The final film involves quite a lot of uncanny content. Firstly the abandoned nature of the doctor's office set relates to uncanniness as it gives the reminds one of the past. The office is shown as abandoned using, tattered wallpaper, rocks coming through the walls, growth of nature and a lot of dust. However, the office is still in fairly good shape, giving the viewer an idea as to how it looked or maybe worked when it was running, this eerie, almost nostalgic feeling is the main uncanny element of the set. Another way that the uncanny is represented is with the use of meat in jars. The meat relates to abjection (Kristeva) as it almost gives a living quality to the inanimate experiments that have taken place in the office. I think that the edit, unfortunately does not highlight the uncanny element of these experiments as well is could have done, but I think it comes across fairly well. The Geisha's head is another big uncanny element within the film. The head mounted on the wall, is still for the most part of the film, this relates to Jentsch's theory of the uncanny as the viewer does not know if it is alive or dead, a lot like Najjar's Bionic Angels. In the end the head comes a live letting out a piercing scream. This also relates again to Jentsch's theory of the uncanny, as the Geisha is just a head, therefore an inanimate object with living qualities.
I feel the film works well in creating the uncanny element. The use of the close cinematography creates a sense of claustrophobia which I feel works really well with the abandoned nature of the set. The close ups of certain parts of the set, for example the rocks poking through the walls and the plants growing, really allow the viewer to view the set as a whole, I feel this is more effective than showing the set in a wide angle. I think that the set is what make the film successful, a lot of effort and thought has gone into the creation of the abandoned nature of the set. For example, the sandpapered wallpaper glossed with tea and green paint, the dusty cabinets, the paper rocks poking through the walls and the plants growing all work together to make the set work. One problem we had was with the nature of DSLR cinematography having a shallow focal range. This created problems in the post production stage as when trying to do the green screen effects in After Effects, a blur effect had to be added to Geisha image when the background was out of focus, this wasn't ideal but I think it worked okay, it just felt strange at times. Another slight issue he had was with the lighting of the green screen within the set. The green screen element from the green screen studio works pretty well considering we used a 2D background image, lighting effects were used in After Effects to create a more 3D feel about the background, however if we were to do this again, we would film in a cave for the background image to create a more realistic feeling about the cave.
Another minor problem we had was that we nailed the on-set green screen to the set behind the 'window frame', this caused shadow on the green screen, causing problems again at the post production stage, looking back we should have nailed it to the front of the 'window frame' to stop shadows being formed on the screen. Another problem with the set is that, when we filmed the 'entry cupboard' being opened a bit of behind the set was in shot, this wasn't massively noticeable however; if we were to do this again we would include another green screen behind the set to allow another cave background to be put onto the image.
My contribution to the project mainly consisted of the design and creation of the set. I also acted in the film, however I don't think this added much to the film as it didn't involve anything complex. I brought a lot of props to the set, which added a lot of the uncanny elements within the cabinets. A lot of the painting and wallpapering of the set was done by me which was part of the success of the film. On the day of the first shoot I helped with the lighting of the set which I believe created an eerie atmosphere as there were a lot of shadows created. Although I didn't contribute much to the post production element of the film, I feel I helped towards the final result by helping choose the backgrounds for the green screen scene with the cave and suggesting that we use a blur filter in certain shots to make the green screen element within the set look out of focus when the foreground was in focus. I also believe I helped construct a number of the shots within the shoots, by suggesting what we might need for coverage and what needed to be in shot at times, for example, in the shot when I climbed through the cabinet, I suggested that we hung the heart monitor papers over the cabinet instead of getting a separate shot of those, which might have disrupted the flow of the film.
My learning on this module has been extensive, it has ranged from the basics of after effects to a basic knowledge of woodwork. Firstly learning about the uncanny and the different ways of creating uncanny has been very interesting and worthwhile. This has been supported by a lot of guided research in to different art forms such as fine art, film and sound art and into psychological theories such as Freud and Jentsch. I feel my practical skills have been enhanced a lot on this module too, the woodwork workshops were greatly useful even as a refresher into basic joinery techniques. Also I have learnt a lot about creating certain effects with little money/resources. I feel that we were encouraged to be innovative with resources for example, we created a gloss for the wallpaper out of tea and green paint, which I think was very successful. I also feel that we were encouraged to be 'weird' in the design elements of our sets which also showed, mainly with the jars and bottles that we filled with different products; from kidneys, to coffee and vodka, to create visually interesting props and to create uncanny elements for the set. Although I didn't do any After Effects work for the final project I feel that I learnt a good amount of skills in that area. I learnt the capabilities of After Effects and how they can be used. I learnt how to green screen with film and how to do it properly and how to get the lighting right without shadows.
Overall, on this module my learning has greatly advanced by the mistakes made and how we overcame them and how we retrospectively looked at these mistakes in way of coming up with solutions afterwards. On the module I learnt a great deal of useful skills, particularly in the way of After Effects, not only did this give me a basic knowledge of the programme, it also gave me an idea about what sorts of things to do when setting up for a green screen shoot, such as avoiding shadows, a lot of camera movements and using a lens with a short focal range. The main thing that I would change if taking this module again though is, I would use a 3D background image for the green screening element to give the film a more realistic feel. I feel happy with the final result of this module and the vast learning that has taken place for me, I feel I have broadened my horizons of art during the research stage and throughout the design and making stages of the set building.
