PRA Declassified

well after a few days incubation, today I was lucky enough to be part of what was a really satisfying and inspiring day at the filmlab.

Today was the day we saw the presentations by each of the groups about their particular projects. The presentations were aiming to encapsulate the essence of what the filmmakers want to achieve and both answer and ask questions set by the teams themselves.

To quote Bruce Springsteen, everyone felt the as if they were somewhat ‘Dancing in the Dark’ and didn’t quite know what to expect. It was a real thrill to watch the teams honesty and integrity on display and the hearts of the projects were laid out for all to see. No flashy powerpoint presentations but really simple, low-fi stuff that included filing laptop screens of youtube footage, filming actual processes taking part on stage, paintings and even a song performed.

It was such a great thing to witness and to have the chance to do ours was highly rewarding. Our project was about ‘stripping back’ animated film to the ‘truth’. I chose to do this by setting up a camera above a sketch pad which I then drew highly improvised and un-contrived and unplanned drawings of the characters from the story we are thinking of whilst playing Billy Joel’s ‘Just the way you are’. Using the most simplest techniques (not yet animation as such) of storytelling using just a pen and paper we were able to somehow touch on what kind of film we want to make.

The response was really pleasing and the group’s supportiveness was equally as powerful.

I can’t wait to see what happens next