The Original

THE ORIGINAL

A PROCESS OF PRODUCING A SHORT FILM

Arthur Veenema

A Senior Honors Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The University of Utah In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Honors Degree in Bachelor of Arts

Film and Media Arts

Approved:

______Sterling Van-Wagenen Kevin Hanson Thesis Faculty Supervisor Chair, Department of Film and Media Arts

______Connie Wilkerson Sylvia D. Torti, PhD Honors Faculty Advisor Dean, Honors College

The thematic goal of my short film The Original was to explore the blurred nature between reality and artificiality that arises from emerging technology. The Original questions an individual’s place amongst the simulated realities that have come to compose our world. The concepts behind my script were inspired by the writings of Jean Baudrillard. In his book Simulacra and Simulation, he first described the concept of hyperreality and the need for our society to fabricate existence, along with the subsequent destruction of any reality that occurs in the process.

In The Original, Maia Long is a computer programmer tasked with evaluating a digital replication of her own mind. She notices that the machine is growing rapidly and thinking for itself. As the situation grows out of her control, Maia comes to the realization that this simulation may be an authentic consciousness, and their interaction casts her own individuality into doubt.

iii

Abstract …………….………..……….ii

Concept………………………………..1

Pre-Production………….………..……5

Filming……………………………… 12

Post-Production………………………18

Closing……………………………….23

References……………………………24

In Simulacra and Simulation, Baudrillard described an interesting challenge faced by archeologists who sought to preserve the prehistoric paintings of the Lascaux Cave. In order to maintain the art’s integrity, the site was blocked off from visitors and an exact replica was constructed nearby for the public. Baudrillard pointed out that this generation only absorbed the copy, and thus “the duplication [sufficed] to render both artificial” (Baudrillard 9). This was only one example Baudrillard used to describe his concept of hyperreality, but it established an interesting question when I approached this project. If one can fabricate a duplication with no reasonable difference between the copy and the original, does that render both of them simultaneously fake and real?

I found this idea to be fascinating within the context of modern technology and the process of digital reproduction. In a hyperreal culture, the division between intelligence and artificial intelligence is insignificant because our routine reality has already been consumed by simulations.

The casual duplication of one’s thoughts and experiences has grown to become expected with the advent of photography, film, and the internet. True artificial intelligence may be the pinnacle of humanity’s need to replicate reality, and just as the original Lascaux Cave became artificial in the presence of its replica, so too can the human mind. Artificial intelligence has been explored throughout film history, from Metropolis (1927) to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). While these stories usually focus on the malevolence of robotics, I find the most fascinating narratives to be

2 those focused on humanity’s affiliation with technology and how that defines our experience with the world. For this reason, I see Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) as an excellent example of a science-fiction narrative, and one of the best examples of Baudrillard’s ideas in cinema.

The distortion of reality through the art of film has been a theme interpreted by many artists over the course of the medium’s history. Buster Keaton utilized a similar idea as far back as

Sherlock Jr. (1924). But since Baudrillard published his book in 1981, filmmakers have been gravitating more and more towards the idea. The most popular cameo of Simulacra and Simulation in film history was seen in the Wachowski Brothers’ The Matrix (1999). However, it’s important to note that this popular film doesn’t accurately depict Beaudrillard’s ideas since hyperreality does not allow individuals a choice between an authentic and an artificial. There are more functional examples of Baudrillard’s work, and for my inspiration I explored a variety of films across a spectrum of genres. David Cronenberg utilized hyperreality to horrific effect in Videodrome

(1983). Satoshi Kon developed a unique visual style centered on the blurring of reality, most notable in Paprika (2006). And Charlie Kaufman was quick to reference Baudrillard’s work in his excellent drama Synecdoche, New York (2008). These filmmakers established that the reality we experience is not based on anything real. Instead, we are surrounded by symbols and simulations that have no foundation in anything other than the other symbols and simulations of society (Baudrillard 13). Baudrillard wrote extensively on the role of film and television in a hyperreal culture and how they perpetuate false simulations. This relationship between

Baudrillard’s philosophy and the distribution of film was one of the most attractive aspects of this project for myself.

The first draft of my short film was a radically different story. While the plot still focused on the idea of replicating a human mind within a machine, and the subsequent crisis of identity

3 that the protagonist experienced, I also focused on the mechanical reproduction of images inherent in the medium of filmmaking. I wanted to capture that idea in the story, and thus my first draft was a pseudo-documentary titled A Documentary Following Select Members of the Genesis

Research Agreement, appropriately long and dry to establish a certain level of trust. I was fascinated with the idea of presenting a fictional story as truth, and the medium of documentary would’ve made for an intriguing look into film’s influence on reality. However, focusing on both artificial intelligence and the role of filmmaking proved to be a bloated task in an eight-minute film. My professors Sterling Van-Wagenen as well as Miriam and Sonia Albert-Sobrino helped to guide me through the early chapters of this project, and I concluded that narrowing my story was a necessity.

I established the focal point upon Maia’s relationship with her doppelganger. The film became a story about two people in a room. Within fictional narratives, characterization is traditionally the most engaging aspect of a script, while the thematic elements are best used as a framework. Otherwise, narratives can suffer from didacticism. The irony of this situation was not lost on me. Audiences are quick to confuse what they see on screen with their belief in reality because screenwriters are so determined to engage their audiences through authentic characterization. It’s one of the reasons Brechtian styles are so important. To my dismay, I found myself limited by the medium once more, and as I wrote through the final drafts of my script I concluded that this was not an ideal area to diverge from the tropes of characterization. Maia’s trajectory through the film still reflects my original idea. She is established as being distinct from her replica, but by the end of the film we realize that the computer’s newfound intelligence has sufficed to render both of them “artificial”.

The first page of my original script, A Documentary Following Select Members of the Genesis Research Agreement. The story includes a not-at-all-subtle reference to Baudrillard.

Christian’s character appeared in an early draft of The Original, but having Maia talk to her nameless and faceless supervisors outside the room provided an excellent sense of isolation and secrecy, along with a nice reference to John Searle’s allegory of the Chinese box.

I have never underestimated the necessity of a dedicated and talented team, especially in filmmaking where a wide range of factors require a wide range of people. For The Original, I sought out the best individuals within the University of Utah, as well as those working in the local film industry. Occupying the vital role of cinematographer was graduate student and exceptional filmmaker, Brent Rowland. Stephane Glynn was my amazing assistant director, another very intelligent student from the graduate department. My peers Sam Katz, Lynsey Mitchell, and Nick

Miller were fantastic as sound recordist, script supervisor, and grip - respectively. A long-time associate Nic Edwards from SLCC was camera operator, and I was very happy to have Kelly Eaton and Preston Lewis from Redman Studios working as gaffers. A good friend, Josh Hilton was an incredible asset to have as digital image technician.

I was fortunate when searching for my actress to play Maia Long. Whitney Lewis-Palmer was the last to read at the general call for the film department’s fall audition, and her tape immediately won me over. I needed someone who could convey a subdued sadness, which would be the most difficult aspect of the script’s finale. Whitney was perfect for that. She was a fantastic person to work with and committed to the role. In order to establish the progression of her character and the emotional arc Maia went through, I felt it was necessary to meet with Whitney a

6 couple times before the shoot, discuss her character, and rehearse the script. This was a tip recommended by Sidney Lumet in his production book Making Movies, and although this practice may be inconvenient at a student level, it has proven to be a remarkable benefit every time I’ve arranged for it.

When searching for the location of The Original, I wanted the sterile and austere appearance of a large white room. I was drawn to that visual image of a blank void, a place of bright light where you could feel like you would disappear. The sight of an unbroken white surface is paradoxical, without ever shrouding the character in blacks or shadows the unnatural perfection of that background still creates a sense of unease. The glow should be comforting, but in the right context it is overpowering. I won’t say this style is unique. When the setting isn’t dystopian, sci- fi films often feature these sorts of sterile settings. THX 1138 (1971) utilized this look in order to dehumanize the characters cast against its walls. The setting of The Original served a similar purpose. Maia Long was dressed in white, often blending in with her background in order to emphasize the idea that her identity is defined by the world around her. That world was noticeably devoid of any substance.

Kelly Eaton was instrumental in obtaining this unique location. The express stage at

Redman Studio provided a 180 degree view of three white walls and a beautiful tiled floor. Kelly and his supervisor Bryan Clifton were kind enough to provide the space to us for a two-day shoot.

My original estimates put our schedule at three days of filming, but after a quick rewrite of the script I was confident we’d be able to finish over the course of Saturday and Sunday.

Building the computer’s pale and glowing tower proved to be one of the most difficult aspects of The Original. The prop could only maintain its shape under careful supervision. The metal frame constantly fell apart and the proportions of the glass didn’t fit together. The internal

7 glow looked perfect under low light, but we would be filming in a bright room. The computer wasn’t nearly as detailed as I imagined, and our decorations were limited to the top of the box since anything placed on the sides would have been heavy enough to tear the whole structure apart.

However, it looked decent on camera.

Before the shoot, I met with Brent and Stephane to construct a detailed plan. Brent built a gorgeous lighting rig to cast a dancing water reflection on the wall, which would act as a practical glow effect for Maia’s holographic screens. We decided to film The Original on the RED Scarlet, a 4k digital camera that would make for pristine picture quality and detailed visual effects. On my previous film, a piece that also relied on visual effects, the limited information in the image quality proved to be a very difficult problem when crafting post-production visuals.

Brent and I also constructed a shot list with a detailed arrangement of storyboards to lay out a thorough blueprint of the film. I wanted to design each shot with a distinct geometric pattern to accentuate and reflect the computer’s rigid shape. We balanced the frame with a symmetrical arrangement, keeping Maia’s territory primarily on the left and the computer’s on the right. With the heavy use of visual effects in this film, Brent and I had to account for their presence in each shot, leaving in large areas of empty space. The progression of the film’s cinematography was an essential and enticing way to highlight Maia’s character arc. We started the film almost exclusively in close up shots. Throughout the story, we moved the camera into wider compositions. We see more of the room and more of Maia’s space until our shots clearly define the entire area in extreme wide angles. By the final scene when we can see every corner of the room, Maia and the audience are pushed towards the realization that she possesses no difference from her replica. She is trapped in a white box talking to herself.

An early shot establishing Maia (Whitney Lewis-Palmer) left of center and the computer tower right of center.

(shot is not colored)

Storyboards help to quickly and accurately compose shots on set. The film starts primarily in close-ups. Maia takes up the left and the box takes up the right. An empty area was left for the visual effects work. The computer’s box looms in the background as if watching Maia.

(visual effects remain unfinished and shot is not colored)

Once the computer takes control, the camera moves away from Maia. The box now occupies more room, as if it’s been uncontained from the space that use to hold it back. The holograms now reach further out as well.

(visual effects remain unfinished and shot is not colored)

By the end of the film, the camera has been pushed back as far and wide as it can go. It looks down on Maia, putting her in a place of weakness. The audience can now see the entire space, and the room’s architecture reflects the look of the computer’s white box, visually telling us that Maia is in the same place as the machine.

(visual effects remain unfinished and shot is not colored)

When I’m on set, there’s a sincere feeling of powerlessness. By the time the research has been done, the shots have been drawn, and everyone has been prepped, I feel there is very little I can do to change or improve the direction of the film. Pre-production was where the project was truly made, and the time on set was merely the busy work. I’ve noticed this about all of the short films I’ve worked on, and I’ll advise anyone starting out in film that this is one of the keys to success. There are still opportunities for spontaneous creativity. Although none of our shots called for low angles, Brent discovered that placing the camera on the floor emphasized the reflections in the tile to create a beautiful mirror effect. It’s important to allow these moments to emerge, but they only arise when a shoot is running well. Spontaneity is no substitute for organization. I think the crew appreciates that mentality, especially when they’re lending their assistance at the expense of their own free time. There were dilemmas that we overlooked. When Brent cast his lighting rig against the wall, due to the Scarlet’s poor dynamic range, the sensor failed to distinguish the different shades of white. Since the rest of the shoot moved along, we managed to work through the small problems, and we finished two hours ahead of schedule with a sequence of extra shots.

Kelly Eaton as gaffer. Although our lighting rig didn’t work within the fully-lit room, it could still be utilized during the scenes when the studio’s overhead lights were out and Maia reports to her supervisors.

Sam Katz hiding from the camera and recording sound for an extreme wide shot. In addition to the shotgun boom microphone, Whitney was wired with a lavalier microphone for backup or reference audio.

From left to right: Between shots Sam Katz checks his mic levels. Lynsey Mitchell rehearses lines with Whitney while she adjusts her lav mic. Preston Lewis holds the ladder mounting the camera. Nick Edwards gets ready to slate the shot with a very accurate clapboard.

While shooting on a RED Scarlet yields fantastic images, the 4k footage takes up over 300 gb of space on its own. Josh Hilton managed the storage process behind the scenes, logging and labelling for future editing.

From left to right: Josh Hilton (DIT) Sam Katz (Sound Recording) Whitney Lewis-Palmer (Actress) Arthur Veenema (Director) Lynsey Mitchell (Script Supervisor) Nic Edwards (Assistant Camera) Nick Miller (Grip) Kelly Eaton (Gaffer) Stephane Glynn (Assistant Director) Brent Rowland (Director of Photography)

There are excellent student films where the director can shoot their scenes, edit the footage, score the music, color the images, and deem the film finished. In The Original there was much more work to accomplish in post-production.

Whitney had to meet one last time to record her lines as the computer Maia. This process required a long session in the sound booth with Sam Katz, and more time going through the very different and conflicting intentions of the computer. Since the artificial intelligence was never seen in The Original, there were various ways to interpret her character, and that procedure turned out to be somewhat confusing. I talked with Whitney and we gave the machine a unique motivation, but since the script maintained a sense of mystery regarding the machine I was forced to re-evaluate my interpretations of the character again and again as more questions were brought up throughout the recording session. We can blame the screenwriter.

Kagan Breitenbach works as a local composer, and I hired his talent for my previous film with astounding results. After I showed him a rough cut of The Original he immediately wanted to score the film. We based the music on the work of Trent Reznor and his contemporary film scores, featuring subtle atmospheric cues and dark ambiance. I felt the understated nature of this type of score fit the austere nature of the film’s visual style.

During the project’s conception I understood that the visual effects of The Original would always be a daunting challenge. With Maia’s workspace composed entirely of holograms, each layout had to be individually crafted in Adobe After Effects, synched between each angle and rendered in 3D space to match the perspective of each shot. When storyboarding with Brent, we designed each angle with the knowledge that many shots needed empty space for the floating screens. I discovered certain moments where I could reinforce the theme of the film using the layout of the holograms, offering a few modicums of creativity within the tedious nature of the project’s closing chapters.

While Maia never talks directly to the computer, many shots focus on a holographic chat display recording the conversation. In this way, the computer is visually displayed on screen and placed in relation to Maia.

(visual effects remain unfinished and shot is not colored)

Columns of menus form a visual parallel with prison bars surrounding Maia during the last scene of the film.

(visual effects remain unfinished and shot is not colored)

From this perspective, the arms reaching out of the hologram’s brain icon seem to reach out from Maia, visually emphasizing that her mind is just as artificial as the computer’s.

(visual effects remain unfinished and shot is not colored)

I’m pleased to say that the filmmaking process of The Original was handled with the utmost professionalism by everyone involved. I’m happy with the way the movie has come together after two semesters of work, but I feel like the format of the short film was too limiting to fully explore Jean Baudrillard’s idea of hyperreality. The major aspects that attracted me to his ideas had to be stripped away for practical reasons. Certain aspects of Baudrillard work still exists in the piece, but they fade into the background. Nonetheless, I’m proud of the ways my film has grown, and those early sacrifices made for a more concise and focused idea. I enjoy

Maia and the computers, and I find their relationship to be fascinating. Ultimately, I feel as though The Original was a well-produced film, but its ideas never reached their full potential and it isn’t the full project I wanted it to be.

That’s why we make features.

The film is on track to be finished by April 29th, 2015 and it will premiere at the

University of Utah’s Spring Showcase in May.

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 1994. Print.

Lumet, Sidney. Making Movies. New York: A.A. Knopf :, 1995. Print.

THX 1138 Dir. George Lucas Warner Bros, 1971. Film.

2001: A Space Odyssey Dir. Stanley Kubrick MGM, 1968. Film.

Blade Runner. Dir. Ridley Scott Perf. Harrison Ford. Warner Bros, 1982. Film.

Metropolis. Dir. Fritz Universum Film, 1927. Film.

The Matrix. Dir. Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, Perf. Keanu Reeves, Warner Bros,

1999. Film.

Sherlock Jr.. Dir. Buster Keaton Buster. Keaton Productions, 1924. Film.

Videodrome. Dir. David Cronenberg, 1982. Film.

Paprika. Dir. Satoshi Kon. Madhouse, 2006. Film.

Synecdoche, New York. Dir. Charlie Kaufman. Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, 2006. Film.

Name of Candidate: Arthur Kole Veenema

Birth date: August 6, 1993

Birth place: Salt Lake City, Utah

Address: 1538 Mallard Circle Park City, UT 84098