In my opinion, module four has been the module that has brought out my best work. I feel that I have a better understanding of the visual components theory, I feel that I have expanded on my research skills to see how other film makers use visual storytelling to make their films, and I feel that I have improved on realising the importance of the sound design in film. I have also learned how to tell complex topics with simple ideas.
Originally, I had already started previsualising ideas on how to exhibit this film. I wanted to try projection mapping at first; however I realised that learning such a technique required more time than this module could allow. Incidentally, this method of exhibition was quickly put aside when I actually found my selected text from the public library; a book about cultural theory and human morality called After Theory by Terry Eagleton. The quote I chose was about the question of how we identify what it is to be human.
I felt like this was an idea I could really play with. My initial approach was that the definition of what it is to be human is different and unique for everyone. And also, that there is no one definition of who we are; instead, we are defined by the things we associate ourselves with. For example, hobbies, culture, upbringing. I endeavoured to ask the question what would be left if all these factors were stripped from a human being.
I then began to develop ideas with this; mainly about a person who has lost all sense of identity and need a connection to remember who they are. Then I read up upon a theory by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It was a concept called “The World Navel”; a source of energy in which the world of the story revolves around. I thought to link this with humans’ connection with nature.
I concluded that I could make a film that showed a common connection between a protagonist who felt unrequited love and an animated wolf that had lost his pride; that connection was the beat of the earth. The theme of unrequited love came from the idea that when you give yourself to someone else with no measure of reciprocation; you have no identity of your own and cannot learn to love and look after your own wellbeing.
However, I consulted with my tutor Matt after writing a draft for the script and we agreed that I was making things far too complicated for an audience to follow. Then we discussed the idea of visual poetry which inspired me to approach the film from an entirely new angle. I looked into Japanese Haiku poems and how they are simple syllables that explain the deep concepts of Japanese philosophy. I wrote my own Haiku and came to the idea of a character struggling to survive in the wilderness without fire.
In the final cut of my film, the visual subtext of fire is that it should come as top priority for keeping the moral high. In the film, the protagonist is trying to keep a smoking pile of ash lit to start a previous fire again. In the end, the ash grows cold and the smoke chokes him. He has to endeavour on creating his own fire in order to survive. This explained the idea of learning to love and respect yourself first above others makes you a better person for it. Matt and I also talked about the idea of introducing a scene that showed childish innocence in an adolescent young man as a method of sparking his journey to recovering his identity. Something as simple as climbing a tree or skimming stones; where small actions start big reactions.
The film was shot on location off the beaten track in dense woodland. There were extra hours of daylight to allow longer hours of filming. Prior to the shoot, myself and my Dad had collected dry grass and twigs as the props and natural fuel for the fundamental climax of the film. We were able to film without any showers delaying schedule.
In post-production, I had the mind set to edit the film from one angle; the angle in accordance with the script. However, Matt explained to me the idea of being free with cutting and having experimental iterations that were non-linear to the original storyboard. With Matt’s assistance, I finalised on a version of the edit that created fast and sharp tension and also a look deeper into the protagonist’s desires of wanting to feel the warmth of the fire.
With colour grading, I experimented on what the protagonist would feel originally in certain moments. I came up with the sequence of empty, sick, refreshed, active then warm. This being his transition from feeling cold and lost to remembering how to love himself and his identity. I made an alteration of adding blue at the end to bring out the warmth of the fire to the audience at the end.
If I ever shot this film again, I would take more time to make the journey feel more personal. There are elements of narration in the sound design; however, I feel it could have been more from the heart. I would even find a way to explain the concept of unrequited love in this form with a shorter version of the story. I feel that short and sweet can make the audience easily wonder the sense behind what they saw.
The message I wanted to send out with this film was to ask the audience to take a moment to think about who they are. Do they have respect for their identity and who they are, or do they give themselves more to others that do not reciprocate the feeling? Linking back to the quote, the message of the film is to remind us that as humans, we must respect ourselves to respect each other.
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