Phemia Demosthenous MSc Filmmaking & Media Arts

I came across an interview with artist filmmaker Kat Anderson from the Metal magazine website. In it, she speaks about her approach to her experimental work and the headspace she enters in order to work through her ideas and materialise them. I found it very helpful and inspiring for my own process.  Particularly this quote:  "I'm not thinking of an audience when I'm working, I am trying to listen very intently to a space, an event, an ancestor, a material, a dream or to myself, for what needs to come out and how. I suppose how could be the place where I meddle or intervene or edit, but I am still trying to work from a place of a received message and mission and let that guide me and recentre me." (Kat Anderson, 2024) Kat Anderson Interview

Throughout this course, I've found that writing my thoughts and ideas in a semi-poetical form has helped me elaborate my artistic ideas in more experimental ways. Whilst watching back the footage and listening to the conversation had with the artist a few days ago, I began writing about the main theme that kept coming up from watching her mark and cut pieces of fabric: the boundaries that construct and re-negotiate identity, and the 'inbetweenness' that pervades both Cyprus, in its political and geographic position, and its "post-colonial" (or better, neo-colonial) identity. Below is a series of writings and a mindmap I did, which helped me create the visual piece that was reflective of these ideas. 

 Experimenting with Footage from Recent Shoot The artist I spoke to during my recent shoot is currently working with textiles inspired from Ancient Cypriot heritage. After studying Cypriot archives and artefacts, she came up with the idea of bringing ancient elements of Cypriot heritage and integrating them within modern Cypriot society by taking ancient designs and putting them on women's two-piece swimsuits.  During the shoot, the artist talked me through the process of making one of her pieces, which I recorded on both cameras (one static wideshot and another handheld close-up). She first talked about the fabrics she uses, then marked them with removeable white pencil, before cutting and shaping them in order to sew the separate pieces together. The process of watching the artist construct a new piece was very self-reflexive, as throughout explaining her process she reflected on decisions she made and what could have been done differently in hindsight. Whilst watching the f...

 Stills The shoot with the Cypriot artist went extremely well and tied in with the themes of my project in a very interesting way, as the work of this artist also looks at comparing past and present as well as coalescing the two. I asked all the questions I had prepared and also came up with new questions during our conversation, mostly involving her work: how she comes up with her designs and why she makes certain creative decisions. What can be improved in future shoots: I should check and double-check the sound from both cameras in order to ensure it is being recorded in stereo and not just one ear. This is a mistake that happened with one of the two cameras that led to the audio only being heard from the left ear when wearing headphones. Although this was easily fixed in post-production, it should be prevented next time. The same issue also resulted in some footage not having any recorded sound at all. Although this footage was not crucial, and sound was recorded separately as...

 Pre-Shoot Study space: set-dressing - what stands out? what speaks to the artist's character? Available light sources - use natural light as much as possible Clarify with artist which materials and/or projects she is feeling to show and/or speak about Set-up both cameras and ensure they both have a purpose (i.e., different and impactful angles; different proximities to the artist, etc.) Test sound Shoot Start off with easy/more conversational questions (i.e., when was the last time you were home? do you miss it?) and follow the conversation's flow... if you give your own input/answers then it becomes a dialogue Ease into longer/more complex questions about language, changes across Cyprus and Cypriot identity, etc. Listen to her and allow her to trail off when the conversation asks for it Intervene when it feels natural - think about changing angles mid-shoot for more coverage Move onto filming her talk about her projects/materials; this could be handheld with DSLR and filmed o...

Video Call Conversation Over the weekend I aurally and visually recorded a conversation had over video-call with my mum about a dream I had of my late grandmother a couple months ago. The conversation was naturally emotional, but it also encouraged my mum to speak about her own dreams of my late grandmother, and the general feeling of longing something which is lost. Meeting with Tutor I had a meeting with my tutor after the weekend, during which I informed her how my shoots went. She asked me questions about the dream and the responses I got from my mum which brought in more ideas about films that invoke similar feelings through similar strategies of filmmaking, like first-person storytelling and first-person documentary. Here are some notes from the session. Inspirations and Decisions Rather than trying to filmically re-create the visuals of the dream, I want to attempt to re-create the feeling of being in the dream, and the mismatchedness of experiencing something past and present a...

Making an Interview more Conversational For my 5-minute excerpt test shoot, I had a conversation with my partner who stood in as a test participant. I did this to figure out how I could frame this "interview" in order to make it feel more conversational for both the viewer and the participant, and also to see how the conversation flowed and what kinds of questions it raised. In doing this, the footage was also more subjective, as the camera is very up-close and intimate in regards to the participant, rather than adopting a distant, sterile, objective interview set-up. I also used natural lighting in order to avoid the image looking staged or ideal, however a single LED light would be beneficial for the shoots with my actual partcipants. Raw footage stills As I mentioned in my previous post regarding the planning of my 5-minute excerpt, I focused on specific parts of my participant at a time, rather than filming conventionally with a wide shot, then a medium shot, and then a c...

I have several ideas for what my five-minute excerpt could be but this is the most developed. The idea is to record a phone call I plan on having with my mum, where I describe to her in detail a dream I had of my late grandmother, who is her mum. I haven't yet told her about the dream, or spoken about it much in general since having it, therefore I feel this would be a very intimate and raw moment to capture on audio. I'm still uncertain whether or not I'll be recording any video footage of myself or my mum on the phone call, but for now I am focused on recording the sound, and using footage I plan on filming on my camcorder to accompany the recording. The footage will be mostly things I capture in the UK, from my apartment window and other aspects of my daily life. I would like the distinct sound of the phone call to demonstrate distance from home without the need to underline it verbally, and the footage will also work to reaffirm this idea. I have a video for the footage...

After my session with Callum Rice, I wanted to gather my thoughts about my project and come up with a structure that I was happy with, which brought together all the disparate but linked ideas I've had since the beginning of the course. Callum suggested that making a mindmap of all my ideas and trying to find connections between them could help me come up with a structure for my film. Brainstorm mindmap Though this helped lay out my ideas visually, it still didn't help me come up with a narrative structure for my final project. After this I decided to write more detailed notes based on my initial project aim/research question and try to unpack this verbally. I wrote several similar research questions and also considered how this film ties into 'bigger picture' research questions about the impact of colonialism on other societies, or how post-colonial societies navigate identity after years of imperialism and neo-colonialism. Then, I asked the questions 'how has Cypr...

Throughout the process of putting together a film which is rooted in something so distinct and personal, I often experience disillusionment with my project idea. I ask myself questions like: will people connect with this? Will anyone care similarly to how I do?  My meeting with Kitty Anderson reaffirmed the emotions I feel toward this project. She told me that so many stories get lost because no one thinks to record them. When I expressed how I often feel strange putting a camera in the faces of my family members and recording them, and this demotivates me from recording more footage, Kitty advised that this is always done with a strong sense of appreciation, and in the end an intention of providing a legacy for their stories.  Our conversation helped me with the technical side of filmmaking, but also the emotional toll that it often takes in attempting to materialise such personal stories - which to me was the most valuable aspect of the meeting.

After my meeting with Kitty Anderson this Thursday, I got to thinking about ideas for some experimentation I can do before leaving for Cyprus to shoot my final project film.  Due to the structure of my film being so reliant on shooting on location in Cyprus, I had questions for her about what I could be doing here in the next couple of months in terms of research, shooting, and experimentation. Kitty suggested that I could speak to any university societies that Cypriot people are heavily involved with, in order to ask them questions about their experiences with work and life in the UK, which could be compared and contrasted to the stories told to me by my grandmother and grandfather. After reflecting on our meeting, I decided that a good idea would be to gather a handful of Cypriot people who I am acquianted with and interview them about their thoughts and feelings regarding some of the concepts my film will be dealing with. For instance, my film will be tackling the issue of langu...