Proposal 2

My second idea is divorce/ separation within families.

Purpose: To show a different viewpoint on divorce within families, from each members point of view, and to see what changed as a result of the divorce or separation within a marriage. I wouldn't just focus on the negatives of divorce, I would also try to see if there were any positives- family home more calm/ less rowing/ individuals happier.

Audience: I think the audience could be quite widespread because it is quite a general topic, and divorce is a fairly common thing to happen, so it could relate to a lot of people.

Content: I think I would like to include thoughts on how the family changes, do the children's view on love/ marriage become altered as a result of divorce, do relationships within the family change, how did they feel when they were told.

Style: I would film this as a documentary, perhaps something similar to Sarah Polley's documentary, in that they all talk about the same moment or share the same story, but with their different memories and viewpoints coming across. I was thinking I could talk to several families which have different dynamics- for example, maybe a couple with children who have been together for many years, and a similar family who had been together many years and then got divorced to show the parallels between two completely different families, and the differences as well. Or else have families with different age children (such as a family with younger children and then a family with older children), or maybe a divorced childless couple.

Tone: I would want the audience to feel like they have seen an honest portrayal of the viewpoints of divorce. I think I would want it to be quite balanced as well- I wouldn't just focus on it as a bad thing, but try to show the advantages as well.

Budget: Apart from transport, I don't think there would be any other significant costs.

Proposal 1

Throughout my documentary unit of my course, I discovered that to an extent I preferred watching documentaries to fiction. I feel the story being told means more because it is real, and has actually happened, compared to some of the (frankly ridiculous) stories we see told in mainstream Hollywood cinema. This is not to say that I don't enjoy films that are fiction based or do not see their worth, it just means that for my final year film I have been drawn towards making a documentary.

My first idea looks at the aging population, specifically elderly people who have dementia.

Purpose: My purpose would be to educate and inform my audience of what happens to people when they get dementia, both from a physical point of view, and an emotional point of view.

Audience: I would hope for this to appeal to a wide audience, because everyone has a chance of becoming old and becoming at risk of developing dementia. I think it would also appeal to anyone who has grandparents or just family in general due to the way the disease affects all family members.

Content: I want people to understand more fully what dementia does. I know from experience of a close neighbour developing dementia that it is quite scary and sad to see someone who has known you for years to not have a clue who you are. I want people to understand that maybe they shouldn't give up on that person and to be able to document the moments of hope or clarity within a person who has dementia.

Style: I would want to shoot this in a documentary style, taking real interviews from within real life situations, however do it in a sensitive and thoughtful way. I think I would have the pace of the film to vary slightly as it unfolds to represent the dislocation being explored.

Tone: I think I would want the audience to feel like they've learnt something. I want to be able to maybe shift their persceptive on how they view old people (I think sometimes we can be guilty of not really "seeing" old people) and just to give them some food for thought really.

Budget: As it would be real people in real settings, I don't think there would really be any budget concerns apart from transport such as buses/ taxis which shouldn't be too expensive.

Problems: Unfortunately, the problem with this is the subject choice itself because it is a sensitive and personal matter that people may be unwilling to talk about. It concerns elderly and vulnerable adults so I would be worried in case I was overstepping the mark or feeling like I was taking advantage of them, which I obviously do not want to do. I would have to make sure all procedures were in place for the safety of the person as regards Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults. Because it is an uncurable disease it might be too difficult a subject to find people willing to talk about it so openly.

The Darjeeling Limited

We watched "The Darjeeling Limited", directed by Wes Anderson.

The film follows three male protagonists (brothers), each dealing with their own form of dislocation as a result of their childhood and upbringing. Francis is the most controlling, ordering for his brothers and retaining their passports. Francis's dislocation is his accident, which is later revealed to be a suicide attempt. Peter keeps and uses many of his dead father's items and seems convinced his relationship with his wife does not have a long expectancy date.
Jack is dislocated due to the breakup with his girlfriend, and he "deals" with this by hacking into her answerphone and by having sex with the train's stewardess. He is also in denial about his stories being about his own life. The brother's relationship with each other is disconnected and dislocated, so much so that I didn't realise straight away that they were brothers, assuming them to be friends who had not seen each other in a while.
Each of them are quite selfish, and they do not trust one another; they are all hiding things, which are revealed throughout the course of the film.

The majority of the film is set on a train, which means that they are in some sort of limbo and distached from reality, because they are trapped within the confines of the train, and neither really in one place or the other.
Throughout the film, the brothers lug around an impressive convey of luggage, which is metaphorically symbolic of all the emotional baggage they are carrying around. At the end of the film they finally part with this luggage, showing that they have worked through their problems and have grown as individuals and as brothers.

There is a clear theme of physical dislocation when the train gets lost, and the river scene with the three boys, help to reflect the three brothers. The death of the young boy, and the grief that comes with it is also a very clear representation of dislocation.

I really enjoyed this film, because the journey through India is very interesting. Anderson uses compelling camera techniques- when he pans from one room to the next, looking in at the action for a short while. This means that the audience feels as though they are seeing a private snapshot of the characters' lives. I liked the rich, vibrant colours used in the film, and liked the pace of the film. I think it explores the theme of dislocation well and has given me a better idea of how to proceed in this project.

Theme

Our theme for this project is "Dislocation."

Dislocation can be interpreted in many ways. Here are the official dictionary definitions:

• The act or process of displacing or the state of being displaced; disruption
• Medicine; the state or condition of being dislocated
• Chemistry; a line, plane or region in which there is a discontinuity in the regularity of a crystal lattice
• Geology; a less common word for "fault"
• An event that results in a displacement or discontinuity
• The act of disrupting an established order so it fails to continue

Some of my own thoughts/ ideas on what dislocation means:
I think that dislocation is whenever something that has previously been connected or together, has fallen apart or been lost. Even if to some extent, the dislocation has been "mended" (especially in an emotional/ mental sense) damage still remains, and therefore the dislocation or disruption remains.

Although I think that when we first hear the word "dislocation" we automatically think of it in medical terms- a dislocated shoulder-  it mainly concerns itself with the emotional and mental state of people.
We can also think of the physical action of being dislocated- for example physically being lost or without home
Other words that I would use to describe dislocation would be lost, disrupted, broken and disconnected.

From this, some of my ideas for this theme are:

• Mental health- the way in which the sufferer must deal with parts of their mind being dislocated or disrupted, and as a result of this, becoming disconnected and withdrawn from the world around them
• Homelessness- the physical action of being disconnected from a house and their family
• Older People- dementia- how when we grow old we can become dislocated from our past as our memories become clouded
• Dislocation within families- divorce/ separation

Brief

To produce a short 5 minute long film on the theme of dislocation, with a film classification of 15.

Things to consider when planning/ thinking about ideas for the film:

1. Purpose
2. Audience
3. Content
4. Voice
5. Imagery
6. Style
7. Tone
8. Budget

Hotel Chevalier

"Hotel Chevalier" is a short film written and directed Wes Anderson. I have watched "Moonrise Kingdom" by Wes Anderson which I loved, so I was interested to see the film would be like. This film acts as a prologue to "The Darjeeling Limited."

The film is set in a hotel in Paris. This setting is quite dislocating to begin with, because a hotel suggests you are not in your home town/ city. Our first view of our protagonist is of his feet and legs as he lies on the bed. We initially see more of the hotel room than we see of him.

The man gets a phone call from a woman whose voice he recognises. Their relationship shows signs of dislocation even before we have met the owner of the voice, due to the conversation they have. The man says the woman should not be here, despite this, he relents and gives her his room number.

The shot of the man taking up very little space on the huge double bed helps to emphasise his loneliness, and could even suggest to the viewer that he was hoping for the woman to show up. (Because he has clearly no need for a double bed otherwise!)

The music used is Parisienne and although the temp of it is quite jolly, the lyrics show a sense of longing. The way in which the man continually plays it at different intervals during the evening could maybe suggest that these are feelings that just won’t go away.

There is a sense of role reversal in this film, as exhibited by the characters actions. The woman presents the man with a bouquet of flowers and she leans in to kiss him, while he embraces her instead. He seems more in love with her than she with him, which is interesting to see in a film because typical Hollywood chick flicks generally have it the other way round.

The camera movement in this helped to convey the distance between the “couple”. The way it pans from one room to the next and focuses on a bit of action there creates quite a disconnecting feel- they are together in the same hotel room, but they have a lot of emotional distance between them.

Yet although the couple seem at most times to be quite emotionally apart, there are instances of synchronicity in their actions, for example when they both lie down and jolt back up at the same time. This gives the audience an idea of what their relationship may have been like before whatever happened between them happened.

Anderson also uses slow motion at the end of the film when they go out into the balcony which I really liked because along with the soaring soundtrack, makes such a simple action- walking from the hotel room to balcony more theatrical and have more meaning.

The man furtively looks around which demonstrates that he knows he shouldn’t be with the woman.

Introduction

This blog is to document my ideas and thoughts process towards making my final year film. I will also discuss films I have watched that tie in with the theme we will be looking at.