ABC Exploratory Sticks and Stones Dreams

ABC Exploratory Sticks & Stones

As part of my ABC exploratory sticks and stones dreams coursework I had to conduct research, learn and analyze dreams in different formats such as film, TV, poems, literature, music, photography etc. Upon researching I also had to express interest in dream sequences. I had the chance to experiment in making dream sequences by recording some of my fellow student moving in a dreamy way as well as interviewing and question them on dreams.

Structure of a Story: The Set-Up, The Conflict & The Resolution

 Sex and the City: The Movie (2008)

 The Set Up:

The film begins with a montage about Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte & Miranda from the TV series. In the set up, we are introduced to the main characters and their stories. You meet Carrie Bradshaw; a Writer at Vogue magazine, a Columnist for the New York Star and a Author; Samantha Jones; a PR; Charlotte York-Goldenblatt; a housewife and a former art dealer and Miranda Hobbs; a lawyer. We see their previous life experiences such as finding and losing love, experiencing pain and heartache, marriage and divorce, having and losing child and most importantly friendship. Not only are we introduced to their life experiences we are also introduced to the their lifestyle. This familiarizes yourself with the characters for those who already know and its a completely new introduction for those who don’t know.

The title of the film indicates that the film is set in the city. With the city being New York, we are automatically introduced to New York with the consistent 5 second video footage of New York. You see Brooklyn Bridge, the Woolworth Building and  various other buildings in Manhattan. This reassures the audience that they are located in New York City. This is know as Iconography. The director is glamorizing New York with lights and angle shots.

Then we are introduced to there lifestyle. The clothes, the shoes, the labels etc. With fashion being one of the films key exploring points, the film focuses on the lifestyle for 1 minute or 2. This shows the audience several things. From this scene, you as the viewer can pass your own judgement on  characters. Being the main characters; this creates a bond between the characters and the audience as it allows the audience to fantasize about becoming like or being one of the characters. This identifies with them in some way shape or form.

The Conflict:

The conflict in the film is the wedding scene. At this point in the film, we already know the characters and we how they will respond to the conflict. In this scene, Carrie and Mr. Big are meant to get married however Mr. Big  aka John James Preston starts having doubts about marrying Carrie and he leaves Carrie at the alter. By this time the audience has been drawn into the film almost imagining they are part of the cast. Marriage is a large step and going through Carrie’s steps of preparation i.e packing and moving out of her old apartment; is a lot. Anticipation is built to see the “fairytale” come true and so when it doesn’t happen the audience feels the heartbreak just as much as Carrie does. Its an emotional connection.

The Resolution:

As the film reaches it climax, the “fairytale” comes true and Carrie and Mr. Big get married not in a conventional way. Instead of a lavish over-the-top wedding filled with glamorous gowns and expensive  flowers; they decide to go for a small wedding at City Hall. This scene in the film goes to show that behind the glitz and glamour, there love for each other still conquered. Besides the wedding, this is one of the most emotional and heart-warming scene in the film. Throughout the whole film, you witness good and bad things happen to the characters and by the end of the film you witness happiness and joy. Each character continues to explore their life.

Wanted (2008)

The Set Up:

The film starts with an introduction to Wesley Gibson, an accountant who doesn’t know his own identity. He hates his life and his job and is constantly looking for a solution but can never seem to find one. Fox; a well trained assassin who works at the fraternity has been sent on a secret mission to take Wesley under her wing and train him to become a member and kill Mr X. Unaware to Wesley,the guy he is trying to kill is his father.

The location is unidentified at the start of the film. The main theme for the set is loneliness. You have an automatic connection to the character because of his loneliness. The title of the film indicates that someone in the film is “Wanted”. This little hint is the first that that grabs your attention to the film.

The Conflict:

Sloane; the leader of the fraternity wants to kill Mr. X because he Mr. X knows the truth about the fraternity and Sloane’s betrayal. Wesley who decides he wants to learn more about his “fake” father and become an assassin is put through hard core training to make him a better assassin. Sloane, decides to set Wesley targets that will prepare him for when he comes face to face with Mr. X. Unaware of what is actually going on Wesley continues his training. Fox and The Gunsmith are aware of what is happening and continue to go along with Sloane’s plan. Wesley is finally order to kill Mr. X, however when the time comes for him to kill Mr. X; it is revealed that Mr. X is his father. Wesley doesn’t believe him at first but when Fox confirms that this has all been set up, Wesley escapes from Fox and the fraternity. Because of the suspense that has been building up throughout the film you know that something thrilling and dramatic is going to happen. This is captivating. This is what the audience have been waiting for.

The Resolution:

After learning the truth about the fraternity and Sloane, Wesley decides to seek revenge. He embarks on a kill adventure, killing those of the fraternity who betrayed him. After learning the truth, he studies his father’s greatest move and kills and sets out to seek well deserved revenge.

White Chicks (2004)

The Set Up:

The film starts with an introduction to main characters Kevin Copeland and Marcus Copeland. They are FBI agents who keep messing up at work; constantly. Deciding before hand that they want to impress the boss, they go a convenience store to try and capture a cocaine deal that’s taking place there. However; unaware of what the people look like they take out the wrong guys and mess up the whole situation. There FBI supervisor, Elliott Gordon is furious with them as they keep messing up and decides to give them one more chance telling them that if they mess up one more time their fired.

The Conflict:

The conflict begins when Kevin and Marcus pick up Tiffany and Brittany from the airport. On their way to the Hampton’s, a accident occurs where in the car. After the crash; Tiffany and Brittany discover that they have injuries and refuse to go to the Hampton’s. Afraid that their boss might fire them, they decide to go undercover and disguise themselves as the girls to solve the case as well as save there jobs. Agent Jake Harper and Agent Vincent Gomez; who have been secretly following the girls become suspicious of there sudden movements. Looking for answers they decide to check out the hotel room where Kevin and Marcus/fake Tiffany and Brittany are staying and they come across some suspicious things which leads them to know that they are not who they say they are.

The Resolution:

The real Tiffany and Brittany realise that they have been cloned. Furious by this they decide to go to the Hampton’s to find the clones. In the mist of trying to finding the clones, the fashion designer spots the real sisters and tell them to get ready for the fashion show. Whilst the fashion show is taking place, both the fake and the real Wilson sisters end up on the runway. Mr. Vandergeld tries to kidnap both sisters whilst there on the runway. After his plan of kidnapping Tiffany and Brittany failed, Mr. Vandergeld decides to hold everyone hostage and it is revealed that Megan and Heather’s father; Mr. Vandergeld is broke. He tells his daughters that he has been fuelling charity money out of the account to pay for everything that he needs. Kevin and Marcus reveal that they are not the Wilson sisters and that they have been pretending to be them all this time.

Sticks & Stones

Bits that I could extract:

• The dream/hallucinations piece
• Questioning himself, being confused
• Coming to terms with his past and revisiting the past
• His obsession with Paul Fry

Ideas:

• The different points of view.
• Anna – her, the letters and the narrating
• Anna could be his conscience or in his mind
• From Lewis’ point of view – he is the camera, the camera is him
• Mum’s point, worried about her son but also distant and hurt by the way her life has turned out.
• Paul Fry’s view, Lewis cared and he appreciated him for that.
• Paul was Lewis’ alter ego. He created him to get away from himself. To help him manage his emotions and to give him someone to share affection he never got and to gain that sense of responsibility.

Sticks & Stones Planning Production:

• Analyse and adapt/write screenplay
• Set of 3 test scenes
• Pre-production pack
• Film

Sticks & Stones – Story:

• Boy
• Mums sick
• Letter
• Bullied
• Dream
• Fell off a cliff
• Jumped off a cliff
• Running away from bullies
• Girl Named Anna
• Obsessed with another boy
• Gay?
• Lewis
• Might just like/admire lewis lifestyle
• Taking notes
• Paul Fry
• Lip
• Licked a pebble
• Weirdo
• Into nature
• Pebble symbolizes his mum
• Smell the letter
• Suicide
• Nosey mum
• Depressed

Sticks & Stones Analysis

Sticks & Stones is a screenplay that was written by Trezza Azzopardi. The story is about a boy who is running from a anonymous figure and ends up in a dream sequence which features his mother. In order to understand the story, you have to have a open mind when you read this story because there is a lot of things that you can get confused with in this story. In the story there are some interesting characters that we are introduced to. We are introduced to Anna, Paul Fry, Lewis and Lewis’ Mother. When reading the story at times it can get confusing which character is being presented in the story. When reading and analyzing the story, I instantly came to the conclusion that the story was about life, love and guilt.

Sticks & Stones Treatment

Theme:

I feel like there are several different themes in Sticks and Stones. To me the story comes across as a dark dreamy theme. I think that life, love and guilt are the main themes explored in this story.

Main Idea:

A boy is running away from bullies (the characters identity is hidden from the audience until the next scene), he jumps off of a cliff and goes into a concussion, whilst in the concussion he has a dream which features his mother and 2 letters, in this dream he goes back and see everything that has happened in his life and tries to fix it, he ends up witnessing someone being bullied and tries to stop them. Throughout the dream, he can’t stop thinking about Paul Fry, he meets a girl named Anna.

Scene 1:

The story begins with a boy running to the top of the dune. As he looks down onto the strand he sees nothing but water and wet sand as well as little bits of grass along the beach. He sees no on the beach and decides to jump into the air and lands on the beach. After he falls on to the beach, he feels a sharp pain in his mouth and realises that his teeth have gone through his lip.

Scene 2:

After jumping and falling onto the beach and piercing his teeth through his lip, he goes into a concussion which leads into a dream sequence. As he wakes up in his dream, he realises that his cut on his lip has healed and that he is alive from jumping and falling. Looking out onto the strand, Lewis  (the characters name) realises that the strand looks very different to how it did when he jumped. He then realises that 15 years has passed and that things have changed. He realises that he died after jumping and falling. Lewis returns to his mother’s house. His mother gives him a letter that has been left at the house for him.

Scene 3:

Lewis decides to open the letter. When he opens the letter he finds another envelope inside it which contains a letter from the school Headmaster and the other letter is from Anna his girlfriend. The letter says “Geoff Harris dropped this by. He asked about you. I didn’t know what I should tell him. Everyone’s asking about you. What should I say?” Lewis is affected by the letter and puts it to his face.

Scene 4:

Lewis spends his morning lying on the floor trying not to think about everything. Despite this, he is still having flashbacks repeatedly of the small boy having his blazer pulled off of him and being pushed in the corner against the wall. Still in the flashback, Lewis remembers the boy seeing the boy who name was Paul Fry. Lewis also remembers that there was a nickname that two male staff gave them at school which were New Pins. They called them this because they didn’t fit in at school.

Scene 5:

When Lewis isn’t thinking about Paul Fry and what happened to him, he often pictures a different outcome of the situation. Questioning how he could have changed what happened, he often wonders if he is the type of person that can stand up to bullies; people like Stott and Walker. Lewis then another flashback of him asking the Headmaster for an meeting to keep an eye on Paul. Not interfering in his life, just to observe him.  His mother who was getting annoyed and fed up of being called into the school, started feeding him empty sayings such as ‘It’s survival of the fittest’, ‘Try to fit in’, ‘Don’t be such a baby’ and finally ‘Boys will be boys’. After a while Lewis stopped telling his mother what happened and just learned to deal with it. Eventually, he became an expert at running away and soon made it one of his survival skills.

Scene 6:

Lewis’ room looked exactly how he left it. Everything still looked the same; the small bunk in the corner, the wardrobe with the door that won’t shut; the chest of drawers next to the bed. Lewis decides he’s going to reply to Anna’s letter that she sent him, so he decides to pull the drawers open and look for paper so he can reply. Opening each draw at a time, Lewis discovers his mothers clothes are crammed in majority of the draws. In the last draw, Lewis finds piles of old magazines and a collection of pebbles.

Scene 7:

Lewis picks up a pebble and licks it with his bare tongue. The pebble tastes like old salt and stale pot-pourri. This reminded Lewis of the times when things got difficult and he would go and find a new quartz for his mother on the strand.

Scene 8:

Anna, Lewis’ girlfriend eventually got sick of an tired of Lewis. She didn’t mind  hearing about the bullies and his family life but after a while it wasn’t that, that he kept going on about. It was Paul Fry. “Bullies are Bullies” is what he always said. “What matters is the boy!”. In a way, Anna kind of reminded her of his mother as she would use the same words as his mother such as “What’s happened now?”.

Scene 9:

Lewis saw the boys carrying something that looked like fishing rods. He had to stare from a distance to make sure that he was seeing them properly. He remembers seeing them at school, sometimes on corners. Lewis was always careful of never being caught. He glanced back over his shoulder just to get one more look at them. He still wasn’t sure what they were carrying. Was it fishing rods? or sticks? or iron bars?. Lewis then began walking and then running up the dunes. He realises that he back at the exact place where the incident happened before. He sees water, wet sand and dry sand. He stands on the end of the concrete defence. He will jump, because he has to.

Casting Ideas:

• Main Character – Lewis – Medium Height Boy
• Paul Fry – Short Brunette Boy
• Anna – Black Hair – Medium Height
• Lewis’ Mum – Blonde Hair With Brunette Roots

Location Ideas:

• Calthrope Park
• Possibly green screen (if green screen then make the location which will be featured in the scene)

Sticks & Stones Structure

The story starts with a boy running down the strand. He is running away from masked As he gets to the end of the concrete defense, he jumps to into the air, thinking that he is going to land on the beach because he has no choice. After jumping onto the beach, the boy bumps his head and goes into a concussion and dies. Whilst in the concussion, he has a dream. In this dream he wakes up from falling onto the beach and discovers that he has died. In his dream he meets the Grimm reaper who he then reviews his life with. He sees that majority of his life was spent in England doing nothing but jumping off things.

In his dream he returns home to find his mother is also a ghost. They engage in a conversation in which his mother tells him that he has received a envelope from a unknown person. When the boy opens the letter, he discovers that there’s another envelope in the letter which is from his headmaster. After discovering that he and has mother are both dead and that the headmaster from his school has wrote him a letter long after he had disappeared he reads the letter. To clear his head he goes for a stroll and comes across someone being bullied. This instantly takes him back to what happened to Paul Fry and makes him feel very guilty.

Sticks & Stones Characterization: 

Paul Fry:

Paul Fry is the main protagonist of the story. The story revolves around Paul Fry. He enters the story in the second part after Lewis’ accident.

Lewis:

Lewis is the first character that we learn about. He is heavily featured throughout the story.

Anna:

Anna is Lewis’ girlfriend in the play. As the story eventually unravels, you come to understand that she has gotten sick and tired of Lewis and his issues.

Lewis’ Mother:

Lewis’ mother is a minor character. She only features in the scene where Lewis goes back to his house and speaks to her.

Bullies:

The bullies are minor characters in the story. They are featured in the beginning part of the story where the accident occurs.

Sticks & Stones Script:

Dream Sequences:

Research on Dreams

Dreams are a vision of emotions, images, thoughts and ideas that people reconstruct whilst sleeping. When dreaming you can gather several different thoughts that might correlate with your real life events. Dreams can sometimes play tricks on your mind and make you think that certain things are there or are going to happen. Each kind of dream will consist of certain things for example; if you are having a dark scary dream (known as a nightmare), your dream could possible feature dark and scary things like murders and scary faces where as if you have fantasy dream, your dream could feature things like a dragon or even a fairy. Deja Vu is a different kind of dreaming. When you experience Deja Vu, you are simply re-visioning what you might have previously seen or what you think you might have seen before. There are different outcomes to some dreams. Sometimes you can control what happens in your dreams and other times you can’t.

 There are different types of dreams that people have. They are:

• Hallucinations
• Flashbacks
• Day Dreams
• Deja Vu
• Recurring Dreams
• Nightmares
• Fantasy Dreams
• Ordinary Dreams
• Lucid Dreaming
• Sexual Dreams

Dream sequences in Film and TV showcase a character or a multiply of characters emotions and feelings. You can gather such information from there dream like how they are feeling, what they want and you can see there fantasy side to there dream. I have chosen to critically analyse some film and TV clips which feature different types of dreams. 

FILM: Trainspotting – The Hallucination Nightmare Baby Scene

Trainspotting displays a different type of dream known as a nightmare. This nightmare occurs due to him hallucinating whilst dreaming in his bed. The scene begins with Renton being locked up in his room by his parents as they demand that he tries to beat the addiction by going cold turkey. Whilst lying in bed, Renton starts to have bad withdrawal symptoms which leads to him hallucinating. In the hallucination, he sees Allison’s dead baby crawling on the ceiling towards him. He also sees one of his friends sitting at the top of door and one of his friends standing on his wall offering him advice . Whilst this is happening he is also hallucinating that he is hearing Diane singing in his room. He looks over to his TV and sees TV Presenter Dale Winton questioning his mother and father on HIV. Renton ends the hallucination/dream by his parents waking him up and telling him that he needs to get tested.

The beauty of the scene is that you as the audience can actually image this being a real hallucination. Renton’s state of mind reflects what a person who takes drug could actually be seeing or thinking. The setting looks fanatical, almost as if the whole room is a dream. Danny Boyle captures the essence of hallucinating by having several things happen at one. Usually in a dream, most things happen at different times however in this dream everything is occurring at once. This is not your usual dream. There is no clouds, no airy atmosphere, no flying and there’s isn’t a final outcome to the dream. The things that he is seeing in his dream all correlate to the events that have taken place in real life. The most memorable part of the scene was Diane’s gravity-defying dead baby crawling on the ceiling. The particular part of this scene that explores the hallucination the most is when the baby’s head spins around. This is huge surprise element to the scene because you are not expecting to see that. During the scene, in the background you can hear the baby cry which gives you the thought the a baby might be around but you don’t see the baby until after. This reminds the audience that what he is seeing is not real. The atmosphere in this scene is tense. The whole scene is generally is scary. The thought out seeing a crawling baby is very abnormal. The hallucination scene opens the audience’s mind as to the effects of taking drugs. When looking at the characters background profile, you are aware of his history with drugs so you are sort of prepared for this scene. The technical things I that would extract from this scene and possibly use in my dream sequence for Sticks and Stones is tense atmosphere and the surprise element. Dreams are fantasy and when you are recreating a dream scene you have to have the fantasy surprise element. I would also extract some of the camera angles that Danny Boyle used in this scene. Danny uses a lot of close up angles and mid close up shots.

FILM: Nightmare on Elm Street – The Nightmares

A Nightmare on Elm Street is based around a fictional character who enters teenagers dreams and makes them a nightmare. The nightmares depict reality in the form of a dream as the teenage character dies in the nightmare as well as in real life. The films protagonist Freddy Kruger enters the teenagers dreams when the fall sleep and kills them in the most cruel and evilest way. There is a constant reminder throughout the film that ‘You Shall Not Fall Asleep’ as it is known that Freddy enters your dreams and make them a nightmare. The idea of not being able to sleep without the idea or Freddy entering your dream is unrealistic because they are going to have to fall asleep at some point. The nightmare doesn’t just become a nightmare for teenager who is being murdered by it becomes a nightmare for others like the characters families and the neighborhood. The nightmare scenes in Nightmare on Elm Street all seem to start differently but end in the same way, with the victims murdered.

The realism of the nightmares is that Freddy Kruger was an actual human being who used to live on Elm Street and was a convicted child killer who killed up to 20 children. Freddy’s act of revenge stems against the teenagers in the film stems from him being burned to death the parents of the victims that he killed. Freddy’s character could be considered an illusionary character as his real life form no longer exists; only his spiritual character lives on. The understanding that Freddy enters these teenagers dreams and kills them is down to revenge on his behalf for the parents setting him on fire. The events that feature in the dream such as being slashed by Freddy’s claws, being strangled and stabbed enhances that element of a nightmare. The characters in the dream to true and plea with Freddy not to kill them which  only fulfills Freddy’s desire to kill them. The nightmare lives up to the expectation of a nightmare simply because of who is featured in the nightmare and what happens whilst in the dream. There are a variety a camera angles used in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Wes Craven wanted to capture the nightmare from all aspects. He wanted the audience to witness the nightmare in full force. The atmosphere within the film is extremely tense as you never know what’s going to happen and whose going to die next. The things I would extract from A Nightmare on Elm Street and project in my Sticks and Stone dream sequence is the shock element. Not knowing what’s going to happen and then having this massive destructive outcome is what I would use. 

FILM: Waking Life – Lucid Dreaming

Waking Life is an animated film which is based around dreaming. The structure of the film is based around opening your mind to the world of dreaming and makes you looks at dreams in a different way. The character in the film remains anonymous throughout the film. He observes his life as he feels that his life is going no where at all. He realizes that he is living his life out of a dream and can only be awaken by occasional false awakenings. Whilst in his these dreams, he meets people in which himself and these people discuss the outcome of life and the purpose of life and the universe. Waking Life displays lucid dreaming. Lucid Dreaming is where the person who is dreaming is aware that they are dreaming. In Waking Life, the protagonist of the film is aware that he is dreaming and wants to explore the meaning of life.

The dream sequences in the film relate to the realty of his life. When watching the film, it makes you channel dreaming inside your head and makes you ask yourself the same questions that he does in the film. The animation in the film adds that touch of dreams. The effects in the film such as making the scene move and having the characters change from being a human drawing figure to a cloud amazes me. Critic Glenn Kenny from Premiere described this film as ” genuinely trippy, strangely beautiful…a breakthrough work that confirms that universal values of the art”. I have to agree this Glenn’s comments. The film gives you an insight to the mind of other people. You definitely value the art aspect of the film. The beauty of the art and the introduction to the dreaming and dreams co-sign together nicely. Waking Life displays conventional dreams. There is flying, things changing, there is a airy atmosphere and some of the people in the dream don’t exist. The things I would extract from Waking Life and possibly use in my Sticks and Stones dream sequence is the animated side to the dream. 

FILM: The Cell – Cell Shocked & The Boy With A Horse

The Cell is a science thriller film which isn’t based around dreaming in general but based around exploring entering into someone else’s dreams and mind. The film is based around Carl Rudolph; a serial killer who recently killed someone and has hidden the victim. He falls into a coma and Catherine is persuaded by the FBI to enter this mind and locate where he has hidden his victim. The dream sequence in this film is more of a psychological dream than anything else. The artistic view of the dream scene makes you look at his dream in a different way because the dream is very extraordinary. Tarsem Singh allows the audience to follow Jennifer Lopez’s character Catherine as she journeys through the mind of Carl Rudolph. In some of the dreams, Carl’s secrets as to why he is the way he is are revealed to the audience. Each segment of Carl’s mind and dreams teaches you something new. Each dream sequence is different from the each other. The clip below shows Catherine escaping the dream version of the cell and enters Carl’s new dream. Catherine enters the dream by being trapped in a box. She is stuck in this box until she pushes through the box and falls through the air. As she is falling she she manages to….and floats in the air. She doesn’t land as she is falling and floating. She encounters Carl’s dog in which she asks the dog a question which is ‘can you take me to Carl?’. As she looks up she see’s young Carl running into a house.

The dream changes 3 times in that scene. Her journey begins with her beginning in the dream cell, to her then being in a glass box to her then floating in the air and speaking to Carl’s dog. The dream sequences mixture between your conventional dream sequence and your unconventional dream sequence. The slow motion, the echoing of the voice and the floating in the air are the correct elements to a dream sequence. What make you consider that this scene could be unconventional is how the dream plays out. 

This second clip shows Catherine entering a room where she meets a young Carl and his horse. As Catherine starts to talk to Carl, the clock starts ticking in a weird way which alerts both Carl and Catherine. As the clock reaches it last couple seconds Carl runs up to Catherine and pushes her out of the way. As Catherine falls to the ground on the other side of the room, Carl falls to the floor on the other side as the horse in the middle is vivisected in front of them. The glass that vivisected the horse, separates the horses body and displays the inside of the horse. The horses organ’s and still functioning even though the horse has been split into several pieces. The structure of this dream attempts to open into the mind of Carl but gets quickly shut off when the horse gets vivisected. The things I would extract from this film and use in my Sticks and Stones dream sequence is the creativity and the visual art outlook in the scene. Tarsem Singh adds depth to the dream scenes by technically advancing the film with SFX effects.

FILM: Inception

Inception’s dream sequences are considered unconventional and captivating as they do the complete opposite from what a normal dream sequence consists of. The dream scenes in the film allow the audience to access the characters dreams by intercepting the other person’s dreams. In the film, the dream sequences are considered to be mind manipulation as you question whether the dream sequence is actually a dream or an illusion. The events that take place within the dream actually correlate to the events in the film. There is a particular scene in the film where Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Dominick is sitting in a chair; trapped in his dream, which is the opening sequence to the film. During the scene the other person in the scene slaps Dominick in the face. In the dream, Dominick gets thrown to the floor.  In the next scene Dominick is pushed into a bathtub full of water after he refuses to wake from his dream. As he falls into the bathtub and the water hits him, in his dream floods of water appear from both corners of the room. This is what makes you question the dream. Without the dream, the rest of the film would not exist. The film is a constant reminder that it is a dream within in a dream.

The point of the film is to navigate the mind. The dream sequences project what the characters want to see in the dream. In this scene, Ariadne and Dominick are sitting at a café when the events of the dream occur. The difference between normal dreams and the dream that she is having is that your conventional dream would exist of clouds, have an air-theme atmosphere, bright lights etc. Her dream is the complete opposite. Christopher Nolan uses the idea of expanding and experimenting within the dream. This is what captures your attention. In the dreams, extraordinary and unusual events take place. The reality of the dream is that the dream exists on the outside. Inception manages to build anticipation within the dream. In a few of the dreams, they become realities meaning that the after effects of the dream affect real life. So what is the overall point of the dream sequence in the film? Is it to confuse us on whether the dream exists or is it to explain the reality behinds dreams? The atmosphere in the dream sequences are very tense as you are unsure what will happen whilst the characters are dreaming. The things I would extract from Inception and possibly use in my Sticks and Stones dream sequence is the suspense and tense atmosphere. You have to keep the audience glued to the screen and I want to do that by creating an atmosphere that will give the audience the idea that something big is going to happen.

PHOTOGRAPHY: David LaChapelle – Daphne Guinness & Lady Gaga

 

David LaChapelle is known for recreating dream sequences in his own way. He usually uses a lot of backlighting and different colours when trying to recreate dream sequences. The two images above were both taken and directed by David LaChapelle. Both of the images required back light which brings out the most dominate thing in the photo which is the ladies. In the first photos above David has managed to capture the essence of dreams but making the aesthetics is different and dreamy. His interpretation of a dream or dreams makes you vision your own version of his work. For instance, in the first image ‘Daphne Guinness’ the female in the photo is positioned in a dreamy way. The way she is standing makes you believe that she is falling from something. It is clear that the photo was taken underwater. The backlight in the image provides that element of dreaming. In the next image, Lady Gaga is standing in between paper buildings. The lighting and the colours are positioned to make it look like it is set underwater. David’s most recent dream sequence comes in the form of a music video for Florence and the Machine. 

TELEVISION: Scrubs – Dream Sequences

Scrubs often features dream sequences that relate to the situation but are often unrealistic when it comes to relating to the actual scene in the show. Often looking at the situation as a joke, most of the dream sequences feature the character that they want to be in the dream. Basic or sometimes sexual innuendo will be used or featured in the clip. The dream sequence is a trap between reality and fantasy. JD; the main character, uses his dream sequences to sometimes pass time and make him believe that these things could sometimes possibly what be real. The comedic side of the dream sequence starts and ends on funniness.

The dream sequence which occur several times in a single episode, often never last long then 15 seconds. On some occasions the dream sequence will last a bit longer but that often depends on what the character is dreaming. Majority of the characters have dream sequence within the show. The structure of the dream sequence is to aware the audience of how the character is feeling in that moment in time. For instance, JD who was in a relationship with fellow character Sarah would sometimes dream about her and what might happen or what he wants to happen in there relationship. The comical side to the dream can sometimes change how they represent themselves in the dream. Sometimes they display the dream with actions or by singing a song. The atmosphere in the dream sequences are never dull. I would describe the dream sequences in Scrubs as being realistic and conventional but sometimes the dreams fall into the fantasy category. The things I would extract from Scrubs dream sequences and use in my Sticks and Stone dream sequence would possibly be the comical and sexual innuendo side. Dreams doesn’t always have to be dreamy, sometimes its okay to add some humor to the dream.

TELEVISION: Family Guy – Stewie’s Dance Dream Sequence with Gene Kelly

Family Guy rarely feature dream sequences as they usually do cutaways in there episodes which usually features gags which are  related to social/pop cultured events from today’s society which is portrayed from the characters. The clip below is a unusual dream sequence which featues the character Stewie dancing with legendary actor Gene Kelly. This dream sequence is not your typical dream sequence as none of the footage in the clip is based around a dreamy plot or story. The extract of the clip in which they dance originates from The Gene Kelly Studio Show, which was founded in 1932. Stewie envisions himself dancing alongside Gene Kelly to a dance sequence that was featured in the original clip from the show. What enlightens the fact that it’s a dream sequence is that the clip from the show is a vintage clip. When you follow up this clip that featured in Family Guy, Stewie specifically enters the dream and immediately starts to dance with Gene Kelly. From a personal perspective I feel like Stewie is potentially fulfilling his dreams of dancing with Gene Kelly. It’s far from your usual dream sequence as a lot of sound effects and music is being featured in the clip.

The atmosphere in this dream sequence is joyful. Both of the characters in the clip seems cheerful and excited in the dream sequence. The things I would extract from this clip and possibly use in my Sticks and Stones dream sequence is the use of sound. The clip above features a lot of music and SFX sounds. Not only would I use that I would also like to try to recreate the atmosphere.

MUSIC VIDEOS: Florence + The Machine – Spectrum

Florence + The Machine’s video for Spectrum is David LaChapelle’s latest vision of art in a dream sequence. David LaChapelle uses different colours to express his vision. David is known for recreating dream sequences with a lot of colours and lighting. The video which features ballet dancers, men dressed in Egyptian clothing, water, sparkly outfits and what looks to be a recreation of a city. The theme of the video seems to be based around water. Almost as if Florence is a mermaid. The video starts with Florence sitting on what looks to be some kind of throne whilst she is singing. In the next part of the video we are introduced to ballerinas and what looks to be Egyptian men surrounding Florence as the sings.

The atmosphere of the video is quite dark but it has that element of fantasy with it. In my opinion, I feel that David tries to recreate a fairy tale just from the setting alone. A lot of light is used throughout the video which is something that David LaChapelle is known for doing. Just like the Lady Gaga and Daphne Guinness photos above, David has left his signature moves in this video. There is a comparison between the Lady Gaga photo and the video.

The elements of this music video that I would possibly use in my Sticks and Stones dream sequence is the lighting and the overall atmosphere of a fantasy genre. 

MUSIC VIDEO:

Beyonce – Sweet Dreams

Beyonce’s video for Sweet Dreams is based upon dreaming. The song which is called Sweet Dreams, features lyrics which is connected to dreaming and dreams. In the video, Beyonce uses different things in the video that expresses dreams. She manages to capture the essence of dreaming by including different situations into the video. Each scene that you has a story behind it which relates to another part of the video. In the beginning of the video, Beyonce is sleeping in bed and moving uncontrollably to the sound of jewelery box music. She gives the audience the idea that she is possibly having a nightmare. When she levitates from the bed, she opens her eyes and you hear a scream. This assures the audience 100% that she was having a bad dream. In the next scene, Beyonce is seen dancing with two dancers. If you watch the video closely behind Beyonce and the dancers a horse runs in the back. This continues to add with the concept because it is unusual for a horse to be running in the back.

Throughout the rest of the video, unusual and weird things are happening which is expected when in a dream. Beyonce walks backwards and at one point her dancers split into two. The whole idea of dreaming dreaming within a dream is definitely displayed in this video.

Towards the end of the video, you see Beyonce punch a mirror with her hand which smashes into little pieces. Instead of the glass falling on the floor like it normally would, it floats in the air and around Beyonce. The next scene sees Beyonce dressed as her alter ego Sasha Fierce in a gold metal suit. The actions that her alter ego makes in the video display a weird effect which is expected because she is till in the dream. The things I would possibly extract from this music video would be the overall effect of dreaming with a dream. Filming it so it looks as if the dream is real but still keeping that element of a being asleep.

POEMS ABOUT DREAMS:

A Morning Dream by Li Ching Chao

This morning I dreamed I followed

Widely spaced bells, ringing in the wind,
And climbed through mists to rosy clouds.
I realized my destined affinity
With An Ch’i-sheng the ancient sage.
I met unexpectedly O Lu-hua
The heavenly maiden. Together we saw lotus roots as big as boats.
Together we ate jujubes as huge as melons.
We were the guests of those on swaying lotus seats.
They spoke in splendid language,
Full of subtle meanings.
The argued with sharp words over paradoxes.
We drank tea brewed on living fire.Although this might not help the Emperor to govern,
It is endless happiness.
The life of men could be like this. Why did I have to return to my former home,
Wake up, dress, sit in meditation.
Cover my ears to shut out the disgusting racket.
My heart knows I can never see my dream come true.
At least I can remember
That world and sigh.

Dreams in the Dusk by Carl Sandburg

DREAMS in the dusk,
Only dreams closing the day
And with the day’s close going back
To the gray things, the dark things,
The far, deep things of dreamland. Dreams, only dreams in the dusk,
Only the old remembered pictures
Of lost days when the day’s loss
Wrote in tears the heart’s loss. Tears and loss and broken dreams
May find your heart at dusk.

The Land Of Dreams by William Blake

Awake, awake my little Boy!
Thou wast thy Mother’s only joy:
Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep?
Awake! thy Father does thee keep. “O, what land is the Land of Dreams?
What are its mountains, and what are its streams?
O Father, I saw my Mother there,
Among the lillies by waters fair. Among the lambs clothed in white
She walked with her Thomas in sweet delight.
I wept for joy, like a dove I mourn—
O when shall I return again?”Dear child, I also by pleasant streams
Have wandered all night in the Land of Dreams;
But though calm and warm the waters wide,
I could not get to the other side. “Father, O Father, what do we here,
In this land of unbelief and fear?
The Land of Dreams is better far
Above the light of the Morning Star.”

My Three Questions on Dreams:

Whilst learning about dreams and dream sequences, I decided to conduct my own research on what people think about dreams so I asked three people Sasha Rosenberg, Leomie Johnson and Shadeeka Johnson, three questions about dreams and wrote down there answers. The three questions were:

1. What was the last dream you remember having?
2. Do you dream all the time? If yes, do you always remember your dream?
3. Can you describe what dreams mean to you in 3 words?

Sasha Rosenberg:

1. I was walking down the street and I bumped into Chipmunk. We started talking and then he took me to his concert and then I woke up
2. I think so. Sometimes I can remember what I dream about and other nights I have no idea or can’t remember. I never remember how the dream started though but when I wake up I remember most of the dream.
3. Make believe, imagination, dreaming

Leomie Johnson:

1. I actually can’t remember because I was too tired.
2. Nope, I just sleep.
3. Unconscious, spiritual, imagination

Shadeeka Johnson:

1. I don’t remember one thing from my dream last night
2. I dunno really. I think so but I’m not sure.
3. Fiction, sleep, story telling

My Dream Sequence Created By Adobe Effects for David:

For my assignment, I had to create a 30 second video based around dreams and dreaming by using Adobe After Effects. I was given a select number of videos to feature in my dream sequence. I had to choose which video I wanted to feature in my dream sequence. When I first started preparing for my dream sequence video, I have to admit I was completely lost and didn’t understand what was needed of me in this video. I started off by creating a composition. Then I selected the videos that I felt was acceptable to using in a dream sequence. I had to remember in mind that it was a dream sequence; which made it harder for me when choosing the videos. The first video that I picked was the EW Senses Loop. I decided to use this video because I felt that out of all the videos that I was given; this video seemed the most acceptable to use in a dream. Even though the EW Senses Loop video was good, I felt that it was missing something so I decided to add the AB White Puffy video.

I want both of the videos to play together and sync so that when you played it back you could see the clouds go by the eye when you play the video however, when I first added the video I couldn’t see the AB White Puffy video playing at the same time when the EW Senses Loop video was playing. In order to make it so that you could see both of the videos co-sign with each other I had to darken the EW Senses Loop and keep the AB White Puffy video normal. What I managed to do was make the video of the eye darker so that the light from the clouds could come through so that when you played it, they both played together. I then decided to add in some text to this scene. I googled ’50 dream quotes’ and found this page which had some of the best quotes. I chose the quote “A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read” which was quoted by The Talmud. I added the text over the EW Senses Loop so that when you played it the text appeared just as the eye blinked open. The next videos that I used in my dream sequence where AB Estaburban, AB Water Effects and AB Time Money. The outcome of the video came out completely different to how I wanted it to be.

For the next part of the dream sequence I wanted to change the atmosphere of the dream from what I had so far. I chose the videos AB Mayhem and AB Clouds Fog. I felt that both of these videos would fit in when together when you merge them. The first video I imported was AB Mayhem and then I imported AB Clouds Fog. When I put both of the videos in, I could only see one video which was the AB Mayhem video. I struggled for a little bit trying to find a solution so that I could see both of the videos play at the same time. I then decided to change the mode of the video. I changed AB Mayhem’s mode to multiply and changed AB Clouds Fog’s mode to lighten. By doing this I allowed the cloud’s fog video to feature behind the trees in the AB Mayhem video. I had to shorten the length of the video because I felt that it was to long for my dream sequence. The next videos that I chose to feature in my dream sequence was EW Rush Hour and 5 AB Film Clutter clips. My decision to change the dynamic of the sequence was simply down me believing that a dream sequence doesn’t always have to look the same. The reason why I chose to add 5 AB Film Clutter clips was because I knew that they would add a different effect to the rush hour clip. I had to shorten all of the clips in this scene to equal the video to the right amount of time. I also had to change the mode of the EW Rush Hour video as well. I changed the mode to multi so that you could see the effect of the 5 AB Film Clutter Clips. I felt that both the video fitted in well with each other becuase when you watch rush hour video by itself you can see the different lights during the video. The film clutter clips just added more effect to the lights. In a way you could say that it enhanced the light in the video.

At this point I am roughly 19 to 20 seconds into my dream sequence. When I reached this point of the video, I was stuck and didn’t know what direction I wanted my video to go in. I knew that I wanted my sequence to feature music but at first I wasn’t sure what kind of music I wanted to feature. I started searching on YouTube but my search was unsuccessful. At that point, I started thinking about music that I know and have heard that sounds some what dream. I decided to use a song which was heavily featured in the 2008 movie Twilight which was directed by Catherine Hardwicke. The song I chose was ‘Bella’s Lullaby’ which was composed by Carter Burwell. I chose this song because firstly it was an instrumental and two it was peaceful and calming. The key instrument used in the song is a piano. The song generally sounds like it could be for a dream. I felt that it fitted in well. After deciding the song choice I was still stuck on what video to feature next in the sequence. So I went back to looking at the videos and started looking for more videos to add into my sequence.  I came across the video HD Piano Slow. When I saw this video I instantly wanted to feature it in my dream sequence because I knew that it would match the song which I had added to the sequence.

I imported the video into my timeline and I also imported the AB Water Textures video as well. I felt that both of the videos had a dreamy airy atmosphere to them. My idea to make both of them play together meant that I had to change the mode like I did for the other videos. I changed HD Piano Slow’s mode to darken but I kept AB Water Textures’ mode normal. Both videos time span frames for round about 6 seconds.

After this, I had now realized that I was reaching towards the end of the video. I wanted to finish my video with some text so I went back to the ’50 dream quotes’ page and looked for another quote. I found the quote ‘dreams are real while they last – can we see more than life?’ by Havelock Ellis.

I looked for two more video which I wanted to feature at the end of my sequence. Out of all the clips that was left over I chose EW Texture FX and EW Fabric FX. Once again I wanted the videos to sync together so when I placed them on top of each other I had to change the mode of the videos. I changed EW Texture’s mode to multiply and EW Fabric’s mode to darken. This allowed me to see both of the videos at the same time. I added the text video above both EW Texture FX and EW Fabric FX which meant that the text would appear at the same time as the two videos. Just when I thought I was finished, I realized that the song which I added to my video had to be shortened down so I went into my timeline and dragged the clip so that it was shorter. I played my dream sequence back and was 100% happy with what I had made. The final part of making the sequence was rendering it and turning it into a movie so that it was accessible to watch outside of After Effects.

Considering the process of how I made my video, overall I am happy and pleased. When I was first handed the assignment, I had so many ideas that I wasn’t focused and didn’t know what was need for this task. In the beginning I had nothing to show but I put my mind into the work and produced an amazing dream sequence.

Masking on Dream Sequences Created on Adobe After Effects for David:

An additional part of our assignment was to create a moving image video via masking on Adobe After Effects. I created a 10 second video which was done by masking. Masking in Adobe After Effects is a format in which you modify effects. Whilst looking and experimenting with dreams and dream, I wanted to produce an unconventional dreamy masking video that would completely change the dynamic of the other dream videos that I created via Adobe After Effects. Like the previous video, I was given the chance to choose between several different architecture images that would be the main feature in the video. After reviewing the images, I decided to choose the B4 Architecture_Int picture because I felt out of all the pictures it felt to me that I could do more with this picture than some of the other pictures. When looking at the picture I felt that there was plenty of window space to incorporate more of the videos into the image. I opened After Effects and imported the picture that I had chosen in. When I imported the image, After Effects created a composition for me. Looking at the same videos that I looked at and used in the first assignment, I chose videos that were different to the first assignment’s videos because I didn’t want it to seem as if I was just recreating the original video.

After I had selected the videos that I wanted, I had to create a mask so that I could import the videos into After Effects and add them to my creation. Creating the mask within the picture was the first step into producing a moving image video. I started by selecting the pen tool and clicking the corners of the window in the middle of the image; where I wanted to import my first video. After creating the mask, I then had to into the timeline, click on the B4 Architecture_Int and the mask button and choose to ‘Add’. This allows me add any video that I had chosen to be placed into the mask that I created.  The first video I imported was AB_Retro Health Care. After importing the video into After Effects, I had to change the scale of the video so that it was wide enough to fit into the mask that I created. After I scaled it, I then dragged the video into the space and made sure that it fitted in. After this I played back the little sequence that I had created to see whether or not I liked it and whether it fitted in with the image and the atmosphere I was trying to create.

I was pleased with the first video but I felt like something was missing. I remembered that with the first video, I experimented with mixing two videos at once so that when you playback the video, both of the videos played at the same time and gave the video an amazing effect. I decided that I wanted to recapture that again in this video so I choose the video AB_Estaburban and added it to the mask and the timeline. When I first added the video and paired it with the AB_Retro Health Care video I couldn’t see the AB_Estaburban video at all so I had to change the mode of the AB_Retro Health Care video to ‘Light’. After changing the mode, I could see both the videos and thought that they blended well together.

Baring in mind that the first two videos that I selected had a short time span, I looked for another video which would follow up after AB_Estaburban and AB_Retro Health Care finished. I chose the video HM Lion. The second mask that I created was for window on the right. Following in the exact same footsteps as with what I did before I created a mask, clicked ‘add’, imported the video which I wanted which was AB_Lifestyle Mixed. Again, I changed the scale of the video so that it fitted in the mask perfectly. I also did this same routine for the third mask I created in the third window.

The final video that I added was EW_EditFX. I decided to duplicate the video three times and place them all at the ending of the video because I thought it would be add a nice finishing touch to the end of my 10 second video.I imported the EW_EditFX clip and then add to the timeline. I then placed the video where I wanted it to be and duplicated it. At this point I felt very satisfied with what I had produced. Even though I knew it was gonna be a short video, I feel that I work to the best that I could; considering that in the beginning I didn’t know what I was doing.

I accompanied my video with the first 10 seconds to Beyonce’s 2009 hit single Sweet Dreams. Instead of using the audio version, I decided to convert the video that she made for the song as the beginning of the audio in the video is very different to the actual song. After I converted the actual music video, I subtracted the first 10 seconds from the sound and imported it into the timeline. I felt that it made a big difference to the video because the sound wasn’t normal dreamy music it was just sounds of a jewelery box which featured in the music video at the beginning which was what I extracted. Overall I am generally pleased with how it all turned out because when it comes to After Effects my confidence level is low. It does take me quite some time to understand what I am doing but once I get into the hang of it, I think I do a pretty good job. The video I produced isn’t perfect but i’m proud of it. If I could change anything about what made on Adobe After Effects it probably would be how I constructed the video. The structure and the planning I feel need more focus on my behalf. 

Experimenting Bowling Video Created on Maya for David:

Evaluation for Experimenting Bowling Video:

As part of our introduction to Maya assignment, I was asked by my teacher David to create a bowling alley scene in which the bowling ball will roll down the aisle and knock the pins. I would create this create this scene by using the software Maya. To help make the process of this a little easier I was given a guide sheet which would help teach and learn me on how to make this.

Firstly, I started by opening the file in the server called Bowling Alley mb2010. After this I had to select the ball, click onto the Dynamics menu set and choose soft/rigid bodies > create active rigid body. Then after this I had to select all of the elements of the bowling alley set except for the pins and ball and choose soft/rigid body > creative passive rigid body. This action meant that the only element on my bowling alley that was allowed to move was the ball. Everything else minus the pins was now a solid object meaning that they didn’t have the ability to move. After this I was asked by my teacher to try and play the animation to see whether anything moved or not. Once I played it, it was clear that the ball was moving to slow. So I had to go back and correct the mistake. To correct this mistake I had to click on gravityField1 in the outliner and increase the magnitude from 9.8 to 20 in the channel box. This increased the amount of gravity applied to the ball meaning that the ball would now perform better when moving.

Secondly, I then had to select the ball again, go to rigidbody1 node in the channel box and make some new changes. I changed the bounciness to 0.6, the initial velocity in X to 25, click Stand In Sphere and change the initial spin in Z to -30. After this I had to select all the pins and choose soft/rigid bodies > create active rigid body. Then I had to set their mass attributes to 0.15 in the channel box. With the long tall cubes still selected I had to highlight the center of mass ‘Y’ attribute in the channel box and click the middle mouse button and then drag in the view window to increase the value interactively to 0.4. By doing this, this will make the objects more top heavy and more inclined to spin when knocked over. Afterwards I choose gravityfield 1 in the outliner again and then went to fields > affect selected objects.

The most important part of this process was to now bake the animation to create key frames. In order to do this I had to select the ball and all the thin tall cubes and the drag select translate and rotate channels in the channel box. To do this I had to choose Edit > Keys > Bake Simulation and open the options box. I had to make the settings match those in the illustration to the right. When I finished this I clicked Bake. After this a key frame will now have been set on every other frame. After this, if you wanted to, you could delete all the rigid bodies in the scene by clicking Edit > Delete All by Type > Rigid Bodies. You can also delete the gravity field. After you do this you can play back the animation by pressing the play button which will allow you to play back the animation smoothly.

During the process of this I did find it very hard to complete. As this is my third time using Maya, I was still unsure about where things were and how to operate the software. Without the guide sheet provided by my teacher I would have seriously been lost. I think that I did quite well considering I didn’t know how to use the software.

Animation Evaluation for Ade:

As part of my exploration assignment, I had to construct an animation by using Adobe Flash. I was assigned  images which I had to turn it a repeatative animation piece. Counting the seconds based from frame by frame, I had to use and learn different techniques to help construct the animations. In order to make the square become an animation, I had to do something called Tweening. Tweening means the inbetweening of the process when generating frames. The animation of the man riding the horse and the clown walking and doing backflips were both created via tweening. I also created a animation fo a blue square moving from one end of the page to the other. To begin, I was given a select images which I had to include into Adobe Flash. The first animation video I constructed was a GIF image of a man riding on a horse. In order to get the GIF image to continue to move without stopping and make become an animation piece, I had to keep adding the image frame by frame. I started by creating 16 key frame in the timeline as there were 16 images that need to be added to the clip. Each image had to be added to each key frame. In order to get each image continue moving along, you had to more each image about a inch from where the previous image was placed. In order to get the images to move, you had to tap the arrow button to the right which moved the image by a inch. When you press play, the image moved frame by frame.

For the second animation video, the process was exactly the same as the first one with the man on the horse. The only difference was that they clown animation wasn’t an image it was a drawing which had 21 images. The main difference between them was that I had to choose more frames.

The third video I constructed was of a blue square moving from one side of the screen to another. The process for this animation was very different to the process that I did whilst making the clown and horse animation. In order to make the square move I had to experiment using motion tween. Motion Tweening is simply moving one image from one position to another. I started off by creating the square and then coloring it in using Flash. This then became the first key frame in the timeline. I then had to choose where I wanted my timeline to end and so I dragged the timeline to where I wanted it to end which was at 30 frames. When I reached the end of the time line I moved the square to the other side of the page so that I instructed Flash on where I wanted it to end. I went back to the key frame timeline and halfway through; which were 15 frames, I added in a motion tween. This is what allowed the square to move from one side of the screen to another. After I had completed this I then played the animation back and watch it moves exactly how I wanted it to.

This process wasn’t hard to complete as the first two videos. When you compare the technical side of making the video, you can see that creating the square animation was quicker as instead of you having to keep adding each image into the key frame, Flash does it for you. I will be using what I learned from making animation videos in my future work.

Waltz With Bashir

As an extra part to our exploratory work, we watched an animated film called Waltz with Bashir which was made in 2008 and was directed by Ari Folman. The film which explores a man trying to regain his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War. The film opens your mind on memories when watching it. Ari Folman portrays himself in this film as a Israeli filmmaker that meets up with an old soldier friend who proceeds to tell Ari about these nightmares that he keeps having that are connected to the 1982 Lebanon war. Ari can not remember anything this remotely close to what his friends is talking about and so he goes in search to try and remember. There were many different interesting scenes in this film that grabbed me whilst watching it. Ari Folman’s vision and creativity for Waltz with Bashir not only captures you in but makes you want to explore your own lost memories. This film is an inspiration and I would definitely extract somethings from this film and use it in my films and my dream sequence.

Storyboard for Ade:

Short Experimenting Film Made By Myself (Shay), Natalie, Kyle & Rochelle for Mark:

Whilst learning about dreams and how to create them; myself, Natalie, Kyle and Rochelle was given a camera in which we had to record and experiment with different angles and techniques. When we were first given the task of filming an idea that we would use as a template for experimenting, we were completely lost and didn’t know where to start. We decided to start this process by generating ideas that we could use. We came up with filming long shots of trees in the smoking area and filming close-up shots that zoom out of things like shoes and clothes. We also filmed leaves falling from a distance above the camera as we wanted a falling effect. Myself and my team decided that what we had filmed wasn’t good enough to do any effects or experiment with.

We then went back to the drawing board and decided to recreate what we just done but with some stuff. Myself, Natalie, Kyle and Rochelle decided to do a walking sequence were Natalie is walking backwards whilst Rochelle and Kyle are walking forwards. During the time that they are walking, they will each get to a certain point were they will each turn the opposite way and walk. We shot this 4 times from for different angles just so that when it came to editing we had different shots and angles to choose from. We also filmed Kyle walking in slow motion so that when we speed it up it would look like he was moving at double speed. Whilst Kyle was moving in slow motion, Rochelle ran past really fast. This created the effect of her move at a triple speed and Kyle moving at double speed. After we filmed this we decided to end our experiment with a dance off between Kyle and Natalie. The reason we decided to do this was because we all agreed that when it came time for the editing, we could use the dancing to our advantage especially when it comes to reverse speed, fast speed and slow speed. Natalie danced the Azonto whilst Kyle did some break dancing.

When it came to editing the footage that we had myself and Kyle decided that we wanted to create a short experimenting film about what we did. Me and Kyle started the editing process by going through all the video footage that we had recorded and decided on which clips were best to use and which clips weren’t. When it came to the soundtrack of our short film, Kyle wanted to use the instrumental track of Kanye West ‘Flashing Lights’. Kyle felt that the beats in the track would work well with the footage that we had. Overall, I think that the video turned out to be quite good considering that in the beginning we didn’t really have much of an idea of what we were doing.

Dream Sequence Work in SoHo:

Currently studying dream sequences, the effects of dream sequences and how to make dream sequence; every two weeks I study at the SoHo campus in the production apartment and try out different techniques and ways to make a dream sequence. This page will showcase the work that me and my classmates do whilst at the SoHo campus.

Week 1: Introduction to the equipment

Upon our first visit to the SoHo campus, we were shown and introduced to the equipment that we will using each time we come to SoHo. We met Eric who gave us a tour around and showed us the studio, computer room and equipment. We learned what each piece of equipment is used for and how to use it.

 

Week 2: Interviews on Dreams

During week 2 of our visit to SoHo, the class was separated in two groups. I was in the second group which consisted of myself, Haruka, Natalie, Rochelle, Danish, Ishmael, Sara, Aiden, Joanna and Mark. We had to interview each other about dreams and what we dream about. I didn’t participate in the actual interviewing however I was on camera duties as I filmed Haruka, Dan and Ishmael whilst they interviewed each other.

As well as working as the camerawoman, I also had the duty of working behind the screen. Myself, Sara, Aiden and Joanna was given the task of instructing Natalie, Rochelle and Danish on how to interview and to let them know when the countdown begun so that they could start interviewing.

Dream Effect Video We Created At SoHo:

Whilst learning how to experiment with filming dream sequences at SoHo, we were put into groups to try and create different styles of experimenting. My group consisted of myself, Natalie, Darrian, Sara, Alexandra, Dan and Anita. We wanted to create several different dreamy scenarios so we cam up with the idea of having Guler, Natalie, Dan and Darrian stand in front of the camera and move around in different ways. After we finished recording that we decided that we wanted to change our idea and experiment in a whole new different way. So we asked the technician guys to help us set up the projector to see if we can kind of project and image or a video of something onto someone’s face. At first we tried making the projector effect on Natalie’s face but it just didn’t work out so we asked Guler if she would stand in for Natalie as we tried to project an image on her face.

As you can see from the video above, it worked. We managed to project a video onto Guler’s face so that it looked as if her face was playing the movie. I definitely felt like my team as well as I did an amazing job when trying to create this effect. We didn’t have enough time to create something that would have been extraordinary but I think what we managed to do in a short period of time turned out really well.

My Experimenting Video on Final Cut Pro for Mark:

As part of my exploratory Sticks and Stones assignment, I have been exploring my creative and experimental styles on Final Cut Pro. I decided to create a one minute video which features some students in my class moving in different ways. As an experiment I have taken different videos and photos; placed them behind the student and switched around the composition mode to create a different effect on the video. I started off creating this video by opening Final Cut Pro and importing one of the green screen videos that we created at filmed at SoHo. I chose the video of Natalie running on the spot because when I looked back at the video there was so many different experimental things that I could do to the video. After I imported the first video, I then went to effects, clicked video filters, then I clicked key and chose chroma keyer and dragged it onto my clip.

After I dragged the chroma keyer on to my clip, I then back to the effects and double clicked on chroma keyer which opened up at the top next the motion button. After this I had the duty of holding down on the shift key whilst I clicked the little square button on the right next to the three colour rectangles. I had to keep clicking different parts of the green screen in the background of the clip so that the green screen background disappeared allowing me to add an effect behind. I decided to change the edge thin, the softening and the enhance scales just to make sure that the whole screen was black and that you could see Natalie properly. For the first video, I was a little confused on how to create the effect of Natalie just running in a pitch black background which lead to the first videos effect being accidental. However I was happy with how it looked even though Natalie’s head was missing.

For the next two videos I imported an image of a running track and ink falling into water. With the running track added to the green screen footage I did 2 effects. The first effect was to have the running track feature on Natalie and the second effect was to have the track featured behind Natalie so that it looked like she was running on a actual track. I still had to keep that element of dreams in the video so I decided to give the footage of Natalie a ghostly effect. For both of the videos I simply jut had to change the composition mode and the speed of the video.

I decided to create to more experiments using the footage of Natalie running. So I did the same routine that I did for the first video, I went to effects and chose chroma keyer etc. The only difference between the routine from the first video to the second video I did was that I moved the colour scale which allowed me to see the whole body instead of just the neck downwards.

For my next experiment I chose a different video with a different student moving a complete different way from Natalie. I decided to choose the video of Darrian holding his head and moving around in a circle of eight but standing still whilst doing it. Because I had used still images before, this time I wanted to use actual video footage and have it featured in the background. I researched some GIF images on Tumblr and came across a GIF image which featured a collaborations of videos of drugs being taken and the effects of the drugs as they are taking them. The point of my using this image was because I felt that the way that Darrian was moving reminded of someone having a bad dream. The GIF image added that “i’m nightmare/I don’t want to remember what happened” effect to the footage of Darrian moving.

Once again, I had to change the speed and the composition mode of both of the videos in order to see them both at the same time. The second video of Darrian was the same. I found a GIF image of moving feet and a video of what looks like tadpoles and I imported them into Final Cut Pro. 

The last video I experimented on was video footage of Danish walking in a zombie style. I chose this video because this video definitely had an dreamy element to it. Clouds are considered a major part of dreaming so I imported a video of clouds swiftly moving in the background and changed the composition so that it would like Dan was walking in front of clouds. When it came to changing the effect from the background, I chose to keep a little bit of the green screen behind Dan, which ended up giving a glowing effect behind him. When I duplicated the video of Dan and placed it in front of the original video, the second video had a piece of Dan’s head missing. I had to feather out the top part of Dan’s head so that both of the video didn’t clash.

For the soundtrack of my video, I simply just wanted an instrumental track which will be featured. I decided on using Jay-Z and Kanye West’s 2012 hit song No Church In The Wild. I didn’t want to include any actual lyrics from the original song so I researched and converted the instrumental version of the song into final cut pro and added it to my video. I felt that the beat added that a great touch to the video and the way that I constructed the video meant that the movements from Natalie, Danish and Darrian moved in time with the beats of the song.

Overall, I am completely satisfied with what I have created. For me the best part about this was that I now know how to experiment on Final Cut Pro especially when it comes to adding videos and photos. I still feel that my level of experimenting is not all that good yet but I feel that what I had create for the moment considering that I didn’t know what was I was doing has turned out good. I wanted to get feedback from some of the students in my class to see what they thought of my experimental video. I asked Haruka, Ishmael and Dammy to watch my video and give me feedback on it. I chose to record there feedback and share through Soundcloud.

Feedback for My Experimenting Video:

Galleries – Bertozzi & Casoni – Regeneration

As an additional part to our exploratory and portrait assignments, we have to visit different galleries which will help us with our research and ideas when it comes to the assignment. I visited the Bertozzi & Casoni Regeneration Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery and The Saatchi Gallery. Upon our visit to the Bertozzi and Casoni Regeneration gallery we saw some very interesting pieces of artwork. Each piece of work showcased something different and had a different expression to it. After exploring the art for 10-15 minutes we spoke to one of the guys who works and helps run the gallery. He told us all about what the art stands for and how much some of the art pieces sell for. Whilst there, I took some pictures of some of the portraits and art that were on exhibition. You can see some of the images from each gallery below.

 

Galleries – National Portrait Gallery

As an additional part to our exploratory and portrait assignments, we have to visit different galleries which will help us with our research and ideas when it comes to the assignment. I visited the Bertozzi & Casoni Regeneration Gallery, The National Portrait Gallery and The Saatchi Gallery. Upon our visit to the National Portrait Gallery we saw some very interesting portraits. Each piece of portraits showcased a different expression and situation. We explored the gallery for 30 minutes and then left. Whilst there, I took some pictures of some of the portraits that were on exhibition. You can see some of the images from each gallery below.