FINAL PIECE

FINAL PIECE FILM, POSTER AND ARTICLE.

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

EVALUATION from Media 12345 on Vimeo.

I compared the graveyard scene with Pawlikovski's Ida, a scene in which they decorate and display a statue of Jesus. The graveyard shows Marta displaying flowers in the winter ice that has frozen everything. The two are set in Poland in the same time of season but different time periods. What the scenes share is the concrete colourisation that make the colours in my film almost drowned out. The bleak cold snow against even more grey concrete, the composition of the shots follow the characters routine.

I have compared my film shot by shot to Tarkovsky's films in composition, style and themes.

The composition in many scenes are very similar such as the beginning, some shots share Tarkovsky's reoccurring themes and objects such as dogs, sheets, candles and religion.

The video contain scenes from Tarkovsky's films, Mirror, Nostalghia, Ivans Childhood, Solaris, Andrei Rublev and Stalker. What made Tarkovsky an auteur was his continious signature themes that shaped his films into his own by relations to his personal life, for example his childhood, memories and dreams. I have involved those themes into the narrated childhood memories by Marta with the visuals symbolising culture and tradition.

The cinematography is important to Tarkovsky's aesthetic as his visuals are the main narrative structure . They contain many long takes to create a realistic perspective, for audiences to experience the scene as either a memory or a dream or reality. Tarkovsky's candle sequence is an example, the hands are positioned in the same way as Marta is lighting the candle centred in the screen.

There is also a continious slow motion in each scene to appreciate just like a painting. Even the position of framing is shaped like a painting. 

The elements of wind, trees, dogs, rain, water and fire is repeated within his films, often representing his childhood. However, the use of levitation, change in colour, indoor rain and breaking glass is part of another recurring theme in his films that represent a 'dream-like' sequence.

Dogs in my film are seen during a sequence where Polish culture is observed, primitive style homes, communist blocks and concrete crosses. The snow creates a dream-like colourisation.
Sound is the narrated stories from Marta which bases of food. Food is contributed in my film with a scene of Marta in the kitchen and a shot of a bowl of Carp, a fish served in the traditional Christmas meal. This contributes to the culture of Poland and its documentary essence. Other cultural foods such as Borshch is included in her story. The final song, 'To Ostatnia Niedziela' is added in the end by Mieczyslaw Fogg, a favourite of Marta's. It translates to 'The last Sunday', connecting to the graveyard scene where Sunday is a day to visit the cemetery during Christmas time.

The poster for the film Ida has the two main characters with one kneeling to a cross. There is a similarity to the composition of the picture including the environment. Although my poster has more within the frame, the cross and grey sky with a silhouette of Marta symbolise the same themes as Ida does. Such as the narrative and its journey, reminiscing childhood memories as well as showing Polish culture in the environment.

The layout of the Sight and Sound magazine to Nostalgia are the same with a profile shot on the right and a shot from the film on the left. The article for Agnieszka Holland has a similar structure of writing as they talk about the social context of Poland and the purpose to why the film was made. The personal link from the director to her films are discussed, Marta's picture is shown as her personal memories connect to the film form and social context to the environment Szydlowiec.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?






CHILDHOOD MEMORIES SUBTITLED from Media 12345 on Vimeo.

Audience feedback:

"the change in colours should have more of a transition into the sepia tone"

"the way the camera observes during the narration reminds me of Tarkovsky's dream sequences as the narrator talks about his dreams and childhood"

"there is a bitter sweetness to the film, you can almost relate to the films essence of childhood"

"I think the film should just have footage of Poland however, the garden scenes with the sun really look like some kind of flashback or deja vu into childhood"

This feedback really helped me develop my film and changing the style. It also helped me understand what kind of perspective the audience developed and if they perceived what I wanted to show.

CMENTARZ from Media 12345 on Vimeo.

Audience feedback:

"I think the black and white goes perfectly with the snow"

"the music really enhanced the Eastern European Polish culture to the clip, looks as if it was set in the communist times when everything literally was grey and colour didn't exist"

"I think it should have finished with her lighting a match for the candle"

What I learned from this feedback is to continue using old Polish songs as it creates a look of traditional Polish culture during the time of when my grandmother was growing up.

To Ostatnia Niedziela from Media 12345 on Vimeo.


Audience feedback:
"very sweet however is left slightly bitter with the iconic 'To Ostatnia Niedziela', a clever way of representing what she had remembered"
"the long take of the birds doesn't represent Poland to me, maybe if there was something historically Polish such as the old wooden houses you see on the motorways"


I began planning to use more footage of the environment rather than nature. This also made me develop on showing rituals and traditions, with more music relating to Marta.

CZERWONY BARSZCZ from Media 12345 on Vimeo.


Audience feedback:
"I think the sound should be developed more, the music however I thought was quite comical reminds me of the old Polish short films I use to watch"
"I like the scenes of the graveyard where the camera composition just shows the candle and her hands, a scene in Nostalgia (Tarkovsky) is very similar where the man is walking holding a lit candle and we are just drawn to his every move"
"I'd like to see what the original colours were"
These comments made me change the colourisation of the film, to bring out the colours and maybe add some warmth.









GRAVEYARD UNEDITED from Media 12345 on Vimeo.


Audience feedback:
"I think the colours really depict the themes of innocence and childhood, using colour works"


My final film was made through audience feedback from my experimental film on Vimeo, screenshots was then uploaded onto Instagram to gain more feedback to my final piece.

I uploaded screenshots from my film on Instagram in the order of my film. One good point was made about the sequence of shots showing Marta's belongings. So I had changed the sequence around to what would be first seen in the room if you were there. So the light would be the first as one is only working which is noticeable, then the next shots would be going around the room in a circle rather than at random.
Some comments talked about their personal experiences visiting Poland and how my film captured the obscurity and look of Poland. This helped me to decide what footage to include in my film.


The ending of my film didn't have any subtitles or sound which someone had noticed and mentioned that something was missing. Which changed the films ending sound to the famous Polish old song 'To Ostatnia Niedziela' by Mieczyslaw Fogg.







How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
I began using technologies such as YouTube and Vimeo for my research in colours, directors aesthetics and documentaries. Which is what led me to Coppola, Tarkovsky and Pawlikovski including other short experimental films from Vimeo. I then highlighted and picked out pieces I liked transforming them into my own short experimental clips, editing them on Filmora with a range of music I thought represented the theme of nostalgia.
I created storyboards using old videos and pictures from Poland I had taken in the summer editing using Photoshop to adjust the warmth and contrast.

What I used to record the experimental footage was an app on my phone called VHS Camcorder, I used this camera because I personally thought it visually created a representation of childhood memories.

SHEETS from Media 12345 on Vimeo.

I used a Nikon camera to record in Poland, editing was on Premiere Pro. The only editing to the visuals was slightly desaturating the colours and adding a red tone for warmth. I wanted to make it look like old film pictures . I also used warp stabiliser for outside shots, I used a voice recorder on my phone to document my grandmothers stories and then added the narration to the visuals.

I used photoshop to create my poster designs

By uploading my experimental films onto Vimeo the audience feedback alternated and developed my film gradually changing features such as colour, sound and narrative.

In my evaluation I used editing softwares such as Vimeo and Filmora to compare my film to my artist research.