Jujube/scenes
homemaking
LOCATION: fabric station, Bree
Bree discovery of: - journal from Leah - this New Life (Dante) from Amelia - recipe books
haircut
Two characters: M & J.
Stake?
What does M want?
- To get a haircut
What does J want?
- To be with company
- To confide <-- that's an action, why does she want to confide? <-- To feel okay by talking to another person
Blocking:
- [off screen]J opens door. J offers tea. [lv rm]M browses the books.
- [lv rm]M picks a book. Goes about noticing new things.
- J enters the living room with tea and snacks. M asks J about the book she has picked out.
ETC ETC ETC
See complete:
File:S1-storyboard.pdf and File:S1-shotlist.pdf
production notes
Jujube/scenes-production-notes
editing notes
Simon:
- What is this film about? That will help you will the editing. ("It is a film about two women coming together and showing vulnerability.")
- The shot of the bangs evoke tactility. It changes the motions. The tea shot is a conventional, comfortable social distance.
- Start with the voice track, it is the script. The visuals are performance. Visuals are not necessarily real-time.
- The visuals are music, you can turn them up and down.
other notes
Simon
- Develop a grammar.
- Think carefully: how you reflect the ebbs and flows of small changes (through shots)
- You are constructing social interactions. There are different layers in a social interaction. Think about boundaries.
David
- What is your style? Currently there are inconsistency in the shots. The first shot is casual, almost as if you did on a phone, it establishes a distance between me and what I am watching. The shot through the door is voyeuristic.
- My observation is that you want to convey through highly composed shots.
- Think about the meaning of the image and set up your shot.
Ine
- Home/belonging is universal. It speaks to a lot of people.
- The haircut closeup has a lot of shadow in the beginning. The composition is so minimal that this becomes distracting.
Cem (in response to David's and Ine's comments)
- We can support the first shot with panning close-ups of the shelf.
- We shoot 4K and Premier can zoom as far as 200%. The first shot is way more zoomed in that seen in the rushes.
- Can probably use a mask for the shadows in the haircut scene? (Ask Barend tmrw)
My own (in response to the tutors)
- I stopped writing the literary prose where nothing happens. In plays actions are reflected in the dialogue. I know the motivation behind the lines. But when it comes to film (in the first year), it becomes telling. How can I make film that is not exposition?
- I did plan the wide shot first in the storyboard then in the shot list. It's been there all along. I recognize the significance. But somehow when it comes to the shot it's not conveying the meaning to you. There is a gap. What is this gap?
- In a sense the wide, establishing shots become b-roll and the close-ups become a-roll. I am not making the kind of conventional documentary (think portraitures from the learning period during Jullie: Jujube/ambacht#reading.2Fseeing). I am not setting up an interview and shooting the actions, objects as b material. The actions and objects ARE what carries the story.
homecoming
Den Haag
I decided to rent an apartment for a few days in the Hague, to have a meaningful birthday and pass some time with intention.
I am a guest to an empty home full of another person's things. I am at her home. Is this the home I lost?
Use this opportunity to test: how to compose the everyday with shots?
notes
- How does an object imbue meaning?
- shot length
- camera movement/focus change
- blocking
- Developing narrative:
- Home is shelter.
- Home is abundance.
- Home is safety.
- Home is free of judgement.
- Home is quiet.
- A collection of small, yet necessary activities.
- A collection of objects.
- The rules I am developing for these shoots:
- Bring objects.
- Frame objects in a way that shows care and affection. Frame like it is a hug or a gentle touch.
- No face, but hands doing things.
- Domesticity
feedback and thoughts
Barend: You mentioned showing small changes in close-up, the establishment of space might not be important
Me: Still gonna shoot a few wide shots. Just to see. Perhaps won't use them.
Barend: Are you going to let the viewer know if these objects are brought into the space? Or make it clear that these are other people's homes?
Me: Not sure. I could shoot some unveiling scenes soon. (but don't see it in the narrative rn.) I see it in the context of the documentary. It's another storyline. It's like a dream... Dream of home.
Me: I am seeing a future shot (done in the studio) of the objects isolated against a minimal backdrop. They exist, but they are not grounded.
Antwerp
Make yourself at home.
Wide shot: kitchen.
Shot: grinding beans (fill the grinder, action, pour out the grounds into filter)
Shot: making coffee.
Roasted Romanesco and kale. Blanched haricot. Pumpkin seeds/pistachio. Parsley. Tahini.
Shot: cutting romanesco.
Shot: massaging kale.
Shot: roasting pumpkin seeds/peeling pistachio.
Shot: chopping parsley.
Shot: mixing tahini with olive oil.
Shot: cutting bread.
Shot: putting the ingredients together.
Eating
Shot: cutlery drawer.
Shot: bowl, hands, wine glass.
Mending
Shot: preparing needle and thread.
Shot: mending.
Clothes
Shot: hanging raincoat.
Shot: getting shirt from a hanger.
London
I want to use the audio from the conversations in London.
From the bones of lemon to Adam and Eve.
I was able to have these conversations because I was in an extremely comfortable place: a nice kitchen/living room (physical space) and with Nuri (psychological space).
- Transcripts first -- this could be a publication -- but I am seeing shots happening in the photo/video studio as in an epic journey (dramatic lighting and all). I am seeing hands performing: showing lemon seeds and peeling apples.
logistics
cinematography and lighting: Sonia
sound: _______
cast: _____ as W1, _____ as W2
W1 has knowledge of Spanish, ideally a native speaker. (Marta?)
W2 likes poetry. (Myself?)
location: large photo studio (reserve)
time: likely week 44 (28/10)
pre-production
tbd
script
objective:
W1: to juice a lemon W2: to finish a thought (finishes with horror)
CLOSE-UP OF HANDS. WOMAN 1 CUTS LEMON ON A CUTTING BOARD. WOMAN 2 DRINKS COFFEE FROM A CUP.
W1: I don't know why in Spanish these are not called seeds... they are called bones.
W2: Bones?
W1: You would say: los huesos... Weird, no?
CUT-TO. CLOSE-UP. WOMAN 1'S HAND, KNIFE GOING THROUGH LEMON A FEW TIMES.
W2: When you look at them they do look kind of bony... with a ridge even...
W1: Bone of lemon...
W2: The bone of lemon. (beat) Pablo Neruda was obsessed with it.
W1: With lemon?
W2: Which yellow bird fills its nest with lemon? (beat) He's obsessed with the color yellow.
CUT-TO. EXTREME CLOSE-UP. SEEDS OF LEMON IN THE FLESH.
W1: Amarillo...
CUT-TO. CLOSE-UP. WOMAN 1 SQUEEZES THE HALF LEMON ON THE JUICER.
CUT-TO. CLOSE-UP. WOMAN 1 POURS THE JUICE INTO A GLASS.
CUT-TO. EXTREME CLOSE-UP. A SEED LEFT IN THE JUICER.
W1: Look, a bone.
W2: Whoever called it the bone saw the human in the lemon.
CUT-TO. EXTREME CLOSE-UP. SEEDS ON AGAINST THE FLESH OF THE PALM. SOUND OF WATER POURING INTO GLASS.
CUT-TO. EXTREME CLOSE-UP. MOUTH DRINKING LEMON JUICE.
CUT-TO. CLOSE-UP. THE USED HALF LEMON.
transcript
- Are there a lot of apples trees, um, in Hooke, where Luis is?
- It's quite nice actually... No, I haven't seen plantations of apple trees
- orchards
- chestnut tree, apple tree, um...
- Uh...
- What's this other one... Chestnut, yeah. A lot of berry, blackberries, wild berries,..., lemon, elderflower, just a lot of wild things combined
- Mm. That sounds like an English garden
- Uhmmm. English gardens are so beautiful, I realize, it's like very curated but also kind of wild, it's not the French trimmed super human work garden. It's really nice
- Yeah. I guess in Kew Gardens it will still be kind of planned
- Cause it's more greenhouse... And it's also royal
- (laughs) Why is everything royal so — maybe the term royal just means it's needs to be manicured... by other humans. It's kind of a metaphor for hu — for class. You have the humans who take care of the trees, like the gardener, is such a staple figure in, like, the royal
(tap water running)
- But the funny thing is, the history of fanciness, or royalness... is so weird... Too many things, to many ornaments
- Yeah I guess the period of Baroque... The Romantic Period
- The Romantic Period never ended... no?
- Yeah. I wonder when the Buckingham Palace was constructed. That will say a lot
- I don't know.
- Yeah, well... I am too — non-conformist tourist... We should just read the wikipedia don't
- Oh wait today's... Sunday at the Buckingham I think is the changing of guards
- Ooo
- I've never seen it couldn't be interesting
- Would, would it be on our way to the — to where Mo is?
- Not exactly, but no so far
- Yeah that could be a plan. Finally my third time in London maybe I should see something (laughs)
- Uhmm
3:30
- The seeds...
- I don't know why in Spanish these are not called seeds they are called bones
- Really?
- Yeah, you would say los huesos
- Mmmm
- That's weird no?
- Interesting but when you look at it they do- do look kind of bony with like a ridge even
- ah yeah... bone of lemon
- The bone of lemon that's actually — ah no wonder pablo neruda is obsessed with it
- with lemon?
- He's obsessed with the color yellow...
- no wonder
- The bone of a lemon, wow
- Bone marrow of the lemon
- Cause yeah maybe... whoever came up with that term probably was thinking the human in the lemon. That's actually quite...nice
- Well apples. It's actually a fertility symbol. If you cut it
- Yes. I mean apple is like a loaded fruit with all its biblical meanings
- I know
- Treason
- Yeah fertility
- Or awakening of sexual
- Interesting contradiction...no?
- The part about god and adam and eve... is that in the new testament? I actually don't know. Cause I don't know, is apple a common thing in the Middle East? I feel it's more common in the slightly northern places
- Yeah you are right. Actually... I don't know. My knowledge of the bible is less —
- Mine is also. I've only recently got — or I think, I started reading many things at the same time, so sometimes if a theological or biblical reference came up, I also — I'm more interested than I used to, but I still don't know much
- We can reuse this
- Yes. But yeah that's another let's maybe wikipedia what, Buckingham Palace?
- and movement -- ?
- remembering the guy yesterday
- (slurping noise)
- so good
- then apple, adam and eve, which chapter
- fertility or lust
- or both
- or both
- well at one time fertility and lust were probably linked very tightly, but then they came up with like contraception that's like a modern... yeah
- ()
- totally they are all like moral inventions
- yeah exactly. or moral inventions or accumulation
- uhmm (eats apple)
- okay so I guess we decided that... cause it's the ten and it's started. I feel kind of guilty but it's okay
(long silence as N checks her phone)
- it's very good
- crunchy
- I normally don't peel the apple, but I think it's nice to just have the apple. It tastes nice...no?
- yeah
- no bitter
- totally
- have you ever tried to eat a peeled plum... Or like take away the skin?
- mmm maybe if it's a super ripe one
- it's so interesting it's like a flavor you don't normally disassociate from the peel, it feels a bit bitter
- the peel has like all the tartness, the other, the flesh is actually just super sweet
- super sweet so nice
- right before I came here I bought a box of plums and somehow these are these yellow Italian ones and
- they are very sweet these ones
- so yeah the center hhhh sweetness and the peel is like everything else. So you can very easily tell, yeah, dramatic
- mmm so tasty
homecarrying
1. Pitching my tent
LOCATION: Friesland NL?
2. Sören
LOCATION: Southern Sweden
Saint Paul??????
who is remembering
the photographer
Follow the protagonist to places where she takes photography with a 35mm.
What does she want to remember?
Things of beauty and intrigue:
- winding staircases near Kino
- butterflies
- what are the moments you associate beauty with?
Things with friends -- iconic human connection?
- elaborate dinners
- picnic, smiles
- beach, water, kite
Portrait?
- photo studio
Close-ups:
- looking
- framing
- focus? -- POV?
End scene:
She goes to the darkroom.
Screen goes dark, sound of loading film
Developing (all steps)
When the images emerge:
They are blank.
End scene alternative:
She goes to a vast space.
It's just the camera and her now.
Shots of her taking off the camera.
Shots of her opening the camera.
It's empty.
CF
Spend 10 thousand seconds create a scene.
Shoot with the heaviest equipment.
The CF card cannot be recognized in the camera.