User:Luther Blissett/Documentation of Process

My aim is to make a short film. After shooting a short several images on Schiermonnikoog with myself and my girlfriend as actors, the edit formed into a ghost story of two lovers hunting each other. I want to re-shoot the basic narrative of this film in a city environment, with the same working methodology as used on the island, however now 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 on a more direct interaction between the main characters. The city of Rotterdam will play an active roll in the story, because the two main characters will be alienated in a big city, the city décor thus emphasis the fact that they only have each other in a empty city.

Tsarkovsky’s Solaris is an important inspiration for this project. What I find intriguing about his Solaris is the calmness in the relationship between Kelvin and Hatin. There seems not to be any urgency in their acts. Kelvin hardly seems upset about seeing his wife again who killed herself because he left her. However deep down as a viewer you sense the awareness within Kevin that he has to make a decision if he is going to erase her for good or not? There is one conversation that stands out for me. Hatin asks Kelvin when they speak about her suicide: ‘Did you think about me?’ He replies: ‘Yeah, but not always.’ I find this intriguing because normally when people ask someone who mourns a loved one they want him to stop thinking about him/her all the time. But when you are directly confronted with the one you mourned for you would be eager to say that you thought about him/her all the time. Thus I find this nuance in Kelvin’ sentence interesting. I think the scenery in Tarkovsky’s Solaris for the effect of alienation works better than in Sodenberghs Solaris, because the from of the spaceship is round opposed to the stretched out one in Sodenberghs. This circle form creates a form of repetition and stagnation. It feels as if they don’t progress at all on this ship. This makes their feeling of being captivated in a repetitive relationship with no solution stronger. As I hope to do with the city décor of Rotterdam.