Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World

I really enjoyed my time at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was such a great experience and I am really glad that we were given the opportunity to see a selection of films that would not typically be available to us.

The first film that I saw at the festival was Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World. I didn’t really have any idea what this film would be about. The synopsis, like many of the films within the catalogue, was very vague yet sounded interesting. However I found it hard not to judge each film on the still from the movie provided within the catalogue. The synopsis for each film were quite lengthy and so I felt myself being drawn to interesting images that were on display.

Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World had quite a captivating still and so I thought I would take a chance and go and see it. I have to say that I am extremely glad I took that chance as I found the film wonderful. Although some of our class thought that it was a little boring to start with and too slow I have to disagree. I really liked the pace, it felt realistic, not totally driven by narrative, it felt more realistic than a Hollywood blockbuster. The start of the film felt very true to life, and although very little actually happened I think that it was necessary to spend this time showing the characters and establishing the couples relationships. If this had not been done so successfully I am not sure that the audience would have been able to stick with the film without becoming frustrated with the protagonist Ollie and may have simply viewed him as a lost cause.

I also liked the fact that tiny details that were mentioned within act one played such significance within the rest of the film. I think that the audience would feel pleasure of the text if they pick up on these details such as the significance placed on the fridge or the colour purple. The death of Ollie’s girlfriend was also well portrayed, it did not seem as if it sprung up from nowhere simply to drive the story on. Once you found out that she had died of a brain tumor previous events and actions made more sense.

I suppose in some ways the film was slightly predictable, I could have predicted that Ollie’s girlfriend was going to die and he was going to struggle to deal with the death. However I really did like the way that his grieving was displayed, Ollie did not deal with his grief in a predictable way I think that is what made this film so interesting. It was totally a character driven as apposed to a goal orientated one.

I think the topic of mental illness was handled very well within this film. Ollie suffered from schizophrenia after the death of his girlfriend. The film felt very realistic to me, we watched this normal man slowly slip further and further away from what is typically considered normal. The topic was featured with great sensitivity this could be because the writer/director/producer Viv Fongenie has previously worked in the world of mental health and also made a documentary surrounding the topic. The actors portray as the character of Ollie was also really well done. The film really stuck a cord with me, I think that the message it portrayed was that so many people start out ‘normal’, they live their life being average and that something can happen, something terrible can happen that flips a switch deep within them and suddenly they are no longer viewed by the outside world as normal. So basically there is a very fine and delicate line between sanity and insanity and it does not take much to cross over it. This to me is quite frightening, it is something that made the film even more unique.

The film festival catalogue described ‘Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World’ as thoughtful and darkly funny. I think that this remark is very true. It was surprising how the film managed to be very sensitive and deep but also appear humorous. Watching it I felt that the audiences emotions were being toyed with. During one scene in the film, Ollie has pretty much hit rock bottom, he has isolated himself from his friends and lost his job and is having a one sided conversation with a kettle. At first sight this scene appears very funny as he is shouting and swearing at this kettle as though it is a real person, not just an inanimate object. However although I was laughing when I actually took a second to think about what I was laughing at it didn’t seem so funny, it actually felt wrong to be laughing at a man that was struggling so much and is clearly so mentally unstable. I think that it is a mark of a good film when the audience’s emotions and reaction to the film can be played with so much.

I am really glad that I saw this film. It was great to hear northern accents within a film and I think that this was a film that I would defiantly watch again. However I do think it is a shame that this film will most likely not be released at cinemas nation wide, it is just not mainstream enough. This has really made me consider how many great films must be out there that I miss, simply because they are not being screened at Cineworld.

The Root of Love - pre production

I have to say that I think the pre-production of my film is going very well. Last week we held auditions for the two lead actors in my film, playing the characters 'Ben' and 'Clementine'.

Auditions were held both at the RSAMD and in the Glasgow Acting Academy. I was very grateful for the fact that we had over 15 people audition for the film. It felt as though we really needed a large number of people as it was great to have more actors to choose between and a wider variety of acting styles.

I actually found it quite challenging to cast the roles. In my head I had a very clear view of who I wanted my characters to be and what I wanted them to look like. However when it came around to auditions I did not automatically spot an actor that fit my character brief (appearance wise anyway). This was disappointing because in my head I imagined that someone would come into the room and I would realise right away that this is the person i want to be in my film. To be honest I think that this was more of a glorified version of a casting process.

It was interesting however to see the range of actors that auditioned and the different takes they had on the characters. In the end I ended up finding four female actors and three male ones that I likes. I found it really helpful that the producers came to the auditions with me and Murray's experience of having auditioned himself was really valuable to me. I also found it useful that we recorded all of the auditions. This meant that if we were struggling to remember an actor or were questioning how good their performance we could simply watch it back to refresh our memories. It was also useful when comparing the actors.

We held call backs today which was really interesting. Unfortunately one of the male actors and one of the female actresses were unable to attend the callback. Although this was a shame it did mean that we were left with three actors auditioning for Clementine and three for Ben. This was perfect as it meant that we were able to see each of the girls audition with each of the boys. We got them to act out in pairs a few sections from the script and a little bit of improv.

In the end we were slightly torn between two girls and two boys. We also how consider not only who is the best actor and who's appearance is most suited to the character, but also how the actors would match and work together as a couple. After a little bit of deliberation I am sure that the right decision has been made. I am now really excited about shooting, but also slightly nervous as we only have less than a week to go. Needless to say I am enjoying the project and cant wait to see it come to life over the weekend.

Friday 4^th June

I am delighted by the fact that my script has been commissioned. I can’t wait to direct my film. Even though it is something that I have never done before, I am extremely excited about the task ahead. I am really grateful that I have been given the opportunity to direct as I think it is something I would really enjoy and would love to explore further. We start pre production today and I have my first meeting with Adam on Monday, I simply cannot wait to get started. I feel so enthused by the whole prospect of making my script come to life.

Reality TV

I really enjoyed the documentary that we watched in class today. The main focus of the program was the impact of reality TV and television on society. I found it very interesting to see how both individuals and society in general are affected by reality television and the celebrity culture that we live in.

It was shocking to see ordinary American parents pushing their six-year-old child into a career on television. Providing him with only one single aspiration; to be famous. This can become an unhealthy obsession. The young boys parents were driving him for hours on end to attend a ten-minute audition, thus pushing aside their child’s homework and education. In my opinion they also seemed to be dressing their child slightly inappropriately. The boy’s mother was taking inspiration from rappers styles when putting together her child’s outfits. He was dressed like a stereotypical gangster and was seen having his photograph taken with women in bikinis. This defiantly seemed inappropriate, as the little boy was only six years old.

The documentary also showed young children all over the world, each group of children were asked if they wanted to be famous when they grow up. The results showed that the majority of children in each country all over the world raised their hand to say that they wanted to be famous. This is partly because of the films and television programs that these children watch every day. These programs preach the message that anyone, no matter what their circumstances or amount of talent can be famous and achieve success. This is leading children to believe that fame is in their reach, especially when they are at such an impressionable age. These TV programs do not reflect aspirations that are achievable. I think that it is dangerous to show fame as the only tool that will lead to happiness and success within life.

The program that we watched really did open my eyes to many things that I had never been aware of before. For example I had know idea about the whole controversy with Live Aid and the fact that the marches in Edinburgh were under reported. I also did not know that the majority of the money promised still has not been delivered to the people in need in Africa.

Although I was aware of how the press worked it was still strange to se that in the Miss Britain competition they set out to create their own controversy. People actually staged their own fake protests just to gain publicity and space in the press and newspapers. This seemed extremely bizarre, but as they say any press is good press.

Overall I really enjoyed the documentary, I felt as though it provided me with a real insight into the powerful tool that is celebrities and reality television.

Shampoo

I enjoyed watching the film Shampoo. After watching the documentary about the 70's in class it made me really want to go out their and watch some of the films from the decade. Although Shampoo was set in the 60's it was actually made in 1975. When this occurs i think that films are typically made with a certain sense of retrospect. Often films looking back can appear idealised, but i do not think that this was typically the case with Shampoo.

I feel that the film managed to portray a real sense of what it was like in the 60's. Sexual liberation featured prominently within the movie and I can see how it may have appeared slightly shocking to a 70's audience. This film is defiantly aimed at the youth of America. This was the case with many films around this time. Old Hollywood was dying out, a new, fresh approach was taken, this involved fresh talent both on and of screen, resulting in a more youthful and modern audience.

I liked the fact that the film was given some social and political context by setting it during the political election in 68. I felt that it made the audience aware of the mood of America at the time, without focusing heavily on the politics and keeping the story focused on the characters and their intertwined relationships with one another.

Overall I did enjoy watching Shampoo, although it did come across as being slightly dated I feel that it defiantly faired better in time that some of the other movies from the 70's, such as Easy Rider for example which I watched last week. I think that the ending of Shampoo was interesting as it was not your typical Hollywood ending that an audience expects to see. It left me wanting more and it felt strange that none of the characters were left feeling happy at the end of the film.

Summary

Over the past few weeks we have been really busy. Thursday marked the deadline for the submission of our first year film scripts. I really enjoyed the process of writing a script and found that discussing my work with the rest of the class within Richards lessons proved to be really helpful. I think out of all our lessons I defiantly enjoy writing the most. I have started writing alot more outside of class, mostly short stories, but i am always thinking about ideas for short films. I am hoping that getting practice writing outside of class will have a positive effect on the quality of my work.

Another lesson that I am really enjoying is Adams content origination. At the moment we are working on two separate projects. The first is an individual project and the other is a task i am working on with Amelie. We were asked to come up with an idea for a mobile or web based program. I feel that we are working well as a team and our idea is progressing nicely. I think that the idea we have created would appeal to alot of people and I myself would want to watch the program if it was created.

After working on Candid Cabaret a couple of weeks ago I am looking forward to working on more projects. It was a really good experience filming the musical theatre performance and I am even though I haven't had the chance to work on any of the grad films I am looking forward to working on our end of year film in a couple of weeks time.

We have recently had our first couple of production lessons with Abigail. Before the classes I didn't think that I would really be interested in production. However I found out that the producer does many different roles, not just organising the finance. Taking this into account I think that there are some aspects of production that I might be interested in. When me, Chris and Kelsey were put in a group together I felt that we worked well as a team and got all of the tasks completed fairly quickly. I think these classes were exactly what we needed considering that we will be producing our own film in a couple of weeks. I also feel that the structure of these classes was very effective, I liked the fact that all our production lessons were grouped together in a period of three days. I think that it made the learning more intense and we were able to discover a lot about production in a short space of time.

Cathy Come Home

I found watching Cathy Come Home to be an extremely positive experience. I had heard a lot of good things about the television drama and had also watched small exerts before watching the program in class. I found the drama to be very powerful, it’s documentary feel made me even more invested in the characters and concerned about their situation.

I found the small scenes at the start of the program to be very useful as it helped to show the characters relationships with one another and it established their lives before having children. I do think however that it might have been beneficial if more time was spent on each of these scenes, possibly resulting in these scenes flowing together rather than being slightly fragmented and difficult to watch.

I felt that the acting within Cathy Come Home was excellent, the lead actors produced both an honest and realistic performance. Whist watching the program I felt as though I really wanted to help Cathy and her family as I really empathized with them. The scenes where Cathy and her children were torn apart were really heartbreaking. I think that the strong emotions within the program and the fact that people were able to relate to/ have their eyes open to the situation that Cathy and her family are facing are some of the key factors of the success of the program.

I find it amazing that television has the power to change or educate peoples view on a subject. Cathy Come Home in particular had a ground-breaking effect on society, it lead to the formation of the charity Shelter and even had the power to change the law. Given the power that television has I think it is important that people use this to their full advantage, much like Cathy Come Home does.