Nathaniel Dorsky's Devotional Cinema likens watching a film to religion, recounts certain films that had a great effect on him, and what makes a good film.
Honestly, most of this book confused me. I can see the points Dorsky is trying to make but he has a tendancy to ramble without giving much argument for his point. According to Dorsky, good film sticks with you, makes you think, and opens up humans to one another. His first main example is Rossellini's Voyage to Italy and how in the elevator ride afterwards people were crying and more open to one another than after most films. I agree that certain films do open us up, make us think, connect us with one another, and can even heal us, but I feel that Dorsky spends too much time on how bad most cinema is. His ideas about good cinema are there, but they are shrouded among several ideas of what make bad cinema.
Overall, Dorsky states that a good film revels in the miracle that is reality, lives in the now, has motivated shots and cuts, and makes us appreciate life and humility while being open much like religion should. Again, I agree, but I don't see why he couldn't have said that in a short essay instead of cluttering about 50 pages.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Proposal revised
The concept that we want to explore with this project is how sound can affect a person's perception and/or mood while watching a film. We want to explore how sound can lead a person to feel a certain way about an image they are seeing.
In essence, what we want to do is an audio kuleshov experiment. Where Kuleshov worked with visuals, we will work with audio. In multiple segments, we want to show a variety of images and/or little scenes and then replay them with changes in the sound design and drastic changes in the score. We will show these segments in a way that mimics changing channels on a television. We'll show a segment and then "change the channel" and then eventually come back to that segment, but now with a new sound design and score behind it, changing the mood from what was on screen before. For instance, we could see an adult playing with a child and hear an upbeat soundtrack, but once we return to this segment, the score is now dark. The performance does not differ, but the mood of the audience changes because of the score.
The structure of the film being like a t.v. changing channels will add a layer exploring our society's increasingly limited attention span that comes from watching too much t.v. Near the end of the film, the channel changing will become sporadic and sounds from one program will carry over to other channels.
Regarding what will be playing on the other channels we will play with just the sound design, having sound design that totally doesn't fit the image on screen. This will allow us to explore how having expectations broken through the sound design can illicit responses that are in turn unexpected (such as laughter), which is an idea that fits inside how sound can alter the viewer's mood.
-Rough plan for the next couple weeks-
We show our first dailies in three weeks. By then we should have a final script written, equipment checked out, locations scouted, and the first of our segments shot.
In essence, what we want to do is an audio kuleshov experiment. Where Kuleshov worked with visuals, we will work with audio. In multiple segments, we want to show a variety of images and/or little scenes and then replay them with changes in the sound design and drastic changes in the score. We will show these segments in a way that mimics changing channels on a television. We'll show a segment and then "change the channel" and then eventually come back to that segment, but now with a new sound design and score behind it, changing the mood from what was on screen before. For instance, we could see an adult playing with a child and hear an upbeat soundtrack, but once we return to this segment, the score is now dark. The performance does not differ, but the mood of the audience changes because of the score.
The structure of the film being like a t.v. changing channels will add a layer exploring our society's increasingly limited attention span that comes from watching too much t.v. Near the end of the film, the channel changing will become sporadic and sounds from one program will carry over to other channels.
Regarding what will be playing on the other channels we will play with just the sound design, having sound design that totally doesn't fit the image on screen. This will allow us to explore how having expectations broken through the sound design can illicit responses that are in turn unexpected (such as laughter), which is an idea that fits inside how sound can alter the viewer's mood.
-Rough plan for the next couple weeks-
We show our first dailies in three weeks. By then we should have a final script written, equipment checked out, locations scouted, and the first of our segments shot.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Our experimental Proposal- Chris, Lauren, and Ben
The basic Idea that we want to convey with this (as of now untitled) film is the universal feeling or fear of not being able to communicate with other human beings. With this film we want to convey that feeling in the back of your head that we all sometimes get, that you're a little bit crazy and that everyone else just gets "it" when you don't. Through the use of experimental film techniques we will explore feelings of isolation, insanity, and the fear of not connecting.
That description sounded kind of depressing and that's not the tone that we're going for. It should actually be rather playful and hopefully have parts that are funny. This movie's going to take place in the subconscious of a character and we will follow him through a series of dreamlike vignettes. Like in most dreams, the character will not be self aware that he is dreaming (though it will remain ambiguous that this is even a dream, we never plan to explicitly state what's going on). With the first vignette we will subtly introduce that the world we are seeing isn't reality by playing with the sound design to create something hypnotic and unnatural. For example, we could foley sound that will oppose the onscreen image, like showing a dog barking but hearing the sound of a car horn.
In the vein of a David Lynch film, the character's subconscious will jump around into totally different narratives (or vignettes). The character won't be self aware and will have no memory of the previous vignette. Here's one example of how we will do this- the character closes his eyes at the beach and opens them in a totally new location like a small room. The sound design from the beach that included waves crashing will bridge into the next scene in the room and continue, although now there is no diagetic motivation for that sound. Then the sound of waves crashing could morph into the sound of a ceiling fan. We will have sounds morph into other sounds and will also have sounds fade in and out at unnatural times.
Most of the work will be done in post. We're going to play a lot with the sound design. There will be almost no sound recorded during filming. Pretty much all of the sound will be foley, ADR, sound effects, and score. We plan to play with sounds that will contrast the image on screen. We also plan to mess around with lining up the audio to the video, like maybe having the audio come in just a little bit late. We also plan to play with the pitch of the audio, especially during the ADR process. We might pitch down a female character's voice while pitching up a male character's voice. All of this would be used to emphasize the dreamlike tone of the film.
In addition, another element that we will be responsible for in this film is the score. The three of us will collaborate to compose and record music for the vignettes. In order to explore the feeling of insanity, we want to compose music for each vignette that will drastically contrast the image on screen. For example, one vignette might be visually chaotic and violent while effervescent, dainty music plays in the background. On the other side of the coin we could show an incredibly boring, monotonous tracking shot while hearing epic, grandiose music.
We also want to explore the feeling of insanity through visual means. We don't want to make any visual decisions without motivation, but we've talked about shooting the different vignettes in different mediums. Maybe one vignette would be shot on a DSLR, and then the character would walk through a door and when he comes out the other side, the scene would be shot in super 8. We also plan to play with un-traditional lighting techniques. For example, the character could be in a crowded room and we could properly light him while leaving everyone else in the room in the dark, further emphasizing the feeling of disconnection. To further separate the vignettes we plan to play with color correction in post. Again, more of the work will be done in post than in actual production.
We're aiming for an 8 to 10 minute movie comprised of about 4 or 5 vignettes. We've come up with multiple vignette ideas, but because a lot of the work will be done in post they are kind of hard to describe. Here's an example of the best one we've come up with so far- Our lead character is in a room with a group of people having a conversation. They all seem to be friends, having fun, laughing, and enjoying themselves. The lead character laughs too, but a little later than everyone else. He begins to look slightly uncomfortable. We then see and hear things from his point of view. He is unable to understand what everyone is saying because when their mouths move, all he hears are sounds that don't make any sense, like doggie toys or car horns. We then go back to seeing things from the third person perspective and the character is becoming visibly nervous. Sounds in the room, like a ceiling fan or a fly on the wall slowly grow louder and louder, over powering the character's senses, and despite his efforts it soon becomes visibly clear that he is losing it. Eventually we go back to his perspective and everyone else in the room is staring at him, waving their arms and acting like they don't understand why he isn't replying to something that they've just said. The character then cover's his ears and closes his eyes and when he opens them he is in a totally new place but the buzzing sounds of the fly and the ceiling fan are still there.
---Tentative (and rough) schedule---
We need to finish writing scripts for each vignette. We will make storyboards for each one. All of this will be done by mid February.
We need to cast our lead role. We already have someone in mind.
We need to scout appropriate locations.
Our first first day of screening our work is 4 weeks away. We plan to shoot at least 1 of the vignettes by this time.
We plan to finish shooting by mid march.
Most of the work is going to be done in post. We will need to schedule weekly music rehearsals. Then we will need to schedule a weekend when we will try to record everything that we've written.
We will need to schedule foley sessions and ADR sessions.
We will need plenty of time to play with the editing and sound editing in final cut pro and pro tools.
That description sounded kind of depressing and that's not the tone that we're going for. It should actually be rather playful and hopefully have parts that are funny. This movie's going to take place in the subconscious of a character and we will follow him through a series of dreamlike vignettes. Like in most dreams, the character will not be self aware that he is dreaming (though it will remain ambiguous that this is even a dream, we never plan to explicitly state what's going on). With the first vignette we will subtly introduce that the world we are seeing isn't reality by playing with the sound design to create something hypnotic and unnatural. For example, we could foley sound that will oppose the onscreen image, like showing a dog barking but hearing the sound of a car horn.
In the vein of a David Lynch film, the character's subconscious will jump around into totally different narratives (or vignettes). The character won't be self aware and will have no memory of the previous vignette. Here's one example of how we will do this- the character closes his eyes at the beach and opens them in a totally new location like a small room. The sound design from the beach that included waves crashing will bridge into the next scene in the room and continue, although now there is no diagetic motivation for that sound. Then the sound of waves crashing could morph into the sound of a ceiling fan. We will have sounds morph into other sounds and will also have sounds fade in and out at unnatural times.
Most of the work will be done in post. We're going to play a lot with the sound design. There will be almost no sound recorded during filming. Pretty much all of the sound will be foley, ADR, sound effects, and score. We plan to play with sounds that will contrast the image on screen. We also plan to mess around with lining up the audio to the video, like maybe having the audio come in just a little bit late. We also plan to play with the pitch of the audio, especially during the ADR process. We might pitch down a female character's voice while pitching up a male character's voice. All of this would be used to emphasize the dreamlike tone of the film.
In addition, another element that we will be responsible for in this film is the score. The three of us will collaborate to compose and record music for the vignettes. In order to explore the feeling of insanity, we want to compose music for each vignette that will drastically contrast the image on screen. For example, one vignette might be visually chaotic and violent while effervescent, dainty music plays in the background. On the other side of the coin we could show an incredibly boring, monotonous tracking shot while hearing epic, grandiose music.
We also want to explore the feeling of insanity through visual means. We don't want to make any visual decisions without motivation, but we've talked about shooting the different vignettes in different mediums. Maybe one vignette would be shot on a DSLR, and then the character would walk through a door and when he comes out the other side, the scene would be shot in super 8. We also plan to play with un-traditional lighting techniques. For example, the character could be in a crowded room and we could properly light him while leaving everyone else in the room in the dark, further emphasizing the feeling of disconnection. To further separate the vignettes we plan to play with color correction in post. Again, more of the work will be done in post than in actual production.
We're aiming for an 8 to 10 minute movie comprised of about 4 or 5 vignettes. We've come up with multiple vignette ideas, but because a lot of the work will be done in post they are kind of hard to describe. Here's an example of the best one we've come up with so far- Our lead character is in a room with a group of people having a conversation. They all seem to be friends, having fun, laughing, and enjoying themselves. The lead character laughs too, but a little later than everyone else. He begins to look slightly uncomfortable. We then see and hear things from his point of view. He is unable to understand what everyone is saying because when their mouths move, all he hears are sounds that don't make any sense, like doggie toys or car horns. We then go back to seeing things from the third person perspective and the character is becoming visibly nervous. Sounds in the room, like a ceiling fan or a fly on the wall slowly grow louder and louder, over powering the character's senses, and despite his efforts it soon becomes visibly clear that he is losing it. Eventually we go back to his perspective and everyone else in the room is staring at him, waving their arms and acting like they don't understand why he isn't replying to something that they've just said. The character then cover's his ears and closes his eyes and when he opens them he is in a totally new place but the buzzing sounds of the fly and the ceiling fan are still there.
---Tentative (and rough) schedule---
We need to finish writing scripts for each vignette. We will make storyboards for each one. All of this will be done by mid February.
We need to cast our lead role. We already have someone in mind.
We need to scout appropriate locations.
Our first first day of screening our work is 4 weeks away. We plan to shoot at least 1 of the vignettes by this time.
We plan to finish shooting by mid march.
Most of the work is going to be done in post. We will need to schedule weekly music rehearsals. Then we will need to schedule a weekend when we will try to record everything that we've written.
We will need to schedule foley sessions and ADR sessions.
We will need plenty of time to play with the editing and sound editing in final cut pro and pro tools.
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