Power of ‘Cinema’ to transform ‘the everyday’
In film, a great director (& crew) can turn a usually normal scene and transform it into something completely different, something ‘cinematic’.
PROJECT: Style Brief
Think of an everyday activity i.e. Walking the dog, Meeting the parents of your partner, Eating chocolate, catching the bus...
Think how you could use the language and dynamics of ‘cinema’ to transform this scene. This could be to evoke drama/ adventure, enhance tension, be sensual, question ‘norms’, make a social/ political statement....
The project is a vehicle to experiment with and develop your Film Production Skills. The film will form part of your portfolio for Film Production Skills Module. FMAP4501 Assessment One. Showcasing your Pre Production, Camera, Lighting, Sound Design and Editing Skills.
Consider: Mise en scene, Cinematography, Sound Design, Acting style. Mood, Genre, Style.
In Heaven Everything Is Fine. (From Wikipedia) Eraserhead (released in France as The Labyrinth Man) is a 1977 surrealist-horror film written and directed by David Lynch. The film stars Jack Nance and Charlotte Stewart. Eraserhead initially polarized and baffled many critics and movie-goers, but over time the film has become a cult classic.
Sound design plays a key part in David Lynch’s surreal often unnerving debut film, Eraserhead. See 'Meet the Family' scene around 13m50s or Ch.3 on DVD.
Big Shave (1967, USA, Dir. Martin Scorsese)
‘The Big Shave (1967) is well known for being the short that launched Martin Scorsese's career. Four decades later, it still stands as a powerful allegory of the Vietnam War and a study of aural and visual interaction, the gruesome bloody close-ups contrasting with the ironic use of upbeat rock music.’ BFI
‘Many film critics have interpreted the young man's process of self-mutilation as a metaphor for the self-destructive involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War, prompted by the film's alternative title, Viet 67.’ Wiki
In this scene from Lynne Ramsey’s Ratcatcher. James a young boy from an impoverished family in 1970’s Glasgow, attempts to escape the streets around his tenement home that are piled with rubbish because of a dustmen's strike.
The end of this scene (from 4.30) is particularly poetic.
Delicatessen - Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Great editing and sound design in this fun surreal Trailer for 'Delicatessen', introducing the characters living in an apartment block above a butchers.