Giil TAWS » Motion Pictures http://blog.giiltaws.com cinema Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:13:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The one who makes it Rain http://blog.giiltaws.com/the-one-who-makes-it-rain-fiction/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/the-one-who-makes-it-rain-fiction/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:42:05 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=148 Synopsis
In a land far far away, there was a musician. His life was filled with sadness because each time he was playing his music the rain was falling. One day, an old woman told him that he could stop this by burying his instrument deep into the desert. The film tells the story of the musician’s journey.

Producer : Vera Roth
Director   : Giil TAWS
Director of the photography : Istvan Borbas

Shooting : 16mm
Theater print: BetaSP
Running time: 11 minutes
Film Gauge: 1:2.35

Click here to view the embedded video.

The movies was shot in Mongolia in the province of Karakolum. The director of the photography Istvan Borbas (Songs from the Second Floor,World of Glory). The conditions during the shooting   were  quite difficult conditions, the temperature ranged from 20 to -20 degrees with wind and snow, still, everything was finish on time.

Glass mat painting was used for special effects, the painter in charge was Mika.

The musician/actor Pugee was from the Karakolum area as well as 80 % of the Mongolia crew.


theone

Just before entering the desert

Above is first shot we took. It was a important step because we did not know how Pugee was going to react. Though there had been some tests  with him, it is always (quite naturally) difficult to forecast if a non professional actor is going to be in front of the camera. It went good, shooting conditions were great, with little with and blue sky.

theone-3

A tear along her cheek

A mysterious and powerful young model.  A clear and deep soul that arrived in our lives, and offered the film are something of a legend .

theone-4

She is waiting

This would be the heard of the movie. Clear, simple, transparent. Still shot,


]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/the-one-who-makes-it-rain-fiction/feed/ 0 Afréttur http://blog.giiltaws.com/afrettur/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/afrettur/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:33:24 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=140 Click here to view the embedded video.

Afréttur is a 52 minutes documentary shot in Iceland between 2004-2007. The film is in post-production and will be premier in Reykjavik, the 9th of October. The aim is to immersiv experience.

five

Larus and Palmi

As Hitchcock was stating ´better to start from a cliché than to arrive to one´. I should say that the best way to look at Afréttur would be to follow the flow of time and therefore to adopt a classical narrative script that would start some hours before the beginning of Afréttur and that would end 24 hours after. It is the essence of Afréttur  that implies to follow a certain path to build the documentary. In fact, Afréttur (called transhumance in French/English ) is of those phenomenon that witness nature as a whole, it shows this crucial notion: mankind is (a part of) nature just as sheep, dogs, horses. They are expressions of nature’s voice. Wind, sky, stones would then be the notes of this opera.

I would qualify this film as an immersive documentary (the term comes from the world of virtual reality ) which goal is to make the audience BE there, live the experience as if he or she was a shepherd. This does not mean that the film will not have a value as a document but it means that we decide that a part of the information will be transmitted through immersion experience and that being on a horse in the middle of the plain is an important fact in Afréttur.

The wind, the traveling on a horse or on a quad, all sequences that are considered as immersive will articulate the film. This is to say that it will document the experience of being there rather than a piece describing Afréttur from the outside. There are many arguments in the favor of such a choice. An abstract one is sincerity. In fact, it is pointless to pretend to describe a phenomenon from the outside since you are always a part of it . By placing our view ‘inside’ we start with a path that should be right.
The second reason is that Afréttur is nature at work (men, sheep, dogs, horse but also wind, river, lava…) the result of hundreds of years of evolution, yet something of a prehistorical [3] activity (involving ancient feelings/instincts). So by immersion, we can aim at those instincts, which are present in the spectator and consequently establish a real link between what Afréttur is and the audience. We can add that buy trying to talk to those feelings with such modern means we reflect the notion of evolution and permanence.
The third reason, a pragmatic one, is that the shots made on horses and on quad are a large part of the material used for editing and that they describe with accuracy some part of Afréttur. We should also keep in mind that those are not stolen images since protagonists of the documentary know about the camera.
This said, it comes quickly to light that it is an obligation, in a first step, to get the spectator to be willing to get into the experience, secondly to keep him / her there during the length of the movie while describing Afréttur with as much precision as possible.
The first step, asks for a precise and didactic introduction:
· Environment and culture. Present the main protagonists (men but also animals), the main places so the spectator is a known universe and can focus on the experience.
· The program. Same intent, the introduction presents what is going to happens, why, when and where. We will follow this plan all along the movie.
· A soft start into the matter. We do not want to put them right away on a quad or on a horse.
For the second step, the main issue is I guess to keep the spectator’s interest and attention while allowing him to relax and enjoy the journey . Firstly by avoiding that he/she gets lost in the course of Afréttur. It implies to inform him on what is happening, why, on what is the time, the weather (cold, rain coming…), and for example where are the other members. Of course, a little feeling of being lost can be good. Secondly, to inform him about the ´big picture´ which mean about where in Afréttur we are situated. This central part is technical:  using the right processes on the right place at the right time which implies of course a good workflow as well as framework (a set of concepts and practices we decide to use).
When the journey comes to an end, the audience has to leave smoothly the universe that he entrusted his emotions to. Consequently it is a matter of respect to create a space at the end where feelings created by the movie can live softly lend .
As Hitchcock was stating ´better to start from a cliché than to arrive to one´. I should say that the best way to look at Afréttur would be to follow the flow of time and therefore to adopt a classical narrative script that would start some hours before the beginning of Afréttur and that would end 24 hours after. It is the essence of Afréttur  that implies to follow a certain path to build the documentary. In fact, Afréttur (called transhumance in French/English ) is of those phenomenon that witness nature as a whole, it shows this crucial notion: mankind is (a part of) nature just as sheep, dogs, horses. They are expressions of nature’s voice. Wind, sky, stones would then be the notes of this opera.
I would qualify this film as an immersive documentary (the term comes from the world of virtual reality ) which goal is to make the audience BE there, live the experience as if he or she was a shepherd. This does not mean that the film will not have a value as a document but it means that we decide that a part of the information will be transmitted through immersion experience and that being on a horse in the middle of the plain is an important fact in Afréttur.
three
Horse eating during the last day
The wind, the traveling on a horse or on a quad, all sequences that are considered as immersive will articulate the film. This is to say that it will document the experience of being there rather than a piece describing Afréttur from the outside. There are many arguments in the favor of such a choice. An abstract one is sincerity. In fact, it is pointless to pretend to describe a phenomenon from the outside since you are always a part of it . By placing our view ‘inside’ we start with a path that should be right.
The second reason is that Afréttur is nature at work (men, sheep, dogs, horse but also wind, river, lava…) the result of hundreds of years of evolution, yet something of a prehistorical [3] activity (involving ancient feelings/instincts). So by immersion, we can aim at those instincts, which are present in the spectator and consequently establish a real link between what Afréttur is and the audience. We can add that buy trying to talk to those feelings with such modern means we reflect the notion of evolution and permanence.
The third reason, a pragmatic one, is that the shots made on horses and on quad are a large part of the material used for editing and that they describe with accuracy some part of Afréttur. We should also keep in mind that those are not stolen images since protagonists of the documentary know about the camera.
This said, it comes quickly to light that it is an obligation, in a first step, to get the spectator to be willing to get into the experience, secondly to keep him / her there during the length of the movie while describing Afréttur with as much precision as possible.
The first step, asks for a precise and didactic introduction:
  • Environment and culture. Present the main protagonists (men but also animals), the main places so the spectator is a known universe and can focus on the experience.
  • The program. Same intent, the introduction presents what is going to happens, why, when and where. We will follow this plan all along the movie.
  • A soft start into the matter. We do not want to put them right away on a quad or on a horse.
six

Palmi riding norh

For the second step, the main issue is I guess to keep the spectator’s interest and attention while allowing him to relax and enjoy the journey . Firstly by avoiding that he/she gets lost in the course of Afréttur. It implies to inform him on what is happening, why, on what is the time, the weather (cold, rain coming…), and for example where are the other members. Of course, a little feeling of being lost can be good. Secondly, to inform him about the ´big picture´ which mean about where in Afréttur we are situated. This central part is technical:  using the right processes on the right place at the right time which implies of course a good workflow as well as framework (a set of concepts and practices we decide to use).
When the journey comes to an end, the audience has to leave smoothly the universe that he entrusted his emotions to. Consequently it is a matter of respect to create a space at the end where feelings created by the movie can live softly lend .
one

Crossing the river

The essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity.
Definition of transhumance : seasonal migration of livestock to summer pastures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_digital_environment

Moreover, see quantum mechanics : the more you try to observe a phenomenon ‘closely’ the more you disturb it. It is therefor better to postulate from the beginning that you are a part of it.
Birth of agriculture -10 000 BC.
This is clearly for me the time where farmers draft the sheep in the réttir. This is a great opportunity to get connected to reality again.

By realistic we mean as descriptive point of view. Shots that describ what is happening.

]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/afrettur/feed/ 0 (Lundi) http://blog.giiltaws.com/lundi/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/lundi/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:01:43 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=206

Click here to view the embedded video.

The writing the script had to achieve a number of objectives that we imposed the subject.

Viewer

- The desire to create a film designed to generate dialogue, questions and therefore that would  not provide predetermined answers.
- The desire to write a story that would lay at the limit of inner expression and collective experiences.
- The need to echo the testimony of the young people that we gathered for the writing of the script.

Viewer-5

The desire to make this short film we were immediately confronted me with choices that had consequences in aesthetic terms :

- Choose color over black and white to avoid dramatic effects
- Selection of preferred downtime, hollow, empty moments, details and unimportant words, because it is their very insignificance, which is significant and it is in this universe deliberately minimalist that are the roots of the movie.
- Choose an important work of the soundtrack to anchor our history in the sensitivity of the characters.
- Choice of work several months before shooting with the non-professional actors, so they can bring their sensibility to the characters.

This film is about drugs addiction.

Viewer-4

It was designed to create dialogue with silence. What we wanted to do what to force the words out of the audience, to create such a emptyness that the reflex would be to fill it with words. And this worked. Everybody could feel waves of sounds  in the darkness : that was the poeple adjusting there positions, crossing their arms, their legs…and at the end of the movie after a time of adjustment, poeple where starting to talk.

Viewer-6

Producer : Giil TAWS – Point Ecoute Prévention

Film by : Giil TAWS – Jean-Marc Peyrefitte
Director   : Giil TAWS
Director of the photography : Lubomir Backchev

Original : 35 mm
Theater print: 35 mm
Running time: 16 minutes
Film Gauge: 1:1.85

]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/lundi/feed/ 0 Lóa http://blog.giiltaws.com/loa/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/loa/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:51:30 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=86 Synopsis
Ben is a outside in the dark a too large too heavy sailor bag on his shoulder, lonely and drunk. During a dream strange dream where he is taller, stronger, smarter, he meets an angel that gives him a flower. When he wakes up, he finds the flowers at his feet…

Producer – Director : Gil TAWS
Director of the photography : Lubomir Backchev

Original : Super 35 mm
Theater print: BetaSP
Running time: 11 minutes
Film Gauge: 1:2.35

Click here to view the embedded video.

The film is shot in Skaftahreppur a district of Iceland situated in the south of the islande. A part of the film was also shot in Reykjavik. Skaftahreppur is a special district since a large part of it is covered by lava that is originated by the Lakagigar eruption. This has greatly influenced the landscape but also the people living there and consequently the film and the shooting.

The director of the photography is Lubomir Backchev (La graine et le mulet, L’esquive).
The music is improvised by Skuli Sverrisson, recorded in New-York. Skuli Sverrisson is an Icelandic bass player. His music is profound and clear.
Both men have done a amazing work.

walking

walking in a dream

The seed of the movie can be found in one of the poems of the superfical theories:

“Sister of tears
Sister of angers,
you are the hidden beauty
of flowers.”

The entire poem (french) :

Pure exaltation
Exaltation pure
Clair, diffusant dans les airs
Le parfum des stellaires
Petite sœur,
De colère et de pleurs
Tu es la beauté
cachée
Des fleurs
Leur bonheur
Leur humeur,
Décalant le monde
Vers le gris et le bleu
Décalant le monde
De tes marées, supportant,
Les vent dominants
De ta voix
De ton chant
De ta soie
Du battement
De tes doigts
Sur les toits.

The old car

The old car

The kiss

The kiss

]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/loa/feed/ 0 The movie and the sword http://blog.giiltaws.com/the-movie-and-the-sword/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/the-movie-and-the-sword/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:52:41 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=79 On October the 8th, 2006

Dozens of movies have been made about the legendary Celtic sword “Excalibur” (Caledfwlch) who was offered to King Arthur by Marianne. Those movies have been transferred to 35 mm, DVD, VHS, DIVX, thousands and thousands of copies were made. You can find them in video rentals, supermarkets, along Peer-to-peer networks… Millions of souls have seen them but how many people have seen the sword?

Over the years so many people tried to make us believe that the value of a film was the number of people who saw it, the benefits it generated and the awards it had. Because cinema was not a craft but an industry. We were never told that our movies could be legends.

We could be adventurers, craftmen and kings at the same time.

Now dear readers, I would like to share with you one of my day dreams. I was a King of modern days. My kingdom was large and prosperous. I had made for my son, not the most beautiful sword but the most beautiful film. It was created to accompany him during life’s battles. When sadness would try to drown him into its darkness, the film would shine into him and light up the path to the shore. When ghosts of the past would come and try to enlarge his heart’s wounds, the film would be there to defeat this invisible army. It would act like a sword and a shield at the same time.

He would give the film to his son, who would give it to his son and the film would travel from generation to generation till it disappeared and became legend.

A movie can be a sword.

When I decided to have this movie created, I knew that it should be like a sword. A straight and double-edged movie which could cut at once the head of its owner’s doubts.

Long to be powerful but short enough to leave its owner with a necessary degree of freedom. The film should be light to allow speed and versatility of the owner spirit. It should be made of the finest material, for time to flow smooth over it.

When I opened my eyes, I realized two things:

Firstly that my film could be a sword for a king, that another one could be a beautiful dress, a shelter for the one spirit who suffers.

My film could be everything but a film.

Secondly, I realized that I could make a film for a single person, and a single person could watch it. It would not decrease its value, or alter its nature.

Excalibur was one and only one, owned by one and only one man.

My movie does not have to be seen by as many people as possible.

It does not have to make money or go to markets and get prices.

The reason is simple: because talking to one man or a million men is the same. Like the straw of grass contains the whole universe.

A single human being contains the whole humanity.

]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/the-movie-and-the-sword/feed/ 0 O´Chillin Konkern http://blog.giiltaws.com/o%c2%b4chillin-konkern/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/o%c2%b4chillin-konkern/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:42:23 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=314 The title O’Chillin Konkern is a built of three components :

  • To Chill which is what the directors were mostly interested in,
  • Konkern is the breton name of the city they spent there time in,
  • Chilli Con Carne is the name of the mexican dish.
main5

Lonely Wolf

main4bis

The Cows : a philosophy

main8

Beat editing

main1

The knight

main7

Back in time

main2

The visit

http://blog.giiltaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/chillin_interview.mp3

Directors   : Giil TAWS & Vidi Fridbertsson

Original : DV Cam
Theater print:DV Cam & DVD
Running time: 53 minutes
Film Gauge: 1:1.85

]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/o%c2%b4chillin-konkern/feed/ 0 Mon Banc http://blog.giiltaws.com/mon-banc-au-milieu-d%c2%b4un-parking/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/mon-banc-au-milieu-d%c2%b4un-parking/#comments Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:32:43 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=403 Movie co-directed with Jean-Marc Peyrefitte.



Actress : Muriel Benazeraf.

]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/mon-banc-au-milieu-d%c2%b4un-parking/feed/ 0 My eyes feel green http://blog.giiltaws.com/my-eyes-feel-green/ http://blog.giiltaws.com/my-eyes-feel-green/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:30:28 +0000 admin http://blog.giiltaws.com/?p=378 56255131_e1577498a5_o

My eyes feel green is the fourth chapter of the Rain Cycle.

415656294_9fb7194e20_o

First shots of the movie

]]> http://blog.giiltaws.com/my-eyes-feel-green/feed/ 0