Final Major Project Unit: Research

I watched a documentary on Channel 4 about how Bjork met David Attenborough and they talk about how sound relates to nature. The opening of the documentary was similar to how I had imagine ours to look the whole way through, it begins with shots of nature and shows figures close up, and Bjork’s voice is over the top from an interview, but we don’t see her. 

The footage was shot in Iceland, Bjork’s homeland, with time-lapses of clouds over mountains, lighting, volcanoes, stars, desert, but this all relates back to the music. They also have a voice which introduces the documentary, I think we need to think about our structure and how we’re going to open and close. However, the approach is different in this documentary as they’re investigating something. 

I think it’s vital to find the link between what we know and expect to hear from people about the disorder to what we choose to see visually. How does it relate to nature? And how are we showing it through the shots? To find out, I’m going to find and view as many interviews on the subject I can and note the visuals and the descriptions they make and try to build a shot list from that. There is a slight existing link between depression and nature, they saying being more tuned into the surroundings and appreciating the simplest things helps the person to live better. 

To makes things easier, I’ve split the shots into categories, the location and nature shots, and instead of the conventional interview shot, I imagine we’d need something to replace that to build a stronger relationship between what they are saying and what they’re story is with the shots. I wouldn’t say these are reconstructions, but they are nature or location shots which have more relevance.  

Shot ideas (nature/location shots) SHOW UP AND DOWN, how they feel:

Anger, highs, lows, paranoid, anxious, chemical imbalance, alone, depressed, you’re different, suicidal, heavy drinking, misunderstood, unpredictable, crazy, hyperactive, racing thoughts, you want to do so many things, delusions and hallucinations, scared, frantic, like living in a dream, mood is like the weather inside you

Field

Pan up - sunset in a field with the grass silhouette. 

Beach

Follow - birds souring high as dusk

Sea crashing - calm lapping, and at rocky parts 

Boat, anchor and kite

Woods

Ballerina “serenity” sequence

Other

Rollercoaster

Rain

Lights flashing and moving (bokeh)

Cars going by

Shots to do heavy editing with for the “manic” stage

“Story” shots:

When they talk personally about their lives, where they grew up (wides, sense of atmosphere), what they did - recreate their experiences with actors if need be (but not faces, just outlines of bodies and extreme close-ups)

FIND THE STORIES AND THEN FIND WHAT TO SHOOT 

Usually, gets to a certain point in their life where they have a manic episode, they get diagnosed, then put on medication. 

Whether to have an expert... when combined with people’s stories can seem as if they don’t have the credibility because they haven’t had the experience themselves. Could replace the information with a voice-over artist. 

Stephen Fry: 

“The mood is your own personal weather, if you go outside and it’s raining, it’s not you that’s making it rain, it has rained and it is real, you can’t un-think the rain. You can’t say “gah I’ll walk it off and then it’ll be sunny”. The weather makes up its mind. And the two mistakes are either to deny that it’s raining when it clearly is, it’s raining let’s face it! And the other thing is to say “therefore my life is over, it’s raining, the sun will now never come out, that’s it.” 

It’s raining but the sun will come out. 

Life is black.

For bipolar, it will become incredibly sunny, you plan a hundred futures. 

You’re so excited with your creative power and what you can do, your ideas