#TransmissionOfIdeas

[brandonjohnbarnard]

Production history around: Disseminate

Today I am going to be going over the roundabout way in which ‘Disseminate’ came to be.

While reading around the topic of ‘Nouveau Réalisme’, I came across something which I used to always enjoy doing as a kid and which I had forgotten about.

Exquisite Corpses! This is the game you play with your friends where you fold a piece of paper into different sections, and each person takes turns drawing a part of the overall picture, but no one can see the previous work until everyone is finished. To be honest, I had no idea that this was called an ‘exquisite corpse’, and neither does anyone else I talk to about it. Everyone knows the game in some capacity, but just know it as ‘that paper game’.

(An exquisite corpse that was made on the 24th of August 2024, when I was in the early phases of my thoughts. It was done by me (hat), my wife Isobel (the face), and my friends Louis (shoulders) and Art (hands).)

In terms of my PhD (Chance in Filmmaking), this is a great look into collaboration as a form of chance. The overall creation is heavily influenced by factors outside of each contributors control, yet everyone has a nice equal level of impact. I love these things.

I was wondering how I could create something similar in terms of filmmaking, so I decided to reach out to other creatives so we could make a collaborative art piece called ‘the Corpse Project’ — very creative I know.

(The poster I threw together for it.)

9 people (8 + myself) noted that they were interested after a few days of asking around.

The way the project would work was each director would create a 1-minute film, and then pass on this minute to another director so that they could continue the narrative. This way, you were forced to work with what another person decided to do, and needed to figure out how to problem solve. How would you replace actors? How would you match their style? Would you even try to? etc. etc.

This process would have resulted in 9 short films, that were each 9 minutes long, that would have had equal contributions from 9 different directors.

The timeline was that each director was expected to contribute 1 minute every 2 weeks. This meant that the final films would be completed after 4 and a half months.

My wife made a turn order schedule (she is a maths person and lover of logic puzzles) that meant that no two directors proceeded or followed one another in separate films. So for example, each person got to start a film, each person got to end a film, and each person always had a different person’s work to follow on from. Isobel made the 6 person version, and my friend Louis made the 9 person version.

Very interestingly, ChatGPT could not create this chart at all. It always broke the rules in one way or another.

(The schedule Isobel created, allowing 6 directors.)

To skip forward through time a bit: out of the 9 people involved, only 2 people submitted in the end. The main reasons for this was:

Time constraints.

The worry about being good enough to work with other people.

Not knowing how to do a production solo — always part of a team on separate ventures.

If I were to try this again in the future, I would make sure it was way more casual. Even if it took a year, it is better than nothing. Overall, I learnt a lot from this process.

💿 Film Idea 1: Bin Creature 💿

I wanted to create a film where someone was at a construction site chatting away, when they suddenly notice a bunch of noises behind them coming from a bin. They investigate, and are so worried by what they see, that they call their supervisor. Their supervisor, incredulous, goes over to see what is up. After seeing what is in the bin, they also run away.

(My doodle storyboard, made on the 4th of September 2024, at 10AM (now that’s specific note taking!).)

In terms of the corpse, I was really excited to see what people would do with this premise. Would the next scene be the FBI/MI5, or the creature attacking people? Would the creature transform into something else? Would it take their point of view?

The plan was for me to be the initial construction worker, and for Louis to be my supervisor. I created a bunch of props for this role, and made sure to gather any supplies to help sell the bit.

However, when it came to the day of filming, it rained. I told Louis we should reschedule.

💿 Film Idea 2: Toilet Creature 💿

Okay. So if filming outside was going to be an issue, and I was struggling to arrange people to come over within the timeframe, I needed to problem solve for this.

As such, I created a version of the previous story that took place inside, with just myself as an actor, and someone on the phone.

At this point I was stressing. I told so many people to work within 2 weeks, and suddenly I too was struggling to have something created. I felt like a bit of a hypocrite.

💿 Film Idea 3: Cursed DVD 💿

I was watching some Björk music videos, because I think her stuff is rad, but also I wanted to slowly get through her entire discography. I was making a tier list of which of her songs I liked more than others.

(Where I am so far, don’t @ me lol. I am sure these will all change around as I listen more.)

Well, I was watching the music video for ‘Declare Independence’ and I was really enjoying how Björk uses non-realistic ways to show off concepts. I am very particular about some things, and want to do them ‘correctly’. Seeing someone purposely depicting concepts like influence via media in a more abstract way was very refreshing. I wanted to make something like that with film creation.

(Original idea card from the 13th of September 2024, at 18:32.)

Originally, the film had nothing to do with me and my work. It was just about a person creating a cursed DVD.

The greenscreen monitors were created by having a jpeg of green opened up on each monitor.

(Don’t be a desk detective now 😉.)

This had the cool, and unintended consequence, of causing my face to glow bright green. This is what my PhD is all about — a chance discovery has resulted in a film technique being learnt that can me repeated, purposefully, in the future. It is great that this does not affect the background, meaning only my face is picked up by the chromakey.

(You won’t like me when I’m angry.)

In order to see if this effect was worth pursuing, I created a short demo of me playing with the chromakey. This is where the final seed of this production was planted.

In order to test the chromakey, I put previous film, ‘Graffiti’, in the background. While the decision to have ‘Disseminate’ be about me and my films was not decided in this moment (it happened when I had all the footage and finally decided to edit it all), the possibility entered my mind here.

The final background shot (on the monitors and my face) was made by taking all of my films, increasing the transparency, and layering them all on top of one another. I also juggled the position of them so one film was not dominant over another.

I really like the accidental symbolism of it all. That creating a film is both ‘what comes from within’ being put onto the editing timeline, but also that your previous creations influence your later ones. Not only that, but the act of creating is an influence (the current typing being internal as well).

That once a film is out there is the world, the influence leaves you and is free to change people in a way that is out of your control. You create media, but its lasting impact has way less to do with you and your decisions.

I also like the scene of multiple versions of me going to the post box. Could it be that in releasing a video, you go through the same journey again and again, or that the previous yous are present in that moment. Is it again the building up of influence and experience over time. Again, once we reach the post box, we disappear. From the moment of release, our connection to the creation is severed. I’m not sure, but I like the shot.

An interesting cheat I discovered for corpse creation is allowing some breathing room at the end of a scene. Because this was created for the Corpse Project, the run-time of the production is exactly 1 minute. An element that helped with that is allowing a buffer shot. In this instance, it was the sky. Thinking about the idea of transmission and etherealness, it works nicely, and also for someone to continue the piece from here, I feel a buffer like this would make it less jarring.

The song used in this film is ‘Warped Melody’ by Komit.wav — I like these sense of building up that it gives, as well as the vibe of pushing forward into the unknown. It is alien and upsetting (in a good way!).

💿 Side Note 💿

On a meta-note, here is the meta note I created for this article.

I would like to catch up with my previous films in terms of articles, and start releasing them as I publish the films. The film I am currently working on is a doozy, so it is taking a while.

Thanks for reading ❤