Collated Film Notes

Tarkovsky and Sci-Fi

Last week we watched Ivan’s Childhood (1962), it is a visually astonishing drama about a 12 year old at World War II directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. As most of Russian war movies it might be not very easy to watch but it provides the audience with a opportunity to experience what is WWII from a Russian perspective. 

The subject of Russian war movies is incredibly interesting and I will definitely come back to it later but today I’d like to talk about a different genre also utilised by Tarkovsky - Russian science fiction.

Russian cinema has an inspired tradition of genre filmmaking, (from 1924) resulting in a treasure-trove of cult classics that remains unknown to Western audiences. As pioneers in the space they created stunning visions of man’s voyage to outer space and extraterrestrial contact. Ironically, many of these works from Russian cinema did end up on Western screens - borrowed by various American directors (for example, Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Curtis Harrington, and others) and reshaped to suit Western B-movie sensibilities. 

Tarkovsky created some of the most remarkable pieces of the genre: the original Solaris (1972) and Stalker (1979) based on a book by classic Russian science fiction writers the Strugatsky brothers. Must see.

Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924) 

Based on Aleksei Tolstoy’s novel, Aelita is the world’s first feature film to use interplanetary travel as its main plot line. A brilliant engineer and a crusty soldier travel to the Red Planet to find it inhabited by meek humanoids and ruled with an iron fist by the beautiful Aelita.

Planet of Storms (1962) 

Upon arrival to Venus, cosmonauts find furious volcanoes and sundry prehistoric beasts in Klushantev’s film, based on a novel by the Soviet sci-fi writer Aleksandr Kazantsev. Footage has been recycled in three Corman productions: Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, Queen of Blood, and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (the directorial debut of Peter Bogdanovich).

Contact (1978)  - an amazing animated short film which blown my mind

The Adventures of the Elektronic (1979) - TV series which became cult for a generation of Soviet kids

A scientist constructs a robot called Electronic, which looks exactly like Sergey Syroezhkin, a 6-grader from an Odessa (USSR) school. The robot also acts a lot like a human, and its dream is to become a real man. Electronic escapes from scientist’s lab and accidentally meets Sergey, his prototype. Meanwhile, a gang lead by Stump is trying to kidnap Electronic to make him steal pictures from museums. 

Kin-dza-dza! (1989) - an outstanding comedy-sci-fi film, must see

The film is a dark and grotesque parody of human society and may be described as a dystopia. It depicts a desert planet, depleted of its resources, home to an impoverished dog-eat-dog society with extreme inequality and oppression. It is a cult film, especially in post-Soviet countries, and its humorous dialogue is frequently quoted.

The Piano

The Piano is about Ada (Holly Hunter), a mute, young widow with her 9-year-old daughter, who is sent by her father to the New Zealand bush to marry a man, Stewart (Sam Neil) she has never met. The main heroine Ada has a passionate journey of self-discovery with violent ramifications.

This film looks deceptively small, in terms of scale, finish and budget, but in character it’s big and complex. It is a very beautiful movie with great cinematographic scenes of stark yet rich beautiful frontier type New Zealand landscapes, well finished costumes, subtle, moody lighting and music, and a believable group of main characters who change throughout the course of the movie and discover things about themselves.

What was distinctive about the drama in the movie is that its three main characters appeared to be discovering their own nature as they went along. When Stewart learnt of Ada’s betrayal — he was bothered less by her infidelity than by her deep love for another man — he punished her in the cruelest way possible. Thankfully Baines, having won Ada’s love, is finally able to save her.

Baines, a character, who in the movie has embraced the native Maori methods of living, no longer clings to the values of British society, and is therefore quite capable of expressing himself freely - which he does, albeit in some strange ways to show his affection for Ada. 

Stewart, Ada’s husband views Baines with suspicion and hostility, and in clinging to the tenants of English society, refuses to allow himself to feel until one violent moment when everything comes pouring out.  

Ada, who is vulnerable as much by her lack of voice as by social pressures, wants desperately to break free, and only through Baines does she find the courage to do so.

Ada’s piano is obviously more than just a source of music in The Piano. It is Ada’s voice, her only means of expressing herself, and it is utilized well throughout the film to add suspense and drama and a sense of expectation and anticipation in many scenes. It has its own voice. There are many references to this symbol throughout the film. The Maori society was representative of the release of inhibitions. Stewart’s rejection of this, like Baines’ acceptance, defined who he was in the movie.

I also found the use of a mute character as a very dynamic and powerful way of representing a female character living in the 1850s. The Piano was a very good movie overall, one that should be watched.

What I’ve learnt making my 90 second film Chimera

Hurray! I’ve finished filming my short film and now I can share what I think is the most important things to do while making a film.

Pre-preproduction

First of all, of course, is the idea generation. There all sorts of tips out there on how to come up with an idea for a film. but the recipe is pretty simple: brainstorm. And there is a site which can help you with that: Bubbl.us. If you are making a film with set duration remember to check whether your idea fits the duration on every stage of its development. Another thing is the research. There are all sorts of things you’ll need to research depending on what your idea is (for example, researching thriller genre, human behavior, particular time and space if film is historical).

Pitching is a great thing because you can find out what the audience thinks of your idea in very beginning so don’t neglect this part of pre-preproduction.

And, once you know how good is your idea you can start writing your screenplay and looking for crew. There are couple of posts earlier in my blog with useful links for scriptwriting.

Preproduction

The next stage is preproduction and things starting to get serious here. You’ll have to do not just brain work in front of your lovely computer but some leg work too.

Start with visualisation. It means storyboarding (very very helpful) and designing the sets, location hunting and applying for permissions from your local consulate. Don’t forget about OH&S and warn police if your script involves guns or any weapons. Otherwise you can get into a big trouble - police has a “whatever looks like a gun is a gun” policy.

Plan cinematography: document angles and details of the locations you want to incorporate into your film, decide on your lighting set-up, camera movements, etc before the production stage or you’ll run around like a headless chicken on the set and look very stupid. Don’t forget to organize the props a long time before scheduled start of production.

Now you can start looking for the actors. The character breakdown might be quite useful for the actors applying so provide it to them prior to the audition. Remember, you are looking for the best actor, not a physical copy of your imaginings. Hight, hair color, even race and gender don’t matter that much when you are looking for someone to become your character.

Once you found the perfect match start rehearsals off set and on set and test the sets with crew and equipment but without actors. Technical preparation is extremely important, know your equipment before going on the set.

Production

And… the most exciting part of filmmaking begins! First, check all the equipment, take several clean tapes, charge batteries, take documentation (manuals, storyboards and whatever you find helpful). It might be a good idea to hire out a car for your crew and all the equipment if you are shooting on location.

Work the magic!

Always have a plan B in case of cancelled location or weather changes if shooting outdoor.

Post-production

This is a stage when your film will finally come together. So always lock your tape when you finish shooting or you can lose all the hard work you’ve done.

Few basic tips on editing:

-       cut in movement

-       don’t leave frames after character exits the frame

-       use cutaways or fade for jump cuts

-       cut to similar elements

-       use wipe jump from frame filled with one color to completely different scene is easy

-       check continuity (match elements in the scene eg. exiting the frame, holding something)

-       use fade to signify passing time

Supportive documentation from a preproduction stage will make your life easier when you are editing. Stick to your own vision but listen to advice, a fresh eye is always helpful.

There are different approaches to sound design in postproduction. You can choose to cut video to the music or the other way depending on your situation. Hire a composer if you are unsure of your ability to make something decent in Garage Band or find some royalty free music online. Btw, Moby is giving out his tracks for free to film students and independent filmmakers. How awesome is that?

And finally, once you finish cutting test your creation of family or friends before putting it on the net for the whole world to see. Cheers and good luck!

Realism vs Hyperrealism

In late 1950s-1960s the brake through in technological aspects of filmmaking made it possible to move from the studio to on location filming. Such possibilities in combination with changes in ideological and social aspects of filmmaking resulted a new extremely influential documentary genre. In US they called it “direct cinema” and utilized a “fly on the wall” approach, in France they called it “cinema verite” and used a film camera as a catalyst for the action but despite different names the essence was the same - a desire to capture the moment of truth. 

One of the greatest illustrations of direct cinema’s naturalistic approach to documentary are music tour documentaries such as Maysles brothers’ documentary about Rolling Stones US tour Gimme Shelter (1970) and Pennebaker’s doco Don’t look back (1967) about Bob Dylan’s tour around England. I haven’t seen Gimme Shelter one yet but Don’t look back probably was the most beautiful and engaging documentaries I’ve seen for a very long time.

I’ve never listened to Bob Dylan’s songs before and all I knew about him is that he is a cult singer for the generation of late 1960s. When I was watching the documentary I suddenly realized that I do know one of his songs and, more than that, I just adore it. Only few days later I remembered where I heard it - in the into of Watchmen. You can watch it here as embedding is disabled by evil copyrighters. I found such connection quite ironic as, to my mind, Watchmen is a perfect example of “hyperreal” cinema of 00s (as well as 300 and pretty much anything in the movies nowadays).

Suspense week

As I’m making a thriller Chimera for my university project I watched lots of different thriller movies to study suspense in cinematography and screenwriting. Starting with Targets I dedicated a week for watching following films:

The Shining (1980)

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Writers: Stephen King (novel), Stanley Kubrick (screenplay)

Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd

I have seen parts of The Shining many times before but this week I finally watched the whole movie from start to finish. Well, what can I say? It’s brilliant and Kubrick is a genius.

This motion picture became a main inspiration for my short film, especially regarding cinematography. I loved how the process of Jake going insane was represented through angles, colors, lighting, mise-en-scène and movement within the frame. Johnnie, the main character of my short film, is going through a similar motion, being obsessed, paranoid and having this own mind turning against him.

One of the most impressing images of The Shining is a river of blood. There is something incredibly fascinating about large quantities of this red liquid just streaming down the hallway of an empty hotel. I will try to incorporate this amazing visual into my film in one of last scenes where Johnnie finds this end in the dark and empty alleyway.

Another beautiful scene of The Shining is a maze chase. For my film I would like to create a similar effect, having the character running down various alleys, turning corners, getting lost more and more with each step. I’m planning to use patches of light and very quick cuts to drive the audience into the mental state of the character.

The Abyss (1989)

Director: James Cameron

Writer: James Cameron

Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Biehn

A USA nuclear submarine on a mission crashes near Cuba and sinks into the abyss. A group of deep water oil drillers is assigned to reach the submarine and perform safety procedures. During the mission in the deep ocean drillers are contacted by an intelligent life of extraterrestrial nature.

 I loved this movie for its originality, great use of suspense, amazing set designs, great acting and what not! I was stricken by the underwater scenes and their atmosphere: vast pitch black spaces, spotlights, long takes, slow movement and silence, interrupted only by a sound of breathing through a scuba set.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Director: Jonathan Demme

Writers: Thomas Harris (novel), Ted Tally (screenplay)

Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins and Scott Glenn

I have seen Silence of the Lambs many times before and always thought that it’s purely the story and actors’ performance make this film a true classic of contemporary thriller. Being in the Film an TV course made me look a different way and notice things I never noticed in films before.

The most impressive and useful for Chimera scene was a scene when a heroine of Jodie Foster is in a serial killer’s house in the complete darkness. The first person point of view shot out of maniac’s eyes through a night vision device generated a fabulous moment of suspense. The shaky camera positioned behind the victim, victim’s obvious vulnerability in the darkness and sound of heavy breathing is the best recipe for a thriller scene.

Let the Right One In (2008)

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Writers: John Ajvide Lindqvist

Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson and Per Ragnar

Another vampire movie, you say? Well, you are wrong here. This film is an incredible story not so much about vampires but about such important themes as coming of age, first love, partnership, friendship, etc. This film has a great story, great acting, real, deep and original characters (which is unusual for children characters in most films). Very different, amazing film! For all those who haven’t seen it: go and hire it out tonight, you are not going to be disappointed.

The cinematography of this movie is simply beautiful especially the mis-an-scene and framing. Panning steadicam shots, extremely narrow depth of field, extreme close-ups - that’s what I’m going to borrow for Chimera.

Black Swan (2011)

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writers: Mark Heyman (screenplay), Andres Heinz (screenplay)

Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Vincent Cassel

I started watching this film not as a part of my thriller week but quite soon I realised that, surprisingly, Nina’s story is quite similar to the one of Johnnie. They both are creative people so obsessed with their work that they become caught up in their own reality and chased by visions which are products of their own mind. It was very interesting to watch the progression of Nina’s madness into the final dance of “the dark side” ending with heroine’s death.

Targets

Targets (1968) is a truly amazing thriller film written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich.

The film contains two parallel storylines which cross over at very end of the movie.

The film starts with the story of Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff), an elderly horror film star deciding to retire. Byron feels that a different time has come and traditional horror film monsters like him are not going to be scary any more. The actor agrees to give his final appearance in a drive-in theatre after the premiere of his latest horror film.

The second storyline is about a Vietnam veteran Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly). After shooting his entire family he goes out sniping people randomly from various locations around the town including the rooftop of an oil refinery and the drive-in theatre during the final scenes.

The two storylines have different moods: one is warm, with the relaxed and sometimes humorous atmosphere of Karloff’s character while the other is the cold and clear madness of O’Kelly’s “Dexter”-like character. One of the greatest things in this film is its intertextuality. The story is looped through the characters of the film and even the actors with Boris Karloff (famous for his role in Frankenstein) playing a close character to himself as an elderly horror star.

I really enjoyed watching Targets; the film is very strong both in its narrative and cinematography. There was no forced suspense like in most modern thriller films, when the audience is led by the soundtrack to build up the action. In Targets suspense comes much more naturally. Overall, I found the film very original and extremely engaging even 40 years after its release.

For me this has been the best film shown in Screening Series so far.