Main Project Experimental Film Treatment

We have decided to combine ideas for our experimental film and shoot an almost 'nature vs. industrial' film. We are planning to film shots of nature, in areas such as Grindleford- we are also planning to use a GoPro to shoot some down stream shots. We will also be going to Drax power plant to make use of the industrial landscape, and on the way back in the dark film some motorway shots. 

For the sounds we were wanted some archive sounds of children playing and laughing to juxtapose the imagery of the industrial landscape. Nature sounds will also be a likely accompaniment, and since the workshop on scratching film we have been wanting to use a clockwork camera for the sounds that they create to use in our piece.

Treatment

 

'Innocence of Youth'

A short film showing a collective shots of landscapes from urban and rural that show the difference between the two settings; showing the environment and how it changes the world we live in. We want to incorporate archive footage of a family home video linking the idea to our title with the children of today being over taken by the world and not seeing things the way they should; in the country getting more of a sense of life. It will show the comparison of the two worlds which separate the world we live in, distorting the two settings between each other.

The industrial places we feel will capture our idea well will be, Sheffield steelworks, motorways, city buildings and power stations (Newark or Drax). The other locations will be mostly filmed in and around Grindleford which is located just outside Sheffield in the countryside. We will start with the sounds and imagery of children and the countryside, before moving onto the industrial half of the film, where the film will now be interspersed with images of archive and industry.

Here are some images of nature which we would like to capture in the film:

 

 

 

 

We will be using DSLR cameras and maybe a Go-Pro for the motorway industrial scenes that we plan to film. The go-pro will be very handy for this, and will be versatile for the shots we are hoping to get outside of the moving car. We are hoping to shoot this particular scene on the way back from the filming at the power plant and then if we don’t get enough footage for this, on another day. We are hoping that the piece will be thought provoking, and will make the audience question about the human impact on the Earth’s ecosystems and biomes that are slowly being destroyed and changed because of our species.

This juxtaposition between nature and industrial is one that we have looked at in many short films such as ‘Foxes’ by Lorcan Finnegan. The way industrialisation brushes up against nature is something that can’t be ignored and that will be apparent in our film. Colour will also be important, so we will be trying to get as much of the colour palette of nature vs. the colour palette of man-made structures is something vital. This should get the main theme of our film across in quite a concise way to the viewer, there will be no way that it could be mistaken.

1 Minute Film and Presentation

I have since changed my idea for my short experimental film. I instead filmed paint dripping onto leaves instead of rain for my idea of a colourful and toxic ecosystem. I filmed it in a park not too far from where I am living in Sheffield and got a friend to assist me in the pouring of the paint. 

I also got some really beautiful still shots of the plants after they had been doused with paint. I wanted to capture beauty with my 1 minute static film and I hope I really did. The problem is that I only really got the beauty, no real substance, which I wanted to gain. 

When I went in for my tutorial, the idea of working with a power station was suggested and I found this something to really think about. Some of the experimental films I had taken inspiration from had relied heavily on other locations, but as mine is a single shot I found it much harder. I think having a man made structure in the background would be a good idea, and refilming it to be in a space that is much less noisy is also a good idea.

Some of the inspirations I had came from 'Foxes' by Lorcan Finnegan, shown here. Although technically this is a live action almost drama piece, the shots and the cinematography of the nature are the things I was focusing most on when I watched it and allowed myself to become enamoured with the piece. This has been a particularly hard exercise for me, as I haven't been entirely sure what I was wanting to show until I started to look at the effects of man on nature.

My original idea had been almost drama like, but I had realised that there was nothing that would have stopped me from making the film that I had planned in the drama module, which showed that it was the wrong thing to make for an experimental. Therefore, I started to look around at things I was passionate about and the environment is one of them.

Another film I was inspired by, but involved a lot of archive footage was 'Humans and the Nature' shown here, which I think really shows gritty and hard footage of the world with humans interference (e.g. nuclear warfare) and it really hit home for me the concerns of environmental damage that's happening because of our species. This was something that I wanted to portray in my own film, and I'm not sure I'm 100% there yet, but will mention this in my presentation.

References

Foxes (2011) Short Film. Dir. Lorcan Finnegan, Lovely Productions, Ireland.
Humans and the Nature (2011) Short Experimental. Dir. Clement. Self Produced.

Film Workshop

In our workshop today we learnt how to scratch and draw onto film to create a reel of film. Every 24 frames is 1 second, and we spent time drawing onto clear film and then played it through the Steenbeck. I learnt a lot this session as before I was totally clueless as to how any cameraless film was made. I now know that there are many ways that film can be made without a camera, with not just drawing on the clear film stock but scratching at black film stock.

George Eastman of Kodak was one of the first people to develop and begin using film stock in 1878 (1). The fact that film became more and more mainstream in the 1900's in cinema reels showed that this way of making film was accessible and although took a long time to create a film they were shown in the cinema and are still created now.

It was fascinating to learn how to use the Steenbeck, including how to set it up to play back the films we made in class. I made a 5 second film and was pleased by how it turned out. Although I know that its not something that I would pursue as an active way of making film it has given me the experience and knowledge for if I ever do need to use it or need to teach someone else.

(1) Kodak. (Unknown). History of Kodak 1878-1929. Available: http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Our_Company/History_of_Kodak/Milestones_-_chronology/1878-1929.htm. Last accessed 4th Nov 2014.