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"Lucid"
On 8/19/2015 at 2:52:41 PM, Carnotaur3 started the thread:
Okay, guys. Go easy on me with this film. I made it for the 48 Hour Film Festival in New York City this past summer... meaning the whole thing was thought up and put together in those 48 Hours. It's also pretty much experimental.
Have at it! Password is lucid123
Msg #1: On 8/21/2015 at 7:30:21 AM, Coprolite replied, saying:
I watched it twice and enjoyed it more the second time, once I knew what was going on. It's really impressive that you put this together in 48 hours! Did you have a vague idea of what you wanted to do before your 48 hours started or did you completely wing it? I bet the organizing all of this was a real challenge!
As far as criticisms, one thing that stuck out to me, is that the main character appears to reach her turning point of sorts (egg drop/pushing all the hands away/lifting the mask) before she fully comes to her senses and realizes she's just been raped. I think her emotional resolution would have made more sense if it came after waking up with the guy from the bar. Other than that I liked how you portrayed how she was internalizing her trauma.
Msg #2: On 8/21/2015 at 4:11:36 PM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
Thanks for viewing Coprolite!
The only idea we had before the challenge was accepted was that we wanted to do something with dreams. Other than that, every element you see was written the night the competition started. So, 7pm the thing starts. We had a final script by 3am that night. At 5am I had to get up and head to location. 6am we started shooting. That lasted till 11pm. Went to sleep, and woke up at 9am for editing. That lasted until 5pm, and Marissa transported the file and got there 8 minutes before deadline. By the way, I was a fucking zombie.
In regards to the resolution, her waking up and getting out of the rape was due to her personal realizations about herself. Transcendence and awareness is what saves her life.
Msg #3: On 8/26/2015 at 7:47:36 PM, Ostromite replied, saying:
I meant to watch this when you first posted it, but I was busy at the time (it was my birthday and everyone insisted on celebrating it for, like, three days). Anyway, I didn't like it at all, but I don't want to give too much criticism because, while I've never done the 48 Hour Film thing, I know how insane it is and it's impressive if you can even get the thing to look halfway professional.
So, bearing in mind that I do realize you simply didn't have time to work all this shit out, what really made me dislike it was that it treated sexual assault like a convenient narrative crisis around which to build a transformative dream experience, which felt cheap and easy. I don't see why she couldn't have been having some other kind of emotional crisis without there being an element of sexual danger. You can stick a rape into anything and it instantly becomes dramatic, but it felt like the rape was suddenly a symbol for Caryl's life and anxieties and how she needed to overcome them, and I found that borderline offensive. Also, if she was supposed to have been roofie'd (maybe she wasn't, but that's what it seemed like to me), the dreams that followed seemed too dramatically convenient and easily intelligible.
Again, I don't want to be overly negative, but I assumed you posted it because you would want honest feedback.
Msg #4: On 8/26/2015 at 10:22:17 PM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
So wait, you're saying that I just stuck it in but then you say it's in there because I was painting the rape as if it was totally analogous to her own life?
That would mean that the rape wasn't a convenient tool for me to use. My intention wasn't to use it out of convenience, I used it because it set up her complicated relationship with males in general. I say complicated, because it's not inherently one sided. I don't take your criticism personal, Ostro, but I am curious about why you're offended. That didn't seem so clear.
Replies: 5
Msg #5: On 8/26/2015 at 11:39:31 PM, Ostromite replied to Msg #4, saying:
The rape feels convenient to me because it automatically takes the drama to an intensity that it didn't really earn. I don't see why it had to be a rape instead of some other kind of crisis involving a man. The real focus of the film is Caryl's ambiguous emotions during her dream, but the frame story with the rape overshadows it and I don't think the dream parts are complex or subtle enough to justify including the rape element. I mean, I've had friends that were drugged and raped, but this film treats the situation like a metaphor for an existential crisis for the woman to overcome. I'm not actually offended by it, but it feels like you were using rape to hold up your story and make it provocative rather than dealing the psychology of a rape victim in a nuanced way. To use a phrase I don't normally like, it seems like it's trying to hard, as if the film isn't confident enough that it would be interesting without the rape.
Like I said, though, I realize the constraints you were under, and that you probably didn't intend it that way. The 48 Hour Film Festival basically forces people to publish "rough drafts" of their ideas, which is one reason I've never tried to participate in it. I'm just trying to tell you how I would have responded to this film if I didn't know how this was made or by whom.
EDIT: I guess what I'm saying is that, if you don't have time to be very careful about how you handle the material and can just barely get the project finished at all, I don't think you should make it about a rape.
Replies: 6
Msg #6: On 8/28/2015 at 3:31:25 PM, Carnotaur3 replied to Msg #5, saying:
The story isn't about a rape. It's about a woman going through an identity crisis and how she responds to certain situations. The rape is the inciting incident that starts the story, for sure. The dangers in her dream are much greater because it has nothing to do with the physical world. Finding herself through her dreams is what saves her life in the physical realm. So I'm playing with that dichotomy.
Replies: 7
Msg #7: On 8/28/2015 at 7:21:19 PM, Narrator replied to Msg #6, saying:
that's what ostro is saying. It's not about the rape, it's about this vague crisis she's having so there's no reason to force rape into the situation.
And he's right. the story isn't interesting without the rape. It's not really interesting with it either. It's just there for the spectacle, and doesn't actually add anything to this... "story"
Msg #8: On 8/28/2015 at 9:20:20 PM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
Narrator thinks rape is spectacle. Pass it on.
She's being taken advantage of by a male figure, and her past is full of imposing masculinity. That's part of the story and the journey.
Replies: 9
Msg #9: On 8/28/2015 at 10:41:37 PM, Narrator replied to Msg #8, saying:
lol A for effort chase. that should distract everyone from the fact that you treat it like a spectacle. Because you're an edgy filmmaker who doesn't follow the rules. The george rr martin of 8 minute short films thrown together in 2 days.
Replies: 11
Msg #10: On 8/29/2015 at 12:31:16 AM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
And your the person who would rather put a filmmaker down under the guise of feedback. Your spiteful and smug attitude doesn't help you. Why would someone listen to you when almost everytime you butt into a thread it's for reasons totally rotten with intention? You don't give a shit, you're just looking to pucker your ass up and start it.
Msg #11: On 8/29/2015 at 2:59:20 AM, Ostromite replied to Msg #9, saying:
There's no reason to be so fucking rude. Jesus.
Replies: 13
Msg #12: On 8/29/2015 at 3:06:28 AM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
He's a fucking troll, Ostro, don't waste your breath.
Msg #13: On 8/29/2015 at 5:00:04 AM, Narrator replied to Msg #11, saying:
yeah. Because it isn't rude to accuse me of thinking rape is a spectacle when he treats it as one.
Msg #14: On 8/29/2015 at 7:57:13 AM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
Maybe it's hard to see your point because there's no rape in the film. She didn't even get raped. She still has her clothes on. You think about that? Or are you too beholden to your own beliefs?
Replies: 15
Msg #15: On 8/29/2015 at 9:01:16 PM, Narrator replied to Msg #14, saying:
"She didn't even get raped. She still has her clothes on"
fucking lol
Msg #16: On 8/29/2015 at 9:29:24 PM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
You're laughing at the fact that you didn't pay attention to the actual film. The clothing is ripped off. The man is lying on the floor passed out because she knocked him out, first by sticking her high heel in his eye and then by whacking him after he hits her (in the blackout). It's in there. It wouldn't make sense for the guy to be passed out on the floor after having raped her with his eye bleeding out or hanging out of its socket.
Replies: 17
Msg #17: On 8/31/2015 at 1:45:09 AM, Narrator replied to Msg #16, saying:
I'm laughing because you don't understand that that changes nothing.
Msg #18: On 8/31/2015 at 2:18:07 AM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
I get it. Women can be raped with clothes.
What annoys me is that you think she was raped regardless when the filmmaker who made the film is telling you she wasn't raped and then proceed to say that I'm doing something out of spectacle.
Replies: 19
Msg #19: On 8/31/2015 at 3:27:52 AM, Narrator replied to Msg #18, saying:
regardless of whether or not she was actually raped/ penetrated changes nothing either. Something you're apparently unable to grasp. Privileged ignorance is bliss
Msg #20: On 8/31/2015 at 5:24:27 AM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
You're such a fearful person.
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