Plz! Is this a documentary or not?

[lawriejaffa]

Hello there my friends - well I am a student at university, and we all had to submit a very simple synopsis / treatment and (light details) for prospective documentary projects.

As you will imagine they come in all kinds (among the students) some of them conventional talking heads/ research - others being andy warhol type artistic metaphor /documentaries etc



I was however humiliated when i presented this to lecturers - i was told in no way this document could be a documentary (mines being about 4 -5 mins length.) They said it was all -

1 complete nonsense (topic)
2 nobody would find it interesting

I was told that I 'obviously' do not know what a documentary is -

Perhaps I don't!!!!

However I would like to open this question to you guys - cos after watching Blue or Paul Holmes 'london' or the andy warhol documentary (1 shot of empire state building) i would like to know if im mad or if this really is in no way documenting!

So the post that follows is what they got to read

 

[lawriejaffa]

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SABAN​

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‘The fruit of love’s murder fuels our desire,​

Filling us with the Orgasms of the dead,​

Until we wake and realise, how sticky we are…’ ​

Lawrie Brewster

SYNOPSIS

Macabre voyeurism is the desire we have to see the forbidden, testing our tolerance of the uncanny, challenging our grasp of reality.
An old man states to an unseen person his belief in the transmission of occult consequence through film. There follows a series of series of uncanny – underground style video clips interspersed with arcane titles.
Text suddenly warns the audience that having read these titles they will be cursed if they read the last title about to appear. A five second countdown follows. A last warning appeals to the audience to close their eyes. Yet only darkness follows. The film’s experiment of superstition is complete.



TREATMENT

The film opens with no titles…

We see sitting in an empty grotty café (in a video reminiscent of VHS) an old man that speaks to someone unseen to us – as he answers questions. The old man speaks in a foreign accent – he is alien to us, yet his views are expressed in a scientific and matter of fact manner with such statements as.

‘Occultism is not in itself a religion or science, it is a means of utilising the esoteric to deliver a state of mind whereby physical effect can be induced by the mind – it is given other names, but occultism itself is a means to achieve this – of course there are others.

The idea is that this old man is speaking from an unedited interview. His questions (poorly heard) are thrown to him by the unseen speaker.

‘But could that state of mind be induced through imagery? For example In film?’

‘The belief of the occult is indifferent to the means by which it can effect an individual, on the contrary the effects can be recreated in film – if an emotional state required is recreated – this a test can show – in particular with occultism related to violent consequence.

These are examples of the almost abstract dialogue (which is brief) that introduces to the audience the idea that a film may be used to transmit a curse, which is achieved by occult means (not because of its occult nature) but because of another as yet misunderstood scientific reason.

We abruptly cut to a montage of disturbing video sequences that are interspersed with black screens with white titles bearing non-sensical arcane sounding words.

There will be a total of 4 words and 4 montages (each montage lasting approximately one minute.) They will follow the themes of ‘initiation’, ‘memory’, ‘loneliness’ and ‘horror’.

Visual representations will be in the style of old 8mm, 16mm films and VHS videos, of those reminiscent of underground films depicting violence, occult ceremony, and surrealism (such as extreme object close ups.) The nature of this footage will challenge an audience’s certainty of whether some clips are authentic or not. This uncertainty compromises the ability of the rational mind to counter superstition (for if the horror looks real so can – to the subconscious mind the occult consequences wrought later in the film.)

After the montages the film abruptly cuts to a text warning – that the title words are part of an incantation that will curse them. That if they do not close their eyes before the final word appears they will in fact suffer physical consequences.

A five second countdown warns the audience of the coming of this final word as it reaches 0 darkness follows.

The film has ended, and presumably audiences with eyes open will wait (some unnerved for the word that will never come) while others with eyes closed will await some warning that the film is actually ended.

Nonetheless the experiment is complete – the nature of superstitious and its authorative voice (lent by visual elements to induce a feeling of the uncanny in the audience) will have successfully tested the transfiguration of superstition in film.

The film ends with no credits.



PRODUCTION PLAN

My research has included several books and an interview with two individuals who wish to remain anonymous by name (however I mentioned the name of one of these individuals in the presentation!)

• Occultist

This candid elderly gentleman has given me help in crafting what could be an authentic occult ceremony for use in my film, (which I will cut back and forth from) and help with forming authentic sounding arcane words. The nature of violence as a means to induce feeling through visual representation is something he was uniquely informed to advise me on (in the occult context.) As a military interrogator for the British force occupying Aiden in the 1960s he was allowed to utilise his own means of effective (psychological) technique against detainees. This sparked his interest in occultism (and eastern philosophy.) To subject an audience into a belief of something irrational through rhetorical persuasion and uncertainty is something he practiced in the field – and may help on my film. This includes a variety of ‘sound’ utilised instruments that were also used to cause discomfort to detainees (which will inspire a stylised sound design for the film.)

• The Mad German

Also helpful albeit in a far more macabre fashion was his friend. A young German SS political attaché (for a Uboat) he signed up near the end of world war two only to get captured by British forces. He was heavily (and remains so) into the occultism typifying the Aryan ideology of his time. In an advisory capacity he too has provided advice through the nature of violent representation (in tandem with occultism).

• Professed Occult Texts

Easily obtainable I sought for inspiration a copy of the Anton LaVey ‘Satanic Bible’ and other occult texts (particularly with ceremonial instruction or graphic representations.) so that I might be inspired with my own fictional versions.

The interview will actually feature the genuine ‘Occultist’ (made to appear unrecognisable from his normal self.) He has already agreed to appear.

For the montage sequences a number of actors will step in to perform the mock ceremony. The violent and surreal acts to be depicted are as yet to be determined but will utilise subtle special effects (to age the video and give it a more underground appearance).

This film will be produced by a small crew – requiring approximately three days of production (and several more for editing.) The duration of this film should total approximately 4 – 5 minutes.
http://www.globalmediapro.com/av/attach/1161/pro5dc.jpg

 

[brianluce]

Just make you documentary. don't listen to those idiots. Let them make their save the whales documentaries.

 

[lawriejaffa]

Yep well cheers man, the thing is i know this isnt perfect but the point they made that shocked me was -

This is 100% not a documentary - is not in anyway or can be a documentary. It's almost the first time ive heard of a film that could not be classed as such hehe given how broad documentaries can be - but really they said no from this docu? do u guys think this is 100% not a documentary?