Jujube/project-proposal-drafts

What do you want to make?

I am making a film. ("A film" is a loose term here. It might mean a film projected onto one screen, or a multi-channel installation. Or two different films, perhaps informed by the editing.) I have described it as "an essay" (I am aware of the term "essay film" but have not read anything about it. I will.)

I am currently writing a few scenes. Some of them came to me during the summer, when I went on a long-distance hiking trip in Iceland. I met a guy named Sören, who makes tents in Southern Sweden as a hobby and used to serve as a pastor. His story, intriguing by itself, affirmed something I had been thinking about with my own tent, the journeys I went on with it, mobility, nomadism, unsettledness, beauty. Tent became a symbol of a moving home. And home is a subject I seem to be obsessed with: I had a home that I did not like, I chose a new home and lost it, I moved around the world bereft in search of home. These processes do not always happen consciously -- most of the time they are afterthoughts. Search, saudade, loneliness are a few recurring words.

I also sketched out a (more self-contained?) film with a simple story. It was inspired by an instance when I went to the darkroom to develop an old roll, only to find no image showed up. In this story a female photographer documents beauty and cherished moments with her camera. The end scene hints at the unavailability of the images. I have not decided whether she is aware she does not want the physical images all along. In the knowing case she will open the camera at the end, understanding the void of film. In the unknowing case she will go through the development in the darkroom (like what I experienced) and found there was no image -- but even in this version she somehow feels at peace at the accidental (fateful) loss.

See Jujube/scenes

How do you plan to make it?

I am going to discuss the scenes with Simon and Barend on Sep 12/13 -- mostly about the scope, the extent of iteration and how to focus best. I want to be better at production management this year -- to organize the crew, communicate the shots to cinematographers more effectively and not get caught up by editing due to the lack of planning.

I have storyboarded a scene that takes place in my current living room. I am using a documentary method similar to what I used last year (non-actors and use of reality). And, like the scenes I made last year, I am setting up a situation in which the protagonists exist and take actions. This time I plan to be a protagonist in some of the scenes as well.

I have a few questions: when I am a protagonist, do I interact with the cinematographer? To what extent am I creating this world/framing the story? In my talk with S&B I also want to discuss these (definitely to come up with something I can create to help answer the questions.)

One scene I developed around "home" can be shot easily in my living room. Another scene will follow my action at the studio/fabric station and end at the living room. (It involves the making of two cushions, so will take a few days to shoot, which requires planning!)

I am going to visit friends in San Francisco for ten days in October. I wrote a possible scene that would take place in my friend's living room. Similarly, I see a potential scene in Sweden, which requires a great amount of research and coordination. I don't know if I will include (or able to make) them yet. I will decide once I know more about the scenes in Rotterdam.

What is your timetable?

Sep-early Oct: definitely shoot the scene in my living room, perhaps shoot the scene in studio/fabric station In the meantime: decide whether the scenes in SF are feasible

October holiday: SF, recalibration of the project

Nov 9: project proposal (at which point I would know better about the direction of the other scenes)

Post Nov 9: TBD

Why do you want to make it?

I have always been in search of a form, just like I have been in search of home. I call this feeling (with the help of some tutors): loneliness.

Last year I realized that, through reading, making and writing, film would be the form. (Keywords: narrative, autobiography, memory, transcendence)

I am able to have a true practice now with film, where the topical and typological become existential and spiritual.

I want to convey the universal through the personal (not necessarily my story but any one person's story).

Who can help you and how?

I need:

For storyboarding/planning:

- feedback after each shooting with Simon and Barend, ideally in slots longer than 30 minutes; looking at the rushes

For shooting:

- depending on the scene: 1-2 cinematographers, my guest/host, recordist

For editing:

- I have a general idea about the film, but would appreciate feedback from a professional editor (perhaps just one or two consultations, so that I learn new perspectives/potentially new ways of working)

Relation to previous practice

I turned my focus to film last year, the medium of where I will ground myself for a while. My previous of writing and playwriting have helped me in and around filmmaking. See Jujube/text-on-practice-2019

Relation to a larger context

See Jujube/text-on-practice-2019

making as existing

the everyday; realism

Theories are only useful to me if they help me 1) under the medium I am using and 2) define, clarify, further my own practice.