Scouting is for the brave

INSPIRE others, inspire yourself, get out there and look! Be aware.

I know I'm a little ahead of the game here and there is more important things I should be prioritazing, but I have already started looking for our main protagonist. Since I want this film to be as authentic as possible, I tried to envision if me playing the main character was going to be possible. After careful consideration of everything I would have to do during the production, the equipment set up, the shot composition, the script, the mise-en-scene, the camera handling, the lighting, I realized that also acting was virtually impossible, and would make my life 10000x harder, especially considering I do not own a tripod. Not that I couldn't get one, but for this project I think I'm better off staying behind the camera, so I can have better control of the other aspects of the production, and focus on those. 
I decided I wanted someone that could authentically relate to my story, someone that had gone through a similar experience and had an emotional connection to the conflict. I asked several friends who I knew had immigrated recently about what they thought of the whole process,  and how it had affected their personal relationships.  I was at the beach on Friday, and as I spoke with my friend it came to me that she would be perfect for the role, but later that night my other two friends also came to mind. I narrowed it down to two friends: Ana and Sara, who both moved in 2018. Ana was ruled out pretty quickly once I learned she can't ride a bike, and that is a major part of the short film. So it was down to Sara. I also had another friend in mind but for different reasons. Natalie has the vibe I want my character to have, the style, the personality, but not necessarily the connection to the content. Therefore, I decided I was going to try them both. And also consider their schedules, as Sara works and goes to college, while Natalie is a second semester senior......... Natalie was also practically raised here, and has no accent, while Sara just started learning english, which is something I need to consider in terms of how I want my character to be portrayed and represent. I'm leaning more towards Sara, as she also has a background of performing, but nothing is clear. 
I decided all I need to know if my girls are the one is to audition with the most important scene: the bike scene. I don't need them to be Meryl Streep or Saoirse Ronan, I just want it to feel authentic. So in the next week or so I will be meeting with them and trying out said scene. If none of them work, then the scouting continues but until then... 
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Genre research: Experimental Films

THAT is what I want to explore the most, the different, the challenging, the new, the refreshing. Let's take a look at what characterizes this array of ideas that constitute the core of experimental films. The avant-guard. More than a genre, this is a niche that often influences the mainstream, going back to postmodernism, it shapes the oversaturated area of media that we often consume, and I wanted to see how my film could take a small part in doing this.  This films explore the possibilities of the medium itself. 

1. Experimental: a form of film that challenges and re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores ways of telling stories in non-narrative ways and uses alternative methods. They draw from different art forms such as literature, poetry, dance, painting.  
2. Genre conventions- content:

• There are no set of rules 
• Express more personal experiences or eccentric topics 
• minimum dialogue, they rely more on visuals 
• rarely follow a narrative 
• draw attention to themselves 
• surrealism lends itself to experimental films, as it interprets the subconscious dreamlike features of how we interpret life. 
• abstract form is used sometimes to transmit the message: shapes, colors, movement
• can seem completely random but are organized through theme and variation 
• introductory sections shows the relationships that will be explored, and other parts show similar but different kinds of relationships 
• dependent on building greater and greater distance of the introductory section, increasing the contrast of the parts as time goes on.
•   Associational form juxtaposes film's parts to suggest similarities, contrasts, emotions, and expressive qualities
• doesn't follow a lot of conventions but generally relies on grouped images of larger sets 
• repeated motifs
• content that invites interpretation 
• Self-reflexive 
• breaks 4th wall --challenges mainstream ilusion
• Surrealism
• non-contextual arrangement of subjects
• seems like a dream 
• plot is very reliant on what the director wants to express
• 
  

     3. Genre Conventions- production: 

     common ways film makers challenge conventions in these films (not restricting or             binding in any way), as the whole purpose of the niche is challenging the mainstream,       so they conventions change and range widely. 

• out of focus 
• painting on film
• rapid editing
• asynchronous or non diagetic sound 
• no sound track 
• many create found-footage and repurpose existing material 
• no dialogue 
• numbered film frames 
• choppy editing 
• no specific target audience
• audio-visual manipulated in weird way 
• lighting varies widely 
• tends to have eccentric mise-en-scene
• location changes are minimal as the characters or things are the center focus of the films 
• Voiceover-train of though of character
• low number of actors 

    4. Institutional Conventions- marketing:

• no clear target audience-- varies by topic 
• shown in museum and niche film festivals 
• posters tend to be unique and differ from everything in the media, very colorful and eye catching 
• marketed in specific viewing experiences to assure the critical thinking and personal views of the viewer. 

Film Example #1

Throw Away Your Books, Rally in the Streets

directed by Shūji Terayama

• first scene protagonist breaks the 4th wall 
• eager for a sense of freedom
• uses reverse tracking shot 
• purple color grading throughout that is very prominent
• when the scene is tense soundtrack is loud
• the movie ends with how it started but instead of soundtrack being loud, it ends with him screaming in railroad
• represents counterculture
• explores the youth and the system it develops in 
• plays with surrealism and realism by hinting at times that the camera is there, while also not explicitly telling the viewer everything, but making them feel it     
• psychedelic scenarios 
• mixture of styles deriving from music videos and documentaries

Film Example #2

What did Jack do?

Directed by David Lynch 

• short film
• uses dialogue but mostly idioms--interesting choice to make viewer think
• breaks illusion and plays with the use of animals 
• uses aesthetic of old movies 
•  Uses no color to stick and kind of mock old detective/suspect scenes from 60s movies 
• minimal music, but includes musical number for dramatic effect
• minimal characters
• only one location 
• diegetic train sounds 
• shot reverse shot is most common but uses an array of close ups as well 
• asynchronous sound throughout 

More Examples: 

Un chien andalou by Luis Buñuel 

Intolerance by D.W. Griffiths

Eraserhead by David Lynch 

Chealsea Girls by Andy Warhol

Boyhood by Richard Linklater

The Lobster by Yorgos Lanthimos 

Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos 

st for the coming of age research!

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_film

https://nofilmschool.com/2013/11/experimental-filmmaking-for-dummies-part-1

https://www.fredcamper.com/Film/AvantGardeDefinition.html

https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/film/experimentation-in-film-the-avant-garde/

https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/close_look/a-critical-guide-to-understanding-experimental-film-54712

https://www.academia.edu/12277642/Experimental_Film_as_Marketing_Strategy_Sponsored_Film_Culture_in_Postwar_Sweden?auto=download

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/20-essential-films-for-an-introduction-to-avant-garde-cinema/

DIAL simplicity

THINGS to do: schedule, screenplay research!, new ideas!

So I finally got down to making my schedule, and it seems like there is so little time! It's kind of nerve-wracking not going to lie, but I am VERY excited.  If I stay in within the schedule everything should be under control.

Last class we had a group meeting and it was SO helpful. I was able to nail down my idea. I basically had an idea of how I wanted my film to end. A girl in a bicycle riding in her neighborhood at night screaming at the top of her lungs. I wanted her to be screaming in a cathartic way, out of her frustration. We had had a lesson on screenwriting and studied on the best ways to do an effective story. We studied how simplistic ideas are the best way to go in terms of the major conflict. I wanted to draw from something personal to me, so that I was able to portray the story in the most accurate way possible, saying my experience and drawing from within. So here is what my story is basically going to be about: How the immigration process can be incredibly frustrating and the uncertainty it brings, and how this can affect a family dynamic and in my story specifically a young teen. This is a POV that is often not portrayed in this kind of storylines, and it's different enough for me to shine a light on the realities of immigrating, and how they affected me. I believe it will also bring peace to myself and what I went through, and hopefully help others going through similar situations and making relatable content to those that are feeling how I felt back then. I am incredibly excited to head on and write this story, in the most authentic way I can. 

Here are some of my notes from the group meeting:

-work backward start with the end scene and go from there.

screams for catharsis as an outlet --frustration with immigration and how it affected relationship with parents

lot of symbolism

metamorphosis Kafka

immigration bureaucracy

navigate and escape a life

Smithsonian

bike day

bike night

wheels turning imagery

symbolism

metaphor

circle imagery !!!!!

candle light in the dark

lawyer made process harder highlight that

explore experimental films!! genre research

simple story

end with girl in bike screaming

major conflict: frustrations with immigration process

different light on how the immigration process hard thing wasn't assimilating into the culture but the bureaucracy and legal part and family dynamic

research coming of age

graphic match !!!

bureaucracy

I decided I want to focus a lot on symbolism and subliminal messages, while I want to show how the bureaucracy affects families, I also want to focus on the frustrating effects of going through the process with your parents but not really, since each person that immigrates goes through a different set of challenges. I am going to research more coming of age films, and experimental films in the following posts soooo
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