#Fascinating contrast between the current experience and the person I was dating this summer

[silly-mode-cilia]

i think I need to avoid dating non-queer people for a bit and even. Idk if I want to date anyone anytime soon tbh bc I just want to spend time with my friends and myself :> that sounds very nice to me I think. tbh anytime I think about my ideal future life I've always been living by myself idk if I actually want a romantic life partner. Maybe a qpr? Idk. But I'm uncertain if I would consider myself to be aromantic because I'm. Well based on past experiences, I am capable of romantic attraction. But my ideal relationship is really just a casual fwb (emotional and physical) and we also are friends who tell the other we love them and care for them through actions. Loose and poly or whatever the vibe is like. Just that familiar dependency.

[bradleyclarke94-blog]

Student Number: 12005756

CDME4001

Bradley Clarke

Critical Evaluation:

Proposal:

“Ben and John aren’t Dead“ is a short film, which will range between 15 to 20 minutes, composed of two styles of filmmaking, my own developed style of free-flowing movement, and a multi-camera set-up. The film will be split in half, with the free-flowing movement sections being entirely scripted, and the multi-camera sections being entirely improvised, the pre-production plan for this project is provided in the Appendix, at Appendix B.

My aims are to investigate which technique the audience finds themselves more engaged, and invested in. I also intend to explore the use of camera movement, and how this can affect an audience’s investment into a film, and their engagement of a narrative.

I have a strong affinity towards the utilisation of improvisation within film, and as such I want to explore the use of it myself, this is due to the fact that half of the film will be entirely improvised, and not scripted in the slightest. Every project has allowed me to grow as a filmmaker, and this being my biggest project to date will ensure a wealth of experience and growth as a filmmaker.

My theoretical underpinning for this project will be the ideas of Brecht, the goals of Brechtian theatre more so than the techniques, I also will study the theory of Reflexivity, how it can relate to this project, and why I intend to explore the relationship between reflexivity and realism.

Critical Evaluation:

My initial idea was to write and direct a teleplay; I’ve found the concept to be interesting as to discover which of the two mediums, (being Television and Theatre) would be the more apparent and appear more prominent. Over the duration of the Master’s degree my interests have changed, and a more prominent interest was found within improvisation, more so the utilization of improvisation to create work, and the methods and techniques that a director can use to get the best out of an actor.

It’s within the idea of working within improvisation that I came to the full understanding of what I wanted this project to be. This project really came to fruition when my interest in the concept of the teleplay and the utilization of improvisation came together, which resulted in the idea of the split nature of this project.  

This project will allow me to create what will be a valuable experiment for myself, working within two concepts but more importantly two varying styles and methods of directing performance. The contrasting styles will be that of a basic script, where every movement will be orchestrated and every line of dialogue wrote with no room for change, whereas the opposing style will be completely improvised, all dialogue and movement being given the freedom of improvisation to make it as free as possible, with rehearsals for improvisation in place for the actors to feel comfortable enough to experiment with their performances, and their dialogue.

I feel throughout the journey of this course I’ll slowly began developing improvisation into a style and technique which I intend to use throughout my career as a director, and this project is the culmination of a real utilisation of the technique, being that half of this project will be entirely unscripted and improvised, as appose to their being a few lines of improvisation, and minimal freedom given in my previous projects.

In relating this project to a theoretical value I’ve rediscovered the ideas and concepts established by the dramatist and practitioner Bertolt Brecht, whom I researched greatly on my undergraduate degree. As a practitioner his goals and aims are well documented, and they bare some resonance with the aims of this project.  

Brecht felt that “the nurturing of the active spectator (as opposed to the dreamily passive “zombies” engendered by bourgeois theatre or the goose-step automatons generated by Nazi spectacle).” - (Stam 2000: p.146). Stam states of Brecht’s intention to treat the audience as “active”, relating to the Theory of the Spectator (see Appendix A), the Theory of the Spectator is at its simplest the belief that the audience should actively work alongside the narrative, it’s the treatment of the audience being intelligent enough to understand the complexities of a narrative without the need for spoon-feeding.

The nature of this project will be of a complex narrative, taking place between a conversation between two actors who are rehearsing for a performance of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966), it will include the complexities of a conversation which covers many issues, as does the original play, both current and previous issues that directly impact life and society, therefore the idea of treating the audience with respect enough to believe their capableness to conceive a narrative and understand the issues is prevalent to my practice and this project.

Whilst my project won’t take direct lines, or even the plot Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966), it will take the running theme of uncertainty, uncertainty on one’s place in the world to be exact, which will correlate with the subject matter of my project being the disappointment of political representation, and discussion of where we’re supposed to find our place in the world.

In Stam’s work he also notes that Brecht also believed in the idea of “Art as a call to praxis, whereby the spectator is led not to contemplate the world but to change it.” - (Stam 2000: p.146). This concept of ideas, potentially political views, being put into practice to create an instance of change resonated with me, the possibility of having a film that implored it’s audience to not only simply view the ideas of a film, but to actively be changed by it, allowed me to view the ideas of Bertolt Brecht with a sense of comparison to the potential ideas behind my own project. Allowing there to be a conjunction of the idealistic goals of Brecht’s practice, I found the ideas of a complexly intelligent and aware audience, being open to the prospect of change and the active of creating active change to be fascinating. Whilst the purpose of my project wouldn’t be to incite political, or cultural change, it would be affected by changes that have happened in reality, allowing myself, as a practitioner, to be directly affected by the events of the world, and to find myself not only contemplating the world, but also reacting to it, inciting my own personal form of change.

Another such theory that has resonated with the construction of this project is the Theory of Reflexivity, when relating to film “we generally use the term reflexivity, rather than intertextuality, but the idea is the same. The root meaning of reflect is “throw back”; the reflexive film “throws back” a reflection of itself - or of some text that inspired it, whether another film, a novel, or a play.” - (Dick 2010: p.166). The idea of reflexivity allows for, in the case of my project, a play such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1966), to inspire the basis of a project. The idea of reflexivity allows for a theme or idea of the basis text to be the point of reference for points of conflict that will be interrogated, however in relation to my project I intend to be interrogating issues and challenges that we face in society, which will at its core be based on realism.

However it could be perceived that reflexivity and realism are not connected, and that there isn’t a point of comparison between the idea of utilizing the issue of a point of inspiration, and the issues of modern society, Robert Stam states that “It is a mistake, first of all, to regard reflexivity and realism as necessarily antithetical terms.” - (Stam 2000: p.152). Stam believes that these ideas aren’t as adversative as they would seem, he states that “Realism and reflexivity are not strictly opposed polarities but, rather, interpenetrating tendencies quite capable of coexisting within the same text. It it’s therefore more accurate to speak of a “coefficient” of reflexivity or realism, and to recognize that it is not a question of a fixed proportion.” - (Stam 2000: p.152).

It’s within this manner of thinking that I intend to utilize reflexivity and realism within my project, “Much has been made of what might be called the political valences of realism and reflexivity.” - (Stam 2000: p.151). I intend to enforce both reflexivity and realism to co-exist in order for me to address the issues that represent modern day society, such as the most recent fracture of opinion in Britain which resonated due to “Brexit”, and the upcoming General Election, whilst simultaneously addressing the issues that were paramount in the inspirational text I will be utilizing as the formation, and setting of the project.

It’s upon looking further into the ideas of Brechtian theory that one can find that “Brechtian theory showed the compatibility between reflexivity as an aesthetic strategy and realism as an aspiration. “ - (Stam 2000: p.153). I intend to explore what can be achieved from utilising both reflexivity and realism in one project, and to investigate how my project can embrace the theoretical ideas of each of these theories, whilst exploring the ideas of reflexivity being “an aesthetic strategy”, and realism being an “aspiration”.

In preparation to begin working on this project over the summer, I’ve created a comprehensive pre-production plan, see Appendix B, with the incentive of allowing myself to gain experience in preparing a project as professionally, and intricately as possible, in order to give myself the valid experience for what will hopefully be a career in filmmaking. My pre-production plan has allowed me to further look at the kinds of methods I should be using when beginning to getting my actor’s accustomed to improvisation.

Whilst I already had previous experience working within improvisation, to do it on such an intense level as I want to I realised I’d need a firm rehearsal plan in place, wherein I get my actors more comfortable with the ideas of improvisation, in order to maintain a friendly environment, wherein my actors should feel comfortable enough to go with any idea, should they wish to.

Due to the report of my interview with Gareth Edwards covering ideas and opinions regarding improvisation, I’ve been given a greater understanding of how to implement improvisation correctly, and to ensure the creative environment that’s needed when working with it.

This project will allow me to continue on my path that began at the start of this Master’s degree, to allow me to discover my own artistic identity, this project will be the culmination of the beginnings of just that. The film will allow me to continue working on the style of filmmaking that I’ve established in my previous film; a consistently moving style of filmmaking, that focuses on intrusive shots that appear too close to the subject or the events being depicted on the screen. This is a style of filmmaking that I enjoy working in, as it bears resemblance to a sense of improvisation, due to the fact I’m moving around the scene with my actors, as appose to a static camera that captures the events from one posistion.

The contrasting nature of my project allows me to question how fresh and unplanned can improvisation truly be, it could be said that improvisation is as close to naturalism as you can possibly get, being that it’s an actor saying whatever comes from his, or her’s, internal thought process, it’s a true embodiment of the role. One such way to gain a true embodiment of the role would be to pair an actor with a non-actor, to experiment and investigate what results come from such a pairing, this is a current idea of mine, and not set in stone.

However filmmaker, and one of my inspirations, Mike Leigh once said “my point is that no work of art is truly naturalistic. Art is not real life, and has to be organised, designed and distilled because it’s dramatic. There is nothing accidental, it’s all contrivance. What is real is a very complicated, epistemological question.” - (Leigh, Watson 2004: p.27)

I have to disagree with Leigh’s statement that “there is nothing accidental”, I believe that great moments of drama, comedy and brilliance can come from something entirely accidental, all that is required is to take the acting away from it’s surroundings. If as a director I place the set, choose the costumes and give the actors their characters, whatever they produce is entirely fresh, and at it’s core, natural. Whilst the acting may not be accidental, due to skill involved in producing the performance, the circumstances of the performance are entirely out of my control. Whatever the results is, in it’s final culmination can be perceived as accidental, which is the great beauty of improvisation.

2,145 Words.