Sean Tarjoto
SIGHT AND SOUND FILM - IRVING
Final Project
5683 (Love)- Part 1
Starring................................... Andrew Elsas
Technical Assistance, Light Readings ...... David Moore
Script Supervision, Tech. Asst. ........... Edo Sutedja
Phone Guy, Tech. Asst .................. Ashish Porecha
OBJECTIVES:
This was a collaborative project co-written by the entire crew. Four story arcs were directed individually by each one of the crew and I had the responsibility of directing the first part.
The narrative objectives were:
(1) Establishing the character played by Andrew
(2) Introducing the character of the telephone
(3) Establishing the theme
Having the freedom and opportunity to create a short without the obligation of a project exercise gave me much more stylistic freedom.
(1) To establish a sense of absurdity without forsaking elements of realism
(2) To explore classical themes (love) but without classical storytelling
My objectives here was to establish a tone of absurdity and realism, but to leave the envelope to be pushed by the other 3 directors. Here I used a repetitive technique, to catalyst the story of the character's routine. We see him going to work and back home but never see what he does for a living or where he lives. I hope to communicate that these were parts of the character that the character didn't consider important or couldn't, simply because they were too mundane, but it had the unexpected effect of adding an almost farcial quality. The soundtrack Romeo & Juliet love theme by Tchaikovsky and the street effects I hope to contrast cliche romanticism with filmic realism. The theme of the film is love but the twist of the film is that this is inanimate love, and I see an opportunity for a whole host of emotions, although my objective was to communicate love.
There was also the challenge of fulfilling the script within the budget: 3 rolls of film per director, 3 days of shooting. It was unanimously agreed that an actor outside of the class needed to be found, simply because the objectivity needed to communicate the character would have been lost otherwise.
SCENARIO:
We see a man in a suit walking down the street and entering a door, CUT TO him exiting the door and walking back through the same street. He repeats this three more times and it is apparent a routine. The routine is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a telephone which has just been installed in the middle of the man's route. We SWISH PAN and the static shots of his routine are disrupted on a technical level as well. CUT TO a ROMANTIC MUSIC CUE as we see him awestruck by the telephone's beauty, its appeal. He is in love.
CUT TO him sitting in a park, eating lunch. He is dreamy, still in love and thinking about the phone. We see him turn to the phone and then cut to shots of him even more in love phone, and the rapidly progressing anxiety that follows.
CUT TO him standing behind a wall, comically nervous. He walks up to beside the phone and after a moment of hesitation asks for a cigarette light, although he has his own lighter which he uses. After another moment of hesitation he asks the phone out, and a HAPPY MUSIC CUE transitioning to the second part (directed by Ashish).
EVALUATION:
Initially I was upset at the outcome of my project. Although I felt I'd managed to communicate my narrative and stylistic objectives I felt each one was poorly transitioned. The cuts between the man's routine, his love at first sight, and his asking the phone for a date. The music originally used was "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers. There was no attempt to make this first romantic moment in any way real. It was a practice in absurdity. When I began searching for the music however I discovered the Romeo & Juliet peice and felt that its overused and popularized nature would be "over-the-top". I had conflicts trying to decide which would be funnier, but in the end the choice was mitigated by the time budget.
I also felt the transition from the park to his date appeared less like a location cut and more like the beginning of a dream sequence or fantasy. However, I realized that it was through Andrew's performance through which this was avoided. Obviously the nature of the performance dictates the fluidity and structure of the story. So I think that the acting-directing relationship, and the ability of the director to direct acting, has a bearing on what is available for editing.
In putting together this project we decided that creating one story would actually be feasible but still challenging. We would need to collaborate with each other's styles and this we felt was out of our range as novices, had we did something in rashomon.
I am very pleased with the fluidity of the entire film however. Ironically I love the transition between the end of my part into Ashish's, where we hear the crescendo from "Happy Together" by the Turtles, as the man brings the phone flowers.
(
geocities.com/tarjoto)