Task 2.1 part 1 Video treatment

Btec National Diploma In Media (Film and TV)

TREATMENT (drama)




PROGRAMME TITLE:

DIRECTOR/
CAMERA OPERATOR: Lewis-Dane Fry

DURATION: 5 minutes max.

FORMAT: DV

AUDIO:

OUTLINE OF AUDIENCE: This piece will be created so that a range of audiences can view and take away many different perceptions of what the piece represents. I feel that this piece would be helpful to those in the performing arts. An actor or director could use this video to show how any human can harbour and express any emotion when forced, or shows it through choice. It also has the concept of what you are led to believe when you read different words.


OUTLINE OF STORY: This piece has no regular structured narrative. It is more of a statement about people perceptions and stereotypical views, regarding who is capable of doing certain things and words which you associate with people you see. The piece will start with many different views of written text. The first set of words seen by the audience will be words such as “love”, “hope” and “sex”. After the words have been seen, it will be revealed that the words have been written on the body of a female. The calm tone will suddenly change when a male character splattered with a red substance will appear. Then let out a primeval shout at the camera. The camera will then pan across the male actor’s body, to show words of a darker nature such as; “hate”, “fear” and “war”. In the closing moments, the words “we are all the same” will be written on one hand of the female and cross over the male character.


CHARACTERS:

Name: Female
Age: Unknown
From: Unknown

Name: Male
Age: Unknown
From: Unknown

Experimental video reviews - Telling Lies

Simon Ellis' clever and sometimes funny experimental video, "Telling Lies" is a text and sound based film. It documents are series of phone calls made and received by main character, calls from his mother and to his ex-girlfriend, his best friend and a mysterious woman. In four short minutes, you find out what happened the night before, and why it was a complete disaster for the main character. The main character supposedly got very drunk, split with his girlfriend, perused another woman, while his girlfriend slept with his best mate. He wakes up the next morning, finding himself looking for answers, and answering some of his own.

The film has no visual use of actors; all that is seen in the shot are the words being spoken over the phone. Sometimes however, the text on screen does not match the dialogue being delivered by the characters. It actually shows the true thoughts of the characters at the time. As a way of identifying the different characters; the text seen on screen changes colours, this makes it easier for the audience to separate the characters and follow the story. In order to make it easier to follow the rapid text, it is placed on top of a black backdrop. The colours of the text then seem to be a complete contrast to the dark background. This piece has also been heavily edited in post production, as every sentence and single word phrases had to be created individually in separate frames. They were then pieced together and sequenced at the correct speed to match the soundtrack.

The soundtrack within "Telling Lies" is non-diegetic sound created by the actors. The dialogue used however, has been scripted. The sound heard by the audience is that of a number of unusual telephone convocations. As the convocations progress the tone of voice and speed of diction varies regularly, giving a sense of reality to the audience. The last kind of sound heard by the audience is the sound of a dialling tone. This too is non-diegetic sound, which has been added in post production.A key theme which Simon Ellis has created in "Telling Lies" is that it is far easier to lie to somebody over the phone. Mainly because the person you are lying to cannot see the expressions on your face or read your body language when you are lying.

Experimental video review - The Girl Chewing Gun

"The Girl Chewing Gum" created by John Smith, is a 9 minute piece of footage taken from a street in the mid 1970's. A director character instructs the people seen on film what to do, the timing of camera panning and add stories and scenarios to those seen. As the film progresses, the director character is giving even more detailed instructions to his cast, until he reveilles that he is actually 15 miles away in a field, and he is actually just commentating on previously filmed events.

The key visual sense within the piece is that it has been filmed using a very low definition black and white lens. The camera is uses a number of different shots and panning techniques including extreme close up, long shots and low angle panning shots. Throughout the 9 minutes of film, there are only two uses of the cut. Which occur in the later moments of the film, meaning the shot seen by the audience is a continuous shot.

John Smith's video has an interesting use of sound. There is no use of diegetic sound just non-diegetic sound. This sound is created by two sources. The first is the alarm bell ringing continuously throughout the piece. The other non-diegetic sound is the voice of the director character. The audience never sees him but can always hear him. In the closing moments of the film, the directions being given by the male character become far more complex and the timing of which he gives them becomes more irregular.

"The Girl Chewing Gum" has a strong message within it. It highlights how people can be fooled by others, when they do not know all the facts and the information being given by them is incorrect. This leads those receiving the information to believe that the provider is in control; Even though the control is false. This also tells the audience that trusting their assumptions and what they think they know can sometimes be incorrect. Therefore indicating that people need to savvy about who they trust or what they trust.

One word that can describe this interesting piece is betrayal. If somebody you don't know can influence your thoughts and lead you to trust them. How easy could it be for somebody you know, trust and love to do the same and betray you?

experimental video reviews - Koyaanisqatsi

The 88 minute experimental film Koyaanisqatsi, created by Godfrey Reggio, is seemly a sequence of random footage of real life, with the images being speeded up and slowed down in unison with continuous music. The word "Koyaanisqatsi" translates to "life out of a balance" and the images seen by the audience support this.

In the opening moments of the film, the images seen in shot are those of simple caveman drawing on the inside of a cave, the shot then changes to a number of birds-eye, landscape shots of vast natural landscapes. While we are viewing these shots the word "Koyaanisqatsi" fades into the shot in bright red letters stays there for a few moments the fades out again. Throughout the film the camera shots are in colour and the speed of the cuts varies depending on the pace of the sound.

The non-diegetic sounds heard within "Koyaanisqatsi" are created by classic music composer Phillip Glass. It is a mixture of natural and technological type music, which plays throughout the film. There occasions in the film when the music speeds up, it looks as if the music dictates the pace of the images. However, there are times when it appears that the images are dictating the tempo of the music. The music is unique in the sense that there is no understandable dialect for those who understand English. Also, because there is no use of actors in the film, there is no dialogue.

Upon the surface of "Koyaanisqatsi" it will be easy to think that the images being presented by the creator have no relevance to anything or no narrative to it. In truth there are a number of different underlying themes in the 88 minute feature. The narrative of the piece shows the development and evolution of mankind in the sequence of images collected. In addition, it shows the repetition of life through seeing the actions of machines and industry being repeated thousands of times.

A thought which crossed my mind when watching Koyaanisqatsi was, that I would not be surprised if the car company Honda created this to be one of their advertisements. But it the occurred to me that, many things in the media, have used Reggio's revolutionary film, as a basis to work from.

Task 1 - part 6 Audience, and audience interpretation of the work

All Video including experimental video, is created for audiences to enjoy, help inspire and sometimes hate. No single opinion on a piece of video can ever be completely similar, even though they could be very close. The way videos are critically analysed by an audience member can depend entirely on the type of person they are; type of personality, age, gender and time in which they grew up. It is because of this that Experimental video works so well, it allows the concepts within the videos to be read and understood on a number of different levels. In reflection, some videos have no real meaning and purpose except creating questions in an audience members mind. A director can do this to challenge the perceptions and beliefs of a person; and lead them to question things within their own life, or whether actions they carry out or thinking about are right or wrong.

For many people born in the 1990's they have been brought up in the world of the information age, where technology is rapidly developing and society has changed dramatically compared to the 1970's. So for those born in the 1990's viewing John Smith's 1976 video "The Girl Chewing Gum" some may find the pace of piece to be very slow and the environment shown to be very boring and dated. Some may even find it hard to believe that there was life before the existence of television and mass media.

While the young could be challenged or confused by the primitiveness of the 1970's piece. A Majority of those born in the 1950's may be extremely confused and mesmerised by the sheer quality of "Doll Face" created by Andy Huang. It may confuse previous generations because is hyper advance in comparison to what they have become accustomed to throughout their upbringing. Therefore, leading to naivety about the use of technology and sometimes fear of the technology itself.

In addition, both the younger and more mature generation can relate to the concepts being shown within both of the videos. "The Girl Chewing Gum" and "Doll Face" are centred on one key theme. The theme that you are always being told what to do, what to wear and what is acceptable. You are told these things mostly through the media and those in positions of power and control.

Task 1 - part 1 Discuss both past and current artists and works

Experimental video has been adapting continuously since the concept was first created, in the 1960's, when video was brought into art galleries. Early examples of experimental video are "The Girl Chewing Gum" by John Smith in 1974 and 8 years later (in 1982) Godfrey Roggio created the film "Koyaanisqatsi" Both of these videos are highly concept based. As times have progressed and technologies have advanced, the quality of experimental videos have improved, but the level of concept base pieces have not changed.
When you look at an early piece of experimental video like "The Girl Chewing Gum" it is easy to see that the technology being used is very basic and lacks quality that many modern pieces have. An example of the increase in quality is Andrew Haung's computer graphic piece "Doll Face" created in 2003.
"Doll Face" introduces the audience to a jack-in-a-box character, which is plain and lifeless. That is until it sees a number of images on a screen, one of which is a beautiful woman wearing make-up. The character then starts trying to imitate the image it has seen. In doing this, it pushes itself until it goes to far and breaks. The concept behind "Doll Face" is the idea of somebody can push themselves so much in the pursuit of perfection, but if they push themselves to far, they can end up destroying the very essence that makes someone who they are. And people are pushed so far because of what the media dictates is perfect. Similarly, Media dictating opinions and context of what is being seen is a concept behind "The Girl Chewing Gum". In this video, you are lead to believe that a director is giving instructions and controlling the action that is taking place in the shot. Then it is later revealed that the "director" is not controlling the action, he has just added audio commentary to action filmed previously. The level of craftsmanship in John Smith's short film is considerably less than Andy Huang's. The only piece of advanced is the adding of non-diegetic sound. Whereas, "Doll Face" only works because of extremely well created craft of the graphics.
By today's standards the level of craft involved in "Doll Face" is incredibly impressive. Back in 1982 "Koyaasqatsi" was released. It was created entirely through filming of everyday events and environments, then edited heavily in postproduction, to create the 88-minute film created by Godefry Reggio. At the time, this was seen as revolutionary and impressed many who viewed it. It is still considered as an inspirational film in present day. Both Reggio’s and Huang's films are very well made and enjoyable to watch. They offer views on life that cant always be seen and spark thoughts about the state of the world, even though they have been created decades apart.

Task 1 - Part 2 The use of technology and techniques and styles

A fifth video I viewed was "Gisele Kerozene" by Jan Kounen. There is a very unique style in which this video has been made using stop frame animation. Stop frame animation is where an image is created, and then captured, and then a new similar image is created. This process is repeated (sometimes thousands of times) over and over. Once the images have been gathered, a creator then plays the images together. The slight change in positioning, and movement, gives the impressions that the images create a flowing piece of film. "Gisele Kerozene" is about 3 witches chasing another witch, which has stolen something from them. Only a single camera has been used to develop this piece of video. Whereas, Simon Ellis’ video "Telling lies" is compete opposite. It doesn’t even have the use of a camera. The images seen by audience are text only, and have been created through use of advanced technology in comparison to "Gisele Kerozene" "Telling Lies" is advanced when it is compared against "The Girl Chewing Gum" by John Smith. John Smith's film was created in the 1970's, when camera and video technology was expensive and only just starting to make its way into mainstream society. Unlike "Telling Lies" made in 2000. In the todays modern world, camera and video equipment is affordable for many people and quality of the products has greatly improved from the 1970's.
Due to the difficultly of buying and using camera equipment in John Smith's time, it ment the video was made on a tight budget, therefore affected the aesetics of the video, though there was still scope to be creative.

Task 1 - Part 3 Narrative and non-narrative structures

The traditional structure of a story is to have a beginning, middle and end. Out of the four experimental videos I have seen, three stick to this structure, even if it is very loosely. "Koyaanisqatsi" "Telling Lies" and "The Girl Chewing Gum" are the three which keep to this structure. However, the closeness of which the videos keep to the beginning, middle and end, differs. An example of this is "Koyaanisqatsi" It has solid narrative, it has a clear beginning of the cave drawings, the middle of development and industry and then, the clear end of the destruction and going back to square one. In direct contrast, the video "1001 Nights" throws the audience into the middle of 5 different stories. Without the traditional build up of a beginning, the stories seem to be a small extract of a much bigger tale. It then leaves the stories without conclusions. Additionally, the use of pace change; within the videos have a big effect of the structures. "Koyaanisqatsi" uses change of pace, to compliment the story. It works especially well during the middle section of the film. The speeding up and slowing down of the soundtrack and images, highlights the way mankind has developed industry, it has periods in time where it has been so rapid, that it seems impossible to keep up. Following the speed comes the slow down. It shows how technology and society almost stops to grow in a beneficial way, as it waits for a breakthrough. In comparison, "1001 Nights" is continuously slow in its diegetic sound and seemingly minimum editing. even though it is heavily edited in post production. The slow pace shows the calm of the 5 female characters, even though the stories, on which they are relaying to audience, were very fast paced.

Task 1 - Part 5 How these works might inspire your own work

After I viewed the experimental videos of "1001 Night" "Koyaanisqatsi" "Telling Lies" and "The Girl Chewing Gum" I feel that there was only one video which I feel that has inspired me to explore an idea. This idea is the use of text in a shot, or an image and how the words can be used to spark thoughts and feelings for audience members. "Telling Lies" by Simon Ellis, uses text to give a visual stimulation to the Non-Diegetic sound of the characters voices. Also, it is used to show the true thoughts of the characters, without having to see their faces. Text, I feel, can sometimes be stronger than an image, so I plan to use words more predominately than images.
The meaning of words and the way in which they are viewed by different people has always interested me. The word "freedom" has a different purpose to some people compared to others. It can mean the right of every human-being to one person. On the other hand, it has seen as something which is worth going to the extreme of human animal nature, in order to gain. As a way of showing the difference of words and there meanings, I plan to print words onto one actor, work which indicate peace and calm. Then introduce a second, who has words of a darker nature on them.

Experimental Video Reviews - 1001 Nights

The experimental video "1001 Nights" created by Jananne Al-Ali, documents the slightly surreal accounts of 5 women who have been affected by war or conflict. Within the 6 minute duration of the video, you (as the audience) are briefly introduced to 5 women. All the creator allows you to see are the heads of these women.

The women are organised in a straight line, running along the screen. The women’s faces are in colour, opposed to the black, lifeless backdrop in which dominates the shot continuously. I feel the creator has set this effect up, so the audience can see that the concept of the 6 minute video is dark and that the characters feelings and stories reflect the lack of colour surrounding them. The use of sound in "1001 nights" is minimal.

The only sound heard by the audience is the diegetic diction coming from the 5 female characters while delivering there separate monologues. These extended moments of speech, are every woman’s account of war and conflict. However, though these stories have a serious tone to them, if you were to take small quotations out of a number of moments in the video and take them completely out of context, they would seem confusing and sometimes comical from an outsider’s point of view. An example of this is when the 4th woman says "...we see an enormous rhinoceros come round the house..."

If this was possibly taking out of context, the woman could be referring to a trip to the zoo that she once took. Or that a rhinoceros is a military vehicle. In my opinion Jananne Al-Ali has let the audience make their own decisions about what the women are talking about.