Sense of space - inspirations

One flew over the Cuckoo's nest by  Miloš Forman

This film was the main inspiration for the sound piece as it is a classic representation of a mental institution which was our original idea. The space in the film is very much the inspiration for the floor plan and some of the story line.

Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky

This is a film about a ballet dancer who becomes obsessed with her job and her role in Swan Lake. She becomes paranoid and a shadow of herself having visions and hearing sounds that aren't there. With this film I believe the character in the sense of space project is hospitalised after having visions and hearing things in his head. I hope you will be able to hear that by the end of this project.

sense of space - finalising ideas

We have come to a conclusion that we cannot dwell on this project anymore and we have to go out and record so we can build on our ideas. 

The way I imagine this idea coming to life is by imagining the space of a mental institute which is very much like the one you can see in ‘One flew over the Cuckoo’s nest’ where you have the common room area with the medical unit. This room then leads to a corridor which has doors on either side leading into patients rooms which get locked at night due to different mental illnesses.

The list of things we are planning to record is under 'Sense of space (sound project)  - ideas and struggles'

We have been having a hard time meeting up because of how much our schedules and priorities differ which means we will be recording the sounds separately. This may cause some misunderstandings and we may not record things that fit the other's vision, with that said I think the more sounds we are able to record the better because we will have more choice in the post production process.

Zoom H4n - Ron Wright

On a lovely friday afternoon me and Rosie paired up to learn the most we can from Ron. I have used the Zoom H4n before through out my last year of A levels so I already have known the basics of the stereo setting and how the Zoom recorder worked. On
this day We have learnt about the mono settings and the inner works of the Zoom.

Hydrophone - contact mono mic
mono mic - same settings as before plus phantom

Sense of space (sound project) - ideas and struggles

Me and Sebastian Wray have formed a group and one of our course mates Hannah Solly had to join us because of disagreements with her original partner. A group of three in my opinion has its positives and negatives. One of the positives is the creative flow, the more ideas we have the better in my opinion, but with many ideas there are many disagreements on the vision of the project. 

We all got together in the library one afternoon on one of the group tables and discussed different visions of how we could interpret 'Sense of space'. We came up with different ideas and different feelings we wanted to portray in this sound project and what could work with the experimental film we have to create later. 

Here is a few ideas that we came up with: 

Love Me or Leave Me Alone - Dwane Hopkins

A young boy, a young girl. Against the backdrop of the countryside they try to understand and express their feelings for each other. A study in the articulations and limitations of first love.

Crew

• Director - Duane Hopkins
• Producer - Samm Haillay
• Director Of Photography - Lol Crawley
• Editor - Chris Barwell
• Music - Dub Terrorist

Cast

• Steven - James Firkins
• Jessica - Zoe Rietti

Funded By

The UK Film Council and FilmFour
( http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004ph1v )

This fifteen minute film has moved me. The story of Jessica and Steven is a very real one and something that really hit home. Spending all my teenage years in a British secondary school I can truly say that some of the feelings portrayed in this short were mirroring some of what I could see my friends go through at similar age.
The first scene in this film sets the tone of how we look at the couple and how dysfunctional they are together. In the very first shot we look at the boy spitting in slow motion to his left. He is at the centre of the shot and not until the next shot do we see the girl being spat on. Its seems like the end of any normal relationship but their fight continues. What really grabbed my attention is the unfolding of the shots and how the story is told with the editing even more so than with what we hear in the film.
The camera follows both of them, we see their emotions parallel to each other when the camera switches from one to the other. This makes them both the main roles, it's their story.
When Jessica is walking back home on a english road, we see the tempetarure drop in the colour of the image. Also her feelings have grown into more negative ones. She is determined by walking away that she is leaving him behind yet he follows her.
The scene where he rides on his bike in front of her is very much the representation of their relationship. The more you are being pushed away from someone the more you want them. This happens as much in adult relationships as in the ones of young couples yet at a younger age every feeling one has is very extreme.
In one of the final scenes in this short we are presented with juxdeposition of the two main characters kissing on a sofa in an abandoned glass room with Jess and Steven having sex. The kissing shot being quite intimate and gentle in comparison to Jess 'fucking' Steven in the intertwined sequence of shots. The fact that Jess is on top of him may suggest and tell us many things. For example the fact that this is her choice, after all that Steven did to her she is the one that is dominant. Even after the first scene where we see the boy man handling her, we can now see who has the full control of the situation.

The story telling through the camera shots and movement makes it what it is. It makes us feel what the director inteds us to feel, anger, disapointment, discomfort and most importantly something every teenager or an adult can relate to.

First lesson with Martine.