NEW COMMENTS

Barbara: It's like a therapy session in a therapy room.
When they hug, is that the guy liking the girl back? (No she doesn't like the guy)
Margaret: Give her a nail clipper next time.
"I am leaving."
Where is she going?

SMIBE

Bell Jar is in the SMIBE Personal Infrastructures competition!

Results out on 30th April.

SO WHAT IS YOUR INTENTION?

A: Why is the woman cut off at the head and the feet at the end? Is it because it is the director's intention? When I am teaching drawing, a person is using the eraser. When the person is using the eraser, it is another idea for the drawing. The colour is changed.

J: It is because the tunnel is not wide enough, and it was really hard to control the camera while sitting on a wheelchair with someone pushing it!(excuses...)

A: But if you are the director you have to control everything. You have to have the intention...

J: It was the best we could do given our limitations. (excuses...)

A: Have you heard you Luis Buñuel?

J: (proceeds to wikipedia)

J&A proceeds to watch The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

3-minute edit

SMIBE-Bell Jar from mylar oomoo on Vimeo.

The three-minute edit feels rather different from the sixteen minute one. For one, the music plays most of the time.

THUMBNAILS

While editing the movie for a 3-minute clip, I thought the thumbnails were lovely so I got distracted and decided to post it on the blog instead.

IT"S BEEN A WHILE

Since I last posted anything about the film. Last showed it to a good friend of mine a few weeks ago. May try the circuit again.

LAST COMMENT

Paul, a fellow director, commented Bell Jar was a bit too "high brow" for him.
High brow? Compliment or a disparage?

ROTTERDAM SCREENING

BELL JAR SCREENED

to a private audience at 2012 Rotterdam and some friends in Delft. it was interesting to note spectator responses, some of which were:

-camera too wobbly, that is distracting. counterpoint by another member of the audience- no, it gives a raw feeling to the whole movie.
-backdrop of tiles looks like a notebook on which the story is written. (quite a poetic comment)
-couldn't pay attention to the story because have to read subtitles.
-the dialogue sounds muffled. (from the only guy who understood french)
-usually a movie is made up of shots, action, imagery to tell a story. but you didn't use any of these. why?
-this is more like a theatrical production than it is a "normal" film. so the actions are subtle (like moving of fingers and the movement of the body)
-but how do you relate this to the dialogue?
relates in a subconscious way.
-very autobiographical! qualify yourself with a bible verse in the beginning! (it closes with a bible verse too but that wasn't subtitled...)
-why is it so red? wanted it to be abstract and in a dream world. red evokes emotions. countercomment- it might be worth seeing it in greyscale. another countercomment- let me try to edit it for you! (and now the project file is sitting in jos' computer...)
-can't see the expression of the eyes.
-the two people could tell separate stories and they could collide somewhere. (guess what, that's the basis of my second movie jos!)
-the acting was subtle, it wasn't overdone, so it was believable.
-the music was really good.

i asked some questions:

did you expect me to make such a (sad) film?
no. i didn't expect this.
yes.

did you expect this mood when you read the script?
yes.

do you understand what the girl is going through?
girls' answer: yes.
boy: it's scary, because you don't know what to expect. (long time ago comment from someone who read the script) other boys, no comment on the emotional part.

REJECTION

Bell Jar will not be showing in Rotterdam or Berlin.
Sigh...

SYNOPSIS FRENCH

Une fille questionne ses sentiments par rapport à un garçon. Alors qu'elle parle, nous réalisons que son voyage émotionnel commence à se confondre avec l'espace dans lequel elle est, et est suivi par le spectateur dans un plan séquence à travers le tunnel.

DIRECTOR'S BIOGRAPHY

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Janita Han is now in London.

Born in Malaysia, she studied architecture at the National University of Singapore, then at the Delft University of Technology, completing her masters degree with honours in June 2008, under the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. She has made 2 documentaries and was involved in the production of a full-length feature musical. Bell Jar (Netherlands, 2008) is her first experimental short.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
As an architect, I am interested about how space can be manipulated to create effects. The camera becomes a single perspective where the parameters of its operations were determined- namely a single panning shot with constant speed in one direction, while the actors dance around the camera, acting in front and out of camera. The repetition of actor A and B throughout the tunnel sets the rhythm of the conversation and gives a surrealistic notion of space and time which can only be successfully achieved with the camera. The tunnel becomes a dream world. The idea of the technique of filming came about from discussions with Ren Horng, who helped conceptualise the movie.

Another important aspect of this film is the body language of the actors. The story is expressed through the postures of the actors as the camera rolls past them. They are almost akin subconscious movements when is dreaming or thinking about something. The GIRL is expresssive and thinks with her body, while the GUY is listening and the tension and minimal movements reflect an introvert personality.

In terms of content, various events in my life became the material for the screenplay. The GIRL is pseudo-autobiographical and the BOY is a combination of different people in my life. The use of metaphors is very much inspired by Günther Grass’ writings.

SYNOPSIS

Title: Bell Jar
Language: French/Mandarin
Length: 16:13
Location of filming: Maas Tunnel, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

This is an experimental, single-shot, scripted film.

SYNOPSIS
A girl ponders about her feelings for a BOY. As she talks, you realise her emotional journey begins to correlate with the space that she is in. Her journey to liberation is followed by the viewer in a single shot through the tunnel, where the shot alternates between GIRL to GUY in a linear space.

Throughout, GIRL and GUY converse, but they are almost in their own world respectively- they speak in different languages and they do not appear in the same shot until the end. Bell Jar refers to Sylvia Plath’s work The Bell Jar, where the GIRL perceives the BOY as insulating himself in a bell jar, unreachable by her.

Rome International Film Festival

Bell Jar has appeared on the archives of the Rome international Film Festival. Click here.

ROTHKO

I went to see Rothko at the Tate today. It is to my utter embarrassment that the "smudge of liver red on a huge sea of brown" in the beginning of Bell Jar should have been a "smudge of liver red on a huge sea of maroon."

And maybe smudge might not be the best expression for a Rothko either.

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Dear Friends in Singapore
I will put some effort to get the DVD sent to the SIFF. I think it is only fair and probably quite entertaining (especially for Aunt May!) that you get a chance to watch this fantastic production!
Love

ROTTERDAM

Rotterdam Rotterdam, where for art thou, Rotterdam?

SCREEN SHOTS

WOMEN'S FILM FESTIVAL

I've not been conscious about my gender as a director until I found Women's Film Festivals.

Rome Independent Film Festival

In the last minute I think Bell Jar should go to Rome. I hope it gets sold to public TV.