. The tram backing tacks were assembled first, adjusting levels if needed. The the dialogue was assembled over this backing track. The levels on the backing track had to be turned down to accommodate the dialogue tracks. There was no real problems during the editing, merely just making sure levels did not go to high essentially, see picture.

SENSE OF SPACE: CHANGE OF DIRECTION

The idea for the project has changed. We have now ditched the fast paced 'Arctic Monkeys' style story as it was thought that this approach was without enough artistic merit and would merely be an exercise in collecting sounds and compiling them. the new idea portrays a character and his world. The piece consists of a backing track of ‘tram noise’ overlaid by the characters dialogue to the audience. The character in question is a pensioner who likes to ride the trams, frequently we assume, in order the get away from things in his everyday life (he alludes to this in dialogue). The man shows a kind of melancholy attitude to the modern world and a penchant for the past. The man himself is only portrayed through his own dialogue, the world, of the trams, is there as backdrop and to compliment the creation of his character.


INFLUENCE: Many of the influences from the initial project have carried over. Mr Scruff's music has been of particular interest. His tracks 'Shanty Town', 'Fish' and 'Ahoy There' specifically. These tracks use a mix of backing track, in this case music, and dialogue snippets to create storeys. These storeys are often quite melancholic and calm sounding, which is something we would like to achieve.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQH3nFmaIFk


Recordist Paul Williams has also been of notable influence. His 1999 collection of recordings, 'Santa Pod', have had a great influence on the idea for the backing track of the track. William's recordings are of a day at the races, drag races to be specific. The what you might describe as pure documentary in that they purely record the sounds of the day at the races. I intend to record the tram backing track in much the same way.

AUDIO PROJECT PLANS

We plan to make a three minute audio track that explores the sense of a city specifically a northern Yorkshire town, morning to night to morning. The track will be planned around a man’s day in the city and all the events he attend and encounters. The track will aim to show the hustle and bustle of city life and punctuate it with things that distinguish it as a Yorkshire town. It will try to get across a collection of events that characterise a modern man’s average day, albeit in an overloading way.  The track will take the structure of:

Morning:  waking up, taking a phone call, getting dressed and dashing out

Town: dashing through the town, past cars, down alleys, being shouted out

Work: Typing, taking phone calls, avoiding the boss

Pub: drinking, laughing playing the fruit machine

Home: getting ready to go out with friends

Taxi: screeching off, laughs

Club: music pumping, ‘suggestive’ dialogue, in the toilet

Taxi and Kebab house, witness a fight, more suggestive talk

Sex scene: quick and leading into;

Morning 2: reapeat of first scene

Sounds typical of the track will be; horns, people shouting (in south Yorkshire accents), footsteps, car noises, phones ringing and dustbins and bottles rattling.

The track may be accompanied by a backing track, most likely percussion, however will try to create a beat and rhythm using the recorded sounds, using a simple 4/4 beat. Sound will take the structure of a crescendo using the sex scene as a climax.

Influences include D.A. Pennebaker’s ‘Daybreak Express’, music artist Mr Scruff, writer Jack Kerouac and Jacques Demy’s Lola, The Arctic Monkeys, and recordist Paul Williams.