Script Read Through - 26th February 2012

DATE:                                        Sunday 26th February 2012

LOCATION:                              PH86 - St Matts

CREW:                                       Myself - director, second camera, lighting
                                                     Natalia - first camera
                                                     Fin - sound

ACTORS:                                  Lewis - Support Worker (SW)
                                                    Mike - Homeless Man (HM)

EQUIPMENT:                          Panasonic HMC camera
                                                    Canon DSLR 550D camera
                                                    Tripod x2
                                                    Track and Dolly
                                                    Red Head Lighting Kit
                                                    Rode Microphone for DSLR
                                                    Shot gun Microphone & Boom pole for HMC

First Draft Script

Below is a copy of the first draft of my script. I am having a read through with my two actors on Sunday so will get a better idea for how well it works and what needs changing, where stage directions etc can be added then. I have also made some actual night shelter questionnaires based on the ones I had to fill in during my time as a Support Worker. I will upload some of these shortly.

Theories of Behaviour and the Image of the Alcoholic in Popular Magazines 1900 - 1966

Theories of Behaviour and the Image of the Alcoholic in Popular Magazines 1900-1966

By Arnold S. Linsky.

Linsky, A (1971) Theories of Behaviour and the Image of the Alcoholic in Popular Magazines 1900-1966. In The Public Opinion Quarterly vol 34 (4) pp 573-581

What it's about?

This article uses data collected from popular magazines to argue that public opinion towards the 'alcoholic' has changed over the years. The article states that people have come to believe that alcoholism is caused by something within the individual rather than something external, and are expressing much greater feelings of sympathy and acceptance towards individuals suffering from alcohol addiction.

How this relates to my project?

My project focuses on homelessness as oposed to alcoholism, however, both are seen as a type of social deviance and issues of addiction often run alongside homelessness. In this article, Linsky suggests that it isn't just the public opinion on alcoholism that is changing, he feels that public opinion on other forms of social deviance are also altering,

"The pattern of changed found is interpreted as reflecting in part cultural changes in popular conceptions of man's nature and social relationships which go far beyond the problems of alcohol, and which affect views of both normal and abnormal behaviour." (Linsky, A: 1971: 581)

Here Linsky is suggesting that human beings are becomming more open to having their opinions changed. This contrasts with the views of Berger and Luckmann in the previous reading who suggest that stereotypes exist as human beings are unable to see any possible alternative way of understanding. However, it puts me as a film maker in a good position. If people are becoming open to new ways of understanding, then hopefully my film will have the desired affect and will cause them to rethink thier current understanding of homelessness.

How can these ideas help me develop my film?

At this stage I'm not too sure how the ideas suggested in this article will influence the development of my film. However, I am feeling more comfortable with the idea of offering an alternative view on homelessness. This article has made me feel that the audience will be more accepting of an alternative.

Society as a Human Product

Society as a Human Product

by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann

Berger, P & Luckmann, T (1966) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise its the Socialogy of Knowledge. New York: Anchor Books, pp 51-55, 59-61.

What it's about?

This extract looks at how society is built and the complex relationship we as human beings have with both society itself and the rules and implications that must be accepted to maintain social control.

The extract explains that without social control there would be no difference between the behaviour of human beings and the behaviour of animals. Social control is needed to prevent chaos.

"Social order is not part of the "nature of things", and it cannot be derived from the "laws of nature". Social order exists only as a product of human activity." (Berger, P & Luckmann, T: 1966)

The extract goes on to argue that the activity of human beings has been habitualized. Human beings are training themselves to behave a certain way, perform certain tasks and so forth without even being consciously aware of it. By following the social constructs of society and maintaining social order, human beings are inadvertently habitualizing their behaviour.

"Habitualization further implies that the action in question may be performed again in the future in the same manner and with the same economical effort. This is true of non-social as well as of social activity. Even the solitary individual on the proverbial desert island habitualizes his activity." (Berger, P & Luckmann, T: 1966)

A particularly interesting part of the extract came towards the end when Berger and Luckmann discussed the habitualization of human behaviour and it's affect on children. At a young age children are very accepting of the rules of society. They don't question them, they simply believe that 'that's just the way things are'. They follow the rules and social implications laid down for them by their parents or those bringing them up.

"For the children, the parentally transmitted world is not fully transparent. Since they had no part in shaping it, it confronts them as a given reality that, like nature, is opaque in places as least." (Berger, P & Luckmann, T: 1966)

How this relates to my project?

This extract was initially quite difficult to grasp. The sociological content was quite complex, however, I do feel that it has raised some interesting points.

I really liked the part about the children and how they simply accept that society works in a certain way as they can't see an alternative. I think, this is quite similar to the role of stereotypes. I think that society's view on stereotypes is very similar to the child's view of society. The majority of people see pictures or hear stories enhancing the stereotype of homelessness but as they haven't done anything to develop their understanding around this group of people, they can't see an alternative to the stereotype. This point is key to my film. I want the audience to watch my film and recognise that they use stereotypes to view and understand homeless people a certain way because they haven't ever thought about the alternative and are concerned that if this stereotype is wrong, their understanding of the social World around them will be turned on it's head. This links back to the initial point made in the extract, that humans depend on social control as without it there would be chaos.

Although the extract doesn't mention stereotyping, I think it is one of the key tools for maintaining social control.

How can these ideas help me develop my film?

In my film, the support worker has his role within society completely reversed through the interview with the homeless man. He loses his grip on reality. I have said that I would like to use shadow puppets or experiment with shadows as a way of showing the audience the confusion and turmoil going on in his head. Following this reading, I would like to explore the idea that without stereotypes there could be chaos. I will look up images of 'chaos' and possibly news stories describing situations where 'social chaos' has broken out to find some inspiration for the type of imagery I could create in these sequences.

Hunger

'Hunger' (2008)

Directed by Steve McQueen.



My lecturer Rod recommended I watch Steve McQueen's film 'Hunger' because of the interesting interview sequence part way through.

I found the film very interesting. The storyline and content of the film is very different to mine, however there are certain smaller themes addressed in Hunger that are surround similar issues to those I want to address in my film. For example, Hunger shows prisoners who don't match the stereotypical prisoner charcters found in other films, these prisoners have certain morals and beliefs which they are protesting for which adds a new level to the characters that the audience wouldn't necessarily have been used to seeing, causing them to think differently about prisoners as a result. It breaks down the generalisation that all prisoners can be grouped together in one description. I mentioned previously that the only guarenteed common factor amongst homeless people is their lack of home, here McQueen suggests, intentionally or not, that the only common factor amongst prisoners is the fact that they are in prison.

  

The film is beautifully composed throughout. The colour white is prominant in the various different scenes, as it will be in my film. There are lots of long shots in which there is minimal movement or dialogue, this is very powerful and worked well to get the audience to really think about the character or image on the screen. This is something I would like to experiment with in my film. It will be a challenge and I will have to be confident enough in the composure of the shot to feel that it will hold the attention of the audience. McQueen also used a lot of shots that were purposefully out of focus, and filmed the shadows of characters - other elements I would like to play with in my film.

The above images are screen shots for the Interview sequence in Hunger.

The interview consists of a 16 minute continual shot (shown in the top image.)

The set in this sequence is minimal, there is no clutter and nothing in the room other than tables, chairs and an ash tray. The whole scene is entirely dialogue driven with the only action being the two characters smoking and readjusting their seated positions. For the first 16 minutes you can't clearly make out the faces of each character, they are lit in a such a way that it's mainly their silouettes that stand out. The use of lighting throughout the inteview was particularly beautiful and has really inspired me to expand and develop my own lighting technique when I come to film.

Things I've found helpful:

The long interview sequence used in Hunger has made me feel a lot more confident in creating a film with minimal action.

It has given me lots of ideas for keeping the audience's attention:

1. Interesting dialogue
2. Theatrical lighting
3. Composition of the shot - potential emphasis on what isn't on screen

Production Meeting 2: 14th February 2012

Today Natalia and I held our second production meeting.

Natalia's project has taken a new direction and is now focusing on the subject of death. Following her last project Natalia wants to combine still and moving images with an interview voice over. Natalia has been inspired by film 'Gallivant' by Andrew Cotting which follows a similar visual aesthetic to that which she is hoping to create. The next step in production for Natalia is to conduct interviews with several people who work with death on a day-to-day basis, depending on how successful and interesting this interview footage is, it will form the voice over for her finished project. Natalia feels she will be able to record the interviews alone as she is only using the sound, not any visual footage. In our next meeting I will help her by listening to the footage she has collected. For her previous film, Natalia initially had over forty minutes of interview footage which she had to condense down to less than fifteen, this was a hard task. Hopefully if I am listening to the footage too, I will be able to help by making suggestions as to which bits could be cut. The overall decision will be Natalia's but it may be useful to have a second set of ears! Natalia has asked if I can help her at the later stages of production when she will be filming - we haven't set any dates yet as at the moment the priority is gathering the interview material.

I talked Natalia through the progress I have made with my film, she was able to watch the majority of my footage last week while I was downloading it from my SD card. Natalia has suggested I experiment with two different cameras, my DSLR and the larger cameras provided by the university. My camera worked well on the crane due to it's light weight and small size, this also meant the shadows it created were minimal and easy to avoid. For this reason, I feel that the larger university camera will work better for static shots on a tripod or maybe on the track. I am hoping to hold a read through with my two actors in a weeks time. This is a rehearsal, but I will hire out the equipment as it would be good to get some more practise. I really need to work on steadying my camera work, making panning shots much more smooth and natural. I also need to get a feel for the type of shots I will need to capture when I come to capturing my real footage.

My next steps are to write up a script complete with detailed shot list and stage directions, and continue researching stereotypes in film.

Initial Proposal

Film Proposal

Aims of my project

·         To create a short film exploring the theme of homelessness

What is the critical approach I am taking?

·         Looking critically at the role of stereotypes and how they function to allow an individual to construct meaning and gain an understanding of the reality we are living.

·         Character representing the stereotype of homelessness visually is put into a position the audience wouldn’t expect him to be in, thus distorting their views of reality in my film sequence.

What research do I need to do?

·         Explore how stereotypes are used in films, the effect they have on our understanding of the different elements of a film, how they create meaning, how effective/ineffective they are.

·         Explore stereotypes of homelessness.

·         Research interview sequences in films.

What methods will I be using?

·         Repositioning of the homeless character – role reversal of support worker and homeless man.

·         Fantasy sequences exploring support workers altered view of reality based on the role reversal.

·         Use of shadows as a means of creating a fantasy sequence within a surreal environment.

·         Unconventional interview sequence – this needs to be researched further.

Practise Shoot: Tuesday 7th February

On 7th February I held my first practise shoot with the help of my friend Fin. I came across an unused room on my university campus last week which has creamy white walls and despite being slightly small, it meets the specifications I was looking for with regards to my desired set. The room is currently filled with several filing cabinets but I have been told that I should be able to get these temporarily moved when  I come to film properly. 

I really just wanted to experiment with the space and equipment available. Lighting is something I was praised highly for in my last project and because I haven't worked in a white room before my main concern is not being able to achieve the same standard aesthetically as my last project. I would also like to experiment with some equipment I haven't used before such as the crane and the track. As my film is going to all be shot in one space, I want to experiment with different filming techniques to ensure the footage isn't boring. I didn't experiment very much with different styles of camera work in my last film and so I feel this is something I would like to explore more this time. Also, as the room is quite restrictive, I want to discover any potential problems and difficulties as early as possible so I can work on overcoming these before my real shoot.

This really was just a practise and a way of helping me visualise my film more in terms of the different shots and lighting I could potentially use. 

Date of Shoot: Tuesday 7th February 2012

Location: PH86, St Matts

Crew: Myself & Fin (who also stepped in as an actor)

Equipment:

• My canon 550D DSLR with SD card,
• Tripod
• Red Head Lights
• Crane
• Dolly & Track
• Fig Rig

Click here to see the footage on YouTube

Shot 1: Medium Close Up; Tracking

I like this shot, the camera was a little unsteady but as I said, this was just a practise. I really liked the lighting set up here. There was a diffused light in the back left corner at a low angle, and a hard light at a high angle in the middle light. Throughout this shoot I had to be really careful not to get the lights in shot, the hard light almost comes into shot and the light spots come onto the screen. I'm not too sure how effective that was as it reveals the light to be quite unnatural.

Shot 2: High Angle; Tracking

This shoot works well at making a character look uncomfortable or inferior so may be a good angle to use when filming the Support Worker as his role and position of authority will have been reversed. The lighting set up is the same in the shot as in the previous one, and like the previous one, the camera work is unsteady which I'm now aware is something I will need to work on.

Shot 3: Medium Close Up; Tracking; Shadows

For this shot I wanted to begin experimenting with shadows. I would like to play around with the shadows of the characters possibly having them behaving differently to the characters. Using lighting was tricky because of the shadows of equipment creeping into shot. I used a hard light positioned behind the track and myself, aiming directly at Fin. The shadow was really dark and defined in this set up.

Shot 4: Medium Close Up; Tracking; Shadows (2)

This shot is the same as the previous except here Fin is facing the camera. This shot matching the framing of my early ideas show in the first set of storyboards. I am noticing that lighting continuity may be a bit of an issue as the different lighting set ups create a slightly different ambient colour in the room. This is something that I may be able to combat by experimenting with the different white balance settings.

Shot 5: Medium Close Up; Tracking; Shadows (3)

This shot is framed identically to the previous one, except there is a slightly greater close up. I have however changed the lighting set up. In this shot I used one diffused red head at a low angle, aimed directly at Fin. I like the darker, greyer look this light gives the room. It makes the room seem a lot colder and depressing. This colour lighting might work well to create a contrast between the support worker and the homeless man. I would typically imagine this type of lighting to be used to emphasise the stereotypes of homeless identity; cold, depressing, lonely, for this reason, it may be interesting to use this or a similar lighting set up when filming the support worker, and having the homeless man lit much more warmly.

Shot 6: Static Medium Close Up; Head Shot.

This shot is basically the same as Shot 4 except it is static and shows Fin looking directly at the camera, another idea expressed in one of my early story boards. I like the empty space to the right of Fin's head. This is the type of shot I would like to use a lot when filming the support worker. I would like to experiment by using shadow puppets in the empty space to explore the thoughts and emotions of the support worker in this situation. I feel this use of shadows and puppetry would work well to break up the otherwise quite plain scene set up.

Shot 7: Medium Close Up to Close Up; Fig Rig.

I have broken this shot up into 3 sections, the lighting remains the same in each - a hard red head at a high angle aimed at the back wall directly above Fin's head. 

Section 1: Medium Close Up,

Section 2: Close Up over Fin's left shoulder,

Section 3: Close Up over Fin's right shoulder.

I really like the way the fig rig enables you to achieve multiple different angles in one shot. Although the lighting set up remained the same throughout the shot, you can really notice the difference between Section 2 and Section 3. Section 2 seems a lot warmer, whereas in Section 3 the lighting seems much harsher and bleaches out some of the colour on Fin's face. I had to be careful when using the fig rig to ensure that my shadow didn't get into shot. I would also have to be aware of equipment and crew members in the room getting into shot if I were to use this in my official shoot. The Fig Rig did do a really good job of stabilising the handheld footage - my handheld camera work is notoriously bad so this was a concern of mine when not using a tripod.

Shot 8: Pan Up; Medium Close Up; Crane

This shot uses the crane to create an upwards pan with Fin being revealed in a medium close up. I like how the shadow can be followed alone in the pan once Fin is out of shot. This shot used a low angled red head facing Fin from the left of the screen.

Shot 9: Pan Up; Medium Close Up of Shadow to Extreme Close Up of Face; Crane

This shot follows the same set up as the previous shot except in this shot I shut the barn doors on the red head to create a much more controlled directional light. This enabled me to create a dark, gloomy ambience to the room whilst still being able to capture a defined shadow of Fin. The shot starts with an upwards pan of Fin's shadow alone, followed by a pan left to show Fin sat at a desk. I really liked the effect of the light on the wall in this shot.

Shot 10: Pan Up then Left; Medium Close Up

Following the previous shot, I wanted to see if I could capture Fin's shadow alone. In this shot Fin is sat with his back to the camera, the camera is still on the crane but is facing the right as opposed to straight ahead. There is a high angled red head with the barn doors closed situated back left. I was able to pan the crane slightly to the right in order to achieve an extreme close up of Fin's face, unfortunately this was out of focus but the overall effect was quite nice as it linked the shadow to the owner.

Narrative Structure

Scopo Networking

For my previous film, Scopo Networking, I followed a simple narrative structure. Everything happened chronologically, with Claire's obsession building as Max's updates became more revealing. The film has no dialogue other than Max's video blogs. These, along with the screen shots of his facebook updates narrate Max's view of the story. Max talks the audience through what he is experiencing, describing what he thinks is going on. In the case of Scopo Networking, Max is correct in his description of the events. Claire, despite not having any lines throughout the course of the film, is able to narrate her side of the story through facial expression, and action. Through close ups of her hands typing, her face looking, and over the shoulder shots showing what she is looking at, the audience are told what she is up to and can understand the emotions she is feeling. Both Claire and Max are 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get' characters. They aren't lying, being deceived, suffering multiple personality disorders, or in a fantasy. They are both examples of what Emily R. Anderson refers to as 'heterodiegetic narrators' in her article 'Telling Stories: Unreliable Discourse, Fight Club, and the Cinematic Narrator',
"...all heterodiegetic narrators are able to underreport, underread, or underregard...But heterodiegetic narrators are able to misread or misregard only if they have a persona. Furthermore, no heterodiegetic narrator is able to misreport because what a heterodiegetic narrator says automatically becomes true." (Anderson, E: 2010: 83)
I could've experimented more with the narrative in Scopo Networking, by altering the intentions of Claire's character and having Max's character misread these intentions for example. If the film was driven visually by Max's character alone, with Claire representing an unseen prescense whom the audience were only aware of through Max, then his interpretation of the story would guide the audience's understanding, thus causing them to believe what he was saying was actually true despite Max not knowing all the facts himself. This example suggests one possible way Scopo Networking could have mislead the audience by underreporting the storyline.

Current Film

Having read the article by Anderson, I feel that narrative is something I would like to explore a lot more in my current film. The current storyline, with the homeless man and the support worker swapping roles, is an abstract concept and leaves a lot of room for experimentation with narrative. I have also mentioned in a previous blog entry that I would like to explore how stereotypes function as a means for understanding reality, and I feel that playing around with narrative will enable me to explore the concept of reality a lot more.
In order to experiment fully with the narrative structure of my film I need to do a lot more research and fully develop the story that I want to be conveyed to the audience.