I had shown my project idea to Sebastiane in my tutorials before; however this was the first time Amber Lemony-Pennie had seen it so I was intrigued to hear her feedback.
Amber's main concern was being mindful of not portraying mental illness as a negative. People with a mental illness were, in the Victorian era, seen as freaks and animals and were subsequently banished from society; however this is not accurate for today. There has been a great effort to make mental health more acceptable and normalised so I need to be cautious not to portray She as having a mental illness in an offensive way. She does not have a mental illness, the only link to an asylum is that She feels like society look at her differently and don't accept her so she admits herself to a Victorian mental asylum as that is where she feels she belongs. I will have a think about how I can make sure mental health is not mocked or looked negatively upon in my film to ensure I don't offend anyone.
Sebastiane suggested making the location of an asylum cell less obvious as it may be cliche to situate the patient, She, in such an accurate representation of a Victorian asylum. I want my film to be avant-garde and ambiguous so this change to an unexpected location will complement this uncertainty. Having this feedback opened my eyes to the possibilities and made me realise how close-minded I was being by automatically assuming I would use an asylum cell. Sebastiane suggested using an everyday location, like a kitchen table, to make it more relatable for the viewer. I like how this would throw the viewer off the true concept as they would have to delve deeper to unravel the underlining meaning. I could possibly use a location where the model looks completely out of place to represent her feeling of not belonging; I will look into this idea further.
Sebastiane mentioned his concern with the use of powder paint as he had seen it many times before in fashion films and wanted to ensure my film was unique. I personally have not seen these, even though I have looked, so I will continue my research into this to make sure my powder paint scenes are not cliche. Sebastiane had mentioned his concern with the powder paint scene in a previous tutorial, however after changing the styling and style of dance, I thought this was no longer a concern. It worries me that the powder paint may still look cliche because I don't want to work so passionately and tirelessly on a project to then not be happy with the outcome. I am unsure at this stage whether to continue with the use of powder paint or whether to develop this physically means of expression to be more ambiguous.
As we were discussing the dance element Sebastiane suggested looking at David Bird's work, who created a dance constructed by repeating movements made by Priests. We discussed before the importance of not making the dance look cliche with expressive, balletic movement, but to instead look at more contemporary, abstract movement to give a more unique and ambiguous to complement with avant-garde film style.
Sebastiane suggested analysing people's body language to see if there are any interesting habits to how they move if they feel uncomfortable or left out. Everyday people are in situations where they feel unwanted or like they don't belong so it would be interesting to do some street photography to capture this as a primary source. I could include as many related emotions as possible to see how they translate through facial expression and body language. I could then use this research when directing my model in her first scene where She feels weak and vulnerable, and her second scene where She feels restricted and controlled by discrimination.
Amber and Sebastiane were very complementary about how organised and passionate I was and how much work I had got done; however they said I should make sure I experiment more as sometimes this will lead me to an idea I wouldn't have thought of through research. I completely agree with this as I have only done one test shoot since my test shoot for my proposal. I am concerned with the powder paint scene so I could experiment with different shots, angles and model movements with a normal camera myself. I think before this I felt restricted to only do test shoots when Harrison (filmmaker) was free; however it would definitely be worth experimenting myself first so I then have a clearer idea of what I want. I also want to experiment with shots for the opening scene when She is tied up and with the flash back scenes so I can do that myself before I make the final storyboard.
I have always felt extremely anxious and nervous to do presentations; however this is the first time I have felt more confident and I am so proud of myself for that. I think this growth in confidence was a combination of pushing myself whilst doing my work experience, constantly meeting new people in collaborations and social outings and because I am talking about a topic I am genuinely passionate about. I am so glad I put so much detail into my presentation because it meant Sebastiane and Amber could fully understand my concept and development and therefore give me useful feedback to improve my film.
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