Norway has given the world a new Trier. Sweden now provides a new von.
Magnus von Horn has long movie Aftershocks – photographed by Oscar nominee Lukasz Zal ( Ida ) – created a tonal and stylistic tale of teen John and aftermath a drapsdom, flanked by a local communities lack of reconciliation capability. As Dagbladet s reviewer has undersigned interviews called the “decade best Scandinavian debut film so far.”
Rushprint caught up with the filmmaker about the camera as cat, Inspired by the French director Bruno Dumont – and Tom Hanks Forrest Gump .
Ten Commandments for camera
Before production authored director and photographer Decalogue for filming.
– When we sat and talked about how we were tackling, how we should relate to the story, created we on the basis of the discussions a number of points that were ten rules or Decalogue for the film. It was mostly to have them when we mess us onto the set, so we under stress should not make wrong decisions simply because we had too little time. It was very good to have, although we did not use it a hundred percent. It was our dogma, then, and rules were: 1) The picture frame is Johns prison; 2) The camera has no empathy, but is patient; 3) The more drama, the greater distance; 4) The camera is not synchronized with the character; 5) The camera is a cat, not a dog; 6) The camera feel more than character, or feel what the characters can not explain. And then there were some slightly different rules: 7) Build the world from different perspectives. Each character has their own truth and motives; 8) Work with contrasts. If the scene is full of action, shoot it as if we see paint dry; 9) Allow the action outside the picture frame to be more interesting than the action within the frame; 10) Mirror drama in the eyes of the passive spectator.
With the metaphor” the camera cat “means a cool, observational camera eye .
– If one imagines a dog, for example, if there is noise in a room, a kitchen in an apartment, then a dog very active. A dog is like a hand camera. It will be part of the movement. But a cat can disarm a part, sit in the window and just observe, almost as if it has no sympathy, or do not quite understand, or will not care. When the camera behaves so, put the audience in a situation where they feel they must do something. So it becomes a kind of feeling of conflict. The camera’s indifference must be offset by the public. There is a contrast, and then there will be as if you would say something or go into the scene. It provokes the audience a little, having to take a position and be active. But one will not be as passive as the camera is.
Father and sons
The film deals with the relationship between a father and his two sons. At one point in the film is a whole scene filmed from inside a car.
– This is one of the few scenes in the movie where the main character John is not with. Before we were filming the scene, we did not know quite how we should do it. We had an idea that there would be a “one shot”, but we had also planned mischief in it. But when we set up the camera and saw it here, so we think it worked really well. And then we saw a whole rehearsal, we understood that it here is “hur good as any.” As the protagonist was not with, it was all about keeping this distance. The scene was much stronger that we kept us at a distance. Here comes “The more drama, the greater distance» in.
Also at several other cases holding the camera in the proper distance.
– There is a fairly general things in the movie that we keeps a certain distance to all the characters. I think it has a lot to say for the public’s relationship with the film, that it does not put too many constraints on that “Here you should feel sympathy” or “This person should you like.” The camera does not tell you what to feel . This leaves more to the audience. It was important for this story, in that John comes back and has done something terrible, and could easily be regarded as less human than others. But he is a human being like everyone else. So therefore it was very important that the camera let the audience create the perception. It engages, and it is difficult to “sit in the car and could not do some things.” Many have told me afterwards that the film is so quiet that you’ll want to say something. There is something of the same with this image. Man sitting and watching and thinking that one will go in and save something.
During the scene undergoes father a big change.
– Ever since screenplay level acted this scene about a link between dad and John. The way he reacts to here, is perhaps something to compare with when John committed his murder. The danger is quite humiliated and lose self control. He begins to run, and he has no control over themselves. It is perhaps a kind of micro comparison with how John responds by humiliation or something similar, so grades are quite interesting. It was probably the most satisfying scene in the entire film to film, and it sat on the first take, I think. There was something very funny to make this scene: staging, all the extras, the cars, the distance. First you sit very close to her father in the car, and then he goes out of the car. He goes to one person and comes back as another. His emotional register in the beginning is very different than when he comes back to the car. I think that’s very strong. In the beginning he is calm and has a plan, but when he comes back, he’s completely lost.
Bruno Dumont and Forrest Gump
The camera is very inspired by Bruno Dumont’s films.
– I have not had such a long career yet but Bruno Dumont’s the filmmaker who has inspired me the most in recent times. And through Dumont might also Bresson. Dumont has made very strong impression on me, including choice of actors in casting, but primarily the camera and the way he talks. I am particularly inspired by him in my previous short films. But there are such moments in Aftershocks where daddy just standing and looking beyond the horizon, something Dumont also quite often employ. One thing I think is very strong, is when the audience knows what a character has been through, and so they see this face, and feel with in the context of the film. They see that this man can not formulate their feelings themselves, but the audience understands them and can virtually put words on them.
This gap between character and spectator creates a vacuum which the viewer must fill.
– The best comparison I have for it is Forrest Gump , and then more character than the camera settings. Why do people Forrest Gump ? Why works it in theaters? I think it has much to do with him feel incredibly much, but he does not have a language to talk about what he feels. He does not speak the same language as everyone else. But the public understands exactly what he feels, that these noble feelings. It is almost as if the audience can put it into words Forrest Gump can not even put into words. I have often tried me to use a similar method. And I also believe Dumont does, having characters who lack a language to describe their feelings, even if they still feel very much. I think these characters are very interesting. What distinguishes Forrest Gump pretty much from Bruno Dumont or my own film, is an idiom that requires much more of a spectacle. The viewer must invest something by being active in the story and create their own perception, otherwise I think you find it rather boring. But if you like the audience is ready to be active in the story, so the experience is very strong.
Aftershocks has premiered on December 4.
Portrait photo: Nicolás Villegas H
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