Comparative Film Practices: Inspirations

Googie Architecture

Very early on in class out tutor introduced us too Googie Architecture. This one session would start a snowball effect that would lead me to coming up with the idea and themes for my film.

Googie was prominent from 1930 to 1965 and was based off the idea of the space-age. A bright and wonderful future filled with robot butlers, flying cars, and other such sci-fi imagery were represented in the designs of these building with their curved and unique structures.

Of course we don't live in that future. Some argue that it was blind optimism that led people to predict inventions that we were just simply way too far away from inventing, and eventually the designs were abandoned. Many of the original buildings still remain, either still mostly intact, converted into a more modern design, or they have left to run-down and decay.

When I looked at those pictures, it invoked thoughts of dystopia. A promised future lost to time and broken away. Then I thought about one of the things that invoked this imagery so well. I thought about the video game series "Fallout."

Fallout
The Fallout series focuses on a apocalyptic America as it attempts to rebuild itself after a devastating nuclear war. In this alternate reality, Nuclear energy led all power sources after the second world war and this also resulted in the consumption of natural resources far quicker, leading to devastating results. 

One of the key themes of this world is the use of fifties (especially Googie) designs as the future we were promised of robot butlers and hover cars actually came true. So, in turn, the designs and architecture lasted until the bombs dropped. However, even though googie led me down this train of though, I didn't think I could incorporate any building like this into my film due to them being limited, but I did keep the idea of dystopia.

I began to build my narrative around two key concepts, Nostalgia (which I'll talk about later) and dystopia. I used Fallout as a template and incorporated their use of the group "the Platters" into my film. 

Bethesda (game's developer) use the group's music in nearly all of the series debut trailers to invoke a sense of nostalgia and a time forgotten. Many of "the Platters" songs are slow and slightly upbeat, contrasting nicely with tore down building and radiated atmosphere. It's reminiscent of a time long forgotten but filled with those who want to cling onto it to escape from the present; which is one of the key themes of my film. I chose specifically to use "The Great Pretender" as it's about a man who pretends to be someone or somewhere he isn't. It fits well with the narrative as the main character is going through the same.

La Jetee
I've talked about this film a lot in another post, but I'll be tad more specific with it's inspirations here. There was just something about the bleakness of the world that the film created. It was an almost literal hell, with people having to live like rats because they killed their own world and made it uninhabitable.

The dystopian theme was there and that was one of the first things that caught my eye when I first saw the movie. Bear in my mind I had already been basing my film off of Fallout, but La Jetee quickly made me rethink my stance on this. The whole films use of lighting, how it emphasized shadows and shading was simply awesome. It made me want to incorporate those subtle elements and beautiful cinematography. Most key was the use of close-up's.

In fact, the entire tunnel scene that was made to show how dark and destroyed the world the main character resides in is, was also created as a homage to La Jetee and it's use of lighting and whispers in the catacomb scenes. I also used those whispers in that scene as they added heavily to the paranoia and fear of the main character.

Gas Mask Child
Now the Gas Mask has the obvious connection to nuclear fallout, or barren wastelands. There is always this creepy symbolism though. You cant see the person behind the mask, which gives the design an intimidating characteristic, and also a sinister one.

Doctor Who was one of my introductions to this idea. In this episode, whoever touched the gas mask child would grow a gas mack through their flesh and become a zombie like creature. The key factor is you cant see the eyes. Their blacked out, invisible to the naked eye. The character in my film has a similar thing, making him seem alien to us. However...

In key moments of the film, you can see the characters eyes. This is show his vulnerability in this key moments. He is no longer the most intimidating person in the scene. He is human, like us. He has flaws, he can be hurt and broken, something that the gas mask child cant be because he is no longer human.

Film
Finally, I want to talk about Nostalgia. That sensation that I always received when I watched any film shot traditional film. To me, even though I had never seen or lived in that moment before, I felt a want for that time gone by. It was so weird to feel that, so I started to relate it to other characters, and thus I created the character of "Old World Blues."

The whole basis of nostalgia in this piece is based off my feelings on old film. I hope that translated well.

Bibliography:
Film

• La Jetee. France: Chris Marker, 1966. video.

TV

• Doctor Who. England: Joe Ahearne, 2005. DVD.

Games

• Pagliarulo, Emil. Fallout 4. Rockville, Maryland. USA: Bethesda, 2015. Print.

Websites

• ArchDaily, (2011). Googie Architecture: Futurism Through Modernism. [online] Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/148641/googie-architecture-futurism-through-modernism [Accessed 26 Jan. 2016].
• Spaceagecity.com, (1998). Googie Architecture Online. [online] Available at: http://www.spaceagecity.com/googie/ [Accessed 8 Dec. 2016].