Cinema Mythica: Orphan Arianne's extraordinary adventure in the mysterious cinema by the sea. (English subtitles)

Richard Clarke Directors Statement 24.09.15

Talking about Early Cinema Film Techniques.

When looking at films by directors such as George Méliès or Charles Chaplin, the viewer may note that certain visual effects, such as vignettes, directional lighting and inter-titles, appear to be intentional early cinema filmmaking techniques. Other effects, such as flickering, film damage and degradation appear less intentional, due to a variety of film quality, projection standards and the natural aging process of cellular film. But whatever their causes these effects, to the modern viewer, collectively represent the visual techniques of the early film genre.

As a modern filmmaker, I am interested in exploring the notion of whether I can use modern technology to create these effects in a contemporary visual style. Not as a recreation of early cinema film, but as a modern film incorporating these techniques in a way that appeals to modern audiences.

I decided to do this by making a sequential sixteen-minute film that embeds and develops techniques throughout the whole production process, from screenplay to on-set lighting and direction, from placement of sets in mise-en-scenes to the final stages of editing.
For the screenplay I aimed to write a short film exploring the theme of loss and reclamation of identity and family, using period design, historic locations, fictitious characters and mythologised forms of nature.
I realised, however that this was not exclusively what I was investigating as a filmmaker, this was the story structure, not the paths of my technical exploration. This was an important delineation to make, because as a visual narrative synopsis the above description is correct, but essentially the film is a practical exploration of early cinema film techniques.

I can put this distinction into greater perspective using another well-known film as an example, Director Victor Fleming’s 1939 Film The Wizard of Oz. This early 20th Century American mid-west story describes a lost girl’s quest to find her way home and resolve personal family conflicts through a series of adventures in a magical land. Technically, however, it could be described as an exploration of new film production techniques known as Technicolor, using the film’s transition from black and white to full colour and back again as a showcase of newly developing colour film technology.

This distinction became important considering all the roles I needed to fulfil as an independent student filmmaker: Director; producer; editor; cinematographer; designer; writer; set and costume maker; actor; cameraman and technician.

Writing and investigating film techniques established a screenplay and visual style. Other influences on my work included the guerrilla style of direction and filming of Mike Figgis and Walter Murch’s editing Rule of Six; my preferred form of editing that places emotion as the most important element to capture on screen.

My mise-en-scenes aim to combine all the above elements. As well as incorporating theatrical staging, expressionist lighting and certain rules of cinematography, both conventional and broken, such as my manipulation of the two-shot, in order to help develop the visual narrative.