SFC3#17 – ‘Remembrance Day’

CHANGE OF TITLE – My film “Not every day” has been re-titled “Remembrance Day”

This is to reflect the fact that for an ex-soldier With PTSD Remembrance Day could be every day and not just once a year.It also reflects the element of ceremony in the film,so much a part of the official Remembrance Day on the 11th of November.

PTSD AND ORIGINALITY IN FILMMAKING

We are so influenced by our surroundings,experience – real life and Media that I believe it is probably impossible to create something that is truly original.All the stories have already been told.”Books are made of books” – Cormack McCarthy,

so it would follow that films are made of films,

Even Picasso had the humility to realise that he was not creating out of nothing.

“Good artists copy,great artists steal” – Pablo Picasso.

Another spin on this might be  – great artists steal from a wide number of places so that nobody notices.

So if if we can’t do stories that are “original” perhaps what we should aim for is “interesting”. Martin Scorsese commented on the importance of making whatever 

It is you want to make “interesting” He emphasised how a topic is never a guarantee 

People will be enticed but the way we tell it might just be.He cites the example of

Filming someone while he or she eats an apple.He says “do it but make it interesting”.

Many great films have been made by great directors that explore PTSD.These films

have found interesting ways and different slants to tell a familiar story.

THE DEER HUNTER

The Deer Hunter (1979) directed by Michael Camino and starring Robert De Niro,Christopher Walker and Meryl Streep tells the story of three young Americans from a small steel town before,during and after their service in the Vietnam war.

The film gives a harrowing depiction of the psychological effects of war and its impact on them and in turn their friends and family.

During the war sequences there is graphic violence.Women and children are 

deliberately killed by soldiers,prisoners are tortured and most famously forced to play Russian Roulette for the amusement of their captors gambling on the outcome.

After the war some of the men descend into a world of violence,alcoholism and drug addiction.Destructive lifestyles for them and those around them,

In my film “Remembrance Day”the protagonist Rob tries to deal with his PTSD in a more controlled way.His drinking is ceremonial in nature and is designed to trigger and honour traumatic memories in a cathartic way,that is away from other people and does not impinge on them.

AMERICAN SNIPER 

American Sniper(2014) was directed by Clint Eastwood.It is a biographical war film loosely based on the story of Chris Kyle who completed four tours of duty in Iraq and scored a record number of kills as a sniper.The film follows a familiar and unoriginal formula.It follows him through his war experience and then we watch the effects of that play out when he gets home.He has a new born baby we see him distracted and removed from his home life.

In real life another ex-Marine shot dead Chris Kyle in 2014 ,that ex- Marine had been diagnosed with PTSD.

I’VE GOT THE CHANCE TO USE A DRONE – SHOULD I USE IT ?

A work colleague has a husband who has a drone and he’s happy to collaborate with

me in my filmmaking.My initial reaction was that’s fantastic! that’s cool! I’ve got access to a drone and all the possibilities that opens up.

Sexy drone Footage

So sexy drone footage is it going to serve my story?

Behind the mind-boggling shots captured by BBC drones

This article from 2014 talks about the BBC establishing it’s own in house drone 

Journalism team.The footage shows a news presenter talking about the future of

The HS2 rail project.As he stands in the Old Oak Common train depot and starts 

To describe how the project will transform the area a drone lifts off to reveal the area

He is talking about.Adding visual interest and illustrating his story.

News organisations now routinely use drone footage to illustrate and cover news

Stories.Riots in Russia,Poland,Argentina and other places have been captured by

Drone and posted online,

As far as cinematography goes dronesshould be thought of as flying cameras.Just 

Another film-making tool like a jib or a dolly,a way of moving a camera.Like those other tools they allow us to archive transitions and observe different camera angles.With this in mind I intend to use the drone for an establishing shot and then an air to ground transition.Time will tell if the drone adds anything to the story or if I used it 

Just because I could.

APOCALYPSE NOW – OPENING SCENE 

I love the opening from Apocalypse Now.The scene depicts the mental trauma of a soldier experiencing flashbacks after drinking, exactly the same scenario as my short film.So there was clearly inspiration to be taken from Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece.

• The use of close ups of the actor’s face to give intensity and emphasize that it is their inner thoughts that we are interested in.
• The use of different elements in the sound design to convey the disturbed mental state of the soldiers.
• Walter Murch the editor and sound designer on Apocalypse Now broke down the sound of a helicopter and used it over the footage of the ceiling fan.In doing this he blended the present with the past/future.
• The use of changing and vivid colours to illustrate the mental turmoil going on.
• The confines of a small room to contain and isolate the protagonist and lend a sense of claustrophobia.
• The basic composition of the shot.One half of the screen to accommodate the actors face and the other half as room for the flashback footage.
• The bands of light from the blinds on Martin Sheens face finding an echo in the bands of light that come through the log walls.

• The wall of fire as the jungle erupts in the largest practical explosion ever in film history. I used YouTube footage of some boys throwing petrol bombs ( N.Ireland’s napalm) against a Barn wall.

My Film

 

SFC3#17 – “Not everyday”

Aim

To realise a 3 -5 minute short narrative film in with line course requirements. Which is of sufficient quality for it to be shown at the  2017 Aesthetica Short Film Festival. It is my intention to achieve this with a step up in my story telling skills, though improvements in the things that support story in film, such as cinematography, colour design and audio design.

Synopsis 

An ex-soldier with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) uses drink to deal with his demons. However, this is not in an out of control life destroying manner. He does it in a highly considered way. He has built a ceremony around the act of drinking himself into oblivion. He has turned it into an act of remembrance that in his eyes honours his former life and his actions.

People

 Rob (muse) is a 54 year old British ex-soldier. He suffers from PTSD stemming from his service in Northern Ireland during the troubles. He holds down a job in which he is highly competent and has a conventional family life. While he shows no outwards sign of his PTSD he has all the traits of an archetypal ex-soldier from the ways he presents himself, down to the way he walks and the way he arranges his possessions. That is Rob the character. This is Rob the “actor” in real life:

Place 

The place (physical location) where Rob takes himself to deal with his demons is an isolated cabin in a wood where he will not be disturbed. The place Rob takes himself psychologically and emotionally is detailed below in Plot.

Plot 

Ex-soldier Rob occasionally goes to a cabin in a wood and shuts himself in. He then goes through an elaborate ceremony. He carefully arranges, with military precision, his drinking paraphernalia on a table. This ceremony is a mix of Japanese tea ceremony and putting his kit ready for inspection. This puts him in a place of sober reflection. There is then a gear change as Rob quickly and efficiently knocks back the drinks he has poured. Rob rapidly descends in to a place of remembered trauma as he suffers flashbacks and altered state of mind brought on by the alcohol (The back story of his PTSD is revealed by the flashbacks). Then, when the drink takes full hold Rob collapses and sleeps it off. He wakes to the sound of an alarm he has set on his watch, gets up and leaves the cabin. That’s him sorted for another month.

Purpose 

This film explores how an individual with PTSD has found his own quirky way of living with his trauma. He has turned the drinking in to a highly ritualised ceremony that draws on his army ways. He does this to stay in control of his drinking so that it does not impinge on his everyday life. Though the use of ceremony he has almost tempered his trauma and guilt with an act of remembrance, perhaps making it bearable. Think of the role a funeral plays, it provides a structure and a practical safe place to express our grief. From a film-making point of view I feel this project gives me ample scope to stretch myself. Just about every facet of film-making can be brought to bear in telling and serving this story:

• Cinematography – camera movement and lighting.
• Sound design
• Colour design 
• Set design 
• Costume design
• Directing – drawing an emotional performance from a non-actor.

So my research will be about maximising my success with the above.

Research 

What is PTSD? Post traumatic stress disorder is -“An anxiety disorder that develops in reaction to physical injury or severe mental or emotional distress “.

“When the distress was at its worst, I had three or four flashbacks a day. I would sweat and become very nervous as I remembered the events 20 years ago. All the smells were there and I even felt the heat of the fire moving across my face. People who saw me say that I sometimes walked about and mouthed words. But I was completely detached from my surroundings”

This is the testimony of a firefighter from the NHS choices website.

 

The ceremony

Rob’s unpacking and laying out of his drinking paraphernalia is essentially him putting his kit out for inspection (it is immaculate). But it also has elements of a Japanese tea ceremony.

The tea ceremony developed as a transformative practice and evolved its own aesthetic. Important elements which may find their way into the film include the Chatkin which is a small white linen cloth used to wipe the tea bowls. As well as a box  called a Chabak in which to pack everything. Rob’s ceremony will only have hints of the 30 minute ceremony.