DAY FOUR

 Today we pitched our ideas for our films. It was very interesting listening to all the different interpretations of the brief and brainstorming some more possibilities based on people's ideas. I felt like it was a productive session.

My idea is this:

I am inspired by the idea of the 'passeggiata', when Italians go for a casual walk during or after siesta. I like the relaxed, impulsive, idle nature of the walk and will try to capture that in my film. It will start by following a street at the corner, ie I will shoot the corner of the edge of the street and the adjacent wall. As the walk progresses I will deviate if there is something of interest, for example some writing on the wall, an interesting door, a plant, and then return to the corner. After a certain amount of time I will come to an intersection and the screen will split to show both potential routes. After following the two screens this will then happen once more, to result in four simultaneous screens. At the conclusion of the film all four paths will end up in the same place.

After pitching, we had our third screening, La Terra Trema. I found the film quite long but ultimately rewarding.

Even though I have a pretty good grasp of Italian I found that I could not understand most of the dialogue because the characters spoke in Sicilian. This was nice because it meant that the film felt more real; these people are real Sicilians, this is their real home where they were born, where they grew up and where they work. The film had a lot of shouting which made the film more passionate.

Often, music was not required and the soundtrack was often filled with voices, or poignant silences. This idea, that the human voice is rich with emotion and can carry the film without unnecessary and artificial sound, is a lovely one.

The director uses many lingering shots. A most memorable shot is the panning one of the fisherman arguing at the market. It is held for a long time and really allows the viewer to soak everything in and see what the markets were like. It is even possible to get to know certain characters in this shot, without specific dialogue, just gestures and shouting. Emotive and raw.

The editing is minimal and unobtrusive, meaning that there are no distractions from the story and the landscape. The environment plays a big role in this film; it is very relevant to the story. The sense of place is central as it affects the characters and their lives. No matter how much they dread and fear the water, “they have to return to the eternal slavery of the sea”. And it is relentless. And ever-powerful. One bad day on the water turns their lives upside down.

The film is certainly a social commentary, highighting the damage that is being done to their livelihoods being caught in this inescapable way of life. The main character, Antonio, is a vehicle for demonstrating how unfair it is, “my blood boils with such injustice.”

There is much to learn from this film. It is beautiful and slow in the way that it reveals the characters by holding the camera and letting their nuances and feelings shine through.

NOTES