Post Modern Research

Post-Modernism – Research

A post-modern film is one which challenges current views on life and society and may suggest a new way of doing things.

‘Postmodernist film upsets the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization’. – Wikipedia Postmodernist film

A post-modern film can often go against popular elements from existing films, making the film original. Themes that are often associated with postmodern films include:

· Self-referential and reference to similar films e.g. ‘Scream’ which makes several references to other horror films and the conventions of horror films within the films itself.

· The increase in technology

Drug Usage

· The media

· Violence

· Time travel

· Reality

what is it to be human

I have reviewed several post-modern films, as can be seen below, to increase my knowledge of this genre

DARK CITY (1998 - Alex Proyas)

Dark City is originally a Swedish film directed byAlex Proyas.

Dark city is a post-modern, Sci-fi film. The plot revolves around a man who wakes up with no memory of who he is.

The movie is filmed at night and has a very dark tone to it. To enhance this effect the director has used low key lighting. Shadows are also used very well in this film to create effective visual imagery.

DONNIE DARKO (2002 - Richard Kelly)

Donnie Darko is an independent film directed by Richard Kelly. When released the film didn’t have a high marketing budget and therefore was forced to use word of mouth advertising and other forms of cheap advertising.

Donnie Darko is famous for its soundtrack including the song ‘Mad World’ which illustrates the characters mental state throughout the film. It is also famous for its original post-modern content about the workings of the mind and parallel time lines.

Many techniques in the film are original and could be viewed as post-modern including ‘The Bathroom Scene’ where the main male character touches a invisible wall creating a ripple effect. The film also brings up various post-modern attitudes. This can be seen where Donnie Darko questions the authority of a lifestyle preacher

More influences

About a girl

About a girl is a short film directed by Brian Percival in 2001. I believe that several techniques used in About a girl would make an interesting contribution to my own film.
2 minute 10 into the film the main female character sitting on a bench outside a pub waiting for her dad. In this scene, there is a medium shot to start with which then slowly zooms out further and further away from the girl. This shot emphasises the loneliness of the character and makes the audience feel as though the characters life is poor. This technique is backed up the use of dark cloudy weather, rundown location and the way there is silence as the camera zooms out.
I would use this technique in the Forrest scene to emphasise the characters loneliness before he crosses the line.

Another technique I picked up on when watching ‘About a girl’ was the use of a handful of fast edits, a very long edit and then back to fast edits. This technique was used regally throughout about a girl separating current scenes with flashback scenes. I could also use this technique to separate the characters conscious mind with his unconscious mind.

Le Cheval 2.1

www.decipt.org/2003/le-cheval-2-1/?categoryrequest=picks

This film was a great source of inspiration for my own short film as it has a similar theme to the short film I would like to create. Le Cheval 2.1 is about a man running through a field; a voice over reveals that this man has always wanted to be a horse. For the majority of the film we think the man is a horse until the end where see the same man standing in a field full of other cows and it is revealed through voice over that the man is a cow.

The message that I interpreted from the film is that everyone wants to be free like a ‘Horse’ but as we are raised in society we are moulded into cows who just follow the rest of the herd. The character in this film is desperate to be a house but can’t because of society’s restraints. This is a very similar message to the one I would like to base my film on and therefore I would like to use it.

One technique that I liked in this film was that the whole film is in black and white to represent the dull society which has been built up around us. I would defiantly like to use this technique for the reality part of my short film for the same reasons that have used it in Le Cheval 2.1.

Another technique I would like to use in my own short film is to put my main male character in a suit to represent the average working man who feels as though he needs to wear a suit to fit in with the rest of society.

Two Cars, One Night

This was an interesting short film as it had a very simple story but the effects used and underlying messages made it enjoyable.

A great visual technique used in ‘Two Cars, One Night’ was the effect of time moving very fast around a still object. This technique can be created by filming one object which is still while other things moving around it and then speeding the footage up afterwards. I would like to use this technique in my short film, either to show time moving fast in the real world or in the characters unconscious mind world.

Having a simple plot but an underlying message behind it can sometimes make a film more interesting than just having a complicated storyline. I think that ‘Two Cars, One Night’ proves this fact and would look to do the same in my short film as well.

Evolution of my idea

A few posts back i wrote about the original idea i had for the short film i am going to produce. Since then my ideas have evolved.

Several ideas and techniques used in other short and feature length films have inspired me to use similar techniques in my own short film, this can be seen on other blog posts. I have started thinking more about locations for filming and sticking to my original idea i will need two main locations:

• A Forrest environment
  
• An office environment

A Forrest environment will be easy to find but an office environment will be harder. One idea i came up with was to use camera shots in a certain way to focus mainly on the main character in the short film and not on his surroundings. Another possibility i thought of was using a school classroom to film but i am worried that a school environment will take away from the meaning of the film.

I have also considered how i am going to use Weather to the greatest possible effect when creating my short film. The idea i have come up with is use a contrast of weather in the Forrest scene. What i mean by this, is start the Forrest scene with bright sunny weather and then when main character crosses the line the weather should change to heavy rain. I am also considering that the main male character should look up into the sky and shout out in happiness after he has crossed the line (Similar to the freedom shot in The Shawshank Redemption). I have decided to use rain to represent happiness and freedom while Sun to represent the opposite as i believe this goes against the norms of certain films in which the sun represents happiness.

Similar to the contrast between rain and sun i am also going to use black and white with color. I will use black and white in the office scenes representing Collectivism and then change the black and white to color after the main male character has 'Crossed the line' representing individualism.

After studying more on narrative i have come to the conclusion that my short film will have open structure. I believe that an open ended structure will defiantly suit my film as it leaves the audience thinking about the character and what the future may hold for him. The open ended structure also represents life how it is open for many possibilities.

I have changed my mind of using the ' Older man' character in my short film. I have decided not to use this character as i do not belive i will be able to find an actor of his age to be on my short film.