Project Profile: “Traces”
An interview with student filmmakers on the creative process and IB Film.
“Traces” was one of the most unique student films produced by Stanton students for 2015 assessment cycle. An art-house homage showcasing visual and auditory influences rooted in the auteur styles of both Kubrick and Lynch — “Traces” is at turns mysterious, troubling and evocative. In our first student / alum profile some of the team behind the film (Will C. and Momin H.) reflect on their experiences.
JA: What was your movie about? Why did you choose this subject matter, techniques, themes etc?
MC: Our movie is an art film of sorts that explores the various forms of entrapment in our society. We originally didn’t choose this as our topic of interest instead we favored a film noir of the same theme but after peer review we realized our original concept was too shallow.
So upon review of the already taken footage we discovered that we could still capture the stifling atmosphere of the original narrative but take a more direct approach to its theme. We chose this theme in part because we are all fans of films that highlight the darker but absolute truths about society.
Post-Structuralist films such as Requiem For A Dream [and] Mr. Nobody served as our primary influences because they left us with a lasting impression.
They singlehandedly deconstructed and reconstructed concepts and understanding of drug addiction and the idea of choices which is what we aimed to do with the theme of entrapment.
JA: Reflect a little bit on the planning and pre-production process. What worked and didn’t work for you? What would you do differently?
WC: In terms of planning, because we were an art film with no dialogue it wasn’t that difficult. Our primary concern was figuring out what type of shots we were going to use.
A lot of planning on our part was actually just finding the inspiration for our various shots so that we could write it down. If we had an idea in our head of what we wanted to film, then figuring out the aspects of cinematography was easy, and writing it down was easier.
Our best shot would probably the infinite staircase loop. A lot of our inspiration was drawn from an Escher’s staircase painting which was hanging in Momin’s house. As we began planning out how we would visually capture the concept of an Escher’s staircase, so that it wouldn’t be confused for a regular staircase, it forced us to confront the details of the rest of the scene and the narrative.
We realized that a visual anchor such as the suitcase would show that Momin was forever trapped on the same set of stairs. As he went up the stairs, no matter for how long, he would still pass by the same suitcase anchoring him to that point. So in our planning it didn’t matter if we started with a general concept, as long as we had something written down, we were eventually forced to face the details of the scene because it’s all linked together. The only thing that we probably could have planned more in advance for was lighting, because everyone takes that for granted and that’s probably the trickiest part.
MH: More than anything else, we were all just good friends when we came together and decided we wanted to be a team. As ludicrous as it may sound, I actually think that was the most significant aspect that led to our film’s overall success. The point is that you could form a group with the “smartest cookies in the class” but if you’re not familiar with each other and not aware of each others’ strengths and weaknesses and how best each one should contribute to the final product, then this “plan” of yours might just end up backfiring in the long run. As guys who could easily crack stupid jokes with each other, we were never afraid to offer each other criticism on any weak points the film may have had and that was crucial to keeping our film moving on the right track.
JA: How did the actual filming process go? What were the biggest “a-ha” moments? What do you wish you knew in advance?
WC: The actual filming process went very smoothly and it was probably the easiest part of the entire process. The lighting was the only difficulty we really had especially when filming at night.
Filming at night was hard to do because we wanted to preserve the general atmosphere of the environment without altering it so much that it became artificial.
However, I wish we knew the filming process is full of compromises because if we didn’t add some light then you couldn’t see what we were trying to shoot. So then deciding to experiment with the different light settings and then watching the footage was probably our big “a-ha” moments. But it was pretty sweet when we finally got what we wanted.
MH: In terms of setbacks, dealing with lighting was the trickiest bit. When we initially started creating footage for the film, we went into it with a “This’ll be easy. It’s just filming…” attitude, yet we were sadly mistaken. Multiple times, after taking footage for hours on end, we played back our footage on a computer only to realize that we had to reshoot entirely because of bad lighting. Of course, we could adjust how bright specific clips were, but a lot of them were too grainy when made brighter and too dark when made darker. If you don’t want to have to reshoot over and over like we had to, always keep lighting in the back of your mind while you’re shooting footage. In terms of accomplishments during post-production, I would definitely say recreating the Penrose Stairs in our own fashion through editing was one of our greatest feats; it came out exactly how we had initially planned it. Despite this, I actually even considered removing it at one point due to how much time it took up. But luckily, my team members assured me of its total awesomeness and I’m thankful that we all had each other’s backs every step of the way.
JA: Looking back, how would do you feel about the entire process?
WC: I’d do 10 of these over that IS any day lol.
JA: LOL Indeed.
Updated on 8/8/15
