FM3 - Sample Reflective Analysis

Reflective Analysis

I have produced a short experimental film called ‘Something Stupid’. The philosophy behind the film was initially a hybrid of many themes, such as perceived beauty, fashion, relationships, the 1940’s and the famous film star Audrey Hepburn. To focus on my philosophical reasoning in more depth, the message I wanted to portray was the ideals of society and the happiness of the 1940’s with their ‘classiness’ and old-fashioned views particularly in the young, and the change in a society of today with themes such as alcoholism, partying etc. I wanted to show the popular culture of today in comparison to back then, and express the awkward feelings of identity that teenagers have when trying to find out who they are.

However, because I have been inspired by both mainstream and experimental cinema, I feel that the audience can appreciate the differing styles and that I have incorporated both into one film. In this way there is the potential for a wider range of audience, of a mainstream film festival and perhaps at an art gallery.

Influentially, I wanted to use a more dreamy state of film, as inspired by the rhythmic patterns and visuals ranging in beauty and intensity by Stan Brakhage. Particularly in his film “For Marilyn” (1992), I regarded him as someone who possessed the ability to conceive the idea of both the concept that distances the audience from the film so regularly in experimental cinema, and being able to materially and thematically push the boundaries of cinematic film to reveal universal qualities within its deep layers. The musically structured aesthetic of light moving in time to a pattern unheard as it is silent, paired with fleeting images of painted glass, took film in a new direction. Whereas many of the experimental films used asynchronous sound tactics to portray the feeling of the poetic relationship between sound and image, I liked the way that my response to the beautiful images was entirely through visuals.

With Brakhage in mind I employed many techniques such as layering my narrative with flashes of footage from a Skrillex concert rhythmically injected into the non-linear narrative of a girl putting her make-up on, 1940’s style. This was taken with a hand-held camera due to the circumstances of actually being in the crowd. To appeal to both filmgoers and art gallery enthusiasts I wanted to employ the aesthetic in a pleasing way, unlike the jarring and often annoying soundtracks to some experimental films; I didn’t feel mine had the depth to it that some of the films I studied such as ‘Koyaanisqatsi’ did, therefore the soundtrack of ‘Something Stupid’ by Frank and Nancy Sinatra I felt conveyed the clarity of the 1940’s being my theme throughout.

The mainstream influence was ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’, a 1961 mainstream film by Blake Edwards. Because I regarded experimental cinema as often quite bold in its dreamy state (such as Warhol, whose split screen techniques I took inspiration from to contrast the stark difference between the flashing fluorescent lights of the Skrillex concert and the peaceful, dreamy girl putting make up on in the mirror in 1940), I decided that to open my film, the best way to show this inspiration was to simply add it to my own. To express this significance, I filmed the trailer of ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’ and edited it, cutting it randomly here and there until I found parts with Fred and Holly that I found most romantic or in parallel to my own theme, and I feel that it lifts the light-heartedness of the film into mine. I wanted to show the ambiguity of the woman falling in love, and being a free spirit. In this way I wanted the message to be that the women of the 1940s had these options, and were never ‘tied down’ by men in the end, being able to retain their femininity and express themselves in their own free manner. I used the film clips of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, with the lovey-dovey theme prominent and happiness and gaiety as inspiration to film my own clips of women looking happily into the camera. With the opinion in mind that experimental cinema often has a way of making this unnerve the audience, I edited these clips in soft light, black and white stock and vignette to make them look more antique, faded and nostalgic. However, without being conscious of it, this editing made the topic of feminity I wanted to express look a little more like the homosexual film ‘Scorpio Rising’. Although this definitely adds some sort of edge to my film that I didn’t particularly want to be there, it does ease the roughness of the underage drinking and alcoholism shots afterwards, which is what I wanted to do.

In an attempt to be slightly avant-garde I regarded the use of the Courteeners’ audio as being quite out of place but at the same time fitting into the era, as the 1940s and the 2010s embrace pop culture and well-known idols (one idea was dressing my friend up as Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, or someone similar). The Courteeners’ song ‘You Overdid It Doll’ seems to show, to me, the cracks in the fashion and emotional times of today, as the lyrics of ‘space cadet dressed in fibre glass’ is interpreted to me as the flimsiness of a girl going out and dressing herself up, going too far to fit in amongst her ever-changing backdrop of manic teens drinking and making themselves up. I wanted the emotions teenagers often feel, such as ecstasy and happiness, to be reflected in the laughter of the getting ready in the 1940s – I wanted to use faded editing, soft lighting and generally a little more refined atmospheric film for this, and shots of laughter and happiness not induced by alcohol.

In conclusion, the influences I regard as a monumental significance on my filmmaking experience helped me target my audience and genre. However, I feel that despite the experimental cinema elements being often of a dream-like state, I would have in fact preferred to have taken a more focused approach. Upon reflection, my experimental film reached my intentions of showing the contrast between the femininity of the 1940’s and the lack of it today, but I feel that I should have added more mainstream elements to take it away from the ‘art-house’ genre, as it is not quite philosophical enough to fit into that either.