IDAT307 - Stuart Gardner

Not really anything to do with our film, but the trailer to Grand Theft Auto VI contains Koyaanisqatsi references!

This is the script for the film.



We are, all of us, a product of our time.

Growing up in the closing years of our society, we have witnessed the rise of
consumerism and a leisure based culture.

We have witnessed the birth of a culture based on reason and the death of superstition.

We have witnessed scientific breakthroughs which have extended and improved human life.

We have witnessed the emergence of a truly global culture.



And yet, there is still fear.

The fear of climate change.

The fear of poverty and starvation.

The fear of an unstoppable pandemic.

The fear of terrorism.



On the day the end came, none of us knew what horrors we were waking up to.



The end came like the old pictures always told us they would. A blaze of purging fire, and a long cold winter.




Desolation.

Destruction.

Decay.

Death.



And yet, there is still life.

Not human life, but life.

The planet carries on despite us, and with time nature restores itself.

We may destroy ourselves, but it was only ever arrogance which made us believe we could destroy the world.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Similar to Fail-Safe, but a black comedy, and the similarities can be read about here.



Dame Vera Lynn, in an interview on the BBC that celebrated her 90th birthday, said when she first saw the movie, the audience laughed at the use of her singing "We'll Meet Again" against a backdrop of exploding atomic bombs. But then the audience realized it was not funny and became strangely silent.

A lovely scene from Fail-Safe.

And the ending of Fail-Safe below.

(SPOILER)

I'm not a huge fan of Firefox, but I enjoyed reading the book and it is quite obviously based on the fear that the Soviets had technology far superior to the Americans but the Americans couldn't let them get away with that, so they'd steal the top secret plane.

The cover of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Yanqui U.X.O.

A visual reference we wished to include, but aren't able to, since it looks too dated amongst the shots of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here is that scene from 28 Days Later that we reference:



The music is Godspeed You! Black Emperor's East Hastings.

Bodysong.

A documentary about human life, created entirely from stock footage.

Protect and Survive, a public information film.

"If you are caught in the open, lie down."

Threads is a 1984 BBC television docudrama depicting the effects of a nuclear war on the United Kingdom and its aftermath.

Similar to our project, this shows that "trouble hotspots" are also timeless, only with the USSR/Russia being removed from the equation, but Iran and the Middle East playing a big part, as with current talk about Iran and its nuclear plans.

The War Game was scheduled for transmission on August 6, 1966 (the anniversary of the Hiroshima attack) but was not transmitted until 1985, the corporation publicly stating that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting".

Despite this, it won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1966.

A clip I like from Koyaanisqatsi.

Filming is to start properly on Thursday, 30th November, with the aim to get as much done as possible, then start editing some of it together.

For the documentary, I already have 7 minutes, without the intro and outro, or some of the other things we've recorded.

I'm filming a documentary of this project (which has now changed in idea, due to the mentioned problems), and hopefully I'll have some rushes to upload here in the near future. Until then, you can read through my plan for it.

Project aim: To shoot a rather amateurish documentary, but with style. Shaky camera to show that it is all filmed hand-held, but slick editing.


First shot: Train tunnel.

Train exits tunnel, camera adjusts exposure settings to compensate from going from one extreme (complete darkness) to another (daylight).

Second shot: Something to do with Robert’s departure from his accommodation.

Shots continue to move in such a fashion, until we both arrive at Babbage, which is filmed by each of us climbing the main entrance steps to Babbage.

Scenes of us working on the project continue from here. The proposal film, some film from inside the union, perhaps some more film discussing how we realise there is going to be a problem with our plans.

Then we film our meeting with Mike Lawson-Smith, from here things are yet undecided, due to an unknown outcome of that meeting, but assuming we continue filming our intended project, we will film us filming that. Included will be shots of setting up, discussion with actors and anyone else who is involved with the project.

Skip forward to the end of filming, and film us editing our film.

Film us working in Director, putting the film together, so that the viewer can choose what they see.

View a test of the project, with a user we have asked to test it. Followed by an interview (short) with the tester.

Any adjustments made after this test, to be included, before a final departure from Babbage, starting with whoever had the last shot before, continuing, until…

Penultimate shot: Door close.

Robert closes a door, last we see of him.

Final shot: Train tunnel.

An opposite of the first shot, as the camera goes from daylight, to the blackness of the tunnel.


Total time: Between 10 and 30 minutes.

Filming starts this week.

We have yet to:

- Find a location we can use

- Find actors for the roles

- Work out what we are going to film

Exire – Latin, ‘to go out’.

The aim: To explore the concept of subjective reality and observation, through the medium of closed circuit television; to show that an event unobserved, is an event that has no impact on an individual’s reality.

To show that whilst CCTV is becoming virtually inescapable, it only really matters if someone is watching a monitor, as the camera has no will of its own.

To show that ultimately the observer is neutral for whilst observation catches us in our crimes, it also validates our achievements.

“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates

Method: Using Director to produce a non-linear selection of narratives that will be shaped by what the viewer chooses to observe. For example, at a given time, one camera observes the death of a given character. If the viewer happens to not be watching this camera at the time of the event, then for that viewer the event never happened and thus the character will remain alive.

References:

The Truman Show
A Scanner Darkly
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Timecode
Run Lola Run
Day For Night
Le Mepris