Late for train test footage

For this short I wanted to test filming in the style of Nagisa Oshima’s quasi documentary style as seen in the man who left his will on film. (https://archive.org/details/the.-man.-who.-left.-his.-will.-on.-film.-1970.-dvdrip.-xvi-d-wrd 2.02-2.37 I wanted to try and make something frenetic and stressful. I also wanted engage with oshima’s landscape theory (https://qattanfoundation.org/en/Films-Screening-1-2022) through filming my train journey however, I feel I did not engage with the concept in the political fashion as the theory is intended. Instead i wanted to make a point about the effect of being stuck in a routine and what that can lead to. The impetus for this was sartre’s theory of transcending ego and how it relates to filmaking as referenced by Isolde Standish in Politics, porn and protest. Sartre explains that the only time he truly feels purerly concious is when he is running late for a train. Through writing by Nagisa Oshima Standish posits that it is impossible for a film to escape it’s creator unless it is viewed by an audience then it can be interpreted by them. I found this idea deeply interesting especially in how it relates to my test footage as these have all been made on my own. I don’t think this concept relates to my final project but it was interesting to think about.

I used my phone to film so i could shoot discreetly and improv. For the audio i recorded trhe sound of the moving train and slowed it down to 30%. Though i thought this would be interesting several mic pops can be heard throughout. I wanted to include the sound at the end without any footage to make the viewer feel like they were still stuck on the train.

For my final film i’d like to incorporate this style in a more linear and ordered fashion in my final film to help ground the lead character when they are not interfacing with the room outside of time.