Halloween Night is a short surrealist film made by student Dylan Henderson. The film shows a boy seemingly trying out masks for Halloween in front of a mirror when his 'reflection' comes to life, and seemingly wants to mirror everything he does. This film is definitely flawed and has some certain examples that I need to try and avoid doing to make sure my surrealist film is slightly more surrealist. Firstly, the film does have some slight positives. The concept has that idea of the realistic scenario being turned into something slightly unexpected but I would argue the technical delivery of this dilutes it and stops it from being so successful. The themes explored could also be quite interesting, with possible ideas such as duality, societal expectations and even possibly the influence of music. However, the film really has some fundamental flaws. Firstly, the film does seem to fall into some really set cliches, mostly the 'twist' ending at the end after he wakes up, with it seemingly being a dream, but the reflection is still there. This twist felt so ridiculous to the film and almost went entirely against the point of surrealism, to go against convention but this really didn't feel like an unconventional idea and fell towards the tropes of many modern horror films. The film itself also didn't really have that dreamlike element you look for in surrealist films. It shows him waking up from a dream, however it doesn't really have that lack of structure or cause and effect. From the point of view of this established universe, the events that occur in the film do make some form of sense narratively (with many actions being explained in some very clunky dialogue). While the film tries to play with that idea of the dream, it certainly does not succeed. Overall, there are more lessons to be learnt on what not to do than what to do from this film. The film falls to conventions, something that surrealist films should never really do and just feels technically quite weak also. In my film, I will try to follow less conventions and also focus more on that idea of the dreamlike. As well as this, there will be no spoken dialogue (although I may use intertitles) in my film as I feel like it takes you out of the surrealist film, especially with the usage of white noise-like sound in the background. Themes of the film could be interesting to explore in mine, but I would hope to take a look at them much more successfully than this film did.
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The planning process of the film is going relatively well. We have the basic premise down, and have some smaller ideas going around that will bring up our points of the fleeting nature of memories and perhaps the idea memories can be distorted in how we remember them down the line. Currently, we've been exploring how we can use the events in these memories to show ideas about these perceptions. We want to possibly utilise some POV shots to show the difference between this reality and the 'fiction' of his mind.
One problem we are facing is making the film surrealist 'enough'. We don't want to make the point too obvious, but at the same time we don't want to make just a selection of unrelated images that doesn't really have any point. It's a difficult challenge though to make these ideas coherent in some way. So, overall, the planning stage is going relatively well in terms of the base ideas, but we need to plan how these will be filmed and make sure more ideas are added to make a film with substance but still some that fits with the surrealist style. The film's planning is going relatively well so far. Our current plan is to shape the film around the protagonist's memories of certain stages in their life. We want to explore how memories can be deceitful and not exactly how you remember - however, we want to keep this relatively masked to ensure it still keeps that Surrealist element. This point should not be too obvious otherwise that does feel like it's defeating the whole point really.
We want to film in various areas, hopefully utilizing some areas around the school but perhaps also filming in our houses if needs be. We want to show the various important locations throughout our protagonist's lives, showing their stages of life, using various editing techniques to almost transport our main character through these various stages of life. The blending of memories will also be used to create some relevant but seemingly random imagery. It creates absurd images, but if the spectator can apply an interpretation to it, the film can make some sense. We will need a few cast members. We've got someone to play the protagonist but we want to get some sort of 'bully-like' character perhaps to represent the more violent or negative memories of his life. We haven't found someone to play this part yet, but we're hoping to get someone before we start filming. So overall the film is going quite well. It still needs some work in terms of a structure to the absurdity to ensure that the point is successfully put forward but this can be sorted out in the coming days. The Alphabet is a 1968 short film directed by American filmmaker David Lynch. The film recounts the alphabet and then shows a girl having these put into her head. Blood then comes from her mouth and the film ends there. Alphabet utilizes both live action and animation, again perhaps to create that idea of the real vs the foreign (especially considering the idea of the childish nature of learning the alphabet with the very graphic and violent imagery later on in the film), and and uses high-key lighting to create a fearful, spooky atmosphere. The film builds tension using the real, by having the girl in the bed recite the alphabet in an almost demonic way. Lynch said he based on his niece 'having a bad dream one night and was reciting the alphabet in a tormented way'. When this is used in the film, it creates an almost horror-like atmosphere which certainly disconcerts the spectator. The long shot of the girl in the bed at the bottom right hand corner of the screen with giant letters appearing is a particularly haunting one, with the girl almost being possessed, changing into lots of different positions. These edits are quick, adding to the weird and demon-like aspect to this. The final smile to the camera adds to the overall terror of the film. The narrative of the film has been speculated as showing an expression of a fear of learning, perhaps shown by the odd positions her body seems to take as the alphabet is recited. Some meaning behind the film, perhaps some form of fear helps to create a somewhat relatable nature to it. While these fears are not ours, we also have our own fears that may be similar in theme. Therefore, overall, I want to take the ideas of potential fears and perhaps explore them too. Something relatively plausible that an audience can relate to but still be jarring in some way. I would also quite like to incorporate some form of mild blood into the film, not necessarily just for gratuitous violence but to add to the shock value that many other Surrealist films also have. Fresh Guacamole is a 2012 animated short Surrealist film directed by PES. The film was nominated for the Best Animated Short Film award at the 85th Academy Awards. The film shows a man making guacamole out of familiar objects that then become different objects when cut (for example, a baseball is cut in half and it turns into dice when diced). The film, like Microwaveable has that same sort of idea about taking the familiar and turning it into the surreal. When these recognizable objects turn into other seemingly unrelated recognizable objects, it creates not only a confusing feel but also almost a comedic one. This film plays off the Surreal comedy as it uses puns (baseball turns into dice when diced) to create some of this humor. The film appears to be shot as if it was a point-of-view, with a medium shot high angle - this again perhaps adds to the reliability of the environment - cooking and preparing food, but then adds a spin on it which is jarring for the spectator. This is helped by the usage of a method known as pixilation which helps create a far more realistic animated than other slightly animated ones (such as the third film, Lynch's Alphabet). The visual images in this film, while perhaps not conveying any form of narrative, do seem to have some related themes. The dice and the poker chips that are served with the guacamole has this theme of gambling or chance and the presence of the chess pieces and the Trivial Pursuit pieces/wedges has the theme of skill and games involved. Some of these objects do seem to have some overarching theme but there is no full narrative really created by these images. Overall, for my own Surrealist short film, I would take again the ideas of mixing the foreign with the realistic to create some juxtaposing images for the spectator but I would also take the ideas of the thematic relevance of each of these images. I don't believe a narrative is needed as I would argue that takes away the idea of that dream-like structure to the film but these themes help make the film open to some form of interpretation and allows for some form of message to be conveyed. The Filipino short film, Microwaveable, seems very simple. It presents the audience with a microwave from a medium close-up with a short depth of field. The rest of the film is then a medium shot of various seemingly random objects being placed into the microwave. Objects placed into the microwave include towels, a photograph of a boy and a dog. This is, of course, extremely confusing and bizarre as a spectator and certainly creates ideas of the unconscious with its random seemingly unrelated image in an odd, while everyday environment. The camerawork and editing is extremely minimal, making it rather unconventional and perhaps adding to the spectator's confusion. The sound is mostly silent, except from various sound effects in the background (I believe there's a chicken making a noise at some points when items are put in). The microwave is positioned slightly off to the left of the screen, again perhaps adding to the discomfort. It is not positioned in the center of the shot, and the spectator's attention is primarily drawn to the timer permanently flickering on 1:58. The spectator perhaps expects something else to occur and when it doesn't, it is certainly disconcerting. The items being placed in also seem to increase in absurdity as the film goes on, as they put items such as a brush and the aforementioned dog in. The slow increase of the surreal in the film helps to increase discomfort towards its climax. There is no obvious set aesthetic or style being appealed to either - the shot is very simple and minimalist. The spectator is almost an outsider to the foreign situation occurring which is extremely confusing. I wouldn't argue that this film is necessarily a 'great' surrealist film: it does feel like a selection of completely dissociated objects rather than a group with some connected theme. However, what the short does do a good job of is creating discomfort in the spectator. It is is set in real environment but yet is incredibly foreign and this is perhaps more confusing than a completely foreign environment. I like the idea of getting these foreign events and putting it into a everyday action, and adopting that for my own Surrealist film would be interesting. |
InfoBlog for A Level Film Studies. Consists of critical analysis of films from different time periods and genres. Archives
July 2018
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