FOR THE DURATION - Sound practicalities

The most popular serious journal for the cinema is called 'Sight and Sound'.  This serves as a reminder that films are not all about the visual, although historically speaking images came first.

The advent of sound brought music and dialogue into the art form, and also soundscapes, whether through wild track recordings or creation in post production through foley.  Thus, films became immersive worlds that the audience could be totally engrossed with, where not just the eyes, but the whole body experienced the film.

The technology of recorded sound leapt forward in the 50's with 'high Fidelity', and in the 60's with the introduction of Dolby, which reduced the hiss of earlier technologies.  The aural element of films became more important, as directors realised how much a good soundtrack could add to a film's appeal.  The advent of digital recording in the 80's has had a similar effect, with the ratio of noise to signal being reduced to zero.  This gives filmmakers the opportunity to create extremely subtle soundtracks to enhance the mood of a film.  Surround sound and very large bass speakers are now the norm in modern cinema complexes.

So, the soundtrack to a film is viewed by some as of equal importance to the images presented.  There is an opportunity here for the independent filmmaker to add considerable production value - just as digital image editing has become affordable to those on the periphery of the film industry,  so has digital sound editing.

The sound track for 'For the Duration' has been created using a freely available (open source) application called 'Audacity'.  This has all the functionality required for editing and producing.

The music for the film has been created using a Yamaha digital piano (DGX-650), which is a very versatile musical instrument.  I managed to acquire this piece of equipment for £300, half its list price, as it was listed on Amazon as 'slightly damaged'.  When it was delivered, the only damage was the internal polystyrene packaging.  It features many digitally sampled real instrument sounds, along with many synthesised ones too.  It also has pre-programmed rhythm tracks, which can be manipulated using buttons on a control panel.

Additional vocal tracks were recorded using Audacity, with a Rode NT 1A microphone plugged into a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 pre amp.

These items cost about £100 each.

FOR THE DURATION - how limitations shape the narrative

Faced with making a 'festival ready' film on a very limited budget (relatively), the key is to find free ways to add 'production value'.  Living in an area of 'outstanding natural beauty' like Snowdonia, there is a wealth of interesting locations,  their only cost being the fuel necessary to find and use them.

This was the starting point for formulating my concept.  I love exploring 'off the beaten path', and combined with an eye for the surreal, I carefully selected the sites that the action in my film would take place.  This psycho-geographical approach was used to charge the film with a sense of the uncanny.  The industrial architecture of local infrastructure stands in stark contrast to the glaciated Precambrian and Ordovician geological sub-structure.

There is a long history of films whose action revolves around a journey across a landscape, from Ford's western epics, to more art house works (see Kiarostami).  This mirrors the classical theory of narrative, where a protagonist takes a psychological journey, to arrive as a changed person.  The seeds of my films narrative began to germinate when I assimilated this idea and combined it with the availability of a landscape, and an actor able to improvise the protagonist, given a sketched out scenario.

Lynne Ramsey's 'Morvern Callar' (2002) - more suitcase hauling.

Free actors that can act are hard to come by, but through my interest in philosophy I met a senior lecturer in the university's sociology department, with some previous experience, and the willingness to give up his spare time.

I had already sourced the central props for the film.  The suitcase was found in a second hand shop in Porthmadog that supports those with learning difficulties (Seren).  When bargaining over the price, I mentioned it was for a film, and was asked if I'd like to borrow it - apparently they regularly loaned props for films.  I took this as a sign that the universe was telling me that the case was going to play an important role in the film.

The other key prop for the film is the board game and its pieces.  The board was made during an occupational therapy class while I was undertaking full time group therapy in the 1980's, out of an old oak bed headboard.  It is actually a 'go' board ('go' is an ancient Japanese game).  

The game pieces came from a much more recent activity (but similar in intent).  In 2017 I was volunteering for the Welsh Highland Railway in Porthmadog, helping to make the tables and chairs for the carriages produced at their Boston Lodge engineering works.  One day I was left with a little pile of off cuts of 'utile', a mahogany substitute.  I was charmed by them, and took them home, with the feel that I would use them in some kind of art project.  Two years later I identified them as the pieces of a yet to be invented board game, and painted them with yellow acrylic left over from a painting class organised by Mind run at Parc Glynliffon near Caernarfon that I attended in the winter of 2018. 

Once I had secured access to the derelict Slate Finishing Factory in Dorothea quarry, and sourced a generator to power my projector, the narrative of my film was pretty much dictated to me from somewhere. 

The perceived limitations of the no/low budget filmmaker are in fact opportunities for creativity.  I think it can even be argued that the bigger the budget of a film, the greater the paucity of the creative concepts involved.  Car chases and explosions are expensive, but also entertaining.  The successful no/low budget film should aim to entertain at a cerebral level rather than a sensational one.  This is what I have attempted with 'For The Duration'.

FOR THE DURATION - Film shoot with Marcel Stoetzler

Here is a short photo-account of the first day of shooting with the protagonist of the film, played by Marcel Stoetzler, a rock musician and senior lecturer in sociology at Bangor University.

The first location was Brewit Bridge near Penrhyndeudraeth.  Under the bridge Marcel was filmed waking up next to his all important suitcase.  This is how it looked to him:

After this, we went over to the destroyed forest location, which was about a 20 minute drive.  After making Marcel lug the suitcase across extremely challenging terrain the director realised he was in need of a pannad (hot drink) and so a break was called:

The next location was the large black water pipe.  More walking/struggling over uneven ground was required by the actor, together with some direction from a distance (the director shouting).

It was time for the catering van to arrive, so a comfortable spot in the sunshine was found to settle down to a relaxed lunch in the stunning surroundings of the Snowdonia national Park:

After lunch the crew decamped to the radio mast, and then on to Dorothea Quarry near Nantlle.  Here, the director is set up to film the protagonist's entrance into a small tunnel, which in the film will become miraculously become larger, and lead to the location of the film's denouement (the old slate finishing factory building):

After this scene, which took just a few minutes, it was time to make a trek up through the old quarry buildings to reach the huge hole at the top of the complex, where Marcel's character encounters the strange water pipe that intermittently dispenses a gush of water.  Before medium and close up shots were taken, the actor was instructed on where to walk across the bottom of the quarry while the director/camera filmed from above:

Once the character had reached his 'mark' (the water pipe) a long lens was used to flatten the space and provide a long shot with some detail.  The director had to shout down to the actor and tell him to put his trench coat back on.  The actor heard some shouting but couldn't hear properly.  However, he correctly guessed what the director wanted and duly obliged.

The day went well - all the shots that were wanted were achieved with the minimum of fuss, though each framing was improvised on arrival.  Success in this was possible as the director had recced each location several times and worked out in his head where the best shots were and where the camera would need to be set up.  Effectively, the story boarding was carried out, but not on paper, as the director would be operating the camera.

FOR THE DURATION: Working with actors

This is the first film the director has made where 'direction' of 'actors' has been necessary.  However, the director had worked as a camera operator on a friend's PhD film project in 2014, and this provided some confidence, and a role model.  Also, the actors were friends that although not formally trained, were experienced performers in front of live audiences, as both had long careers as rock musicians.  The director spent a lot of time explaining the concept of the film before shooting, and both actors freely made suggestions as to how to develop their characters, particularly regarding their outward appearance.

On set, the director was keen to achieve naturalistic performances from the actors.  This was a challenge, as the actors tended to over-act.  This may have been because of their lack of experience in front of the camera, where all mannerisms tend to be amplified.  The director reflected on what he'd read about actors as 'models' (Bresson).  For the film to have its desired affect, the acting needed to be as believable as possible, and certainly not 'camp'.  The intention was to make a serious 'art' film, not a 'Hammer Horror'.

The director learnt a lot about how to get actors to do what is required for a shot to work, whilst minimising any conflict or disagreement.  An emotional engagement is required, and a level of trust.  Both of the actors in the film were familiar with the director's previous work, and consequently were compliant to requests to repeat scenes without lengthy discussion.  This was important as it enabled a lot of work to be done in a short space of time.

FOR THE DURATION: script changes

After a short break from the project due to illness, there was a meeting to review the script, and it was agreed that the story line would be improved if the number of characters was reduced from three to two - one protagonist and his opposing antagonist.  This released the director from acting duties, meaning that he could resume his role as camera director.  It also meant that £400 could be saved from the budget, as there would be no need to hire a camera operator.

Artistically this was also preferable, as the director's vision for the film could be much better served - the tone and style would match earlier footage of the protagonist (the actor now being away on holiday).  Another camera operator would result in footage that had a different colour balance and 'look' - earlier footage was taken using a Nikon D5200 DSLR, and the camera operator wanted to use the camera he was most familiar with, which was a Cannon 5D.

The film's characters are played byactors that were not available at the same time, so there were two main periods of filming (which are now complete).  Shots featuring the protagonist were all filmed at the beginning of July before the director fell ill.  The week of shooting for the antagonist's scenes (that was to use a hired camera operator) was postponed until the following week, and went ahead with the director taking control of the camera.  Most of the desired shots were obtained and the schedule that was planned was followed to the letter.

The actor for the antagonist part was not as fit as the actor for the protagonist part, which meant careful pacing and regular rests were scheduled into the two days of filming, which changed from two consecutive days to one day then a three day break, then another day/evening.  The shot at the radio mast location was a compromise as the actor felt unable to climb over the gate.  A long lens was used to bring actor and location closer together.

FOR THE DURATION - film shoot schedule 1.

An email to camera operator Rob, and actor Alan, 17th July 2019:

Hello Rob,

Looks like the weather will be ok for next week.  I've booked equipment from Huw Powell.  I think your Cannon 5d will be enough.  I've talked to Huw about steadycam - please could you liaise with him - let him know if you prefer the Ronin or the Glidecam (Ronin looks easier if you've used it before).  I will be collecting all the equipment from Huw on Tuesday.  Bare in mind that speed of set up is important as there are quite a number of shoots on each day.  Here is the planned location / shoot list, with character actions (characters played by myself and Alan Holmes):

Wednesday 24th:

Morning.

1/ brewit Bridge (near Penrhyndeudeaidd) - inspecting and walking

2/ Big black water pipe on road above Meantwrog. - inspecting

3/ Magnox sculpture near Maentwrog - walking

Pub Lunch in Porthmadog or at Garreg community cafe.

Afternoon.

4/ Radio Mast near Nebo - walking/sitting/inspecting

5/ Armco Barrier road near Cilgwyn (Rosgadfan) - walking

Thursday.25th.

Afternoon

1/ Betws garmon Green Fence - inspecting

2/ Betws Garmon long straight road - walking

3/ Pen Yr Orsedd quarry near Nantlle - standing

Tea - takeaway or sandwiches.

Evening/night.

Dorothea quarry derelict Slate finishing factory - various + possible drone flight

Would it be possible for you to give Alan a lift from Menai Bridge?  If not, Alan, do you have transport to Nantlle?  It would be much easier for me if I don't have to come and collect you.

Rendezvous points:

Penygroes carpark opposite Coop on Wednesday at 10am, 

Nantlle village on Thursday at 2pm.

I hope all that makes sense.  I will phone you both in next couple of days to confirm arrangements and answer any queries.  I am aware that you know each other, so hopefully it will be good fun working together on this.  I will do my best to make it so.  I have a budget for food and drink, so if you have any preferences, let me know.

One other thing (which hopefully won't apply) - if weather for Thursday evening looks doubtful, the days will be switched so that the filming in Dorothea can be done in the dry (there will be on-location electrical appliances).

Please both of you confirm by email that you've seen this email (they do get lost don't they!).

Phil.

FOR THE DURATION: Frank barratt's 'Provocative Competence'.

The concept of 'Provocative competence'

What methods shall we chose when we approach the making of a film?  How will we wrangle all the variables?  How can we make something visually original?  

Like all creative activities, filmmaking involves improvising, and tolerating discomfort, challenging ones normal habits in search of unique results. 

Here is an extract from 'Yes to the Mess' by Frank Barrett:

“Many veteran jazz musicians practice provocative competence; they make deliberate efforts to create disruptions and incremental re-orientations. This commitment often leads players to attempt to outwit their learned habits by putting themselves in unfamiliar musical situations that demand novel responses.  Saxophonist John Coltrane is well known for deliberately playing songs in difficult and unfamiliar keys because “it made [him] think” while he was playing and he could not rely on his fingers to play the notes automatically.  Herbi Hancock recalls that Miles Davis was very suspicious of musicians in his quartet playing repetitive patterns so he forbade them to practice.  In an effort to spur the band to approach familiar tunes from a novel perspective, Davis would sometimes call tunes in different keys, or call tunes that the band had not rehearsed.  This would be done in concert, before a live audience.  “I pay you to do your practicing on the band stand,” Hancock recalls Davis’ commitment to “Keeping the music fresh and moving” by avoiding comfortable routines.  “Do you know why I don’t play ballads anymore?” Jarrett recalled Davis telling him.  “Because I like to play ballads so much (Carr, 1992, p. 53).” [Barrett, 1998, p. 609]

Filmmakers can be informed by the practice of artists who work in other mediums.  Provocative competence seems like a good guiding principle to answer the questions posed at the beginning of this blog.

*The content of this blog was first posted in August 2018.
**I'm not a fan of Miles Davis.  I prefer Charlie Parker.

See 'Yes to the Mess' by Frank Barrett.

FOR THE DURATION: Locations.

The locations for the thesis film are finalised, and are as follows:

Shoot 1

1.       Menai Bridge streets              Grid ref. SH 55679 72105

2.       Alleyway in Menai bridge      Grid ref. SH 55679 72105

3.       Tregarth pedestrian tunnel  Grid ref. SH 60658 68218

Shoot 2

1.       Brewit bridge                             Grid ref. SH 61882 38326

2.       Coed Pennyglannau                Grid ref. SH 67469 39322

3.       Pipeline near Tyn-y-Coed     Grid ref. SH 66812 39223

Shoot 3

1.       Radio Mast                                 Grid ref. SH 47622 49363

2.       Caernarfon Road Tunnel       Grid ref. SH 47986 62589

3.       Armco Barrier Road                 Grid ref. SH 49683 53828

Shoot 4

1.       Slate Finishing Factory           Grid ref. SH 50238 53414

FOR THE DURATION : Films can confuse, and are great because of it.

I was chatting to a friend today, a bearded green woodworker, who is beginning to take on the role of 'hippy councillor' to the production.  I was sharing my plan/ideas, and expressing my anxiety regarding the lack of a coherent narrative for the thesis film.

He asked if I'd seen 'Performance' (Nicholas Roeg).  He said he understood the first half, as it had a standard narrative, but the second half made no sense at all to him, but that this was not important as it in no way detracted from his enjoyment of the film.

I saw this film many years ago.  I think the incoherence was intentional, and complemented the themes and characters.

This may well apply to my own film.  It is not intended to be a conventional 'Hollywood' film in terms of narrative.  I am interested in the theatre of the absurd, which deals with existential angst, felt when one realises that all meaning in life is constructed by the individual, resulting in a terrible burden of responsibility.

Where the hell is this, and why are you looking at it?

I think throwing the audience into a state of confusion is actually a valid device.  I discussed this with another associate (who happens to be a university lecturer), and she labelled it as 'lazy Avant Garde'.

However, the surest way to make a film sequence that confuses an audience (in terms of meaning) is to make it pregnant with metaphor/symbolism, but be unsure yourself as to its meaning.  The discomfort an audience feels is caused by the film maker requiring them to do some work, to fully engage with the film, rather than to sit back in their velvet seats and be spoon fed their popcorn.

Disquiet also arises in the audience from them being accustomed to everything in a film making sense.  NOT EVERYTHING IN LIFE MAKES SENSE.  A film that embraces nonsense can be more realist (and more entertaining) than one that makes perfect sense.

So, hail the hippy councillor for reminding me of the tyranny of the Hollywood narrative.

FOR THE DURATION: Projector ratios

As research into the capabilities of my digital projector (Hitachi ED X3400) for the purposes of my thesis film, I discovered an interesting website - 'Projectorcentral.com' which gives exact details of any projectors capabilities, and optimum audience seating arrangements.  So here are mine:

This confirms that my projector will be powerful enough for the shoot outside that I have planned.  116 inches is just under 3 meters, and I reckon can probably go 25% bigger in total darkness.

FOR THE DURATION: Sound recording tests, and a link to my latest short film - a prequel to the thesis film.

A link to a new film - the prequel to my thesis film - can be seen here - The case.

I felt I needed to get outside and make something, after laboring for so long at my computer producing 4 re-edits of my documentary.  So, with case in hand, I went and got some footage, to test out the look of a location, and the sound set-up I may use - not the tascam dr60d but a camera mounted mic recording sound directly to the camera via my movo VXR 300. microphone.




Here is the result.

I need to do more testing, as there is an overall hiss throughout*.  I think the dB setting on the mic would have been better set at -10dB.  I set the level on the camera at 12 (on a scale of 1 - 20).  Maybe it would have been better set at a higher level.  The mic also has a high pass filter, which I set to on (filtering sounds below 80Hz).

I'm not sure whether my thesis film will have the same look as it's rather weather dependent, and the middle scene will be in the dark anyway...I found the initial viewing of the footage disappointing as it looked muddy and out of focus, but I sharpened each clip (by 9) and tweaked the contrast and brightness.  Would be worth going back and outputting another slightly brighter version. 

*actually, on second review (back on my laptop) it's not to bad.  I watched it with my mentor away from home on my tablet.  She said the sound was very good, but I just heard hiss.  Now to listen to it on my tv...

FOR THE DURATION: The Briwet Bridge

Near Penrhyndeaudryth.  The opening shot of the film?.

Sound information

Read this again;

http://blog.storyandheart.com/blog/4-simple-steps-to-make-your-dialogue-sound-like-it-was-mixed-by-a-pro

1. Noise Reduction: pulling out unwanted background noise, such as electrical hum
    
2. EQ: boosting and cutting certain frequencies to make the voice sound its very best
    
3. De-Essing: getting rid of harsh sibilant sounds
    
4. Compression: balancing out the mix so that levels remain consistent

And refer to the Tascam DR60d manual too.

FOR THE DURATION: Heterotopia

In my thesis film, the quarry that characters descend into will be a kind of heterotopia - neither utopia or distopia, but a place that is somehow 'in-between', that engenders feelings of discomfort and uncannyness.

The concept of heterotopia was first coined by the French philosopher Foucault.

Heterotopia is a part of the brain.

FOR THE DURATION: Bakhtin - Menippean satire - the way to go...

Having found 'Subversive Pleasures' in the library, I've been reading about the early 20th century Russian philosopher Bakhtin.  This has led me to a genre that I think will serve me well in my thesis film, as it satisfies a number of criteria eg. its aim is to undermine authority, and furthermore, it features narrative that is fragmented.

So MENIPPEAN SATIRE:

AND,

According to P. Adams Sitney in "Visionary Film,*" Mennipea became the dominant new genre in avant-garde cinema at the turn of the century. Filmmakers he cited include Yvonne Rainer, Sidney Peterson, Michael Snow, and Hollis Frampton.^{[18]  (Wikipedia)}

So it fits right in with where I'm planning to travel.

Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagrule is also Menippean satire.

Here's a nice pic of the cover of a book I'm going to look for.

Bloody hell - the beat goes on:

Enthymeme

http://art3idea.psu.edu/boundaries/bolagrams/enthymeme.html

Used by Becket in his Trilogies, according to David Musgrave.

*the book is waiting for me at the library desk :)

Faust film

https://archive.org/details/FaustF.W.MurnauSilentFilm

As content for research component pitch for pre-production module semester 2.

Creative film and media practice as research: In pursuit of that obscure object of knowledge

Creative film and media practice as research: In pursuit of that obscure object of knowledge: (2006). Creative film and media practice as research: In pursuit of that obscure object of knowledge. Journal of Media Practice: Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 85-100.

Practice research

Practice-research allows a creative practitioner (film maker, game designer, teacher, artist, performer) to study the nature of their own expertise, a knowledge which is often intrinsic to themselves and not documented or articulated for others.