Berlinale Talent Campus 2005
At the House of World Cultures
Berlin, Germany
(12 to 17 February 2005)
Patrick and Jennifer
12 February 2005 (Saturday)
11:00 Reality and Fiction
Walter Salles, interviewed by Peter Cowie
A short documentary titled LIFE SOMEWHERE ELSE by Walter was screened. A very moving piece of work. He discussed about how fiction and documentary are very much intertwined with each other and that is what fascinates him. He also showed clips from CENTRAL STATION to further elaborate his points. He quoted someone who once said,
"The best fiction is ones that geared towards documentary and the best documentaries are the ones which moved towards fiction" He adds, "If you were to go right into the deepest core of one another, you would discover the existence of each other" He also spoke of his shooting process in his latest film called MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. A very interesting session with Walter Salles. Patrick had questions posed to Walter on a one to one basis, one question regarding his interest in directing the Japanese remake, DARK WATER and his response was his interest in the urban isolation and the supernatural aspect that is similar to the Brazilian folk lore that made him decided to take up the project.
12 February 2005 (Saturday)
11:00 Reality and Fiction
Walter Salles, interviewed by Peter Cowie
A short documentary titled LIFE SOMEWHERE ELSE by Walter was screened. A very moving piece of work. He discussed about how fiction and documentary are very much intertwined with each other and that is what fascinates him. He also showed clips from CENTRAL STATION to further elaborate his points. He quoted someone who once said,
"The best fiction is ones that geared towards documentary and the best documentaries are the ones which moved towards fiction" He adds, "If you were to go right into the deepest core of one another, you would discover the existence of each other" He also spoke of his shooting process in his latest film called MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. A very interesting session with Walter Salles. Patrick had questions posed to Walter on a one to one basis, one question regarding his interest in directing the Japanese remake, DARK WATER and his response was his interest in the urban isolation and the supernatural aspect that is similar to the Brazilian folk lore that made him decided to take up the project.14:00 Designing Your Future!
Ridley Scott talked about the importance of design in films with the moderator, Peter Cowie interjected how Ridley Scott's visual design in Alien and Bladerunner have influence the futuristic visual looks in movies today that deal with science fiction. Dante Ferreti discussed about his experience working with Federico Fellini, Paolo Pasolini and Martin Scorsese and his work is strongly grounded on historical films. Peter Schreyer discussed the importance of practical design in the volkswagon cars and staying on par with the ever advancing technology.
14:00 Storytelling and Cultural Identity
Meenakshi Shedde, Keith Cunningham, Amin Farzanefar, Cristian Mungiu, David Wingate and moderated by Dagmar Benke.
Two forms of storytelling - Aristotle thematic (which is the 3-act structure) and oriental. Must remember your own voice. What is it that is universal about screenwriting? We can't make an abstract movie, things have to be concrete - situations, locations, characters. Storytelling actually grows out of our human nature. Story is not an object, it is an energy, a transaction between filmmaker and audience.The quality of empathy is universal, the importance of compassion. The wave of tension is the pulse and the energy of storytelling.
17:00 Painting With The Camera: Christopher DoyleChristopher Doyle, interviewed by Neel Chaudhuri.
An interesting man who keeps on drinking beer during the two hour talk. He discussed about his works with Wong Kar Wai, Zhang Yi Mou ,and Peter Chan and how each one of them enriched his visual vocabularies. He brought up the mistakes that he learned and how he kept challenging himself to better himself. He is very funny and at the same time, philosophical about his life and his work.
14 February 2005 (Monday)
14:00 The Eternal Triangle
Anna Asp, Emi Wada and Christopher Doyle, moderated by Peter Cowie.
Three of them shared how each from different department of film production works towards making a film a success. Some clips from films which they worked in previously were shown for discussions. Anna Asp spoke of how sometimes it can be difficult to build sets which is realistic yet functional and aesthetically beautiful in a film. Emi Wada shares her experiences in making costumes in Akira Kurosawa's RAN and Zhang Yimou's HERO and how to basically colour coordinated with Christopher Doyle. Chris spoke about his experience as a cinematographer in shooting HERO and 2046, a film with Wong Kar Wei. The talk is insightful, informative and entertaining at the same time.
17:00 Sound and Image - Two Legs for Walking
Annabelle Pangborn, Stephen Deutsch and Larry Sider.
The soundtrack is an intentional sound which accompanies the image. Sound is then divided into literal and emotional sound. Literal encourages us to believe what we see. Emotional sound encourages us to feel something about what we see. Emotional sound then has music, which has emotional significance, and heightened FX, which bridges thinking and feeling. Music can then still be subdivided into Image integration, source, effect and devices.
14:00 The Eternal Triangle
Anna Asp, Emi Wada and Christopher Doyle, moderated by Peter Cowie.
Three of them shared how each from different department of film production works towards making a film a success. Some clips from films which they worked in previously were shown for discussions. Anna Asp spoke of how sometimes it can be difficult to build sets which is realistic yet functional and aesthetically beautiful in a film. Emi Wada shares her experiences in making costumes in Akira Kurosawa's RAN and Zhang Yimou's HERO and how to basically colour coordinated with Christopher Doyle. Chris spoke about his experience as a cinematographer in shooting HERO and 2046, a film with Wong Kar Wei. The talk is insightful, informative and entertaining at the same time.
17:00 Sound and Image - Two Legs for Walking
Annabelle Pangborn, Stephen Deutsch and Larry Sider.
The soundtrack is an intentional sound which accompanies the image. Sound is then divided into literal and emotional sound. Literal encourages us to believe what we see. Emotional sound encourages us to feel something about what we see. Emotional sound then has music, which has emotional significance, and heightened FX, which bridges thinking and feeling. Music can then still be subdivided into Image integration, source, effect and devices.
Clips were shown first without music and later with music to demonstrate how certain music work in certain ways. (mainly animation works from Europe - very interesting).
Meaning comes when you pull apart image and sound, though they compliment each other.
Space has to be created for audience's imagination. Same goes for music.
Sound should be a part of the montage.
Music / sound should give a psychological/ emotional weight to a film.
Conceptual resonance - the sound redefining the image, a new image is created, and is then redefining the sound and it goes on and on, a loop.
Music / sound should give a psychological/ emotional weight to a film.
Conceptual resonance - the sound redefining the image, a new image is created, and is then redefining the sound and it goes on and on, a loop.
15 February 2005 (Tuesday)
14:00 The Wizard Look: Creating the world of Harry Potter
Stuart Craig.
Stuart Craig, the production designer for the Harry Potter films basically shared with the audiences his experience of creating the special effects in the film. Coming from old school thoughts of production designs, he said it took him a while to embrace technology in after effects in films. A show reel of the process of CGI work in Harry Potter was shown and they were very interesting. Some art works like sketches, design concepts and illustrations for the films were also shown which were extremely impressive in terms of aesthetic as well as details, lines and creativity.
16 February 2005 (Wednesday)
14:00 Designing The End of The World
Roland Emmerich, interviewed by Peter Cowie.
Mr. Emmerich talked about his films and the usage of visual effects in his films. He shared about his experience working within the Hollywood system and how at times you can "cheat" the system enabling him to make the films that he wanted to make, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW.
14:00 The Birth of Cool
Asano Tadanobu, interviewed by Stephan Holl.
Asano's first feature TORI was screened. It consists of five short films, each inspired by his dreams he had. It is definitely a bizarre film and one that requires much thoughts and time to decipher. He spoke of his experience in making the film and film industry in Japan in general.
17:00 Composer and Director: Exploring the Collaboration
Mike Figgis & Walter Salles, interviewed by Peter Cowie
Walter Salles appeared as Antonio Pinto had to return to Brazil and it was an interesting talk about the balance of music in a film. Walter showed an earlier film of his and he talked about his collaboration with Antonio on the specific music that he wanted in the film. Mike Figgis showed LEAVING LAS VEGAS and discussed about the music that he composed in it. He talked about the decline of music in contemporary Hollywood films and how he despise working under the Hollywood system.
17 February 2005 (Thursday)10:00 Lesson in Instant Filmmaking
Mike Figgis.
A film was shown whereby all the participants in the EFA (European Film Academy) was somehow or someway manipulated into participating in the whole making of the film. It was a dynamic process of how people react among one another when is given to work in a pressure-cooker environment and when they were basically left with no concrete instruction from Mike Figgis, which supposedly the "lecturer" for this EFA master class. Interesting interplay of reality and fiction and how much truth can be distorted to remain sane. As for the look of the film, it is somehow "dogma", yet with a combination of melodrama being played out in the film. A tiring yet invigorating film to watch. Later, the whole cast and crew shared their experience in completing the film.
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