Our initial idea came from a visual perspective - we knew what we wanted the film to look like, with a few ideas about theme. However we haven't really come up with a direct narrative for the idea of individual struggle. Some ideas we thought about in our tutorials were more personally directed ones from the character. However I have found a few examples of films that follow themes of oppression.
Black Mirror - Fifteen Million Merits
The second episode of Black Mirror (directed by Charlie Brooker) was something that inspired me greatly due to its message. The whole point of the episode is to show how the media industry controls our lives, and that if you're not famous or talented then you are forced to work in boring routine jobs to earn money just to live in order to go to work again: it is an endless cycle in which we aren't truly free. This is exactly the message I want to do this through more subtle, darker means. Also I want the idea of restraint to be more objective, and so the media is just one strand of what controls our lives everyday. The actual episode isn't currently available online but there is a link to a trailer for the whole series.
Metropolis
Metropolis is a German expressionist film directed by Fritz Lang which inspired me mostly because of the theme. the story is about capitalism and the division between classes. it is a silent film yet still shows how the working class are oppressed, and this is what I want to achieve in my film on a more objective level. However, after watching this, I realised that this could be one of the themes interpreted from my own film where this sort of division in society is a Marxist view on unfair control over society.
Carrie
Carrie (directed by Brian De Palma) is also a film that inspired me (particularly the original), as it demonstrates another problem of individual struggle and also oppression. In this case it is religion and also parental control that keeps Carrie behaving the way she does, which is another idea for what my film idea could be interpreted as a metaphor for - it is sometimes the things more personal and closer to home that take our total freedom away from us.
A Mother's Touch is a film entered into a horror film competition 'The Fear' by Studio Lambert for BBC3, by an amateur filmmaker. It inspired me mostly because of the lighting - the black and white contrast created an eerie atmosphere from the background almost being like 'nothingness', whilst the focus on the character was highly exaggerated. The blue filter made it look cold and quite spooky, which added to the dark tone of the film. This really fit with my initial idea of contrast, as well as the idea of control and restraint being made into something beautifully visual (where in this film they have the use of a cage in their production design).
Black Swan
Black Swan, a 2010 film directed by Darren Aronofsky, is a psychological thriller about a ballet dancer's struggles to control her psyche, with a constant metaphorical battle between her id and superego. Again it is about restraint, which is why it inspired me, but it is the restraint of her superego (in this case her mother), keeping her from giving in to her temptations which turns her insane. I think the idea of personal restraint makes the theme more powerful because it makes the character more vulnerable and the film more emotive, which could be a useful thought for my own film.
I was most inspired by the opening sequence due to its light and dark imagery. The characters are in a black room - the only light is a spotlight on the dancers. This shows how the world doesn't really exist, it is more dreamlike. Nina wears a white dress - she is innocent, but the character in black is tempting her to the dark side. This is similar to my idea in that she is struggling to get away from a form of oppression from the individual path she follows. Therefore again, I was inspired by these visuals for the light and dark contrast and also the blank dark space as a background to make the world less real and more metaphorical.
Under the Skin
Under the skin (directed by Jonathan Glazer) inspired me in a narrative way in the sense that 'female' is different from everyone else, however it was more the visuals in one scene that inspired me. In the surreal part where she lures a man into a surreal place, the space is black and blank, to show how it isn't the real world, which is an effect I want to create as a metaphor. The male character walks essentially 'through the floor', submerging as if in water. I thought this might be an interesting effect to create as it could show how the feeling of 'drowning' could be almost like the feeling of being 'drowned in society' in the way you have no room to be free (due to laws and norms and morals etc). Using the elements in this way could be interesting to experiment with.
Hellraiser
Hellraiser the film itself (directed by Clive Barker) didn't inspire me as much - I didn't want to create a horror film. However I was inspired by one particular scene: Frank gets torn apart by hooks which are attached to chains. I thought this could be an interesting way to portray the idea of restraint if I am wanting a particularly visual piece, where hooks in flesh could be a graphic representation of what it feels like to be oppressed by society: chained up like a prisoner to society's norms and laws, but it is painful to break away and be individual because you will be condemned. If I was to stick to the marionette idea, the strings or chains could be in the flesh via hooks to have more of a shock impact on the audience.
As a filmmaker myself I feel it's important to add a personal touch to the films that I make, and more importantly for this module 'experimental film' considering this is my favourite type of filmmaking. This is because it allows me to explore different themes and concepts and apply them in an abstract way as opposed to a simple timeline of obvious events like that of a drama film. As a lover of art, I feel that experimental film allows me to add an artistic visual aspect to a film, and present the narrative or themes through visual symbolism to an audience to interpret themselves, much like that of physical art like paintings. From the point of view of an audience member I feel it is fulfilling to work out something for myself from a film than have it simply given to me, and so I feel this is the angle I want to take. The only problem with this is, not all audiences feel this way or like this kind of film, and so i still need to find a way to make my film captivating and gripping for a larger number of people.
Experimental Film Idea
For my actual idea, which I created with Jack Stockdale, I decided I wanted something very visual that would look beautiful to the audience, with a strong concept that people can relate to. We came up with the idea of oppression in society - the way people are controlled, manipulated and shaped by society's norms, where it would be an individual struggle to break the norms and dare to be different. One major thing we considered was using a large contrast between light and dark to demonstrate this, as well as the use of marionette strings attached to the characters as a metaphor for this restraint. The Crew Alexandra Haley - Producer / Director Jack Stockdale - Cinematographer / Director Jack Riley - Sound Recordist / Sound Design Liam Benson - 1st AD
