Question - accr. to Sartre

Если я существую, - существует ли все окружающие? 
Если существует все окружающее, - существую ли я?

If I exist - Does anyone around me exist as well?
If everyone around me exist - Then do I exist?

[found a really good phrase in my language, but when i try to translate it to english, somehow it doesnt come out right]

p.s. посмотреть  "эскапизм - стремление человека уйти от действительности в мир иллюзий."

HOW TO: Roadside Picnic - Last.

That's some simplified mapping of their last journey in the book.
First image consist the info about their path and the mention of phenomenons (their description can be found in previous post).
Second image is a very rough geometry of the route.

HOW TO: Roadside Picnic - First.

That's some simplified mapping of their 1st journey in the book.
First image consist all the information about their route and the phenomenons happening there.
Second image is just the geometry of the path.

Sketches from previous site visits.

As i said before, i want to use the area right next to the Grand Union Canal.
However, there's currently some repair works being done, which will finish close to the new year.
So in last videos, i used the location similar to the place i had in mind, in the Meanwhile Gardens.

The map of the place i wanted to use at first.

There was the canal, narrow bay with a bench, and a small park behind the fence. 

The sketch of the view to the right, as seen from that bench i mentioned before.

Soft curves, of the highway and the canal.

Diagram of space i used in posts "A small story" and "Second try at Narrative Filming"

Small diagram of space i used in the posts "Closer to final", 

"Closer experimentation", "Invade-intro" and "Grand Ebtrance"

Storyboard of the short stop-frame drawn animation i wanted to make.

Story of a small ghost-like creature, which appears from the crack in the ground 

in order to grant your wishes or celebrate your achievements of them.

HOW TO: Stalker.

That's some simplified mapping of their journey in the film.
I did not consider the actual environment, just the 'geometry' of the route, for the lack of better word.

HOW TO: Trajectory.

Due to the fact that my Zone can only be viewed through the camera (aka formed inside the shot),
i need to settle with a specific route through the space,
which will be made with the help of the devices, but their design comes later on.

I thought of 2 methods how to create the route:

1) following the same exact path they go in the book "Roadside Picnic" or in the film "Stalker"
[this means that my Zone's trajectory will be identical to the original, but set in the different site]

2) all the routes they use in the book and in the film together will be by some means intercepting with each other and thus forming a space, in which i will be placing my zone - aka length, angles and height
[this means that my new route will take place inside the shape formed by the original trajectories and in the space of the site]

Closer experimentation.

Same video, just tried few effects and colour - to see how it works with the video, how it changes and whats working the best.

(in the end i stick with the black and white version;
also quite like the rain one, though not sure about its purpose - acid rain?)

Original color.

Black and White; effect of  the rain

(because for some reason i couldnt catch the real rain during the time i spent at the site)

Sepia. Color Tint.

(create quite similar to each other effect)

Color Range / Leave Color.

(i kept the color of the ground/walk and similar to it;

thought about using only color green of the trees, 

but put it away until i have a good reason for focusing on those leaves and bushes.)

Closer to final.

This is close to how i imagined the video.

3 screens show the real-time footage, whilst the 4th show the first pov.
Video is black and white, to make accent on the form, not on the colours.

This is the still-camera shots. But the video was made to show the real-timeness of Zone, not yet including the trajectory of camera, which will come later on with the devices.

Inspiration: Storyboards and Models.

Inspiration:

I need to keep in mind - the staged performance needs a plot and a storyboard.

In order to understand the space, create a simple model map. (the photo of the Dogville)

Same goes for the structures.

The Butterfly Effect.

"The title refers to the butterfly effect, a popular hypothetical example of chaos theory which illustrates how small initial differences may lead to large unforeseen consequences over time.

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions, where a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks before.

Although the butterfly effect may appear to be an esoteric and unlikely behavior, it is exhibited by very simple systems: for example, a ball placed at the crest of a hill may roll into any of several valleys depending on, among other things, slight differences in initial position.

The butterfly effect is a common trope in fiction when presenting scenarios involving time travel and with hypotheses where one storyline diverges at the moment of a seemingly minor event resulting in two significantly different outcomes."


Another idea for the "borderline situations".
No need for the negative, as the present will be changed after each minor event.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

My project concept.

I'm creating a Zone, which can be described as a object, that only exists as long as it has the inhabitants.
The inhabitants are the main subject of my work.

According to Strugatsky, at the heart of Zone lies phenomenons - the artefacts from within the Earth.
Everyone knows about them, but they begin to exist - to appear - upon the entrance of human.
Because according to the nature of the Zone, humans consider to be alien, foreign existence.

The judgement is various, every person looks differently at the same location, they see it in another light and evaluate it based on their own beliefs.
Therefor the same place will become multiple zones for every human.

So the keywords will be "one and only", "variety", "difference."

According to the philosophy of existentialism, to realise themselves as "existence", a person must be in "borderline situation" - for example, in the face of death.

I need "actors", to create a situation within the Zone, something that is going on in the area, - and that will be captured by the camera. The video will be staged, considering the fact that I stir the action.
I need to consider: "what" will occur, which can be interpreted as "borderline situation" - that breaks  the person out of his comfort zone - such emotions as fear or panic or extreme curiosity.
This will be on the screen. For example: a dog barking at the man - 'a threat? threat! danger!' feeling creates such thoughts as "how to get out of here as soon as possible" and "I will not ever go there."

The meeting with the bullies, a fight, too, can be included as 'borderline'...
So it turns out that this scenario would be negative. For stable prosperous society only this can considered "strange, foreign".
Well, as good as a solar radiation, or the city collapse, or a weather cataclysm - such as snow in Italy, when all the car movement has stopped, because they didnt use the winter tires (they dont have it at all, in principle).

Existentialism. J-P Sartre.

Existence precedes essence

A central proposition of existentialism is that existence precedes essence, which means that the most important consideration for the individual is the fact that he or she is an individual—an independently acting and responsible conscious being ("existence")—rather than what labels, roles, stereotypes, definitions, or other preconceived categories the individual fits ("essence"). The actual life of the individual is what constitutes what could be called his or her "true essence" instead of there being an arbitrarily attributed essence used by others to define him or her. Thus, human beings, through their own consciousness, create their own values and determine a meaning to their life.

It is often claimed in this context that a person defines himself or herself, which is often perceived as stating that they can wish to be something—anything, a bird, for instance—and then be it. According to most existentialist philosophers, however, this would constitute an inauthentic existence. Instead, the phrase should be taken to say that the person is (1) defined only insofar as he or she acts and (2) that he or she is responsible for his or her actions. For example, someone who acts cruelly towards other people is, by that act, defined as a cruel person. Furthermore, by this action of cruelty, such persons are themselves responsible for their new identity (a cruel person). This is as opposed to their genes, or 'human nature', bearing the blame.

As Sartre writes in his work Existentialism is a Humanism: "...man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world – and defines himself afterwards." Of course, the more positive, therapeutic aspect of this is also implied: A person can choose to act in a different way, and to be a good person instead of a cruel person. Here it is also clear that since humans can choose to be either cruel or good, they are, in fact, neither of these things essentially.

Inspiration: Tony Hill - Holding the Viewer.

[year 1993]

How can i share the personal experience with the viewer?
(can this be a question for my design.?)

A cinematic roller-coaster ride at the hands of a performer who is literally holding the viewer on the end of a pole. 
Swoop above his head on a rooftop then fall to his feet. 
Watch him strain to lift you up and swing you round. 
Balance precariously above his head as he hurries to get back before the magic wears off.

http://www.tonyhillfilms.com/films

Inspiration: Tony Hill - A Short History of the Wheel.

[year 1992]

An exercise in visual relativity in the form of a journey through space and time with the wheel. 
Starting with a primitive hand-drawn cart and moving through horsepower and machine age tractor and car to the ultimate wheeled transport, the bicycle.

What drew me to this video, was the same level of camera and the idea behind that amazing device. 

http://www.tonyhillfilms.com/films

Inspiration: Factory Fifteen - Golden Age, Simulation.

A short video, which describes what are those gold fountains in the "Somewhere."

Memory is a fleeting thing, often constructed with fragments of objects and places in a nonsensical arrangement in the mind. 

Golden Age - Simulation attempts to visualise this development of memory from the very abstract to the construction of whole environments in a single strand of memory (translated as one long camera shot).
The abstract concepts explored in this short, developed into a film about simulated reality, which can be seen in our project 'Golden Age - Somewhere'.

http://factoryfifteen.com/7936/151948/home/golden-age-the-simulation

I can imagine the way those forms can be shaped, when seen through the viewfinder from 3 positions.

In the intersections of the lines, overlapping and intertwining.

Inspiration: Factory Fifteen - GAMMA.

http://factoryfifteen.com/7936/434063/home/gamma

I'm keen on the way this film was made - from the footage to the montage. The slow pace of the old man talking leads us to the ugly truth of those people, left in the infected cities. 

I think what really got my attention were the voice of the movie and deliberate choice of locations, the same things that brought me in the first place to the Stalker.

Inspiration: Factory Fifteen - Golden Age, Somewhere.

Within 'Somewhere' We are transported to a time where the boundaries between what is real and what is simulated are blurred. 

Distance and time become as alien as the 'offline'.

The local becomes the global and the global becomes the local.

A truly 'glocolised' world. The singularity is near. 

http://factoryfifteen.com/7936/152396/home/golden-age-somewhere

I was interested in the beginning of this video.
What if those golden fountains were in reality the explosion, which comes when someone's wish was granted, as if to celebrate the 'dream-came-true' moment?

"Stalker".

And through the lashes, set before,

The dusk and gloomy flame of passion.

F. Tyutchev 

"I Love Your Dear Eyes..."

«Let it fulfill what was conceived. 

Let them believe. 

Let them laugh at their passions. 

Because what they call passion actually is not a spiritual energy, 

but just the friction between the soul and the outside world. 

And most importantly, let them believe in themselves. 

And they will become helpless, as a children. 

Because the weakness is great, when the power is negligible. 

When a person is born, he is weak and flexible. 

When he dies, he is firm and callous. 

When the tree grows, it is soft and supple. 

And when it is dry and hard, it dies. 

Induration and strength are satellites of death. 

Flexibility and weakness express the dew of being. 

Therefore, all that is incrusted will not win.»

Stalker, 1979

“Stalker” is the film, directed by A.Tarkovsky, with the screenplay was written by B. and A. Strugatsky, loosely based on their novel “Roadside Picnic”.

Through all his films, Tarkovsky always used the same technique when it comes to make footage and do the montage.

All his shots are famous for being taken as a one, long, single slip of time.

Only then, the director is adding extra narrative shots inside the original big one.

It was done as a meaning to save up the film reels back in Russia, and then it became a trademark of Tarkovsky.

In pic.50 we can only see the table with some objects standing on it. However, soon they begin shaking and sliding across the surface. And with the add of the sound of the train passing by, we get the image of a house, standing right next to the railway.

Very simple, and nothing excessive.

The travelling from the city into the mysterious Zone shocks the audience with the contrast between them.

The film starts in the sepia color theme, which is nothing new with Tarkovsky.

But when the characters enter the Zone, it’s as if the world comes back to life.

We are surrounded by wild nature that overtook the ruins of the previous civilization.

Everywhere you look is bright color, it’s almost as if you can smell the freshness of the grass and the water in the catacombs.

How it happened? What is this strange place?

The Zone is famous for it’s secret room, where you can find the gold sphere which will grant you your sacred wishes.

But at what coast? And what exactly the person will get?

This is for everyone to find out for themselves.

Again we see the repetition of the same pattern from his previous work.

Only the horse is substituted by the black dog. How did it get there when the Zone is desolated?

The icon and the coins in the water seem ironic. There is a belief I Russia, that in order to visit the same place again, you throw a coin into the fountain or any other source of water.

What did those people think? They threw coins into the Zone, when they came to seek theitr most sacred wishes. What more is there to wish for?

And the icon – Did they pray for the Zone not to harm them? The Zone does not follow the human rules. It has entirely different nature.

And again, Tarkovsky keeps the standard of his choice of the location. The visual power of them is so strong that it stays with you for a long time. Not need to re-watch the film – you already remember the places the characters visit. Only if you wish to hear again their dialogues, thich takes a whole new level comparing to the previous films.

Mostly because it does not have a single interpretation. Each person understands them in his own way.

P.s. Those are parts and quotes from my thesis, concerning only the film "Stalker".

Also some mentioning of his previous works.