Artefact/Schematic Week 4
I've done a lot of work (in my opinion) so far, and I've been frustrated with how it hasn't really influenced the group much. I did a full schematic of the project in excel, with every scene, and while I think some people have used it, they've simplified it a lot in the final work. I had hoped that we'd keep all of the details on the schematic, and have more detailed headlines on top of that. I tried to make my own schematic on excel, but it was so ugly that it's not usable.
I also disagree on the format of our schematic, but I've been outvoted, so we're going with their idea. They want to style the schematic like a police board, and I disagree with that decision. I think that while there's a mystery/investigation in the story, not very much time is devoted to it, and there is a lot more focus on the plot elements of vigilantism, hacking, and personal dilemmas than the mystery. I don't think it totally misses the mark, but I think it's a bit of a missed opportunity. We're moving ahead though, and I think my influence on the schematic is mostly complete. Other members with more photo shop experience are putting it into a more visually pleasing (and/but simpler) format.
In terms of the Artefact, we started the day off with a lot of frustration and anger, but we reconciled a bit by the end of the day. I think there was some attachment to our own ideas in terms of our ideas for the artefact, including me. the group went for Becca's idea, which was to do the magazine covers of the Millennium magazine that Blomkvist worked at. The original idea was to have it show different parts of the story (I think), but I had problems with it, since the magazine doesn't play a large role in the story. Also, the main plot line, of Harriet's disappearance, doesn't actually go public at all, so there wasn't really much we could logically do. I objected to making magazines about the Harriet disappearance anyway, because I felt like it would be misinterpreting a core theme of the story. a lot of the film is about identity, familiarity, and double-lives, so it's important that the crimes of the Vanger's isn't revealed. Some things will stay hidden no matter what, like the true feelings behind the character's public persona. I wasn't convinced.
Then Becca clarified her idea. We had a long, difficult discussion about the idea, since I was concerned about missing the point of the story by making the magazine a more important part of it. So, she explained that she wanted to make the magazine more of a representation of the characters and themes of the story. At first I didn't understand, because it seemed like she wanted to just make fake interviews with the characters, which felt really cheesy. Her actual idea was to take the aesthetic and abstractions of the intro sequence, along with the magazine's style to abstractedly investigate each character's vice and fear. In other words, she wanted to use the magazine title as like a dream framing device. We'd show each character in an abstract way, be it Maya sculptures or picture landscapes, and get to the heart of what each leading character is about. these magazine covers aren't literally being published, they're representing a state of mind of the character, and an aspect of humanity.
By the way, my idea was to take the tattoo aesthetic from Salander and apply it to the different parts of Martin's victims. We would make different [fake] tattoos on people's bodies in real life, photograph them with differing levels of quality (as the murders get newer and newer over Martin's life), and put them up on a wall. Each photo would represent an unsolved murder, a personal nightmare come through. for example, Salander's tattoo representing her trauma and destruction by men, and eventually her vengeance. I thought it would be good to use these photos to show the scars of different characters, like Blomkvist's inability to connect and numerous affairs being shown as a tattooed window, lock, broken glass, or something like that. We could then go further, and burn some of the images. Those would have represented the solved cases, those that Blomkvist has burned up. Blomkvist's cigarette theme is relevant here, since I imagined the ashes as tobacco. I can understand why it wasn't used, but I think it's a bit of a shame.
I also disagree on the format of our schematic, but I've been outvoted, so we're going with their idea. They want to style the schematic like a police board, and I disagree with that decision. I think that while there's a mystery/investigation in the story, not very much time is devoted to it, and there is a lot more focus on the plot elements of vigilantism, hacking, and personal dilemmas than the mystery. I don't think it totally misses the mark, but I think it's a bit of a missed opportunity. We're moving ahead though, and I think my influence on the schematic is mostly complete. Other members with more photo shop experience are putting it into a more visually pleasing (and/but simpler) format.
In terms of the Artefact, we started the day off with a lot of frustration and anger, but we reconciled a bit by the end of the day. I think there was some attachment to our own ideas in terms of our ideas for the artefact, including me. the group went for Becca's idea, which was to do the magazine covers of the Millennium magazine that Blomkvist worked at. The original idea was to have it show different parts of the story (I think), but I had problems with it, since the magazine doesn't play a large role in the story. Also, the main plot line, of Harriet's disappearance, doesn't actually go public at all, so there wasn't really much we could logically do. I objected to making magazines about the Harriet disappearance anyway, because I felt like it would be misinterpreting a core theme of the story. a lot of the film is about identity, familiarity, and double-lives, so it's important that the crimes of the Vanger's isn't revealed. Some things will stay hidden no matter what, like the true feelings behind the character's public persona. I wasn't convinced.
Then Becca clarified her idea. We had a long, difficult discussion about the idea, since I was concerned about missing the point of the story by making the magazine a more important part of it. So, she explained that she wanted to make the magazine more of a representation of the characters and themes of the story. At first I didn't understand, because it seemed like she wanted to just make fake interviews with the characters, which felt really cheesy. Her actual idea was to take the aesthetic and abstractions of the intro sequence, along with the magazine's style to abstractedly investigate each character's vice and fear. In other words, she wanted to use the magazine title as like a dream framing device. We'd show each character in an abstract way, be it Maya sculptures or picture landscapes, and get to the heart of what each leading character is about. these magazine covers aren't literally being published, they're representing a state of mind of the character, and an aspect of humanity.
By the way, my idea was to take the tattoo aesthetic from Salander and apply it to the different parts of Martin's victims. We would make different [fake] tattoos on people's bodies in real life, photograph them with differing levels of quality (as the murders get newer and newer over Martin's life), and put them up on a wall. Each photo would represent an unsolved murder, a personal nightmare come through. for example, Salander's tattoo representing her trauma and destruction by men, and eventually her vengeance. I thought it would be good to use these photos to show the scars of different characters, like Blomkvist's inability to connect and numerous affairs being shown as a tattooed window, lock, broken glass, or something like that. We could then go further, and burn some of the images. Those would have represented the solved cases, those that Blomkvist has burned up. Blomkvist's cigarette theme is relevant here, since I imagined the ashes as tobacco. I can understand why it wasn't used, but I think it's a bit of a shame.
While I've been pretty demotivated lately, mostly because of friction in the team and the lack of solid course structure, I'm mostly satisfied that Becca and I solved some of the problems today. We'll continue working on the project this week.
I appreciate Becca's work a lot today, since she really listened to my concerns and we had a meaningful conversation about the project.
I appreciate Becca's work a lot today, since she really listened to my concerns and we had a meaningful conversation about the project.
Comments
Post a Comment