Andrei Tarkovsky Theory

"People tend to think that an effective mise en scene is simply one that expresses the idea, the point, of the scene and its subtext. That is supposed to ensure that the scene will be given the depths that the meaning requires.

Such an attitude is simplistic. It is given rise to a good many irrelevant conventions with do violence to the living texture of the artistic image.

The point is that no good by-passing the difficulties and bringing everything down to a simplistic level; therefore it is crucial that mise ene scene, rather than illustrating some idea, should follow life - the personalities of the characters and their psychological state." - Andrei Tarkovsky, Sculpting in Time

The ideology of Tarkovsky's theory of mise en scene is something I will by applying for when I film in Poland. Creating, through the screen, a non-artificial depiction of the character. Which equals to a more realistic depiction of personality and the psychological state.

Sample Pictures

Subtitles

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES SUBTITLED from Media 12345 on Vimeo.


 I made this to experiment with subtitles and having a narrator. I also experimented with footage editing the style more towards Tarkovsky's way of representing memories, childhood and time. In Tarkovsky's film Mirror, there is a scene where the narrator talks about dreams and memories over a slow long take. The shot then finishes with more slow long takes in black and white. Although my footage are not long takes, I tried to connect the footage with slow motions to portray that flow that Tarkovsky has.





I asked my mother to talk about a few memories in Szydlowiec where she was born and raised. I recorded them and then added clips I had taken in England in a garden and the rest in Poland. I separated clips with colourisation of either a warm sepia tone representing the past or a black and white tone representing the present. Light piano music called 'Kyiv Blues' was also added in the background to create a sense of nostalgia, rather than noticeable music that could be too distracting when reading subtitles.
I do have more narrating recordings and would like to experiment with them more. I will also be taking new experimental footage as I don't want to repeat the footage I took in Poland. This time, although in England, I will be trying to recreate locations as if in Poland. A preparation of experimenting with camera techniques before taking the real footage when I go in Christmas time to Szydlowiec.
With editing, I will try to create two different pieces, one with Tarkovsky's and one with Coppola's stylisation to see what works best as a short film.