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'Still' by Georgia Hardinge
Synopsis: The film explores the repression of memories, and the way experiences and feelings can sometimes be locked away, then suddenly unleashed. I’m fascinated by the correlation between Klimt’s aesthetic and Freud’s theories of the inner workings of the mind. I will explore through the media of film Freud’s theories about the unconscious mind and the mechanism of Psychological repression. He postulated a cycle in which ideas are repressed, but remain in the mind, removed from consciousness yet operative, then reappear in consciousness under strained circumstances.
First scene : We see a woman in a beautiful robe. She is alone in a large room, and we emphasis her fragility and our intimacy with her using closeups of her hands, her bare feet, and her blinking eyes. We reinforce this feeling of solitude, using a long shots of her barefoot in a room, an inhospitable/industrial room, with desaturated colours and peeling paint. She walks towards a wooden box that is in front of her -The box itself stands out by being clean and expensive looking. She walks towards it, not entirely sure it is safe, and opens it. Inside she finds cloth, the feeling of it fascinates her, she concentrates on it's sound and texture. She holds the cloth up to her face and closes her eyes. Suddenly she opens them again and is underwater- we stay on her eye and pull back, to reveal her floating in space, cloth swirling and spinning around her. After convulsive movements, that are reversed so that it seems the cloth is leading her, she freezes, and the cloth obscures the camera. The final shot is of the model on the floor she is completely dry, but gradually drops of water appear on her skin, hair and clothes, until she is soaking wet. We discover that the female character in the film is battling with her repressed memories that only surface when she is in a state of deep unconsciousness. The pattern itself is made from oil on the surface of water. It is chaos, and always changing, but when the paper is placed on the oil, it is a frozen moment- a "memory" of the oil in its swirling chaos. Placing the cloth (and it's "memory" of the oil patterns) in a box and closing the lid, shows how a memory can be hidden, and locked away. However opening the lid and touching the material is a way of "engaging" with the memory, and unlocks the experience underwater. Ending with the final scene is a way of linking the subconscious elements of memory to the real world. She is dry, but the memory starts to affect her in the real world.
Director: Roman Rappak
Designer: Georgia Hardinge
Special Effects: Caroline Pires
Stylist: Aldene Johnson
Dop: Gareth Munden
Producer: Henry Lloyd-Baker
Make-up: Michelle Webb
Hair: Efi Davies
Editor and music: Roman Rappak
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