Open CallOpen Call: Rough Cuts
Kafka-2-Go (Rough Cut) (09:49)
Eric Shukovsky
A dream for your iPod. A visual accompaniment to three of Franz Kafka's Fragments, in which the narrator awakens on a tram, pursues a girl (or is he led?) through empty city streets and, finally rebuffed by her, finds himself alone, standing outside a cemetery. In the distance a freshly dug grave fascinates him, but he finds it difficult to find his way there by way of the endlessly winding paths. Suddenly, he finds himself standing before it, then sinking into it, he realizes the gravestone and the grave are for him. At which point he escapes back into sleep.
Style: This video will use bold and dynamic images that will pop out on the portable screen: visuals that both enhance and add an extra dimension to the spoken narrative of Kafka excerpts. It will be shot as a realistic documentary while emulating the modern myth-dream imagery of Cocteau's Orpheus. Expressionistic sound design will contrast the realism of the visuals, enhancing the dreamlike effect. The excerpts will be taken from Kafka Fragments: On The Tram, Rejection, and A Dream - all published in 1913. A modern translation from the German will be done specifically for this short.
Producer Biography:
Eric Shukovsky, Producer
Eric Shukovsky is a graduate of NYU Film School and until his recent move to the Boston area, has been an editor and shooter for MTV and VH1 in Los Angeles. His film Year Xero was shown in the Seattle Film Festival “Best Shorts of Fest” program. He also won the 26th Parfitt Memorial Photo Exhibition at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery in Portsmouth, N.H.
Eric Shukovsky, Producer
Eric Shukovsky is a graduate of NYU Film School and until his recent move to the Boston area, has been an editor and shooter for MTV and VH1 in Los Angeles. His film Year Xero was shown in the Seattle Film Festival “Best Shorts of Fest” program. He also won the 26th Parfitt Memorial Photo Exhibition at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery in Portsmouth, N.H.
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Posted by: brianretchless, February 22, 2008 - 12:16
mc said...
The selections and the readings are great. I like the more surreal shots—the skies, etc. Often, the imagery is a little bit more literal than it needs to be: the filmmaker mentions the hair at her temple, she brushes the hair at her temple; he mentions a freshly dug grave, we see a freshly dug grave. It might be nice to have there be more tension between what is being said and what we are seeing. Or to have the footage be more interpretation than illustration?
December 11, 2006 11:49:00 AM PST
talenti said...
I enjoyed the mood - very much so.
My overall, simple suggestion in terms of structure is this: the coda (tram shots and characters leaving) gives us time to reflect on what we've just seen. It might be good to have one or two of these moments interspersed as reflective pauses in the narration, perhaps between each of the dream/stories. The tram device would work well there too, linking, after all, the three stories together...
December 15, 2006 8:24:00 AM PST
ericshukovsky said...
Thanks Francesca for your excellent suggestions. Missing from the soundtrack in this cut (except once to begin the coda) are the tram announcements that run through the film sporadically – the idea is that we are always on the tram. I’m not sure if I want to intersperse tram shots between stories (though I’m going to see if it works) because I wanted the return to the tram with the girl still on it to be a surprise – I thought the tram announcements would be a subtle way of hinting at this without giving it away. In terms of using it to separate the stories my hope is for these 4 separate stories (a 4th story was added called “At Night” which is the one that starts with the moon/eye shot) to work as one continuous story as the man pursues the girl into the night where he is, after the kiss, left alone wandering through the streets and finally giving up his search (for this elusive girl) on a curb the next morning, she appears to him one last time and he is led by her into the cemetery.
December 15, 2006 10:23:00 AM PST
Anonymous mc said...
Thanks for the response. I understood that it was just a rough cut, and that there would be additional changes/tweaks/etc. I also know that it's hard to show a rough cut to people, because they often get distracted by things that are already slated to be changed.
I still wonder if there are any ways of creating more tension between what is being seen and what is being said-- either by stylizing the footage more, or including more shots that aren't directly referenced in the text? Or something else?
Overall, I think that the dream mood is coming through nicely.
December 18, 2006 8:49:00 AM PST
Anonymous sam pollard said...
Kafkas words aare fantastic. I think though that the visuals could be more exciting. They are presently just illustrating the words, be bold and more experimental.
January 20, 2007 4:23:00 AM PST
The selections and the readings are great. I like the more surreal shots—the skies, etc. Often, the imagery is a little bit more literal than it needs to be: the filmmaker mentions the hair at her temple, she brushes the hair at her temple; he mentions a freshly dug grave, we see a freshly dug grave. It might be nice to have there be more tension between what is being said and what we are seeing. Or to have the footage be more interpretation than illustration?
December 11, 2006 11:49:00 AM PST
talenti said...
I enjoyed the mood - very much so.
My overall, simple suggestion in terms of structure is this: the coda (tram shots and characters leaving) gives us time to reflect on what we've just seen. It might be good to have one or two of these moments interspersed as reflective pauses in the narration, perhaps between each of the dream/stories. The tram device would work well there too, linking, after all, the three stories together...
December 15, 2006 8:24:00 AM PST
ericshukovsky said...
Thanks Francesca for your excellent suggestions. Missing from the soundtrack in this cut (except once to begin the coda) are the tram announcements that run through the film sporadically – the idea is that we are always on the tram. I’m not sure if I want to intersperse tram shots between stories (though I’m going to see if it works) because I wanted the return to the tram with the girl still on it to be a surprise – I thought the tram announcements would be a subtle way of hinting at this without giving it away. In terms of using it to separate the stories my hope is for these 4 separate stories (a 4th story was added called “At Night” which is the one that starts with the moon/eye shot) to work as one continuous story as the man pursues the girl into the night where he is, after the kiss, left alone wandering through the streets and finally giving up his search (for this elusive girl) on a curb the next morning, she appears to him one last time and he is led by her into the cemetery.
December 15, 2006 10:23:00 AM PST
Anonymous mc said...
Thanks for the response. I understood that it was just a rough cut, and that there would be additional changes/tweaks/etc. I also know that it's hard to show a rough cut to people, because they often get distracted by things that are already slated to be changed.
I still wonder if there are any ways of creating more tension between what is being seen and what is being said-- either by stylizing the footage more, or including more shots that aren't directly referenced in the text? Or something else?
Overall, I think that the dream mood is coming through nicely.
December 18, 2006 8:49:00 AM PST
Anonymous sam pollard said...
Kafkas words aare fantastic. I think though that the visuals could be more exciting. They are presently just illustrating the words, be bold and more experimental.
January 20, 2007 4:23:00 AM PST