Pre-Production: Script 1st Draft and Story Intensity Graph

I decided to go with Idea 3 and began initialising the layout of the script:

Along with this version of the script is the story Intensity graph:

Pre-Production: Developing Ideas

Idea 1: A story on reflection

• Using projection mapping to help tell the feelings of the story
• Life cycle of a tree in reflection with the life choices of protagonist

Logline:

A quest of discovering purpose in life leads a character to find that the answer is not so indifferent from nature as they think.

Plot:

• The protagonist has spent their entire life to solve a problem set in a wager with an anonymous figure they met in a bar, "What is the universal lie of human virtue?". This bet has consumed their every thought, action and emotion because they cannot find the answer. Just when they lose heart and prepare to give up, they take a moment out of their day to sit down and really think about what the problem really means. Under a tree at the end of winter, they look at one last dead leaf falling from the tree and then they notice the new buds growing through. It becomes apparent to them that this may have helped them solve the problem. "Humans can be false to their nature, but under everything, there is potential to be true to their virtues." 

Idea 2: A story about rhythm

• Editing sound design in a way that links two completely irrelevant plot lines with a common connection of rhythm
• Composed of an actor's performance and a dance choreography 

Logline

Plot:

• The protagonist battles with an internal struggle of trusting people and trusting themselves. They've turned away from religion and they've turned away from love because no one has shown them love in return. They want to open up more but they doubt themselves. they feel alone around people and they have no one to talk to. However, they find comfort in and around nature which is where they find someone who shares something in common with them.

• Alternatively: 

• Simultaneously, this story is told in the form of a dance reflecting the animal behaviour of a wolf dancer that mirrors the behaviours of the protagonist. The dance begins very lonesome and gradually gets more aggressive up to the climax where the dance becomes calmer; ending on a form of meditation and contentment as the dance concludes.

Idea 3: Idea 2 Alteration:

Logline:

He's lost the connection to his own heart, nature's beat can help him tune back in. 

Plot:

• The story tells of a person who is battling an internal conflict of choice and motivation. They attempt to seek the hand of someone that they admire; only to be betrayed by their friend in return. Throughout their defeat, they struggle to live with themselves and resent everything that they are. Whilst they contemplate in a dark place, they take a look at the last dying leaf of a plant which makes them go out into the woods for solitude. As they do, they look deep into themselves and realise that the way to  heal is to love who they are and rejoice in what they stand for. They return from the woods an "enlightened" person and they are ready to live life for their best interest.

• Simultaneously, the internal reflections of their struggle are mirrored by a wolf dance that takes place between cuts. The wolf lives among the pack and feels proud and mighty in protecting them in their home. Until one day, hunters and builders come and destroy their home leaving the pack to wander the wilds aimlessly. Over time, the wolves of the pack begin to leave the alpha male until he is alone with no one left for him to protect. For a time, he wonders the wilderness alone; until he looks up at the moon and acts to howl under its full glow. After which he meets a female who respects him and would seek to help him rebuild his noble pack.

Research: Animal Imagery in Contemporary Art

Dave White:

- Examples of White's work: White. D (2014-2015), Dave White Archive, http://davewhiteart.com/artworks/categories/3/ [Accessed 06/04/17]

Dave White is a contempory British artist and painter who specialises in creating art inspired by popular culture and the interpretation of contemporary emotive issues.

What I liked about his pieces here are his interpretation of animal poses and postures. He takes the natural behaviours of animals and places them into an art form. I find this to be useful as I wish to reflect in my character's performance, a suggestive nature of an animal they they would relate themselves to; this being linked to the idea that humans and animals share a connection that is the rhythm of their movement.

Pre-Production: Beginning Ideas

I began to brainstorm themes and concepts from my chosen text. What sparked my off in the beginning was the idea that humans don't know who they are. Instead, they define themselves with other things; for example, their fashion sense, what music they listen to, what films they like. To ask someone who they truly are is impossible for them to say on their own because in today's society, everyone defines themselves by the personalities associated with what they like. This of course changes with the changing of history and culture which makes the definition of who someone truly is biased.

I want to apply the use of the World Navel into my story; only making it more human. What I mean by this is that something inside a person is the centre of who they are; that all these multiple definitions of what a person is revolves around a source that is unique and individual in every human being.

Analysis: The Visual Components & Subtext of Princess Mononoke

I recently watched the Studio Ghibli film Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki. It got me thinking of the context behind the film and the underlying meaning than just a war between humans and animals. This analysis that I've done has helped me understand how subtext is applied and in turn, helps me to decide on how I would do the same for my film idea.

- DVD Cover of Princess Mononoke

The subtext of Princess Mononoke ties in very closely to the context of the events that took place during the year of its release in 1997. It’s clear that the films overall themes do not just address feminism, but also a larger portion of the films theme is discussed through the struggle between humanism and the eco-system. It seems more than a coincidence that this film was released in Japan on 12th July 1997; only months before the Kyoto Protocol was due to take place in December of the same year. Whether or not it was the intention of director Hayao Miyazaki to address this context in his film; the visual subtext most definitely implicates it.

The first area of subtext used is the emphasis on the very small number of people that care for the environment in proportion from the people who don’t care and actually want to cut it down. This is represented by the affinity of the protagonist’s tribe; the Emishi people.

 - Washington, et al, (1997: 22-23), The Art Of Princess Mononoke, VIZ Media, California

Colour and Tone:

One thing to notice is the art direction (one of Alex Buono’s seven ways to add subtext to a film). First off, the change in the saturation of colour indicates the mood and approach the film has on the relationship between humans and nature. The protagonist Ashitaka comes from a village that is at peace with the forest and respects the gods that rule over it; even in their rage and anger. Therefore, there is a lot of saturation and vibrancy in colour; green being the most dominant of them all.

 - Washington, et al, (1997: 32-33), The Art Of Princess Mononoke, VIZ Media, California

Another thing to note is the affinity of tone in these scenes. The Emishi village, when viewed from the hill, perfectly blends into the green surroundings; this is another indicator of the Emishi people’s respect for the gods and the forest making them in harmony with nature. Miyazaki even said in an interview “The Idea that the world is not just for humans, but for all life, and humans are allowed to live in a corner of the world.”*

 - Washington, et al, (1997: 42), The Art Of Princess Mononoke, VIZ Media, California

Now compare these with when the protagonist ventures on his quest. Gradually as he travels away from his village, brown is introduced and the vibrancy of the colour green begins to fade. This is evident when he meets Jigo the monk in a town larger than his own village. The subtext here is that these humans are more concerned about survival and taking from the land to do so; rather than be concerned with primarily preserving the forest.

Take this even further into the story when Ashitaka arrives at Iron Town. The colour green is completely gone and there are more browns and grey. There is also affinity of tone in the darker regions of dynamic range. This is an outlook on the humans as the most negative relationship with the forest as these scenes from Iron Town; compared with those earlier with the Emishi people, are strongly contrasting.

In my opinion what Miyazaki is showing with visual subtext here is that there are only so many people in the world who recognise the importance of the environment whilst the rest of the world obsesses with taking its limited resources to wage war, politics and money. The size of Iron Town compared to the Emishi; and applying the visual subtext, indicates the uneven portion of people who care and don’t care about the damage that’s being done to the environment today.

Miyazaki's choice of animals for protecting the forest also bears notion of visual subtext by the semiotics it demonstrates. Choosing to use the boar tribe to launch an attack on the humans, instead of using the ape tribe or the wolf tribe, is subtext to the belief in Japanese culture that boar are considered to have "direct ties to the Japanese god of fight...boars have regularly gone head-to-head with revered Japanese hunters. As a result, the Japanese associate the wild boar with aggression and the attacking spirit."**  Thus, Miyazaki has reflected their significance in Japanese culture through the subtext quite literally through his choice of character conflict.


Costume Design:

- Washington, et al, (1997: 74-75), The Art Of Princess Mononoke, VIZ Media, California

Further visual subtext to the film is the design of San (Princess Mononoke). Her warrior mask and clothes are inspired from a certain period in Japanese history. As Miyazaki says "if we search for a similarity for the female lead, she is in appearance not unlike a clay figurine from the Jōmon period (c. 12,000 BCE - 300 BCE)"***

- Artist's recreation of a Mimizuku Dogu Jōmon clay figure, gislebertus (2012), Etsy: Howned Owl Dogu, https://www.etsy.com/listing/95587244/horned-owl-dogu [Accessed 04/04/17]

- Washington, et al, (1997: 78-79), The Art Of Princess Mononoke, VIZ Media, California

The Jōmon are the earliest identifiable human civilisations in Japan's ancient history. In Jōmon culture, the pottery figurines they made were called "Dugo"; they represent human looking animal figurines and are believed to be associated with holy rituals and guarding the dead in the afterlife.  The large eyes on the Dugo are believed to be associated with the "watchfulness" of the Jōmon people based on their security from their geographical position on the islands of Japan. *V

Putting this subtext into the film, San is much like what the Dugo figurine represents; the princess that guards the forest and its gods and spirits; and as her wolf mother Moro states "my poor, ugly, beautiful daughter is neither wolf, nor human." - Princess Mononoke (1997)

Further Context:

Miyazaki talks about why he made this film in the "forward" of The Art Of Princess Mononoke (1997: 12). He discusses that coming toward the end of the twentieth century, humanity is facing the "chaotic era of the twenty-first century". He mentions that he did not make the film to in an attempt to "solve the entire world's problems. There can never be a happy ending in the battle of humanity and ferocious gods." What I think he is referring to is humanity's struggle against the environmental issues that are still present today. He elaborates on this topic in another interview for Animerica (1999) when he says,“consider whether or not civilisation is doing well, as long as nature doesn’t become a constraint, I would have to say it’s diseased.” **V

Overall, I think the subtext of this film makes it a story about humanism and the environment that is split into three parts: The past; as shown by the subtext of the Jōmon figurines, the present; shown in the disproportionate ratio of humans that care and don't care about the forest gods, along with the depiction of Iron Town's industrial settlements, and a foreshadowing of the future as shown in the climax of the film where humans are left with no choices to make. As Miyazaki states, “Unless, we put ourselves in a place where we don’t know what to do and start from there, we cannot think about environmental issues or issues concerning nature.” ***V

• * - Toyama, R (1997), Interview: Miyazaki on Mononoke-hime, http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/interviews/m_on_mh.html [Accessed 02/04/17]

• ** - Panfili, D, (2014), Cultural Boar: Wild Boar in Japanese Culture, http://www.culturalboar.com/japan.html [Accessed 03/04/17]

• *** - Miyazaki, H, (1997: 12), The Art Of Princess Mononoke

• *V - Stone, R (2015), Ancient Origins: Ancient dogu figurines with large goggle-eyes defy scholarly explanation, http://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-other-artifacts/ancient-dogu-figurines-large-goggle-eyes-defy-scholarly-explanation-002722 [Accessed 04/04/17]

• **V -Animerica (1999), Savage Beauty: Princess Mononoke, Vol 7 Issue #12, https://www.animenostalgiabomb.com/princess-mononoke-hayao-miyazaki-interview-animerica-december-1999/ [Accessed 02/04/17] 

• ***V - Toyama, R (1997), Interview: Miyazaki on Mononoke-hime, http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/interviews/m_on_mh.html [Accessed 02/04/17]

Research: The World Navel

- Yggdrasil, the World Tree (etching, Scandinavia, early nineteenth century A.D.) Hero With A Thousand Faces, (2008: 33)

According to Joseph Campbell in his collected works The Hero With A Thousand Faces (2008), "the World Navel is the symbol of continuous creation; the mystery of the maintenance of the world". (2008: 34)
In summary, it is essentially, the centre of all everything that exists in a referred world and/or story. Everything revolves around it and it is the source of all creation. As Campbell also states, "since it is the source of all existence, it yields the world's plenitude of both good and evil." (2008: 34) 

My understanding of this is that the World Navel is the connection between the ultimate power the hero has to gain to succeed in the quest, and the world in which they need to save. Ultimately, it is a source that both the protagonist and antagonist can use for their own needs or want. It's also what the world of the story revolves around and everything in the story links back to this one point.

 Examples of the World Navel that Campbell (2008:35) talks about; used in narrative and culture include, the spot in which the Buddha sat when reaching enlightenment, Christ himself having the power of God as his son and being "the way, the truth and the life" (Bible, John 14:6) for Christians to gain passage to heaven, Rome being the centre in which the Catholic church revolves around. Another example evident in film is the Force being the source and binding power of the galaxy in Star Wars; and how it can be used by both the Jedi and the Dark Side.

"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together." 

- Quote from Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope

Evidence that Campbell presents where the World Navel is used from an antagonistic point of view is the anecdote about the trickster-divinity Edshu in West African mythology. Campbell explains how Edshu wore a hat that represented the four world directions; where one side was white, the other red, the front green and the back black. Edshu himself represented the World Navel. Two farmers on either side of him fight over what colour the hat was; as one saw it as red, the other as white. The meaning of this is that Edshu was the Navel of the chaos caused between the two farmers from the different world directions (colours) the hat displayed. (2008: 37).
(Note, Campbell references Leo Frobenius' work: Und Afrika sprach when explaining the anecdote of Edshu) 

This Concept fascinates me and it seems that it can be applied to stories very easily. I would use this in my own story as it can prove very relevant to the themes I wish to discuss based upon my text which talks about human philosophy.

Lecture: Visual Subtext Parts I & II

Semiotics in cinema:

Inflation of images = recession of meaning

Visual Subtext example:

• Oranges foreshadowing death in The Godfather
• Fight Club: Starbucks coffee cup  in every shot to indicate consumerism and globalisation

Rules of subtext:

1. Subtext must be organic to the story
2. The undefined is more powerful than the defined
3. Think laterally

Undefined + Lateral = Universal

How to add subtext to film:

• Semiology (semiotics)
• Speculation allows audience engagement
• More subtext = more engagement

Alex Buono's 7 Ways to add subtext:

1. Art Direction:

• The Last Emperor: Grey to red to orange to yellow to green to blue to indigo to violet to white indicating stages of his life
• Guardians of the Galaxy:Hubble images inspired colour pallet of film

2. Costume Design:

• Used to expand characterisation (Gladiator when character's costume literally turns into the image of a deity)

3. Hair Design:

• Collateral: Tom Cruise's hair is grey to represent his character and is mirrored back to him from the grey fur of the wolf at the end.

4. Makeup Design:

• The Dark Knight: The Joker, Francis Bacon's art was Chris Nolan's inspiration

5. Sound Design:

• 80% of film is sound and helps us process what we see. (Raging Bull; animal sounds added for fight scenes)

6. Lighting Design:

• Reference Apocalypse Now

7. Camera Operating:

• Black Swan: Dancer was taught how to use a camera

Allegory = Telling a story through a story