festival international shorts: discomfort zone

The last thing i went to see was a group of international shorts, i found this extremely interesting and encouraging as we have just finished our first short. They were all based around the same idea(discomfort zone) but were completely different styles and all passed very differently. Some i liked more than others.

Birthday by Sandor Csukas :

Even though for the most part of the film was simple hands,hair and mouth close ups was not boring at all. in tone it was characterised by a blue and dark shadowy gloom, which was contradicted by the eerily cheerful party music and grins of the children at the party.

I liked the idea of having a definite obvious tone, almost like choosing sepia in photoshop, this had a blue tone over it and it stuck with it through out, it added to the darkness of the ending when we realise that the party was taking place on a huge landfill site, were in eastern european contries its common for children to play. An extremely simple concept with no inciting incident or real plot just a statement and a pretty shocking final shot.

this was one of my favourite out of the group .

incident by a bank by Ruben Ostlund:

the clever lip dub type on shot of this film was impressive alone never mind the fact that the films characters ware hilarious even from a distance. its a film i would never be inspired to make but i am glad to have seen it as it was simple and made me laugh , intelligently thought out it was almost like a high quality youtube video with sleek dialog.

out in that deep blue sea by Kazik Radwanski:

There was a general feeling of dislike towards this one however, i feel it is one the the strongest of all the films. it follows a man who is clearly trying to get some control back over his life , physically and mentally, finding the balance between work and social life. The character is an overweight 50 something and is trying to loose weight by working out, a man who is a hard worker at a job that seems unsatisfying to him. when his wife pushes him to sell a house to there friends its like a bus mans holiday and this is his breaking point. the end shot of this film is the man in a chair trying to put a piece of thread through a needle its static and stays on him for sometime until he achieves this. The immense hope this gives the audience that even if its only a tiny piece at a time , he's not going to give up and he will even if its mundane things go towards something he is more proud to call his life. I really enjoyed this short as it had more of a story than the others and its mundane but relevant and relatable story. really interesting and down to earth .

Tele-global dreaming by Eric Flanagan.

Hmmmm this was pretty weird subject wise, when a down and out actor is mistaken for a big shot actor in a foreign country .... yea i wasn't really taken by he plot , the cinematography however made up for it as it was very intrically lit and very beautiful to watch.

peace

Edinburgh film festival

FILM THREE: superhero me

this was the only documentary i managed to catch and i really loved it on a different level than pelican blood but all the same it was very entertaining.

this was a lovely warm hand made documentary about a man who decides and manages to become a superhero.

allot like kick ass in premiss but not in style this was most defiantly filmed on whatever he filmmaker could find : wobbly mobile phones, handhelds, possibly some larger more professional equipment, non of this mattered as the film was seamless in its drive and the camera was a quirky reminder that it was someones own personal project, the lead clearly did care about the subject and that was endearing enough but to see others that he interviewed was very humbling along with being very funny. a weird type of charity worker , who happened to ware superhero costumes, these people actually exist.!

The thing i loved most about this doc was the clear goal, to become a superhero. In having this the audience was never board and it taught me that this is an important thing to consider from the start of creating an idea for a documentary. It subtly showed the audience some of the underlying problems in society in britain and america which i felt never brought the town down but left a lingering image in your mind when you left the cinema.

Funny and cleverly intelligent i'm glad this independent film maker got a platform to show his passion .

7/10

peace

edinburgh film festival

FILM TWO : a spanking in paradise.

Well this was an encouraging experience: away from the some what portentousness of the social mixers a premier with a nervous young director shakily throwing out thank you's in a hardy scottish accent. Cheers from cast and crew at certain moments in the film , all over very well done, very scottish and very encouraging.

the subject matter -somewhat dubious, focuses its attention around a sauna- yes a "sauna" the sexy over steamy kind! A brave yet simple script about a man who is about tho move to america visiting his crazy scottish relatives for a shot time before he goes.

as you can expect he gets roped in to all sorts of hi jinx but his character manages is life the spirits a little higher than usual , even when he is covered in curry! darkly funny and very intriguing this is a young director who through his vision and comedic writing style i'm sure will go far .

For the film alone i would give it 6/10

for the premier and love tears and sweat that was obviously poured over the film ( and its general scottishness ) 8/10

peaec

two seconds

when i began on this journey i made a list of things i wanted to get out of it and achieve.

1. to gain a confident voice of authority and allow myself to say with out guilt if i don't think something is working.
2. to make a film i know i gave 100% to and something i can be proud of .
3. gain experience of directing, to hopefully have one that will confirm this as what i want to do .
4. to relax and enjoy making a film.
5. to get my vision of the page.

I thought i would keep it simple but also challenging. Looking back on the list i am proud to think that i can check most things on it and i think from a reflective point of view writing a short goals list before the start of a film is a good thing to do as it gets you ready and also in a positive, 'this is what i am going to achieve' mind set.

writing directors notes:

The first thing i did as a director was go over my script several times just reading it at first them i took four different colours of highlighter and began to annotate, cross out add in and detail every nook and cranny of my script. this was a procedure that took about 3 days. it was fun to be so detailed and i think from this process i began to see my script more as a film that would be viewed rather than a script that would be read.

After the script was sorted we had to consider very seriously our actress because my script was going to hang completely on her performance. My dad called me one day and asked if i had considered kate dickie, i laughed and said you get me her number and ill call her. so the next day i sat nervously my phone calling kate dickie. This i have to comment on because calling someone you admire to talk about your own film is quite a weird experience, i never knew that when i brought red road in at the start of the year as one of my favourite films i would be calling its star at the end of the year to be in mine. After a few rings i got a very friendly , " hi there dickie residence" , it was kate dickies husband after saying my name it was clear that my dad had already been talking to people about me because it appeared he had been waiting for the call, after a while of chatting away i realised that kate was far to busy to get involved but it was a super first experience of putting myself out there and for the next time i can be allot more confident and prepared for calling people up, contacts or old friends who ever it may be.

auditions,

These were my first opportunity to direct actors, as i have had experience a few times before directing stage performance and being directed in on stage i had worked out a voice for myself and a way of speaking to the actors. i felt that my confidence levels were good for a first timer however if i were to do the auditions again i would have challenged the actors allot more, making them do more difficult scenes.

having a tech rechy and writing a ruff story board was what we did next , all in one day as well!

We decided for convenience and also because it fitted the script quite well to film the scenes in the flat in my flat. It was a bit small we thought when we had the rechy but good for sound and there was plugs a plenty to put lighting outside so because these things were ok we decided it worked and that the camera would have to fit! Looking back on this i think we were a little to eager to start filming and should have maybe thought out the camera situation a bit more, there were problems on the day with how to angle it because it didn't fit in the kitchen etc, taking this into consideration i still think my flat was the best place we could have found that was on location .

filming on set- day one. I cant thank Alistair from fourth year enough for coming along to be my directing mentor. The smallest things he pointed out to me were so helpful and as a beginner .It was really comforting to know there was someone there who actually knew what he was doing :)

We went for a quick 30 min chat to talk about how i had prepared and for him to give me some tips. I had written out some notes on each scene for the actress to read over the previous night and gave them to her in advance for the following day. when Alistair said it was about telling the actor how to feel in a scene rather than try and tell them how to act it really made sense and i was glad my notes were on the emotion rather that were to put there hands etc because these things i felt came out naturally on set rather than to be forced and look contrived by myself .

The lighting was really difficult the first day and as we learnt its rather tricky on the set to have a balance creatively between getting the performance and also making it look good on camera. i don't know if there is an answer to this one but for me personally i think as a team we coped better on the first day than the second simply because we were all fresh and exited about it and therefor working fast and to our best ability. even the slip up with sound didn't hold us back and we managed to re-shoot three scenes. leaving us all extremely tired but pleased with ourselves by the end of the day.

working as a team ( minus one person who just left and stood outside) we all pulled together and got the set taken down along with kit and lights put away which we did in record time! a very good start to filming i felt and i was very proud of everyone that day.

filming on location was a whole different kettle of fish :) This day was always going to be more difficult , we had a baby and several extras which gave us precise time constricts, i had also written overnight a new scene to be filmed at some point so we were faced with a massive and at some times un-comprehendable hill to climb up. With no Alistair on set today either it was all of us on our own . Each shot seemed to take forever to light however i'm so so glad that we took our time over this because the lighting was key to the mood of the flat scenes and it really does make the difference. really well done to Amelie for that!

Even thought this day was becoming more and more stressful as we got more and more behind i felt that we were all in our own stride a bit more, i had found a voice i was happy with and i new my script really well for these scenes so i was confident in what i was saying to the actress and because of this found her performance was really spot on.( even with a we baby )

After lunch we managed to claw our way back to the time schedule working extra fast and more comfortably together. When the extras had arrived we were just about ready for them . I felt myself dip a we bit in confidence for a second or two but i took a deep breath and then got on with it, i did find it hard to focus on the creative side of things when i had people trying to keep the scenes moving and carry on to the next thing but thats what you have to do and i think we found the balance without rushing anything to much. There was one extra in particular who was a bit hard to deal with which i was shocked by because i thought extras wouldn't be divas! however i was firmer and more deliberate in my directions i gave to him and i think because of that i left my directors journey on a good note because i had found a voice that was my own but was confident enough to be one that could mould itself to direct timid and overly confident people.

What a way to go out on i'm so pleased and thankful my script got picked and have learnt so much about myself but also about directing through this process.

peace

edinburgh film festival

FILM ONE: pelican blood

This was the first film i went to see and the best out of the lot!

my first impression of the film was wow! Beautifully shot. beautifully lit. beautifully written . Poignant , thought provoking and heavily moving.

What was the film about? well i was bound to like this as it was more of a emotional exploration than a story heavy film. it was a character study on someone coping with depression and also trying to deal with loving someone who has depression as well. it still wrapped beautifully around a believable plot.

Shot on film which gave that brilliant unattainable depth allowing for smooth but at the same time textured feel. the darker moments is when film shines, were you have to push it slightly. in the bedroom with the candles and the fairy lights the screen glistened with flickers and shadows it was gorgeous.

The editing was very european, holding onto shots , having 'pause' moments which focus on objects and close up on hands. It was un-obvious and without special effect, it organically moved the film forward.

My favorite scene composition wise was one at the end were the character is contemplating drinking a lethal drink that his overlly emotive girl friend has made up for him. The lighting apears ambient- which i beilieve is geneouse D.O.P.ing! its a beautiful and inspiring scene which represents the movie as a whole really well, time tacken over every detail: superb acting combing with a near perfect script, beautiful cinematography and a thought provoking , worthy subject.

i left the screening speechless, moved and inspired.

9.5/10

peace

friday 28th screening day.

Well today we watched 3 things! what a treat.

We had a short documentary on the rise and fall of left wing drama on british telly called left of frame- in conjunction with that we had the ' boys from the black stuff' which i enjoyed very much. And we topped that all of with M.A.S.H

So to start with the 6 parter the boys from the black stuff was an instant hit for me as i love things to do with the 'trade industry' (i'm a nosy we girl friend and i like to see what they get up to) this is a very provocative / political piece of work , it comments on both the people at the time and the social climate. social realism but not to the extent of cathy come home, this is a drama and works well in that format but it is

also very relevant and important to its time.

interestingly enough there are some people who believe its still relevant today and have even started a Facebook group up about it : link- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boys-from-the-Blackstuff .

Andy brought up a hard question to answer, who is making drama like this today ? Who is actually saying something and making a political statement ? For me it seems like there are lots of things because i only watch what chose to online. There have been several documentaries about women in society which even thought its glossed over nowadays there are still so many problems. however , if you look at when they are broadcast and to the audience size it is pretty dismal in comparison. Is it the place for short films now to make an impact, are people not interested in documentary / drama which makes a political statement? I felt that when the question was asked the topic for my short was important( prison wife's: the forgotten) and that even though its an extremely common thing in britain there is not allot of coverage dramatically or documentary. hence : forgotten wife's. I think that this is not something to keep in class notes but a question to always ask when we are coming up with ideas for television - like i said about cathy come home, this is really up to us to change.

So to the afternoon were we watched M.A.S.H , this is the original Vietnam war film.

Even though you never really see fighting ( almost like jar head) you still get the feeling of exactly what it would have been like to have been there. the confusion and the laughs mingled with the terror.

For watching the film there were defiantly more laughs than terror. in-fact even the grotesque at times operation scenes were made to be a comical.

In all honesty when i wasn't laughing i was board by this film , there was a noticeable lack of plot which would work in a TV program but not on such a large scale. The fact that it was so funny really saved this film for me and with a pretty cool sound track it became overall not a bad one to watch .

peace

easy rider

Billy: What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about.

George Hanson: They'll talk to ya and talk to ya and talk to ya about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.

I was so exited to watch easy rider after the emphasis put on it in the documentary , "a decade under the influence" it seemed to encapsulate what this new wave of film was trying to say , they wanted freedom , and were always looking forward, out of the old ways and into this new society which was sexually and spiritually liberated and full of new experiences waiting for everybody. This was a time for the young to take charge as the old hollywood was dying out. ( quite literally ) known widely as a landmark in film history this is a great example of what and how film making became in the 70. ( even though this was a sneaky 60's film) As Andy commented this film hasn't aged as well as the others. I found this to be true there were parts that didn't sit right for my movie watching eyes, it was very stylised and the edit was interesting but ultimately a little bit irritating as it jumped back and forth back and forth, something which it was praised for at the time. The road movie style was very beautifully captured however and the wide sweeping shots really carried the film along like a beautiful music video, everyone knowing 'born to be wild' as the first instrumental beat raised up.

The film was brave in many ways and i can imagine how it must have been refreshing and shocking at the time for me the thing that stays refreshing in the film is the little diamond lines of dialog which sum up the whole feeling at the time and also the bravery of keeping it so simple, driven by its beautiful cinematography and ideas rather than action.

"An indie film that became the spokesperson for a decade when Hollywood was preoccupied

with other concerns"

The public embraced this film, they liked it because it was something real. People wanted something they recognised, they wanted something that was apart of them .

Overall i think that this film is a grower and has power in its social context at the time, for me now its just a cool road movie but for many it was a beacon that there was change coming. Watching it with those eyes makes it pretty special .

xx peace. xx