Narrative video

Coax from Lia Mirkhabutdinova-Martin on Vimeo.

Poster for the narrative video.

Documentary location shoot

Phrase: This is pretty much as fun as I remember.

This was said sarcastically by an adult on a teeter-totter. Somehow it made me think of my younger days and what has changed since then and inspired this script.

The movie starts with trees swaying in the wind. The sound of wind. Grass. Grains of sand roll and stop at a hand laying on the sand. Close up of a young man’s face laying looking up. The face is still in deep thought. POV of looking up at the sky, trees, clouds. The sun is not very high in the sky.  Fingers running through the sand, pan to the right reveals part of a pajama. A wider shot shows a man lying in a sand box. A wider shot shows an empty playground. A woman is passing by with a child. The boy runs towards the playground but the woman intercepts him as she notices the man in the sand box. She seems to recognize him as she is not afraid. Concerned look on her face. She pulls out her cellphone and dials a number. The viewer cannot hear her until a closer shot.

Woman: -I am sure it is him. (Pause) In his pajamas…You are welcome.

The woman just stands there waiting. The man keeps staring into the sky. Soon a car pulls up. An elderly woman steps out. She is wearing dress clothes. She looks at the man in the sandbox but hesitates to go to him.  Instead she just looks at him unsure of what to do. Both women are still. More people from the street come and a small crowd gathers. Everyone whispers to each other. Close up of a little boy. He pulls on his mother’s dress.

Boy whispers as well as if afraid to be louder than the adults. His whisper is still very animated:-Mom! Mom! Mom? Who is he? I want to play! Can I go play?

 The mother shushes him. The boy gives up and now just waits for everything to be over impatiently. Another car pulls up. A young man gets out of the car and makes his way to the elderly woman. He is wearing a tux. She tells him something. She looks lost. The newly arrived man frowns and looks towards the sandbox. He hesitates and then starts walking.

The man in a tux sits inside the sandbox next to the pajama man. They both remain quite. The pajama man keeps looking at the sky. Seconds pass. Pajama man sits up and looks at the sand in his hand.

Pajama man:-You know, it looks just the same. But this sand, these trees…they feel different. (Pause) All used to make sense here. You and the rest…So happy, carefree and focused on what we wanted with no fear to stop us. When have things stopped being that clear?

Tux man looks into the distance.

Pajama man:-No doubt, no hesitation…

Long pause. A shot of the trees swaying.

Tux man:-What are you looking for here?

Pajama man:-I used to not be afraid to be happy.

Tux man:-And what makes you happy?

Pajama man:-She does.

Men look each other in the eyes. Then into the distance again. Seconds pass. A shot of the crowd behind them.

Tux man:-Are you quite done here? Everyone is waiting.

The tux man helps the pajama man up. They take a last look at the scenery and start towards the cars.

Phrases:
This is pretty much as fun as I remember.
And he just put his dog down.
Life is life.
Every time I call you all you have for me is bad news.
He has turned into an angry old man.

Documentary Subjects

Courtesy of South Bend Tribune

Subject # 1

Barbara Roehrs, “The Gray Witch”

Barbara is a well-known practicing gray witch with 45 years of experience. She has a successful business and is affiliated with WSJV TV, Fox 28, WSBT, U93. She lives in a haunted Raven House that has been visited by Paranormal Activity Investigators (www.ghost-investigators.com).

I would like to conduct an interview with Barbara in her house that is decorated in the spirit of Halloween. I would start by introducing her and then focus on her clientele, the kind of people that seek her assistance and their common concerns.

Subject #2

Amorena Ruffalo

Amorena is an IUSB graduate with a degree in Theater and Dance. She has Italian ancestry and her family is from Chicago. I would like to record her struggles and the advancement of her career in today’s economy and a small town such as South Bend. She has many part time positions teaching dance. Amorena and one of her friends have also established a business giving private dance lessons to children. Amorena has participated in two indy feature films and plans to move to California to chase her dreams.

Subject #3

James Hostetler

James is an independent game developer based out of South Bend. He has an associate degree in Fine Arts and Graphic design.  For my documentary I would like to follow him during the weekend of Ludum Dare, an accelerated video game development competition. At the beginning of the weekend the theme is announced and participants have 48 hours to create a video game. I would like to witness the birth of the concept and the further development. Often game makers do not sleep for the whole duration of the competition. Many collaborate and work as a team. It is a fun and exciting experience.

emotion video

 Fear.

emotion fear from Lia Mirkhabutdinova-Martin on Vimeo.
My first video .

fear

brainstorming, post 5

Linear, fiction, narrative.
Drama


Length: 10-15 min
Target audience: 25 and older
Tagline: Never too late...or When you reach the point of no return

Treatment:
Russia, 2008. Small town in Bashkortostan. The film documents struggles of a middle aged woman. Camera follows her usual day. The exposition is that she was born into a drinking family and is destined to relive the mistakes of her mother.  Although she does not drink alcohol herself, her husband does. She follows the flow of life without fighting for it and suppresses her feeling of hatred for her family and her lack of will to change. One night she has a usual quarrel with  her husband and leaves the house under the pretense of walking the dog. She is full of frustration. They are passing a bus stop. The dog gets agitated and barks. The woman notices a very drunk man moving in the snow under the bench. It is winter, -15F, windy. His jacket is not buttoned, his gloves and hat lay next to him in the snow. In his intoxication he speaks rubbish.Other people are passing by without stopping. She feels hatred for the man as he represents all the wrong things in her life. She starts walking again. After a while she stops and looks back. Something changes in her. She goes back to help him. The man does not want to accept her help. He struggles to get up himself and fails again. She sits him on the bench and he pushes her away. Curses at her. But she is obsessed with the man now. She needs to help him as if her life depended on it. With shaking hands she tries to dress him and she cries. He obviously has frostbite on his body. Someone has called an ambulance and she can hear the sirens. The paramedics come. She asks if he is going to be ok. They answer that he has severe frostbite that needs to be dealt with but he will likely survive. She cries again. She almost left him there. She almost gave up. She runs back home and hugs her intoxicated husband. It is suggested that maybe she found hope and the will to fight for life.

Comment: I based this story partially on real events. I have spoken to my family in Russia and was told the shocking story of the drunk man that had happened recently. Although I do not want to contribute to the stereotype of all Russians being drunks I must say that I encountered many while I lived there. Maybe that is why I do not consume alcohol.
Visual: Although I have pulled this image from the internet this is a typical Russian sight. In fact my grandma lives in the exact same building. We used to get pretty snowed in.

brainstorming, post 4

Linear, nonfiction, narrative.
Documentary


Length: 10-15 min
Target audience: teen to adult
Tagline: Learning to design: from research to final project.
Synopsis:
This documentary will follow a graphic designer student at IUSB. It will document the process of developing a product starting with research to the final version. I want to concentrate on common obstacles students come upon and their solutions, such as inspiration, research, tools, creating a design brief, working with an actual client, pricing their work, etc...I would like to record their suggestions to the program.

Visual: Here is an example from my sketchbook.

brainstorming, post 3

Nonlinear, fiction (nonfiction), non-narrative.
Documentary (mockumentary), comedy

(I have not decided whether to make this video fiction or nonfiction).
Length: 1-2 min
Target audience: teen to adult
Tagline: Open to interpretation
Treatment:
The first shot frames an abstract painting. Then the camera shows an art gallery from the point of view of the painting. It records different reactions visitors have to the painting. Their impressions are communicated through body language and conversation. Then again the shot of the painting. Then text on the screen quoting the artist with his thought on what the piece of art represents.
Visual:

Possible use of the IU gallery.

brainstorming, post 2

 These posts are still in progress until the day they are due. I will be coming back to edit throughout this week.

Linear, fiction, narrative.
Drama
Length: 3-5 min
Target audience: teens through 25.
Tagline:
The heart does not forget
Treatment:
This video follows a young sensitive girl about ten years old. The viewer can see her everyday life. It starts with how she wakes up in the morning with the sound of alarm. The first thing she does is cross off the day in the calendar. A couple of weeks are left till the day she circled with a red marker and drew a heart in it. Then she follows her normal morning routine. Packs her backpack, breakfast, short conversation with mom. She goes to school. During one of her classes she draws a card which she signs: "I miss you so much! Love, name." Short conversation with friends. Skip to dinner at home. At the dinner table she throws a longing look at one of the empty seats. Mother puts hand over hers and squeezes. Nighttime. Before turning her light off she pulls out a picture of her mother, a man, and herself. Everybody is smiling. Kisses the man. Lights off. The sound of alarm. It is morning and she wakes up. Goes and crosses off another day. Montage of her hand crossing off the rest of the days and stops at the red heart. The girl turns around. Mother asks her if she is ready. Girl nods. Skip to them getting out of the car. Camera pans after them and reveals a cemetery. Girl puts the card she made on one of the graves and says:"Happy birthday, daddy."A long shot of them standing there, hugging.

I imagine this video shot with the effect of a hand held video camera. A lot of mobile frames following the protagonist with a view over her shoulder, tracking.
The protagonist of this story is based on my daughter. This is pretty much what we go through every year on my late husband's birthday. I guess the moral is that it does not matter where he is, she still loves him as much.

Visual:

brainstorming, post 1

Post 1
Linear, fiction, narrative.
Length: 1-2 min
Target audience: adults 25 and older.
Tagline:
(?)The anguish of anticipation( I know that this slogan is cheesy but I honestly have not come up with a better on yet)
Treatment:
Camera pans in a dark closet and comes to a stop on a little girl sitting in the corner looking at the closet door. Rapid breathing. Close-up of the face. Girl biting her lips. Close-up of fidgeting hands. Zoom out, girl moves towards the door. POV shot
of the slits of the closet door and what can be seen behind it. Dark shape suddenly blocks the light outside the closet. Girl moves back into the corner. Close-up of her closing her eyes. Zoom out, door slowly opens. Suddenly another girl jumps in and yells: "Found you!" the closet is lit now and they both happily run out.
Update: I have reconsidered my idea a little bit. I think I suggest too much. So instead of a little girl I will have either a teenager or an adult female. The person will be obviously agitated, stressed without any hint as to why. I want the viewer to be intrigued by what caused such distress. The ending will be the same.

Bio

Hello. My name is Lia Mirkhabutdinova-Martin. I came to US ten years ago from Bashkortostan, Russia. My major is New Media with concentration in Graphic Design. I graduated from Ivy Tech with an Associate degree in Fine Arts in 2012. I am also working on my minor in Spanish.
I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver. After graduation I plan to work as a graphic designer doing print and web work, and as a web designer. I also enjoy making illustrations. I am interested in making media as opposed to art because I like the fast pace and turnover, and wider functionality of the media.
I am very fond of cinema and some of my favorite movies are The Great Gatsby and Requiem for a Dream.