iPhone project
Context and Research
Victoria Mapplebeck
Victoria Mapplebeck is a BAFTA award winning Director, artist and writer. She did a talk for the class showcasing her work, primarily her process creating 2 iPhone short films exploring her exspenice. I thought it was interesting to see how Victoria threads together the story with voice over, text and visuals all significant to her story. For example the ending scene of 160 Characters is set in a paddling pool where she found out the news that her son's father was moving to spain. And more broadly throughout the whole film the text messages are othenic messages from the time, making the film feel real and genuine. I found It inspiring to see how you can illustrate such a personal story without the assistance of expensive equipment. And made me realise the potential of the hours of old footage most people of our generation hold. In her film in which her son journeys to find his estranged father, Missed Call, she took advantage of the fact a phone camera is less intimidating to ask questions with than a heavy duty camera and with this managed to capture raw emotions in the moment. Another advantage Victoria talked about was how flexible shooting of phones can be, being able to shoot in public or in positions you would be unable to get with a large camera or crew. The themes of her work centralize family and identity. I learnt through her work that through harnessing personal experiences you can make a low budget production with a compelling narrative as we as humans are integrity by honesty and experience.
We were then set the task to make an autobiographical short using your smartphone as a starting point.
The brief
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Start: Explore your own digital archives both private and public.
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Create a short autobiographical film that brings your chosen story to life.
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You can use any content that already exists on your phone (e.g. photos, videos, text and snapchat conversations, emails etc)
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and/or Use your phone to shoot your film (can use apps, screen recordings etc).
LENGTH: 1 - 4 mins
EXPORT: Apple ProRes 422
H.264 (for blogs/web)
SAVE: Blogs, Server + Classrooms
DEADLINE: 10th December
Initial ideas
Filmmakers like Victoria will often use phone cameras to produce films for various reasons. I myself have made many films on phones and have found it sufficient in creating a quality film, I find the reduction in quality makes you have a filmmaker focus on the composition and lighting far more. A phone is also useful in capturing shots that a camera would be unable to capture because of the weight or damage of a camera, for instance in a short film I made in 2019 i attached a camera to the ceiling to get a bird eye view sequence, something that would have been much harder with an expensive, breakable camera.
I also looked at other films shot on phones. The most notable for me was Tangerine, a short film following a transgender sex worker who discovers her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her. The use of this in the film provides an air of brutalism as if presenting the uncut truth. Together with the unsteady, camera, amateur acting, and lighting Tangeie feels authentic and personal to the characters.
Another film I watched was ‘Searching’, a film whose content is entirely from a secondary screen, eg: text messages, webcam footage, or youtube videos. The use of this in the film is fascinating to watch, as you learn of the discoveries alongside the father, placing the audience in his shoes as the details of his daughter's disappearance are slowly revealed. Beautifully it paints the father's desperation through the webcam acting, the constant scanning of the internet, and text messages, while simultaneously painting Margo through old and found footage and drawing the binary between the father's perception of her and her reality.
I also was inspired by the cinematography of the winner of the Experimental
category film in the film festive Victoria began: Swan Lake performed in 27 bathtubs!. Layering the videos to create an asymmetrical pattern then treading it in with the music is beautiful and grand then parelied with the bath amtuer set up it creates a humorous tone. The genius of this ensemble is its filming - with each dividual able to capture the footage on their own without the need for assistance. I also took inspiration from abstract photography. For example in an image by Raf Simons, I was inspired by the layering of photos in different color tones.
Treatment
Production
I began the production process by drawing out a rough story board noting possible visuals to match the words of the poem.
I then listed all the footage I needed to film or find.
Film
- Train videos
- Train sounds
- Bathroom signs (photos)
- Film of PICTURE frames of me
- Cups of tea video
- videos of the moon
Stuff to find
- trains
- Sketch book video
- Pictures of me as a baby
- Pictures of me in Feb-April
- Toilet signs
- Sick written in art
- Pictures of me aged 5-7
- Pictures of me May-august
- A lot of pictures of art
- Pictures of me now
Collecting footage
I serched thourgth years of old photos collecting images of my youth for the Who am I? and who was I? sections of the film.
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Editing
I started by making the sequences of the "Who was I" collections. I then made a frame of the video with the text of the poem, this gave me a structure which I then worked in audio and visual elements to.
Final project
Evaluation
How did you respond to the brief and how did you develop your idea?
Our brief was to create a short 1-5 minute autobiographical film on our phones using found footage and recorded video/audio and other mediums to support the stroy. I responded to the brief by considering features of my identity and history which i deemed potentially could make a substantial narrative.
Deciding after deliberation to explore my anxiety, guilt and confusion after coming out as trans, balancing the reactions of others and my own internalised transphobia. To do this I would narratively followed a poem I wrote on a train in May, adding visuals and audio to fit the imagery of the words.
How did you use your iPhone as part of your filmmaking process?
Past the fact of finding the poem in my notes on my phone. I used my phone to record additional footage to support the narrative and capture the art used to flick past to fit the lines in the poem “never enough of an answer” and self portraits with “build a boy of discomfort and dissatisfaction”.
How did you make your film autobiographical and did you link this to your digital footprint? (If so, how?).
To explore my digital footprint through the film I utilised old photos and videos of my childhood. The first series of photos were of me aged 0-5, the next 6-9 and the last when I’m 15 in the last weeks before cutting my hair. You’ll notice the large gap between these sections which apart from sher embracement is due to the simple lack of photos, looking through my digital footprint there is a definite shift as I become less comfortable in front of the camera. The photos you do see of when I was 15 were taken on my laptop embarrassed by my own reflection, a funny contrast to the photos of the “who am I?” Sections of photos.
Did you feel your final edit is successful? What would you have done differently? How could you improve your work?
I don’t think my final edit was successful. I think it lacks a message or structure. To improve the final outcome I would use more footage from my phone to support the lyrics.