Creating the film 'The House' - Research and Development

Creating a film

Research:

As you may know we are in a full lockdown at the moment in the UK. We have been in and out of lockdown most of last year and with family isolating it has been impossible to visit and stay anywhere in Manchester.

My plan was to visit the site of the house and film, write, photograph the land, maybe dig for 'finds'  would to my practice. Unable to do this I had to think creatively. I wanted to create a film but I only had still images. My tutor Jonathan Whitehall recommended I watch a film called La Jetee by Chris Marker. It's a film made from black and white stills only. It creates great suspense and atmosphere even though there are no moving images. The images change throughout, sometimes suddenly, sometime gradual. There is a haunting audio which builds the suspense and a voice over narrating the story. The images used are a mix of caught moments and hidden underworld type images which seem more staged. The whole film keeps you captivated for 30 minutes and there is a twist as the end of the storyline. All this with still images made me feel creating a film about the House was possible, even without access to the site.

I also have also been watching the Small Axe films (2020) by Steve McQueen. He used a mixture of new and found footage which I feel really adds to the authenticity of the piece. The storylines were factual events from the past, such as the Mangrove 9, a protest in 1970 Notting Hill, London which led to a court case. These events were life altering for the Mangrove 9 even though they shone a light on the racism they faced from the police, they continued to face brutality even though they won the case. McQueen used footage of the Westway road being built which was happening at the time of the riot, this illustrated the changes and disruption which were going on in the area at the time. He combined this old film footage with new filming which gave the film authenticity and gave the viewer a more rounded understanding of the period.

Mark Leckey's work 'O Magic Power of Bleakness' (2019) also uses this tactic to great effect too. He created 3 films which you viewed sat under a motorway bridged (which was based on the M53 of his childhood home) recreated in Tate Britain. The films used found footage from different eras of his life. One from 1950s - 1960s from TVs, space exploration and sitcoms. One from 1970s - 80s northern soul dancing and moving onto 1990s rave culture. Some of the footage he re-created such as his bedsit or squat he lived in during his life, other parts were the opening credits to a seminal TV program called Threads. All of these memories were woven together by Leckey to create a narrative the viewer could either relate to or become part of their memory system.

Development:

Inspired by these artists I searched for images which would represent the visuals of the dreams I encounter. I found a film of a dilapidated Victorian house on the same land as 'The House' on Debdale Reservoir. The footage was taken by a group of Mancunian lads who break into buildings and film inside. Their most famous one being inside the underground market in central Manchester (the entrance was sealed up in the early 1990s and left as it was inside). I took stills of their footage because I imagine it was similar to my Grandad's house but it had been used for longer. I felt it would give an insight into how the house would slowly disintegrate if it had been left to rot rather than being pulled down. It made me think how the house is fading from the minds of the people who remember it and one day will never be remembered.

To create the audio I wrote a script which I narrated and I used a children's nursery rhyme called 'Who Killed Cock Robin'. This reminds me of my childhood, the 1970s and my grandparents. It's not the kind of rhyme you would teach children today. It's quite eerie and morbid! I asked my daughter to read the the rhyme. I actually wanted a northern accent and she does have a slight accent from me and her Father, although she's from London. I asked her to whisper it to add to the atmosphere of the film.

Please see below for the full film (approx 3 minutes long):

The final film is good considering I started with nothing and no ability to travel to the site. However, there are things I feel I could improve. I think the derelict house stills could be on screen for longer, so the viewer can work out what the image is showing. I used shots from the house I live in now which is also victorian. I'm not sure these images fit as they look too modern, polished and the lighting is so different. Maybe I just need to alter them with a filter.

I am also reconsidering the audio. The wispering nursery rhyme gives the film and house as eerie feel which is not really how I feel about the house and is maybe too cliched and obvious (spooky house narrative).