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If the curtain opens while we’re doing warm-ups on stage #icnproblems

If the curtain opens while we’re doing warm-ups on stage #icnproblems

Sep 13, 2015

The Derive and Situationist Paris by Thomas McDonough

In The Derive and Situationist Paris, Thomas McDonough discussed Situationism - particularly their beliefs, their theories and their ideals that talk about having a completely new way of living in cities.

What I find interesting about the article (that also relates to my Final Project) is Guy Debord’s elucidation of his psychogeographical map of Paris. It is a well-known fact that the way our brains work is through association - we remember by associating certain feelings and memories with certain objects or places - yet, I never would have thought that it would be to an extent far greater than simply trivial. Guy Debord mentioned in a statement that “cities have a psychogeographical relief, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes which strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones.” It was also suggested that “the city should be experienced not as a homogenous field but as an emotionally ambient milieu of possible trajectories.

Knowing this, I am quite intrigued on experimenting with the idea of using familiar places and sounds in my movie, and if possible, bring out and exploit the psychogeographical influences that may actually be present in all of us.

Nov 06, 2014

4D Final-Term Assignment

For my Final-Term Assignment, I will be doing a half-narrative, half-dance video. Inspired by Quest Crew’s “The Hospital” and Isaac Julien’s “Vagabondia”, my video will tell the story of an artist as he ventures inside his mind to search for his muse.

The few major elements of David Lynch that I will attempt to recreate and build upon in my video are (1) the unsettling atmosphere, (2) his way of depicting a dreamscape and (3) his concept of depicting everyday occurrences in a dream-like manner.

Nov 06, 2014

David Lynch: Film Analysis
When one thinks of Surrealist films, the name David Lynch will more often than not come into mind. Indeed, David Lynch is known for being one of the most prominent American film directors of the modern era, possessing a unique cinematic style that is virtually impossible to be mistaken for someone else’s.
Out of the many films that David Lynch directed, I will be conducting an analysis of three: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, one of Lynch’s most successful movies. The movies will be broken down in terms of (1) Film Concept, (2) Plot Structure, (3) Narrative World, (4) Cinematography & Artistic Design and (5) Sound & Music.
(1) Film Concept
As a Surrealist filmmaker, Lynch’s movies are closely related to, if not, fundamentally based on dreams. It is common to see characters in his movies telling a story of their rather unusual dreams, as well as certain events taking place wholly in the dreams of the characters. In Fire Walk with Me, there was a scene where Phillip, a long-lost agent, reappeared in the FBI headquarters and told a story to Gordon about his dream. There was also a scene that took place in Laura’s bedroom, when she saw Annie lying next to Laura on her bed, covered in blood. In Lost Highway, Fred dreamt frequently about a burning cabin in the desert and driving through a dark highway. In Mulholland Drive, the whole opening sequence may be interpreted as Diane’s dream of becoming a successful movie star, which was the complete opposite of her reality (Lynch left it open for interpretation). My point is that these dreams are not merely dreams; they play a crucial role in telling the story either indirectly through foreboding/foreshadowing, or directly through showing the content of the minds of the characters.
While murder is the main theme in all the three movies, the concept of Lynch’s movies, I believe, is making a simple murder story unfold in a relatively arbitrary dream-like manner. Through analysis of the plot structure and narrative world of the movies I will attempt to provide a clearer view as to how Lynch attempts to communicate this concept to the audience.
(2) Plot Structure
To begin with, in Fire Walk with Me and Lost Highway, the movies took a major left turn shortly after the beginning. In the first few minutes of Fire Walk with Me, the audience was shown an ongoing investigation of the murder of Teresa Banks by the FBI. Shortly after, Chester, the lead investigator, went missing, and all of a sudden the focus of the whole movie shifted onto a whole new direction: Laura’s life. New characters were introduced, in a completely different setting, as if a completely different movie was being shown. This also occurred in Lost Highway, when one night Fred changed into Pete in his prison cell, in which from that point on the narrative switched focus onto Pete’s life.
This, I believe, is reminiscent of dreams. In my opinion, Lynch attempted to depict the arbitrary nature of human dreams, in which causes and origins of certain events are unclear, yet the events following the point of origin are believable to the dreamer. What went on after the major left turn in the two movies did, in fact, feel more normal and casual. Hence, by throwing the audience off one track and onto the other, Lynch successfully communicated this concept.
However, this is not true in Mulholland Drive. In the movie, I believe the communication of the concept of dreams is done through the non-linear structure of the narrative. Halfway through the movie, the audience can see the body of Diane, which had already been rotting on her bed for days. Strangely enough, Diane was still portrayed alive at that point, as Betty. Shortly after this scene, the movie began jumping between the miserable present life of Diane, and flashbacks of her life with Camilla and her days of failing to become a movie star, slowly revealing the events that led up to Diane killing herself on her bed. Hence, I believe that just as how the progression of dreams tend to be jumbled up, Lynch also created the movie in this manner.
(3) Narrative World
In terms of the narrative world, Lynch employed characters with immense eccentricity. Other than having unusual features, many characters in the movies also possessed highly unusual behavior. The Mystery Man from Lost Highway, Lil, the Man from Another Place and Mrs. Chalfont’s grandson from Fire Walk with Me, and the performers in Club Silencio are a few examples. These characters and their eccentricities contributed significantly to creating a very unsettling atmosphere throughout the whole movie.
Furthermore, all the three movies focused their entire storylines from the point of view of a select few people: Laura, Dale and Chet in Fire Walk with Me; Fred and Pete in Lost Highway; and Camilla and Diane in Mulholland Drive. Coincidentally, these were the few characters that weren’t at all eccentric. This, in my opinion, hints to the fact that these characters were the “dreamers”, while the rest of the ensemble were merely projections, hence subtly communicating the whole idea of a dream setting.
(4) Cinematography & Artistic Design
David Lynch is famous for his unique cinematic language and style. In all the three movies, it was not difficult to spot certain motifs/methods that he employed in order to achieve certain purposes.
For example, in the scene of Laura’s bedroom dream, we could see how the camera panned to where Laura was looking at. When she looked right, the camera would slowly pan to the right, vice versa. This creates a sense of tension as the audience anticipates and guesses what is on “the other side”. Indeed, this scene was meant to be extremely unsettling and chilling - especially since Annie was later revealed to be suddenly lying next to Laura on her bed, covered in blood, as the camera panned to the left of Laura as she looked left.
In Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, this occurred less frequently, and was replaced by the more frequent first-person hand-held camera. In the Winkies diner scene in Mulholland Drive, when the man went to investigate the existence of the horrific figure behind the diner, the camera switched repeatedly from a frontal third-person view to the first-person hand-held view. As he slowly walked to the area behind the diner, the constant switching, the shaky hand-held camera view and the slow camera movement certainly contributed significantly in building up the tension of the scene, as well as in creating a feeling of uneasiness.
Other than that, Lynch also employed a certain technique to create a chilling atmosphere: the television static. It was common to see the television static occurring very suddenly, interrupting the ongoing narrative and alternating to very unpleasant images, or occurring as a transparent overlay in certain scenes. This was perhaps used to depict the switch between the reality and the dream.
Moreover, it was also commonplace to see areas of total darkness in the movie, which I believe instills a feeling of uncertainty and uneasiness, which eventually leads to tension and fear.
Another common technique in Lynch’s three movies was the use of extreme close-ups. This technique was employed in all of the three movies, with the most notable one being the close-up of the mouth of the Man from Another Place in Fire Walk with Me. In my opinion, the extreme close-ups, showing all the organic details of the human body, were very effective in stirring up a feeling of repulsiveness.
(5) Sound and Music
Complementing cinematography & artistic design is the sound & music in Lynch’s movies.
Ambience played a huge role in setting the mood for certain parts of the movies. During moments of tension in Mulholland Drive, it was commonplace to hear a very low-pitched hum, similar to that of an airplane engine as heard from the cabin in mid-flight. In Lost Highway and Fire Walk with Me, a disturbingly low-pitched “aaah” could be heard instead. The use of the violin tremolo, its pitch increasing as the tension reaches the climax, similarly created a very distressing and eerie atmosphere.
Loud, sudden sounds were also used for jump-scares in certain parts of the movie. In Lost Highway, for example, complementing the sudden image of the television static was the extremely loud and disturbing sound of it, which was brilliantly timed to shock the audience.
In contrast, the absence of sound and music created a different kind of tension. The sense of false tranquility it created was particularly unpleasant to the audience, simply because of the ominous quality of it.
For my remix/mashup of David Lynch, I will employ all the techniques I’ve learnt to create an animation. Previously for my Mid-Term Assignment, I did a comic book, which lacked the element of sound and music. Hence, for my Final-Term Assignment, I will attempt to take it to the next level, and apply what I’ve learnt in terms of comic book making and make it a fully-alive horror/thriller animation.
Oct 23, 2014

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Oct 22, 2014

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