User:Daan Bunnik/Synopsis thesis

My aim is write a practice-based thesis about the short film I plan to make in Rotterdam. In the winter I shot a short film on the island Schiermonnikoog, after editing it turned out to be a ghost story of two lovers hunting each other on the island. The film’s narrative shares similarities with Tarkovsky’s Solaris. The relationship of my characters in my film is similar to that of the relationship of Kelvin and Hari in Solaris; the girl has committed suicide and that the guy cannot forget her. Except the reason why she committed suicide and the space in which he is confronted with their past away lover is different. My plan now is to re-shoot the basic narrative of this film, but then located in a city environment. My working methodology with regard to cinematography will be similar as used on the island; depersonalization and alienation of my actors through my framing and by the use of light. What is different is that this time I would like to work with dancers as actors. Together with the dancers I hope to expand the narrative and I expect their input to help me creating a more direct interaction between the two main characters. The city of Rotterdam will play an active roll in the story, because the main characters will be alienated in a big city by the use of cinematography. The cinematography in this city décor thus emphasizes the fact that they only have each other in a seeming less deserted city. In my thesis I hope to guide the reader through the development of this project. I’m reading Tarkovsky’s book Sculpturing in Time at the moment, which is interesting because here he explains his motivations and developments throughout the years and also argues his own viewpoints on film. The book is a mixture between practice and theory without becoming to academic, which I hope to achieve as well in my thesis.