ROLES:
Mia: Directing
Dorsa: Producer/Editor
Alyssa: Cinematographer
Abbie: Sound Recordist/Mixer
Having already decided on making our piece on Persephone, the Greek goddess of Spring and the wife of Hades, we felt that it was important to figure out which aspect or variation of her story we wanted to demonstrate. I suggested that we all write our own Haikus, which I will quote them below!
DORSA SAJEDI:
"Veins like roots in skin,
Crack it, satisfy my soul
I am now your pet."
ABBIE JAMIESON:
"Mother of nature
Tricked by men, for he demands
the season to change."
ALYSSA CALDER:
"Life, it follows me
but hunger - all-consuming
now holds me captive."
MIA BLOOMFIELD:
"Hush, my love, he said
feet born to the Earth, now gone
oh, sweetheart, what have you done?"
Although we didn't explicitly choose one of these haikus, we were able to tie a thread between them all and agree on what we wanted to represent. A key focus is Persephone's binding contract to the Underworld, the pomegranate. The pomegranate represents so many things, being life, death, marriage, fertility, eternal life, love... etc.
We wanted Persephone in a white dress, to represent innocence, and purity, as this is her before she was married to Hades and bound to the Underworld. The pomegranate, being red, is a very intense colour in opposition to white. Many opportunities can come from this, so we are looking to find ways to intensify this contrast to draw our audience in DEEP, and grasp all of their attention in this extremely short piece - enough to leave them thinking.
For the rest of day, following our meeting, Abbie and I went to scout charity shops for 'the perfect white dress' for this piece, while Mia and Alyssa did the shot list and storyboard. Sadly, Abbie and I must've gone into so many charity shops... and we found nothing. But, remembering one of the earlier pieces we had completed in first year, to which we were also in search of a dress of this kind, I have tried contacting its current owner, and I should hopefully be able to get it in time for the shoot!
I know that we are planning to get a vast variety of shots, so I am looking forward to us shooting and being able to piece this story together. My current plan is to make several variations of this piece, one following the initial plan our director has, and one following my own visualisation of the story (to which I feel is more abstract than we have down at the moment, and more perhaps combining all of our ideas. Nevertheless, I feel that there is going to be a lot of potential for the edit!
Being our producer as well, I have reserved the post-production period, being between Monday 4th October and Saturday the 10th October. This will allow me to work on feedback received from the picture viewings, and then pass it over to Abbie for sound in Pro Tools.
EDITED, 28TH, TUTORIAL UPDATE:
So drastic changes have occurred a few days before our shoot, but the third section will be completely different to what we initially envisioned! We were looking into booking a room and simulating the darkness/black room idea I mentioned in a previous post, BUT, luck is on our side, and we’ve now got a better and more productive idea to work with!
After our tutorial with Zoe, we came up with the idea of having Persephone reflected in the water, as a representation of her entrance into the other world, but instead of doing this exactly, we’re going to have Persephone covered in blood stood in the middle of a reservoir (which we should be checking out this Friday!). I’m really looking forward to seeing how it will turn out!
And a brief update on the dress while I’m here, we’re looking to find an alternative as sourcing the dress I mentioned above has unfortunately fallen through, but no bother, we still have time, and really the look of the dress doesn’t matter, just as long as it is white and long (also, this aligns with the idea of Persephone becoming Hades’ wife! White wedding dresses n’ all if you get what I mean!)
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