'Room 237'

Ok.... I’ve just been to see ‘Room 237’ a documentary about the underlying themes of ‘The Shining’. My first reaction was that this film along with all the underlying films is a major mind fu.... brain teaser.

It starts off by talking about how the Shining has the underlying theme of the Holocaust in 1942, fair enough in my eyes. The type writer is a German brand that shows the symbol of an eagle the symbol of the Nazis, then throughout the hotel there are pictures and statues of the eagle, on people’s clothes etc.  Then how the number 42 keeps appearing, again on people’s clothes, and 42 cars in the car park at the beginning, the blood in the elevator represents the blood of the Jews and the joke of how the family brought too much luggage to the hotel which represents the luggage the Jews gave up and that represents their identities... with me so far??

Then it goes on to say how the film is also Kubrick’s confession and story of how he faked the Apollo moon landing. Evidence includes: the little boy wearing am Apollo 11 jumper and the carpet is the exact same layout as the Apollo launch station. Also the film tells the story of Kubrick’s secrecy from his wife while he was filming the ‘Landing’. In the shining the father writes and his wife works the hotel she has no idea what he is writing as he is very secretive and evasive of the subject and then she is horrified when she finds out. This can be said for the relationship between Kubrick and his wife. Then it goes deeper, the distance from earth to the moon is 237,000 miles, (237) the room in the film was apparently changed from the book which was 217, coincidence? Another interesting twist 2 x 3 x 7 = 42

Then it goes on further to compare the film to the myth of the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Jack represents the Minotaur and his son is the man who had to retrace his steps with a rope in order to escape as the little boy does in the MAZE at the end of the film... I believe it was Persious in the myth. Also the hotel itself is laid out in a very odd way. During the scenes where the little boy is seen riding his bike around the hotel the physical layout of the hotel is continuality wrong. The boy takes turns right and left and the things in the hotel such as the lobby appear on the left when they should be on the right even though we can see where they should be in relation to the boy and his route and elevator placements.... this is where it gets confusing without visual aids it’s hard to explain, either way the point is that the hotel is deliberately made to be confusing as to represent the labyrinth. The whole point of this is to show that the best way to move forward and survive is to retrace our steps and look at the past mistakes so we know where to go, also this is made clearer by flash backs of past events throughout the film. Another thing is that the maze wasn’t in the book it was added specifically for the film.

Other smaller ones are to do with Kubrick giving King the finger metaphorically. There is a scene where we see a red beetle car crushed by a lorry. In the book jack drove a red beetle car but in the film it’s yellow. This imagery is apparently to say “F you Stephen King this is my version”. There are some references to sexual imagery, the obvious being the naked woman in the bath to the more obscure pattern of the carpets which could be seen as a penis entering a vagina... (Sorry i couldn’t think of a subtle way to put that).

Overall my main reaction is “OH MY GOD” it’s hard to imagine that all this was thought of by one man or whether it is all just coincidence. But it has made me ponder the idea that there could be or should be more to films than just the pretty images we see on screen, perhaps i should start trying to consider underlying themes rather than the obvious one given to the audience. For my idea i think I will most definitely attempt an under lying theme, perhaps a message that i feel very strongly about....

Watch this space and see what happens.

The Stolen Child - William Butler Yeats

WHERE dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he's going,
The solemn-eyed:
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than he can understand.

this is the full version of the poem that was chanted by the fairies in the Torchwood episode 'Small Worlds' 

I think this is a very powerful poem set in the Scottish Highlands. My reading and understanding is that it is a story of the ‘fairy’ or ‘faery’ (old English spelling) that takes a human child away from its home to a magical, beautiful land. From the line “for the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand” suggests that the fairy takes the child away to protect it from the horrors of the world and that it promises that the child will live a happy life if it travels with the fairy.
Although this may suggest the best intentions, The title of the Poem and from research into fairies that hints that they abducted human children, could draw us to the conclusion that the fairy is tricking the child into travelling with it and the child is too young and naive to know any better. Looking at the poem in this light it is actually very haunting in that regard, in a way the poem twists meeting a fairy from being a magical moment to quite a scary one.

It is starting to appear that all the literary ideas of fairies being friendly might actually be false and that they were more dangerous than we might want to believe when we were children.

The Stolen child - William Butler Yeats - [online] last accessed 18th December on http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/816/

Fairy and Folklore research

Jacqueline Simpson and Steve roud. 2000.               Oxford dictionary of English folklore.                 Oxford university press.

(Mostly paraphrased)

Fairy

The European version of the fairy stems mainly from the Celtic areas of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. But has mainly been shown through literary representations, such as stories and plays. The term fairy is a rather loose word referring to a:

Non-human yet material beings with magical powers.

It is said that some had the ability to switch between visible and invisible at will. Some could even change shape, some could fly, and mainly they lived in natural areas such as forests, rivers and underground. Many were believed to be friendly and brought luck and good fortune to people. However there were some that believed these fairies to be pranksters and even minor demons that were a threat to passers, they were blames for causing many sicknesses and even stealing human babies.

This book states that fairies can be divided into two categories ‘social fairies’ that live in communities and groups and are usually friendly. While the second were the “bogey/ Bogart” type who often haunted open spaces. However there are those who would argue that certain apparitions termed as fairies are in fact completely separate species and that the overall generic term for the race is “elf”

The church insisted that all such creatures could only be demonic. But later the Christian church they were referenced them in a way that made them morally ambiguous, neither siding with God or Lucifer. In Cornwall they were believed to be a type of Angel:

“Too good for hell, but too bad for heaven”

So they were thrown to earth to live where they landed.
Many times people claiming they had unusually powers said they were given them by fairies.

Fairy land

Beliefs involving fairies often portray a world running very close to our own where fairies live, usually underground that humans cannot see or reach. Some humans could get there by accident or be invited or abducted. The fairy land is said to be a beautiful heaven like place.  

all the other books mentioned in my previous post turned out to be irrellevant to my research.

The information i have here is good, it confirms the use of evil fairies in the Torchwood episode and gives me the option of using evil fairies in my idea (when i get one) without it being a direct copy of this episode.

I am starting to think that i will set my idea in a wooded area or forest - this would allow me to incorperate fairies and maybe even other mythical/ folklorish creatures into my idea.

CPR woodwork session

In the last Session of creative project realisation, we did an introduction into the woodwork workshop. we were introduced to a few power and hand tools including: Power drill and jigsaw.
i really enjoyed this session and it has sparked a curiosity of mine and now i really want to try my hand in set building, design and prop making.

after the session i spoke with the workshop technician and he advised me on a book called "The Complete Manual of Woodworking- AlbertJackson"
I'm going to look into getting this book online as a reference for any future work i will be doing.

Next research stage

I have decided to continue looking into the idea of fairies. To start with i am going to look into fairies in history, hopefully i'll find out where the concept of fairies started and how to has developed.

To do this i have found some books which i think will help:

• Oxford dictionary of English Folklore - Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud
• Giants, Monsters and Dragons an Encyclopedia of Folklore, legend and myth - Carol Rose
• The Fairy Tale, the magic mirror of imagination - Steve Swann Jones 
• Explore Folklore - Bob Trubshaw
• Myth a very short introduction - Robert A. Segal

with these books i am hoping that at least one will lead me on the right lines to finding out where fairies started and how they developed in film and fantasy. 

lesson notes - role of producer

the role of a producer is:

• To turn story ideas into profitable cinematic entertainment and to convince others to share in their creative vision.

• The producer is often the first person to become involved in a project.

• Producers need an extensive knowledge of cinematic narrative and a thorough understanding of all the creative processes of filmmaking

• Producers are ultimately accountable for the success of a finished film. 

Things a producer should consider:

health and safety:

• risk assessments
• actors around equipment
• children - chaperones
• weapons - do you need experts? choreographers?
• animals - handlers
• generators - reliable sources, people trained to use them
• cost

 actors:

• most of the above
• Pay
• Warmth
• Food
• Shelter

Location:

• where is easily accessable?
• where is closer?
• where is most cost effective?
• does it look like it says in the script? if not... Does it have to? or can something be changed? e.g. lighting... script says jungle, could you use a forest? - think about the context of the location in the script. how important is it?
• public - have you told who you need to?

A producer always needs ti think of things in a legal sense as well. for example..... you want to film a public panic...

Q - is it better to hire extras or simply cause a public panic and film it?

A - Causing a public panic is illegal. you can put people at risk and you may get charged with: disruption of the peace, reckless endangerment of the public and if weapons are involved: carrying firearms with intent to cause fear. 

Another example. In 'Kes' the child had to be upset over a dead bird, so the director switched the live bird they had been using (which the child had become attached to) for a similar looking dead bird. the resulting performance from the child was very realistic. however... was this ethically correct?? 

Chapter – fantasy, childhood and entertainment

Further research into

Walters, J (2011)    Fantasy film a critical introduction.      Oxford: Bloomsbury publishing  

Chapter – fantasy, childhood and entertainment (Mostly Paraphrased)

A big strand of fantasy fiction films features a strong relationship with the concept of childhood. The image of childhood as been consistent throughout the history and development of the fantasy genre.

Cazy bazalgette and David Buckingham:
childhood is recognised as another world, one which we have all visited but can now only access through memories. To most adults the essence of childhood is somewhat mysterious and magical and we can only recapture it through our imagination.

This claim has particular power within the study of fantasy and childhood. The description of childhood being mysterious and magical implies that it is entirely unknowable and therefore an ungraspable concept to adults. So much so that the concept resides outside our conscious adult minds and therefore stays out of reach the more we strive to understand it or recapture it.

(This implies that childhood fantasies are only available to adults in an unconscious state... perhaps dreams?) - perhaps the concept of dreams needs to be looked at...