The film is relatively organised to an extent. I feel as though we could have added more details in the transitions between scenes for the sake of continuity. For instance, when she goes from the outside of the church to the basement interior, there's no trace of snow on her coat or sound effects to suggest she's in a church. The central theme is well conveyed with the use of multiple static shots of various things in her environment that emphasise the spiritual iconography. We do this by shooting close up, shallow depth of field shots of candles, buddha statues, books relating to spirituality, spiritual quotes, 'snake oil' spiritual products, and incense sticks. Stereotypes are reinforced in my film because of these shots. We tried to think of the most stereotypical iconic products that would be found in a persons house, were that person obsessed with spirituality. This way, the short duration of the film still allows for easy development of the character, as the iconography is easily identifiable.
Thursday, 26 January 2017
EVALUATION
The film is intended for entertainment as well as for information. It serves to explain how the Lacanian theory of the 'Lack' works. In this case, the main character is obsessed with spirituality, and the idea of 'finding herself'.
The film is relatively organised to an extent. I feel as though we could have added more details in the transitions between scenes for the sake of continuity. For instance, when she goes from the outside of the church to the basement interior, there's no trace of snow on her coat or sound effects to suggest she's in a church. The central theme is well conveyed with the use of multiple static shots of various things in her environment that emphasise the spiritual iconography. We do this by shooting close up, shallow depth of field shots of candles, buddha statues, books relating to spirituality, spiritual quotes, 'snake oil' spiritual products, and incense sticks. Stereotypes are reinforced in my film because of these shots. We tried to think of the most stereotypical iconic products that would be found in a persons house, were that person obsessed with spirituality. This way, the short duration of the film still allows for easy development of the character, as the iconography is easily identifiable.
We used most of our filming time arranging lighting in the rooms, using as many lamps as we could find and positioning them in ways to create subtle yet effective lighting. The scene where the girl is doing yoga is a great example of how we manipulated the light in the room to achieve specific lighting. We had two lamps on the floor, creating two shadows of her as she did yoga, to suggest that she did not see herself as complete, or whole. Then later in the film there's a shot which focuses on one shadow, which happens at the same time she gets the email telling her she's successfully 'found herself'. The downside to this is that after the yoga shot, the lights return to normal, creating a mellow, even light throughout the room. This is yet again an issue with continuity. If we were to do it again, we would keep the lighting the same all the way through.
The lighting in the cellar appeared fine while we were filming, we would move candles closer to the actors face to acheive a brighter shot, however after comparing it to the rest of the footage we realised that we should have introduced more light into the frame. It now stands out in the footage. The sound is almost perfect in our footage. There's barely any background noise thanks to careful arrangement of locations and editing. The background is only distracting at one point throughout the whole film, this is when the girl takes her phone out of her pocket, you can clearly see props behind her. We didn't notice this until we revised the footage when we got home, next time we'd make sure to hide any props. Contrast between the back and foreground is done well in some parts and very badly in others. For instance, in the basement scene there's some parallel editing that takes place between two people. One person transitions from high key lighting to heavy back lighting, turning them into a silhouette, with high contrast between back and foreground, whereas the other person basically blended into the background because the lighting was so bad. We attempted to put a candle next to their face but it still didn't work.
The film is relatively organised to an extent. I feel as though we could have added more details in the transitions between scenes for the sake of continuity. For instance, when she goes from the outside of the church to the basement interior, there's no trace of snow on her coat or sound effects to suggest she's in a church. The central theme is well conveyed with the use of multiple static shots of various things in her environment that emphasise the spiritual iconography. We do this by shooting close up, shallow depth of field shots of candles, buddha statues, books relating to spirituality, spiritual quotes, 'snake oil' spiritual products, and incense sticks. Stereotypes are reinforced in my film because of these shots. We tried to think of the most stereotypical iconic products that would be found in a persons house, were that person obsessed with spirituality. This way, the short duration of the film still allows for easy development of the character, as the iconography is easily identifiable.
26/01/17
We've finished filming all the footage and after looking over it we decided to just use the footage we shot rather than filming it again. The footage turned out to be better than we thought.
Monday, 23 January 2017
23/01/17
I'll have to act if she can't which means the film will be lower quality
We can cram it into the weekend but it will miss the deadline
Friday, 20 January 2017
THINGS WE NEED FOR FILM
-lots of tealights and candles
-spiritual stuff from b&m/poundland/healthfood shop
-snakeoil stuff from healthfood shop
-spiritual stuff from b&m/poundland/healthfood shop
-snakeoil stuff from healthfood shop
STORYBOARD
1.
In her house; meditating, making green tea, incense, spiritual music, shots of wall covered in spiritual shit.
looks in mirror every chance she gets to tell herself;
-I am not a drop in an ocean, I am the ocean in a drop
-I am the light inside myself
-To know others, I must first truly know myself
-I am a spiritual being having a human experience, not a human being having a spiritual experience.
followed by a static shot of her reflection at an opposite angle with a blank face
gets a call while meditating
its her friend asking how the job interview was
she says the aura was off and her chakras were all over the shop
roommate has a go and she tells her she's on a journey of self discovery and can't waste time working
she hangs up because the energy was bringing her down
"I need to buy a tapestry"
looking for one online, calls up the seller to make sure it's organic and fair-trade
during call, static shots of things in room that show she's obsessed and broke such as snake oil things, and bills
put them on weird angles to show she's off
she stops mid sentence and sees something in the room that is a sign from her god, telling her she needs to find herself outside in the wilderness
2.
[montage starts]
goes on a trek in the woods, then realises the woods are too small, and sees an Iceland bag which makes her think she needs to go there
3.
montage continues with shots of her in Iceland
enters huge church
4.
continues into cellar where theres loads of candles and a big mirror
In her house; meditating, making green tea, incense, spiritual music, shots of wall covered in spiritual shit.
looks in mirror every chance she gets to tell herself;
-I am not a drop in an ocean, I am the ocean in a drop
-I am the light inside myself
-To know others, I must first truly know myself
-I am a spiritual being having a human experience, not a human being having a spiritual experience.
followed by a static shot of her reflection at an opposite angle with a blank face
gets a call while meditating
its her friend asking how the job interview was
she says the aura was off and her chakras were all over the shop
roommate has a go and she tells her she's on a journey of self discovery and can't waste time working
she hangs up because the energy was bringing her down
"I need to buy a tapestry"
looking for one online, calls up the seller to make sure it's organic and fair-trade
during call, static shots of things in room that show she's obsessed and broke such as snake oil things, and bills
put them on weird angles to show she's off
she stops mid sentence and sees something in the room that is a sign from her god, telling her she needs to find herself outside in the wilderness
2.
[montage starts]
goes on a trek in the woods, then realises the woods are too small, and sees an Iceland bag which makes her think she needs to go there
3.
montage continues with shots of her in Iceland
enters huge church
4.
continues into cellar where theres loads of candles and a big mirror
MULVEY THEORY
Film fascinates us through images and spectacle. Mulvey uses psychoanalysis to discover where and how the fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascinating already at work within the individual subject. = spectator. She says she is using psychoanalytic theory as a political weapon. Suggests that women's bodies are fragmented by the camera for the pleasure of the male. Hollywood; codes the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order.
Scopophilia; pleasure in looking
-examples of the private and curious gaze, children's voyeurism, cinematic looking
-looking at the human form and the face and breaking it down.
'women as the image, men as the bearer of the look'
-pleasure in looking split between active/male and passive female
-women connote – 'to-be-looked-at-ness'
-the visual presence of women 'works against the development of a storyline, freezes the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation'
The woman functions as both erotic object for the characters within the screen story and erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium (object of fantasy). The spectator is led to identify with the main male protagonist. 'the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look'. The male gaze and fetishistic scopophilia in le mepris/vivre sa vie
scopophilia is the force driving the movements and positioning of the camera the gaze is male,
and the spectator is led to identify with this male gaze the cinematic apparatus is not gender-neutral (in later readings, camera can also register differences of sexuality)
MULVEY ANALYSIS
the first clip here shows the scene in 'Mean girls' where they do a 'sexy' dance for the christmas concert. Scopophilia and fragmentation is demonstrated here through the use of fast cuts and rhythmic editing to accentuate certain actions, for instance; whenever the girls slap a body part, or pull a provocative pose to the rhythm of the music, the camera cuts to a closer shot, to get a better look, or they simply change to a reaction shot. When you see how her parents react when they slap their legs, you feel more vouyeuristic seeing as you have access to viewpoints beyond the reaches of the audience in the film. When the girls move their butts in a sexual way, the camera also cuts to a shot from behind.
By using dolly panning shots, we are also subconsciously objectifying the women. These shots are associated with adverts and the presentation of products, such as cars turning on a stage on a quiz show, or a slow pan of a product on tv. The lights around them and the spotlights especially which provide backlighting, create an angelic look, almost putting them on an unattainable pedestal, which is emphasised by the fact they're on a stage.
The sound in this scene also emphasises the scopophilia. Every time they slap something the sound is heard very clearly, whereas if some other dance was presented in a film, they would usually edit it out and increase the volume of the music. This is done to create an awkward effect, it encourages the viewers to come to terms with the brutal awkwardness of the overtly sexual 17 year olds doing a stripper-esque dance in front of their parents.
Scopophilia; pleasure in looking
-examples of the private and curious gaze, children's voyeurism, cinematic looking
-looking at the human form and the face and breaking it down.
'women as the image, men as the bearer of the look'
-pleasure in looking split between active/male and passive female
-women connote – 'to-be-looked-at-ness'
-the visual presence of women 'works against the development of a storyline, freezes the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation'
The woman functions as both erotic object for the characters within the screen story and erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium (object of fantasy). The spectator is led to identify with the main male protagonist. 'the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look'. The male gaze and fetishistic scopophilia in le mepris/vivre sa vie
scopophilia is the force driving the movements and positioning of the camera the gaze is male,
and the spectator is led to identify with this male gaze the cinematic apparatus is not gender-neutral (in later readings, camera can also register differences of sexuality)
MULVEY ANALYSIS
the first clip here shows the scene in 'Mean girls' where they do a 'sexy' dance for the christmas concert. Scopophilia and fragmentation is demonstrated here through the use of fast cuts and rhythmic editing to accentuate certain actions, for instance; whenever the girls slap a body part, or pull a provocative pose to the rhythm of the music, the camera cuts to a closer shot, to get a better look, or they simply change to a reaction shot. When you see how her parents react when they slap their legs, you feel more vouyeuristic seeing as you have access to viewpoints beyond the reaches of the audience in the film. When the girls move their butts in a sexual way, the camera also cuts to a shot from behind.
By using dolly panning shots, we are also subconsciously objectifying the women. These shots are associated with adverts and the presentation of products, such as cars turning on a stage on a quiz show, or a slow pan of a product on tv. The lights around them and the spotlights especially which provide backlighting, create an angelic look, almost putting them on an unattainable pedestal, which is emphasised by the fact they're on a stage.
The sound in this scene also emphasises the scopophilia. Every time they slap something the sound is heard very clearly, whereas if some other dance was presented in a film, they would usually edit it out and increase the volume of the music. This is done to create an awkward effect, it encourages the viewers to come to terms with the brutal awkwardness of the overtly sexual 17 year olds doing a stripper-esque dance in front of their parents.
LACANIAN THEORY
THE LACK
Initially Lacan proposed that the mirror phase was part of an infants development from the age of 6 to 18 months. In the early 1950's Lacan's concept of the mirror stage had evolved, he no longer considered the mirror stage as a moment in the life of the infant, but as representing a permanent structure of subjectivity, or as the paradigm of "imaginary order". Lacan created the idea of "lack" and that it causes desires to arise.
"desire is a relation to being to lack. The lack is the lack of being properly speaking. It is not the lack of this or that, but the "lack" of being whereby the being exists"
This is similar to the Freudian approach of ID acting on the hedonistic lifestyle whereas the superego acts on moral principles and what "lack" related to is the ego which is in between. from a Freudian approach, the "lack" of hedonistic features strive us to act on moral principles and vice versa. A lack is something you can never fulfil. The lack drives the desire. Forever out of reach.
GRIZZLY MAN Analysis
He feels he has to die to achieve what he wants. Geade describes it as his paradox. He thinks he needs to mutate to become one with the bears.
Constantly trying to talk to them expecting a response. Or expecting them to understand.
He's deluded himself into thinking he knows the animals, he sees a fox and names it 'Spirit'. In a video a few days later, he sees another fox, and says "Oh hey it's Spirit". It's not the same fox. By making these videos he has an outlet by which to delude himself. If he were there alone, he'd probably still be talking to himself(the camera) just as much, however with the camera there, he's actively convincing himself of everything he's saying.
He doesn’t stop til he's dead. This attitude is a part of his personality, he mentions how his obsession before the bears was alcohol, and he says it would have killed him. In this sense, by turning to the bears, he found a way to channel his obsessive personality to another high-risk, potentially lethal pastime.
He had one aspiration to be an actor and when that lack wasn't fulfilled he changed it.
It's hard to connect the technical aspects of this film to the laconian theory as it's found footage, however, the way that Treadwell lingers in the shot well after he's spoken, and the silence during this, shows there's this huge space he's constantly trying to fill.
MIRROR STAGE
Another thing that Lacan created was the 'Mirror Stage'. It's a theory that suggests that infants development revolves around their own image, and their discovery of this. It developed from this into a; representation of a permanent structure of subjectivity, or as the paradigm of 'imaginary order. This suggests that the more a person explores their own image, the more lost they become in their own identity. A great example of this projected onto film is the mirror scene in the matrix.
Visually, you see Neo become more interested in his own reflection, the diegetic music features sustained high pitch violins, which encourages suspense and intrigue. Then he touches the mirror, and it literally attaches to him, suggesting that he's become ensnared into coming to terms with his own image, and the way he sees himself. This is especially fitting since this scene marks the point in the film where Neo is officially reborn into the real world, he's having to start seeing things differently.
After Neo pulls his hand away, and he's officially 'tainted' with the mirror substance on his hands, the camera cuts to the very first shot of the room, through the reflection of the mirror which has become warped, this shows that - as Lacan suggests - Neo has been forced to reevaluate his image, and now the camera is illustrating how everything from now on is different.
Initially Lacan proposed that the mirror phase was part of an infants development from the age of 6 to 18 months. In the early 1950's Lacan's concept of the mirror stage had evolved, he no longer considered the mirror stage as a moment in the life of the infant, but as representing a permanent structure of subjectivity, or as the paradigm of "imaginary order". Lacan created the idea of "lack" and that it causes desires to arise.
"desire is a relation to being to lack. The lack is the lack of being properly speaking. It is not the lack of this or that, but the "lack" of being whereby the being exists"
This is similar to the Freudian approach of ID acting on the hedonistic lifestyle whereas the superego acts on moral principles and what "lack" related to is the ego which is in between. from a Freudian approach, the "lack" of hedonistic features strive us to act on moral principles and vice versa. A lack is something you can never fulfil. The lack drives the desire. Forever out of reach.
GRIZZLY MAN Analysis
He feels he has to die to achieve what he wants. Geade describes it as his paradox. He thinks he needs to mutate to become one with the bears.
Constantly trying to talk to them expecting a response. Or expecting them to understand.
He's deluded himself into thinking he knows the animals, he sees a fox and names it 'Spirit'. In a video a few days later, he sees another fox, and says "Oh hey it's Spirit". It's not the same fox. By making these videos he has an outlet by which to delude himself. If he were there alone, he'd probably still be talking to himself(the camera) just as much, however with the camera there, he's actively convincing himself of everything he's saying.
He doesn’t stop til he's dead. This attitude is a part of his personality, he mentions how his obsession before the bears was alcohol, and he says it would have killed him. In this sense, by turning to the bears, he found a way to channel his obsessive personality to another high-risk, potentially lethal pastime.
He had one aspiration to be an actor and when that lack wasn't fulfilled he changed it.
It's hard to connect the technical aspects of this film to the laconian theory as it's found footage, however, the way that Treadwell lingers in the shot well after he's spoken, and the silence during this, shows there's this huge space he's constantly trying to fill.
MIRROR STAGE
Another thing that Lacan created was the 'Mirror Stage'. It's a theory that suggests that infants development revolves around their own image, and their discovery of this. It developed from this into a; representation of a permanent structure of subjectivity, or as the paradigm of 'imaginary order. This suggests that the more a person explores their own image, the more lost they become in their own identity. A great example of this projected onto film is the mirror scene in the matrix.
Visually, you see Neo become more interested in his own reflection, the diegetic music features sustained high pitch violins, which encourages suspense and intrigue. Then he touches the mirror, and it literally attaches to him, suggesting that he's become ensnared into coming to terms with his own image, and the way he sees himself. This is especially fitting since this scene marks the point in the film where Neo is officially reborn into the real world, he's having to start seeing things differently.
After Neo pulls his hand away, and he's officially 'tainted' with the mirror substance on his hands, the camera cuts to the very first shot of the room, through the reflection of the mirror which has become warped, this shows that - as Lacan suggests - Neo has been forced to reevaluate his image, and now the camera is illustrating how everything from now on is different.
Thursday, 19 January 2017
SPIRITUAL THINGS TO INCLUDE IN FILM
Lots of quotes on her wall
Always reciting quotes to other people
Long shot of her looking at nothing from behind to show she's a bit off
Roommate asking her when she's gonna get a job and she's like no I need to find myself first
No other visible people in the film to convey her loneliness
Keeps seeing signs from 'God' in mundane things
Subscribed to weekly things and gets an email saying congratulations you have officially reached enlightenment.
More and more extravagant spiritual things as the film progresses. She joins the breatharian cult and ends up starving herself, she's sat on the bed all ill and gets the email
Always reciting quotes to other people
Long shot of her looking at nothing from behind to show she's a bit off
Roommate asking her when she's gonna get a job and she's like no I need to find myself first
No other visible people in the film to convey her loneliness
Keeps seeing signs from 'God' in mundane things
Subscribed to weekly things and gets an email saying congratulations you have officially reached enlightenment.
More and more extravagant spiritual things as the film progresses. She joins the breatharian cult and ends up starving herself, she's sat on the bed all ill and gets the email
Friday, 13 January 2017
Friday, 6 January 2017
Thursday, 5 January 2017
NARRATIVE IDEAS FOR FILM
-My film features the Id and Conners is the Ego. The superego features in both films.
-Main character has a lack. He's always wanted to travel the world and finally has enough money, he arrives in Iceland for the first time, and it's not that great.
-Guy hates his family and girlfriend and wants to live alone and be self sufficient, living off the land or something. Whole film is about him hating being around other people, he then quits his job, breaks up with his girlfriend, and goes to live in Iceland. He gets there and he regrets it, and wants some company.
Ties in with ^^^^^vvvvv
-The guys girlfriend is obsessed with him and follows him around, is suicidal when he breaks up with her, she follows him to Iceland and just like watches him or something.
-Documentary on bjork
-Obsessed with spirituality and finding themselves only to meet themselves and find out they're a bit of a dick
-Post apocalyptic, discussing weather they can stay alive - Freudian
-Leif ericson
-Main character has a lack. He's always wanted to travel the world and finally has enough money, he arrives in Iceland for the first time, and it's not that great.
-Guy hates his family and girlfriend and wants to live alone and be self sufficient, living off the land or something. Whole film is about him hating being around other people, he then quits his job, breaks up with his girlfriend, and goes to live in Iceland. He gets there and he regrets it, and wants some company.
Ties in with ^^^^^vvvvv
-The guys girlfriend is obsessed with him and follows him around, is suicidal when he breaks up with her, she follows him to Iceland and just like watches him or something.
-Documentary on bjork
-Obsessed with spirituality and finding themselves only to meet themselves and find out they're a bit of a dick
-Post apocalyptic, discussing weather they can stay alive - Freudian
-Leif ericson
RESOURCES FOR FILM
Cellar
Small bar
Canal boat
Iceland
-blue lagoon
-hotel room
-boat
-northern lights
Large house
Car
Train Station
Small bar
Canal boat
Iceland
-blue lagoon
-hotel room
-boat
-northern lights
Large house
Car
Train Station
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