Week 10 - I always wanted to be a horse

Monday morning was a heart-to-heart session and there was a shocking lack of croissants! It involved taking it in turns to point out three of our flaws to the rest of the class. It was a helpful, if perhaps a rather unusual, experience because we could be entirely open and honest; admitting things which would not normally come up in conversation but allowing everyone else a deeper understanding of that individual’s personality. I must admit I got a few surprises from some of the things people said. I can see how this helps us to bond as a class and be more relaxed in each others’ company but I’m afraid that, as of yet, I’m unsure how much it will help our screenwriting. I suppose anything human, any truth or any belief can be utilised when writing a film.

We are transitioning from TV into short form, and ‘short-short form’ or mobile media, in Adam’s class now. We watched a number of very high quality short films; the cinematography of the Napier University films was particularly impressive. Then we watched some shorter films, some only ninety seconds in length, and some of them were very entertaining; Le Cheval, Non-fat and Operator being three examples. On the other hand some were hopeless but the advantage, of course, of this format is that instead of wasting two hours of your life on a bad film you’re barely wasting two minutes. I can see the appeal of this type of media and I’m fascinated by the sheer difference of film grammar when compared to feature films. I suppose there’s always the possibility that this is the replacement of cinema and longer films will gradually disappear which is more than slightly worrying. It seems the reason there is such a growing market for shorter films is not because people have a shorter attention span it is, I think, because we are more impatient. If it is comedy we are after then we want a laugh NOW and then we can move on or browse for more. We do not have the patience to sit and watch a comedy feature. Or if it is action we seek then we want it NOW and in small enough chunks so that if we get bored we can leave it without a second glance. Sitting down for two hours takes up too much time and is too much of a commitment. Maybe our lives are just faster and busier and to accommodate for this we purchase technology that allows us to deal with our business faster thus making more room for more business and making us ultimately even busier. So we don’t have time to sit down in a cinema. We want to squeeze in our entertainment around our business: on trains, at lunch, on the move… In my opinion we all need to slow down. The busier we are the faster we try to deal with that business, the faster we deal with that business the busier we become; it’s a vicious circle. For some people, that’s life. So, yes, there’s a place for short films but we cannot lose that good old fashioned storytelling where we gather round the fireside and settle down to hear what Granddad will tell us this evening. I fear that if he told us a ninety second joke we’d be rather disappointed.

On Tuesday afternoon we had a brief class on Game or Quiz Shows. It was informative and to the point. Afterwards Andy seemed to think we hadn’t engaged very well with it but I didn’t think it was particularly negating, just very short.

I simply love Chaplin films. They’re warming and simple, no thinking is required, and they always get me laughing at some point and laughter is a good thing. Like all good things it can be used for the wrong reasons: laughing at someone else’s expense, laughing as an encouragement of evil human desires or laughing to cover up true emotion, but it seems that Chaplin avoids deriving laughter from these things and instead gives us a character who reflects the simple nature of the common man; thus we are in fact laughing at ourselves. The Gold Rush wasn’t quite as enjoyable as The Kid but there was a noticeable advancement in Chaplin’s filmmaking abilities in those four years. I think the narration was unnecessary and I much prefer the silent style where the imagination can heighten the humour.

Yet another half day on Thursday (that’s three in a row… the course seems to be winding down considerably) and this time we looked at the birth of cinema and some of Mitchell and Kenyon's work. Watching some of the very first reels of film was both exciting and informative and it struck me just how constant mankind is. Places, society, buildings, clothes and transport all change and eventually become history but people… humans… men, women, children… we have always been the same. The same matter, the same emotions and the same spirituality. Looking at the faces of those people, more than a hundred years ago, was like looking at a reflection of ourselves in a different time.

We had a whole day of sound on Friday which enabled us to develop confidence with the kit, and try recording interviews both interior and exterior. We had a go at micing up a piano which was great fun especially as I got to play it! I feel I’ve got a pretty good grasp of the technical fundamentals and I look forward to the challenges of next term. However there’s Christmas to look forward to before then of course!