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Working title of Project: "God's Image"

I'm unable to upload the film here, so refer to canvas assignments or discussion.

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I finally had the opportunity to present, and although I wasn't entirely confident in the quality of my work, and am still not, I have been reassured ever so slightly by the reaction that it received. It definitely succeeded in causing a reaction, and I felt as if I was able to communicate some real meaning both nuanced and blatant. Clearly the work was meant to be provocative, however I was worried that it would come across as shallow. I dont think that's how it went over, but regardless of what individual people thought I think I was able to explain my own connection to it clearly enough. This wasn't vital, and I do like the openness of my work in terms of how it could be perceived, however I cant lie, it was nice to introduce my unique perspective which wasn't so blatantly pushed onto the film. In terms of the ideas which I did decide to portray up front regarding "God's image" and the animalistic comparison, I think this was understood well. Outside of the conceptual aspect of the work, something which I was also unsure about was the believability of the practical effects as well as the performances them selves. The design of the substances had to be fairly realistic but the enthusiasm which my friends had to maintain on camera was really the make or break of the project. I'm happy to say that people thought it was very disgusting, with people physically and verbally reacting throughout the duration of the film (I was also concerned that 6 minutes might have caused some people to become unengaged). Some people even got up to leave during the blood scene. I know that I could have definitely done better and made the film more interesting with a greater variety of practical effects and a more succinct progression of events, however given the amount of time that I worked on it and the struggle of collaborating with others as well as animals, I'm more satisfied with the outcome than I had originally predicted.

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Dogtooth (2009) by Yorgos Lanthimos

Lanthimos uses typically vibrant colours yet he seems to have subdued the whiteness, creating quite a cold tone

The position of the woman in this frame and the environmental setting that she's in is actually very similar to the second half of my work

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Colour correction/grading

Although I had been thinking about this before, this was sort of the last step.

Although the features on premier pro are seemingly simple, for some reason I just couldn't get a hold of them. In an effort to make it seem a little bleaker and less welcoming, I did reduce the amount of white and added a cooler hue to the image. This effected the intensity of the blood and so I also increased the saturation of the colour red slightly, but apart rom this, although I trialed a lot of things, these are the only real changes I made. I tried by best to make the image look good when filming, working predominantly in manual mode and occasionally in auto during more rushed sessions, therefore I feel like I did a pretty decent job with the colour initially anyway. Colour grading is still one of the most exciting features of film making though, so I'm excited to get more into it in the future.

With regards to the colour scheme I was inspired by a number of very dry and kind of cold horror and thriller movies. Notably Yorgos Lanthimos' films, including The Killing of a Sacred deer and Dogtooth. The vibrancy of these films is subdued and although they feature a great sense of realism in terms of colour and setting, there is also something quite uncanny about their look (coupled with the strange content of the films). Dogtooth in particular became more of the kind of look that I developed as it feels cold and the colour is muted, however it is still filled with lush greens and reds. The appearance of the lawn in my house and the blood which my friend coughs all over himself are undoubtedly reminiscent of this film. Strangely, even though I had been inspired by the film, I cant say I was necessarily even conscious of the similar urban setting in which I based my work around.

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Sound design

This was an entirely new experience for me and even though it didn't seem necessary to do a whole lot, and thus I didn't feel as if I needed to use Ableton, I still spent a considerable amount of time trying to match the audio gains of different clips, EQ them, and unclip some of the more harsh sounding ones on Premiere and Audition. As well as this I had to rerecord a couple clips by myself without the help of my performers, which was slightly challenging as they obviously have their own unique voices. Despite none of them talking, they still groan and moan in the clips which was surprisingly tricky to work around. For the most part I just left these moments out, but I did still include some rerecorded audio of licking and smacking sounds. I think this turned out alright. The plan was to make the audio feel a bit overstimulating so the change in volumes and the sudden presence of wind or intense white noise that I couldn't hide when cutting between shots actually kind of benefits the chaos and the rigid style of the audio and the shaky visuals. For the most part I did still try to hide the difference in sound between shots within the same scene through the use of "exponential fade" and "constant power". In trying to replicate an exponential fade when the effect wasn't doing it justice, I did also just decrease the volume or audio gain over time through keyframing.

Being limited to very little takes during the actual filming process meant that I wasn't always able to get the desired audio, however in working with what I had, I think I did alright. But I still dont really know. I've listened to it too many times to be able to have a clear perspective on it and any one that I've shown is just incapable of being as harsh as I am, so I'm still a little unsure about this aspect of the work.

For the most part though, including audio and visuals, I did my best with the material that I had.

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Having finally decided to use the production studio instead of room 302, I'm bailing on using the spray and incorporating smell altogether. I dont want to ruin the space for others (including Harry), and I think that better audio quality is way more important.

This does take away from the expanded field aspect of the work, but I still think that I've achieved this through the combination of performance art and a more traditional sense of film. It features a sense of progression like a story would, however there is no clear storyline, and if anything it resembles work more like that of Paul McCarthy, who enacted very full-on and nonsensical performances, similarly filming some of them. Unlike McCarthy though, as stated, I have attempted to expand this approach to art through cutting it up and making it feel more like a traditional film, with multiple different scenes and shots, whilst still maintaining that sense of naturalism that comes from the shaky cam. I did also try to make the substances as realistic as possible and even if my performers aren't eating real poo, they're still eating it off of the floor, and sucking up what they spit out, which is gross enough as is. Because of this, I feel like their performances are still very real in a sense, and reminiscent of work by artist's such as McCarthy. This is also why I am more compelled to refer to them as performers rather than actors. The majority of this process was also spent experimenting with ingredients in the kitchen and so, I often felt like I was engaging with cooking and sculpture more than I was with screen arts. Another obvious sense of expanding the field also lies in my expansion of the video through the space in which I will present. Specifically showing in the production Studio, will boost the immersion through its all encompassing surround sound, making the audience way more uncomfortable than if they were to just watch it through their computers.

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'Only humans, according to the Bible, are made in "Gods image." Only humans possess the will and self-consciousness that distinguish us so sharply from even the most "advanced" and intelligent animals.' - Don Stewart

In this article, Stewart talks about why humans are special and how they distinguish from animals. I thought that the quote above was ironic within the context of my film, and thus it would push my overall critique of the human species. I want the emphasis to be on humans and not God or the bible, but if the audience do see it that way, I dont have a problem with that. I dont feel particularly strongly about going against the word of the Bible however I am just generally interested in the philosophy behind animalism and human behaviour altogether, and so I am open to all possible interpretations.

In the article Stewart also talks about the human ability of choice "a common trait between man and God", which I thought was funny because I often feel like I'm incapable of choice. Having a form of OCD, much of my life revolves around very non-sensical decision making and so although I'm conscious of the absurdity of some of the thing's I'm compelled to do, it genuinely does feel like I have no choice but to do it.

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After visiting Harry and showing him the video, he gave me some great advice on how I could potentially tie the whole video together and make it feel more complete. What was particularly helpful was his personal interpretation of the film so far as being mainly centered around the comparison between man and beast. This has been the main take away from everyone I've showed the film to thus far. The inclusion of the dogs was intentional and I'd had this idea in my head from close to the beginning, however following this insight I feel more compelled to lean into this meaning. In an effort to contextualize the events which occur in the film and tie everything together, I plan to include a quote at the very beginning.

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initial test in production studio

the audio quality was much better than room 302

felt way more immersive and all encompassing

I felt like this did the video more justice, despite also making it less likely for me to be able to make the place smell

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initial test in room 302

I like how intimate the space is, but unfortunately having to revert to using two JBL speakers diminishes the audio quality

with the audio being such an important part of the film, causing much of the disgust, I now feel like it would be more beneficial to present in the production studio with much better quality surround sound

If I did use this space and I was able to present after everyone else, I might also be able to stink the place up, however at the moment this is potential aspect of the work is seeming less important

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In further playing into the idea of the expanded field, I also bought a prank smelling spray called Liquid Ass which although initially meant for jokes has actually been used in medical and military training in order to replicate the foul bodily smells which people may come across in those fields

Having received the spray, I can confirm it is uniquely bad smelling. It doesn't just smell like sulfur and is actually surprisingly close to the smell of human poo

I could potentially pray this around the room before I show my video to fully immerse the audience and gross them out, however I'm conscious that this might ruin the space for other people presenting after me.

having tested it in the garage at home, I am weary that the smell might in fact stick around for a pretty substantial number of hours so I'm still on the fence about using it

I also dont want to overdo the video by adding things unnecessarily

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I spent a lot of time over the past few days working with the puppy, trying to get her to do a poo. I want a shot of her as she twirls around and squats, before actually pooing, but so far this has been unsuccessful. I would include this in order to more clearly show that my friend is eating dog poo, however I might just need to allude to this through shots of the dog running around and eating in the location where my friend does this.

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I have decided to include my dogs in the film in order to provide some relief in between the disgusting scenes

I'm also going to do my best as making it seem like my friends are mimicking the dogs in some way, so to compare humans and animals

I'm greatly interested in this idea and it very literally goes along with the already prominent theme of reducing humans to animals (or less intelligent creatures)

It adds a comedic element to the film as well which is sort of at the core of the idea, yet felt a little missing. Not everyone's going to get what's so funny about people eating their own bodily substances the same way that me and my friends do

as seen in this clip, it was quite difficult working with animals

the bigger dog was suspicious of the equipment and he just wouldn't eat like I wanted him to

He ends up doing in this clip, however this took quite a while

I've spent a lot of time with the smaller one and intend to spend even more time with her - which will surely be even more difficult as she just cant seem to stick to one thing

shes always zoomin around

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more bts from the second shoot