Blackouts and the 7th draft

Okay, so I have finished the new draft two weeks ago and what have I done since then? Nothing. I suppose I am preoccupied in finishing off the short, Reconciliation, but I also wanted some distance from it before I look at it again.
Then I realised how little I have said about it. I have discussed so many different problems and ideas, such as sound as particular narrative element, Claire's image and blackouts.
So the new draft incorporates 3 or 4 blackouts.
What do they mean? I struggle to explain them, or understand myself. Perhaps if I describe them...?
First, all of these come out of the narrative. That is, there is a logic to their placement. The first comes about as the camera pans across the rooftops and is blocked by...we don't know what, but it is black.
The second from last, and the longest blackout could be interpreted as Claire's POV, as she sits on a park bench speaking to Nick, with her eyes shut, and she hears...? So I could say that they are Claire's view (I am a long way from deciding if they will form a part of the other stories), or better, are a part of Claire, or an expression of Claire's. The makes sense especially in the final scene, after she has ended it with Nick. She scans the sky, looking for an opening, but finds nothing. Then there is the moment of recognition, the iconic look. And then the black. Here it might be that Claire has accepted the black as expression of her true self?
Then I think I contradict all of this by adding sound. I think I have already said that the blackouts here function differently than those I used in Reconciliation in that in the short film they were punctuation for the scene previous and the scene to follow. In Tidal Barrier - Claire, the blackouts are scenes themselves, and the sound is the content. The image I return to in each:

If the Thames could roar or rush, this is the sound it would make.

And this sound is again tied back to Claire and the story in two scenes.
When she takes up her new life at Natalie's she looks into every corner of the flat, even to the extent of climbing up on a ladder to see what is hidden on the top of the bookshelves. Here she feels a breeze coming in an open window, and inhales. What is that she can smell? Later, with Nick, she tries to convince him to experience it with her, and that the odour was the Thames. Nick is having none of it. The Thames is a long way off, and anyway it doesn't have it's own odour, or at least not a pleasant one.
So looking back at this, are the blackouts, the sound scape and Claire's image one and the same?

The seventh draft/the first draft?

I am not sure. I feel that I have begun again with the script, found so much clarity, it doesn't feel like the same script. And, most telling, it has taken me approximately two weeks to complete.
So it is done, I am ready to send it out. I am happy to make some revisions for clarity, but I believe that I will really find the film in the workshop, which will start in November. As the Reconciliation projection winds itself up (I have posted in my other blog about my reaction to the first cut of the sound design) I will begin the hunt for actors to take part.
My plan again: working with the actors, probably in my own flat for the most part, I will shoot the whole film on DV, edit it, and revise again (that is shooting), until I am happy. Then to film.

Robert Bresson at the NFT

If you have never seen a Robert Bresson film, or even if you have, don't miss out on the retrospective at the NFT this month.
http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/southbank/seasons/bresson/
What is amazing is the list of films and filmmakers who have been influenced by Bresson.

Revision begins

So I have booked myself off this weekend - I intend to call or speak to no one.
I need my head clear to rewrite the Tidal Barrier - Claire.
I began tonight and have been quite happy with my progress.
I have set a goal to finish the rewrites by the end of October.
Tonight, some great discoveries and re-discoveries.
In the workshop so long ago the actress Helen, pointed out a flaw (or not, depending on the choice) in the story: Natalie reports that Nick is obsessed with her, which leads Claire to find him so she may experience this kind of feeling. But when she is with him he is anything but obsessive. he is actually quite nice. This may be a choice, that he cannot become fixated upon Claire because of who she is.
The other choice, to rewrite the story so that his behaviour is obsessive, but turns out to be hollow and empty. A game. That his life is as empty as Claire's.
I have opted for the latter.

San Sebastian

Well here it is, yet another photo of one of the bays in San Sebastian. Just from this you can imagine this is a great location for a film festival, but I can also vouch for the food which was wonderful, and the drink was which was not only amazing but generous.











As for the films? As you can imagine at a festival with a programme to support 1st time directors and students as well, some of the films were very weak, some very good. I think that having a film here would be certainly be an accomplishment, and I would like to see if they might have an interest in Tidal Barrier. The only problem I can see is that this festival quite naturally focuses on Spanish-speaking cinema.

More photos:


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David, when he wasn't in the cinema with me, was taking photographs. He is after all, a photographer. And he was taken with the light.



















James, on the other hand, spent most of this time on the phone. He had a girlfriend in New York.
As for the script? I have begun the new draft.